Manchester

Photo of the Day 15th July 2025.

mancavgeek

15 Jul 2025 • 1 min read

F-GKXO, Airbus A320-214, Air France, accelarating along Runway 23 Left on departure at Manchester Airport, 24th August 2015, as seen from one of my favourite places at my home airport.

As far as I'm aware, this is the only place in the UK where you can legally stand on public land between a pair of parallel runways and take photos - at busy periods, it is possible to keep turning left and right, alternately getting photos of planes taking off on one side, then others landing on the other.

And only a handful of spotters know about this place, its really out of the way, and even most of the locals haven't found it.

The nearest public road is about a 20 minute walk away, the nearest bus stop is almost half an hour in the opposite direction (and the buses only run every hour!), and the easiest route is almost impassable when it has been raining!

In short, it's utter bliss - some great spotting, fantastic photos, and not another soul nearby - perfect for anti-social me!

Bonus Photo of the Day 15th July 2025.

Side view of a high-winged, twin propellor-engined airliner taxiing from left to right. The plane is mostly white, with large blue letters "LOT" on the lower forward fuselage, and a blue stripe running along the body, covering the passenger cabin windows. There is some smaller, blue text in Polish on the upper forward fuselage, roughly translating to "Polish Air Lines" The tail is the same dark blue, with a white circle containing a stylised blue flying bird, it's wings outstretched and swept forwards. Grey concrete apron fills most of the rest of the frame, with grass either side of a runway in the distance.

SP-LFC, ATR72-202, LOT Polish Airlines, at Warsaw Okecie, 3rd October 1996.

Bonus Photo of the Day 2 15th July 2025.

Side view of a very small, high-winged, twin propellor-engined airliner parked on black tarmac facing to the right. The plane is mostly white, with a blue and green stripe running along the belly, sweeping up in to the tail. There are small white "Taiwan Airlines" titles on the green stripe under the cockpit, with some black writing in a Chinese script above it. The registration "G-BUB_" is on the upper rear fuselage in black, the last letter obscured by the fixed landing gear coming down from the green and blue engine pods on the wings. A black tarmac taxiway fills most of the foreground, lined with grass on the left of the frame. The black tip of a planes wing is peeking in to frame on the left, while the nose and cockpit of a yellow 2-seat trainer is in the background on the right. Pale blue sky with fluffs of white cloud fill the rest of the frame.

G-BUBN, Britten-Norman BN-2B-26 Islander, in Taiwan Airlines Airlines colours, at Farnborough Air Show, 10th September 1994.

This plane never actually went to Taiwan, instead going to Isles of Scilly Skybus, in Southern England, where it has been ever since.