Planespotting in Scotland during Coronavirus Pandemic

British Airways Lockdown  As of 5th November 2020 England's Coronavirus restrictions have been tightened and the whole country has been put into  a 2nd lockdown. As a result of this, many more British Airways A319 and A320 have made their way up to Glasgow Airport for storage as there is no use for them currently. They have been moving them up from London Heathrow (LHR) for a few days and filling up the apron space at Glasgow. I mentioned in a previous update that there had been several A321s based at Glasgow. Currently there a 4 left and the other have now departed to Madrid meaning that the space can be used by the others that have flown up. Phase 2 of the British Airways storage at Glasgow has currently seen the following aircraft fly North on these days: Saturday November 7th 2020 ———————————————- G-EUOE. Airbus A319-131 G-EUOG. Airbus A319-131 G-EUPM. Airbus A319-131 G-EUPN. Airbus A319-131 G-EUPO. Airbus A319-131 G-EUPR. Airbus A319-131 G-EUUM. Ai...

 Glasgow Airport 2nd November 2020 These 4 aircraft are  T-6C Texan II aircraft. They arrived at Glasgow on the 31st October and are on a delivery flight from the Beech factory in Kansas. They took a few days to reach Glasgow via Ottawa, Goose Bay and Keflavik. Their final destination is RAF Valley in Wales where they will become jet trainer aircraft with 72 Squadron.  The serials include: ZM340 (construction number  PM-137 , N2786B), ZM341 (c/n  PM-138 , N2789B), ZM342 (c/n  PM-139 , N2790B) and ZM343 (c/n  PM-144 , N2811B) British Airways A321-200 As of 2/11/2020 there are 8 stored BA A321 aircraft. Many aircraft are not getting used because they have been grounded due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Picture above is G-MEDJ and G-MEDU. Pictured left is G-EUXD, G-EUXE, G-EUXF and G-EUXD. G-EUXM and G-EUDM are now all destined for continued storage in Madrid in the not so distant future. It is likely that these airframes will never return to the skie...

Flybe Collapse Many airlines have taken a beating during the 2020 pandemic. The first major loss we had was right back at the beginning in March. The United Kingdom lost one of its most essential airlines... Flybe. Flybe was only single carrier offering cheap domestic flights connecting Edinburgh, Glasgow and others to the rest of the UK. Pre-covid they had struggled and the lack of passengers due to coronavirus was the final blow. They had gone into administration and Virgin Connect failed to take over. There was to be no other buyer and the airline collapsed. Many of their routes would be taken over by Loganair or Easyjet.                           G-PRPJ Flybe Bombardier DHC-8   at Edinburgh with no where else to go G-JEDV  Flybe Bombardier DHC-8   at Glasgow preparing for departure to fly back to its leasing company who are based out of Norway. This was one of the final Dash 8s to dep...

  Joint Warrior This year still sees much military activity. Between the 4th October – 15th October 2020 participants from Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, NATO members, and others come together for a Joint Tactical Exercise featuring aircraft, ships and land troops. Prestwick is home to some of the aircraft taking part and I took a visit to see what was happening and spent a night away in a Marstons Inn hotel so I could spend a couple of days there. Prestwick enthusiasts have created a website showing daily movements which helps like minded people know when aircraft are coming in and out. The Scottish Aviation Photographers group on Facebook and Fight Control forum are also great tools for finding out movements. A link to the weekends movements can be found at http://www.egpk.com/ (These are updated monthly) Weekends movements on 9th/10th were: Friday 9 October 2020 ZZ338 A330-2 RAF RRR2825 arr 0005 dep 0137ish 11-00283 MC12W USA RONIN26 arr 0940ish dep 1054 63-80...

NHS Spitfire Tour Aircraft Restoration Company based at Duxford in Cambridgeshire have been getting people to donate to NHS charities during the pandemic and making people look up into to skies to lighten up the spirits during these dark times.  Spitfire PL983 has had a new paintjob and on the under side of its elliptical wing it reads 'Thank U NHS'. Since July it has flown up and down the country flying over many hospitals in honour of the NHS keyworkers who have really been the hero workers throughout the year.  NHS Spitfire Route (Wed 16th September 2020 updated due to adverse weather conditions) •  1. 3.39pm - Haltwhistle War Memorial Hospital NHS •  2. 3.45pm - Cumberland Infirmary NHS - Carlisle •  3. 3.49pm - Annan Hospital NHS •  4. 3.55pm - Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary NHS •  5. 4.15pm - Cumbernauld Airport - Land At the request of Cumbernauld tower it did a great display for the crowd who gathered (socially distanced of course!) to...

  Prestwick 2nd August 2020  Today most certainly showed that Prestwick can accept any aircraft of any size. The mightiest flying machine ever created arrived on Scottish soil and it certainly attracted a huge crowd during lockdown when social distancing was meant to be adhered to. There was no reason whatsoever that this was an event to miss for any aviation enthusiast.  The plane in question was the Soviet built, and one of a kind, Antonov Airlines Antonov An-225 Mriya ('Mriya' means dream in Ukrainian). This mega plane was built in 1988 with the purpose of carrying the 'Buran',  the Soviet Space Programs space shuttle. Today it is used on major cargo carrying missions. After a major refurbishment and complete overhaul in 2019, the An-225 has been very much alive during the Covid-19 pandemic delivering PPE and medical supplies from China and other cargo across the globe.  Specifications: Crew: 6 Length: 84m Wingspan: 88.4m Height: 18.1m Max Take Off Weight: 64...