Sign in Subscribe
Birmingham

Photo of the Day 14th August 2025.

mancavgeek

• 2 min read
Low side view of a high-winged, twin propellor-engined airliner flying from right to left at a low altitude

HB-AFN, ATR 72-20(F), Zimex Aviation, flying out of Runway 15 at Birmingham on it's way to Frankfurt, 12th August 2025, as seen from the official viewing area.

On This Day 14th August 1993.

Side view of a 3 engined jet airliner taxiing from right to left along a grey taxiway, about to turn on to a black runway. The plane is mostly white, with a yellow and dark blue stripe running along the body from the nose, getting slightly wider as it moves rearwards, as well as a dark blue tail. There are no other markings, apart from some very small, indecipherable text by the forward cabin door, and the black registration "HR-AMC" on the rear fuselage, under the centre engine intake. Lush green grass fills the foreground, with more grass visible under the plane in the background. Flat grey sky with a bright spot right at the top fill the rest of the frame.

HR-AMC, Lockheed L1011-1 TriStar, Air Ops, passing the beer garden of the Airport Hotel pub as it makes the turn onto Runway 24 at Manchester Airport,  14th August 1993.

They only operated this for a couple of years, before it was broken up in July 1995.

The acquired this machine a couple of months before this photo was taken, from TWA, who owned it from new, so I have no idea what is with the livery, which is like nothing else Air Ops operated.
The reason for the Honduran registry is also unknown, considering this airline was based in Sweden and mostly operated flights from the UK to Europe.

I like to think it was a treat for the Spotters, most of whom would think an HR-registration would be rather exotic, but it's probably not that.

Hmmm - thinking about it, they probably just painted over the old livery…

On This Day 14th August 2024.

Side view of a twin engined jet airliner flying from right to left at a very low altitude, with undercarriage lowered, flaps extended from the rear of the wings, and the nose raised sharply, suggesting it has just taken off. The plane is light blue on top and white underneath, the white section swooping up over the wings and back down again, with a dark blue section on top of the rear fuselage, under the tail. There are large red "TUI" titles on the forward fuselage. The white registration "G-TUKS" is on the dark blue section of the rear fuselage, next to a small British flag. The tail is light blue, with a large red logo that looks like a red winky face, but is made up of the letters "T", "U", and "I", a smaller version of this logo appearing on the blue upturned wingtips. The web address "tui.com" appears on the side of the white engine pods, slung under the wings. Green trees stretch across the bottom of the frame, while blue-grey cloudy skies with fluffs of white fill the rest.

G-TUKS, Boeing 737-8K2, TUI Airways, seconds after taking off from Runway 05 Right at Manchester Airport, as seen from the T1 car park.

On This Day 2 14th August 2025.

Side view of a twin engined jet airliner flying from right to left at a very low altitude, with undercarriage lowered and flaps extended from the rear of the wings, suggested it is about to land. The plane is mostly white, with grey "Vueling" titles on the upper forward fuselage, with additional yellow "Com" text immediately after. The grey registration "EC-MRF" is on the lower rear fuselage, next to small Spanish and EU flags. The tail-cone and tail start as white with a series of small grey dots, slowly transitioning to grey with white dots, then all grey. A single yellow dot is in the middle of all of these grey and white dots. The engine pods mounted under the wings are a bright yellow, with grey and white "Vueling Com" text. The upturned wingtips are also bright yellow. Bright green grass lines both sides of the runway in the foreground at the bottom of the frame, leading up to a heavily glazed grey terminal building, with a white and blue-green plane in front of it. Blue sky with fluffs of white and grey cloud fill the rest of the frame.

EC-MRF, Airbus A321-231, Vueling, about to land on Runway 28 Left at Dublin CollinsTown, 14th August 2024, as seen from one of the mounds on Old Airport Road.