It's a boy's thing ... or is it?!

[MrGongGong]

Brilliant.
Trains,planes and automoblies don't really do it for me,it's ships that float my boat.

You need one of these then ?

[Stillhomewardbound]

Gor blimey, what 'ave I started 'ere. Looks like WW III!

I don't suppose anyone will care for these either, then :((

[Mr Pee]

I thought that the U2 belonged to another era. I guess I'm wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2 A plane which has been operated for over 50 years.

I thought the U2 was history as well, until my first visit to Akrotiri. It is remarkable that they are still in active service after all these years.

(That second link is fascinating, Dave2002. Thanks.)

[EdgeleyRob]

That's a nifty bit of kit Mr GG.

Boring holiday snap alert.

P & O Ventura 'parked up' in Toulon harbour.

[ardcarp]

and whilst we're on cruise liners....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/costa-concordia-salvage-pictures-remains-2280458

Another example of man's (rather than woman's, I suspect) over-reliance on technology.

(And let no-one cast aspersions on my choice of reading matter. Upthread it was The Guardian.)

[amateur51]

and whilst we're on cruise liners....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/costa-concordia-salvage-pictures-remains-2280458

Another example of man's (rather than woman's, I suspect) over-reliance on technology.

(And let no-one cast aspersions on my choice of reading matter. Upthread it was The Guardian.)

The person who crashed it was indeed a man.

[french frank]

The technical features of the photography are interesting but not the subject matter. I was once a passenger in a Caravelle, Paris to Madrid





My name is Ozymandias ...

[anotherbob]

A Spitfire is a warplane. How can that be anything but ugly?

I can't agree. The job it was designed to do has nothing to do with its appearance (or the sound from the wonderful Merlin engine.)

[Dave2002]

Gor blimey, what 'ave I started 'ere. Looks like WW III!

I don't suppose anyone will care for these either, then :((

I didn't think one could land such planes at that airport - or get them back into the air again. The BA 146 should be OK, and also the Dash 7 but these look too big. I guess I'm wrong again!

[MrGongGong]

I didn't think one could land such planes at that airport - or get them back into the air again. The BA 146 should be OK, and also the Dash 7 but these look too big. I guess I'm wrong again!

Depth of field innit

[Mr Pee]

I didn't think one could land such planes at that airport - or get them back into the air again. The BA 146 should be OK, and also the Dash 7 but these look too big. I guess I'm wrong again!

Well, look what they used to get into the old Kai-Tak airport in Hong Kong:-





I flew into there a couple of times. Quite an interesting experience, looking out of the aircraft windows and into people's apartment windows.....I remember on one occasion, the pilot came onto the passenger address system, and said "We will shortly be landing at Kai-Tak airport. For those of you who have not landed here before, do not be alarmed, this is a normal approach."

The pilots had to make a very late sharp right turn to line up with the runway, their visual cue being a large chequeboard on the side of a mountain:-



It was possible to climb a very steep set of steps- you can see them in the photo just to the left below the chequerboard- and sit just below the board to watch as the planes came in. Again, quite an alarming experience as they headed directly towards you and then made what seemed like an impossibly late turn for their final approach.

I've not flown there, but I believe the new HK airport has a much less interesting approach, which I'm sure is a great relief to the pilots!

[Nick Armstrong]

Then of course there's that insane airport on St Martin in the Caribbean....

[mangerton]

As nautical transport appears to be permitted, here are two pictures I took from Gourock on the Firth of Clyde.

The PS Waverley is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world, and she's steam driven!



Here is the QE2 on her last-ever visit to the Clyde on Sunday 5th October 2008.

[Stillhomewardbound]

I didn't think one could land such planes at that airport - or get them back into the air again. The BA 146 should be OK, and also the Dash 7 but these look too big. I guess I'm wrong again!

Dave2002, I think strictly speaking it was the HS146, but that's neither here nor there as these days it's styled as the Avro RJ 85, or some such.

The picture above is an Embraer 175, I believe, produced out of Brazil and probably the best selling regional jet of the current crop. Depending on their configuration they take 70-80 passengers and if all orders are completed there will be some 315 in the skies.

The planes will appear larger than might be imagined because one can get get so close to them at City Airport. Oh, and I also use a very big canon when I'm on the job ;).

[Flosshilde]

As nautical transport appears to be permitted, here are two pictures I took from Gourock on the Firth of Clyde.

The PS Waverley is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world, and she's steam driven!

I've yet to take a trip on her - a must for next summer, especially if it's as good as this year. I've got a photograph of her leaving Rothesay - a perfectly ordinary picture of a ship, until you notice that the wake is at the front! When she leaves harbour she goes backwards - very disconcerting.

Here is the QE2 on her last-ever visit to the Clyde on Sunday 5th October 2008.

So much more graceful than the floating towerblocks that pass for cruise ships now.