The Airbus A380
... comes to Chicago
a blog by Arnie Lee
March 20, 2007
For weeks, I had heard that the super jumbo Airbus A380 was to make a "performance proving flight" to the USA in mid-March. We kept tabs on the news and gradually learned that Airbus and Lufthansa would make a joint flight from Frankfurt to New York on March 19th and then on to Chicago on March 20th. The purpose of these flights was to iron out any "kinks" in the new aircraft on a long journey as it carries a full passenger load from Germany to the USA.
When I learn of the time schedule for the A380 visit, I contact both O'Hare Airport and Lufthansa media staffs to obtain a press pass to cover the arrival in Chicago. Unfortunately, after multiple phone calls to the officer in charge of Media Relations at O'Hare, I am told that both Airbus and Lufthansa have put severe limitations on the issuances of press passes for the event. So from an "official standpoint", I am out of luck.
Left to fend on myself the question is, should I drive 200+ miles from our offices in Grand Rapids to Chicago's O'Hare to try to get a glimpse of this huge aircraft? At what time will the flight arrive? Will I be able to guess the arrival runway to be used? Is there a suitable location from which to view the landing?
I decide that the effort is worth it if I can bring back a few photos of the big bird. So I wake up in the wee hours on Tuesday morning and leave for Chicago by car with a bag full of camera equipment. Having heard that the Airbus/Lufthansa flight from New York City is to arrive in Chicago about 1PM, I plan to get to O'Hare early enough to drive around the perimeter of the airport to find a good vantage point from which to photograph the event. Also the night before, I discovered that a group of spotters from www.airliners.net are planning to meet near O'Hare at Chile's Restaurant on Mannheim Road at 10AM and I'd like to meet up with these enthusiasts to trade information about the A380's arrival.
The 200 mile drive from Grand Rapids to Chicago is uneventful and I'm thankful that I didn't run into the usual Chicago area traffic. I stop only for coffee and a donut and arrive at the Chile's Restaturant meeting location ahead of schedule, 9:30 AM. Although I have a large collection of cameras, today I am using a digital SLR camera and an "ancient film" SLR camera as a backup. The backup camera hasn't been out of the camera bag for at least three or four years and its battery is dead. I walk over to the nearby Target Store and buy a replacment. Back in the car I make sure that the backup camera is working OK with its new battery.
Next, I fit my favorite telephoto zoom lens onto the digital SLR camera to make sure that it too is operating properly. Oops. Something isn't working right. What's the problem? I turn the digital camera over and unlatch the battery compartment. I just about scream. No battery! Last night, I removed the battery, attached it to the charger and plugged it into the AC outlet to get it ready for today's workout at O'Hare. However, in my haste this morning, I forget to unplug and reinstall the battery in the digital SLR camera.
So here I am separated from the precious battery by some 200 miles. Well, I guess I can forget about meeting the group of airplane spotters at Chile's Restaturant. Instead, I have to find a camera store that has a replacement battery for my digital camera.
Back in the car I type "c-a-m-e-r-a" into the Garmin GPS. It dutifully finds three camera stores within 8 miles of my present location. I start the car and follow the reassuring voice coming from the GPS that directs me to "Wolfs Camera Store" in nearby Mount Prospect. I arrive, park the car and walk across the street. "That's funny", I say to myself. "I don't see Wolfs Camera Store". So I duck into the Starbucks and ask the clerk, "Can you please tell me where I can find Wolfs Camera Store?" "Sorry, sir. The camera store closed a few months ago", she replies.
On no. I run back to the car and again type "c-a-m-e-r-a" into the GPS. Now the GPS tells me that there is another Wolfs Camera Store near the intersection of Milwaukee and Golf Road, about 7 miles from here. Again, I follow the directions coming from the pleasant female GPS voice and fifteen minutes later I'm standing patiently in line at the camera store buying a replacement battery and battery charger. I quickly pay the clerk and hurry back to the car.
Fortunately, I remembered to bring the power inverter from home so I plug the new battery charger into the inverter to give the replacement battery some juice. Whew! With the digital camera now in operating order, I'm saved. The time now is 11:45AM so I had better hoof it back to the airport (still about 6 miles away) to find a good spot from which to take photos.
Having flown to and from O'Hare hundreds of times, I know that Rwy 32L was the longest. I glance at the airport layout and see that Rwy 32L is also the widest at 200 feet, so it might be a good candidate for the A380 landing. But from my experience, I know that Rwy 32L is used mostly for takeoff operations.
Yesterday, my media contact at O'Hare told me by phone that the choice of arrival runway for the A380 was not fixed. In fact he told me that the runway used would depend on winds, just like any other flight. So the arrival runway is still very much up in the air - please forgive the pun.
