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Picture of the month January 2009 

 

 

Picture taken at Kampenhout on December 28 2008 at 1612 hours CET: Emirates A380 A6-EDC at 36000 ft on UL608 enroute Dubai-New York (JFK) as UAE201

 

2008 saw the introduction of the Airbus A380 in commercial service, the largest passenger airplane. Almost 200 pieces are ordered by little over a dozen customers, and Emirates is by far the largest one with 58 units. Belgium had not yet the honor of receiving one on its soil, but high in the sky Singapore Airlines, later followed by Emirates are almost daily visitors on their runs to Heathrow or beyond. Especially when Emirates started a daily run to Heathrow in December, expectations were quite high to obtain a descent shot of this huge plane via telescope. But at the end, one of the best pictures came out when an Emirates Airbus passed by on the Dubai-New York run with a delay of a couple of hours. The picture was made half an hour before sunset: clear skies with not too much atmospheric distortions, low angle sunlight but still acceptable bright, the airframe at a reasonable horizontal distance for a good view on the side of her fuselage and a thick contrail were ideal ingredients to nail this bird.      


List of pictures of the month