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Re: [OM] Photographing the Concorde in the UK before it's too late....

Subject: Re: [OM] Photographing the Concorde in the UK before it's too late....
From: julian_davies@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 19:40:44 +0100 (BST)
Concorde generally is routed to take - off and land westbound. They aren't 
supposed to do this, but they do. It breaks the fair sharing of noise 
regulations.
This means that you will see it over most of London South and west at around 
5:30 PM on its landing run. Where to be will depend on the angles you want, the 
length of lens available to you and whether you want the wheels up or down. And 
the weather , of course.
Last Thursday I was in Croydon (a waypoint on Heathrow approach) at the right 
time, so it duly appeared high over my head going east and executed a beautiful 
descending 180 round the beacon (at biggin hill, I think)and went West to LHR. 
If I'd had a 600mm on me, it would have been a great sequence, as the sun is 
perfectly positioned at this time of year. No 600 - no shot.
>From there it is a bit pot - luck as to which of the runways they're using. It 
>passes directly over Clapham Common if 27L and over Fulham if 27R. This is 
>about where the wheels go down. Ealing common will afford some views, but lots 
>of trees in the way.
If you're in posession of good ear defenders, then anywhere along the A4 will 
see it going overhead for a 27R approach. for 27L you will need to be in 
Hounslow.
Bear in mind, however that mostly you'll get a straight - up belly shot from 
these kinds of locations. There's not much high ground, so viewing angles are 
severely constrained by buildings and trees. The best I can think of is a layby 
on the Hayes by-pass just North of the M4. From there you can get a good side - 
on glimpse as it crosses the perimeter fence, but it doesn't last long. 
Composition is also a pain as the M4 flyover competes in your field of view.
Other alternatives...
>From the Holiday Inn on the A4 you can see over the serviceing area (usually 3 
>or 4 parked - up) and get a view over the Eastern end of 27R. You can see 27L 
>in the distance but from memory it's not a good view. Downside.. I haven't 
>found a way of escaping from behind glass in that building. Next door is the 
>SAP training centre, who have a balcony in the right direction, so you could 
>try with them. Most hotels along the A4 (south side of the road) will give a 
>view over 27R, but I've not found one with open - air above ground level. The 
>Ramada has a ground level car - park which abuts the perimeter fence, however. 
>Since the IRA fired mortars from a Hotel car - park a few years ago, these 
>aren't exactly "sure - wander around as much as you like" places.
If you want a take - off, then you need to be overlooking the runway at around 
unsticking point. The West end of the Airport is building site, marsh, 
motorway, lake. By the time you get to decent and accessible ground the plane 
is way up. You could get lucky and see an Eastbound departure, but these are 
RARE these days. When it happens the plane does a Right 180 over Wimbledon. 
Nice to watch, hard to photograph.
I hardly know the south side of the airport, so maybe someone else can give you 
a steer? Terminal 4 is a possibility (through glass.

Julian
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