Earlier that morning I observed that arriving aircraft were landing on Rwy 9L, 9R and 4R. Alright. I have to make a quick decision. Where should I position myself for the arrival? Should I go to the west side of the airport to photograph the approaches to Rwy 9L and 9R or should I go to the south side and hope that the A380 would be landing on either Rwy 4R or 32L?
I decide to head south.
First I drive along the western (Elmhurst Road) and then southern (Irving Park Road) perimeter roads looking for a vacant lot or field that has an unobstructed view to the south. The time is now 12:20PM and I am anxious to stop so that I can take a few practice photographs before the A380 arrives.
As I drive east along Irving Park Road, I see a group of spotters behind a chain link fence that overlooks the threshold to Rwy 4R. This is the spot for me! But this stretch along Irving Park Road is a limited access road. I end up driving more than a mile, winding my way through narrow back streets and parking lots before I am able to find the group of spotters. I park my car 150 yards from the group, grab by cameras and start walking towards the fence that overlooks the threshold.
The time is now 12:30PM and according to radio reports, I still have about 30 minutes to get ready for the arrival. For now, I plan to shoot a few practice photos of other aircraft to make sure that my camera equipment is working properly.
If I had to guess, the outside temperature is a warm 45 degrees. The sun is shining brightly and the sky is cloudless. To the east I can see four news helicopters hovering, most likely getting ready to film the arrival of the A380. The helicopters are far enough away that I don't hear their engines.
The crowd of spotters numbers about forty and includes three policemen. The policemen are sitting in their squad cars evidently stationed at this location for crowd control. The other spotters are standing within twenty feet of the chain link fence staring southward. On this sunny day and from this location, everyone has a clear, treeless, unobstructed view of the approach path. Nearly half of the spotters have cameras of all shapes and sizes, cell-phone cameras and binoculars.
As I walk from my car towards the chain link fence, I overhear another spectator casually mention that he sees the A380 coming. I gaze towards the south and see only a speck above the horizon. But I am not really convinced that the speck is really the A380. However, as the speck grows larger I am able to pick out four engines. Well, this is either a 747, an A340 or maybe it's the A380 after all.
I increase the pace of my walk and finally reach the fenced-in spotting area. I point my telephoto lens towards the speck. This telephoto is a large 100mm to 400mm zoom autofocus, image stablizer lens. In plain English, this lens is designed to automatically focus on a moving object and keep it steady in the viewfinder. But this speck is too distant, making in impossible for the lens to lock in on the aircraft automatically. So I grab onto the len's manual focusing ring and twist until the speck pops into focus. Wow. Sure enough, I can now pick out the "whale-like" nose of the approaching aircraft. This really is the A380!
Boy, do I feel lucky. If I hadn't found a replacement battery at the camera store, I would have missed this. If I had stopped for another cup of coffee, I would have missed this. If I had encountered another red traffic light, I would have missed this. In short, if I had arrived two minutes later, I would have missed this.
I stare back into the camera viewfinder and yank the speck back into focus by twisting the focusing ring. As the aircraft continues its approach, the speck is slowly transformed into a narrow horizontal line. Quickly I snap off a few camera shots.
 click to enlarge |
My first sighting of the Airbus A380 is this tiny speck over the horizon. According to the camera timestamp, the top photo was taken at 12:31:30 PM on March 20, 2007. In the bottom photo, the speck has slowly stretched into a horizonal line with the camera timestamp 12:32:58, a full minute and a half later. Some quick math tells me that the aircraft is about 5 miles further away in the top photo. The A380 is making a long, straight-in approach to ORD Rwy 4R from the South. |
As the details of the aircraft grow, you can hear the oohs and aahs coming from the crowd of spotters. By this time, the policemen too are standing outside of their squad cars and peering intently at the approaching aircraft.
With the aircraft now clearly visible, I am able to take my hand off of the manual focusing ring and let the telephoto lens take over full automatic operation. This frees me up to concentrate on framing the A380 in the viewfinder.
From my location and with a perfectly clear view of the approaching A380, my job is a cinch. I can just keep my finger pressed down on the shutter button and enjoy the sight.
From the time I first spot the speck until the huge A380 passes in front on me near touchdown - a time span that is exactly three minutes (from 12:31:30PM to 12:34:30PM) - I take 71 photographs. Here are a few of the shots of the A380 that I captured (click to enlarge). Please note that these are high resolution jpgs images.
I have more to share with you, but have run out of time for now.
There'll be more to come soon.
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This is a blog by Arnie Lee. Arnie, a professional photographer, is also President of Abacus.
If you have any comments or feedback about this article, please contact Arnie via email