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during my vacation in Tuscany with the family, I decided to take the drive down to Rome-Fiumicino for my airplane fix... FCO is not a very large airport. It has three runways, 07-25, 16L-34R and 16R-34L. Runway 07-25 is only used for take-offs from the 25-side and 16R-34L is the runway preferred by the wide-bodies for landing and take-offs as well as most intercontinental flights. Runway 25 is also the preferred take-off runway, resulting in that during my stay 95% of all planes departed from this runway.
Rome-Fiumicino has decent spotting oppertunities. If you don't want to outside, it is possible to watch soms apron action from the seating area behind the McDonalds in Terminal 3. From there you have a view on some gates and the departing traffic on runway 25. Photo's are a little difficult due to the glass and the distance to the runway. Around the airport some more oppertunities can be found. During my visit I stationed myself at the most known place, a parallel road next to runway 16R-34L. This road is called the Viale Coccia di Morto and starts in the village of Focene. Alongside this road are various spotting points, of which the rooftop terrace of a small bar at the IP gas-station near landing of 16R is the most famous. From the rooftop terrace you'll have a good view on a large part of the apron. Aircraft landing on runway 16R could be captured easily, as well as planes departing from 34L. This spot is also the only place to photograph the departures of runway 25. Lensewise a 70-300 mm should suffice, but departures from 25 can be quite high if they are lightly loaded. Spotting from the Viale Coccia di Morto is only possible in the late afternoon during the summer, especially when photographing the departures of runway 25. The sun is very high and harsh during the summer, creating heathwaves and atmosferic distortions, even high up in the sky, resulting in soft pictures.
Anyhow, I enjoyed my short visit to Rome, catching some Alitalia Triple Sevens (but sadly no A330 without heathwaves...) and other local stuff. Here's a small impression of about two hours at the rooftop terrace. I've left out the Alitalia A319/A320/A321 and other European stuff like Lufthansa, Austrian, easyJet and KLM. Due to the harsh light, the pictures aren't the best I've made, but it still gives a nice impression I hope.
1. Belle Air A319 taking off from runway 25:
A319-BEL-FORAG-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
2. CSA Holidays A320, also departing from runway 25:
A320-HOL-OKLEE-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
3. Alitalia B777-200ER departing runway 34L:
B772-AZA-EIISE-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
4.
A388-EKA-A6EDF-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
5. Some of the nicer local stuff, Blu-Express B737-500, departing from runway 25:
B735-BPE-IBPAL-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
6. So far I only photographed Saabs and a Fokker 70 of Carpatair, so this Fokker 100 was nice:
F100-CAR-YRFKA-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
7. Also new for the archive, Saudia A320:
A320-SVA-HZASC-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
8. Despite the merger with Alitalia, Air One A320's and A330's are still around. Here's a A320 departing runway 25. I saw a A330 departing while driving towards the airport...
A320-ONE-EIDSL-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
9. Very light load on this Maersk B767-200F, but the first one I managed to photograph:
B762F-MSK-OYSRH-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
10. A little soft, but still nice is this ERJ170 from Alitalia:
E170-AZA-EIRDK-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
11. A B737-500 of Blu-express in the full livery:
B735-BPE-IBPAG-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
12. Skyteam liveried Alitalia E190 departing runway 25:
E190-AZA-EIRND-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
13. And lastly, my first Germanwings A319 in the new livery:
A319-GMW-DAGWH-FCO24jul13 by LifelinerOne, on Flickr
Hope you enjoyed them!
Cheers!
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