LARNACA AIRPORT

Martes, Febrero 03, 2004 03:24:36 p.m.

 

For P H O T O S of LARNACA click the image below

Vantage Points: (airport layout map & appron map)

1. Mackenzie Beach: This beach is well known throughout spotting cycles for its excellent position ? where you can enjoy the sun, and the water with aircraft on short final right in front of you. Lighting is best after 1pm, and a 75-200 lens is more than sufficient (though even 75mm might be too long for the big widebodies).

2. This is a point you can get to by following the dirt road from Mackenzie beach, and this point is right behind the CY hangar. An ideal spot for those interested in biz-jets as it is very near to where they park them. Long stays at this point though are not recommended.

3. This point is further around the apron perimeter fence from #2, and you can get close ups of the aircraft parked next to the fence. It is not easy to get to, as you have to walk a bit from the dirt road in muddy ground near a small salt lake, and then you have to get on some rocks. In addition, the police are likely to move you if they spot you. But it might be the only reasonable point to take a decent shot of some of the rare Russians that come at midnight and leave after a week?

4. This point is a bus stop in the main road to the airport. You can see the whole apron, and most can be photographed with a 75-300 lens. This is a spot where you are not likely to be disturbed by the police.

5. To get to this point you pass the airport round-about, continue straight past the new control tower, and just before the traffic lights to the Nicosia highway you will see a dirt road to your left. The road ends right across of taxiway "I", and a 75-300 lens will work wonderfully in the afternoon. A word of caution is needed though as due to construction work at times lorries and trucks pass from here and it becomes impossible to stay. Usually though any lorry activity ends by 2.30pm.

6. In order to get to this point you drive past the traffic lights mentioned at 5 above, and then take a left turn at the point the road splits (look for the "Spyros Beach" sign). You go through a nice forest of cypress trees covering the road, and about 0.5Km after they end you look at your left for a light post with a big box on it. Below it you see a dirt road leading towards the airport fence. Leave the car there as the dirt road is blocked (so that villagers wouldn?t throw their garbage there). Follow the dirt road all the way to the fence, where you will find some old lawn chairs left over from other spotters, and you should also see the Airport Fire Services training area to your left. This is by far the best spot for morning shots when runway 04 is in use, and the quality is well worth the effort of the walk. Avoid this spot though when there is an A.F.S. exercise (every other Monday morning usually from 8-9am).

7. The final spot is the only good spot for runway 22 in the morning, and has by far the best backgrounds as well. In order to get there, instead of stopping at #6, you go on straight until you reach the end of the road at a "T" junction. You take the left branch and you follow the road (parts of which are decent asphalt and parts of which are dirt) all the way, past restaurants, apartments, and past the new desalination plant to the point it meets the perimeter fence at the seaside. Again, a 75-300 lens is needed here to cover all types, and lighting is good up to 2pm.

5B-DBS ARRIVING AT LARNAKA ON DELIVERY FLIGHT. Photo by Rolandos Constandinides

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