Rovaniemi winter charter 2009

[Guest MarcL]

Hyvää iltaa

 

I'm another fellow of flightforum.ch who made it to the finnish forum too

Last december I've been to Rovaniemi and I was so thrilled of the special atmosphere up there, that I'm already planning a trip for January. I'm sorry my text is in English, but fortunately the pictures are more important than that. So let's take a look, enjoy!

 

The year before last, more precisely around end of November, Tis got in touch with me to discuss another spotting trip. Accidentally he saw some impressive pictures from Rovaniemi (Finland) and decided to go there for all the winter charts from England at short notice. Unfortunately I didn't have any holidays left so I had to postpone the trip to Rovaniemi.

Last fall Tis started a second try and asked me again to go to Rovaniemi. After a short plannig period we agreed on mid of December. The days passed by and one week before the journey, the weather was looking promising: -20°C and strong snow fall.

 

Finally, on Friday, December 11th the time has come. Our flight (ZRH-MUN-HEL-RVN) was scheduled for 12:15, at 11:00 I met Tis at Zurich Airport. Then we recognised that we we've been far too late and the queues in front of the check were pretty long. After talking to a swiss employee we have been priorised and finally we were at the gate 15 minutes before the boarding time.

 

 

We took off on time, as usual the boarder between Switzerland and Germany counts also for the weather Of course Switzerland is on the green side!

After arriving in Munich. A brand new Brazilian flying for Dolomiti.

 

A Lufthansa A340-600 is being pulled to the gate. Then we got the information that our flight to Helsinki will be delayed by two and a half hours - so our transfer time in Helsinki shrinked to 30 minutes. And this was only due to the fact that the Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi has been shortly delayed too. We were already thinking of a nightover trip to Rovaniemi by train. The cause of the big delays were the extremely strong snow falls all over Europe.

 

Because we didn't check through to Rovaniemi, we had to wait for the luggage and change the terminal to check in for our Finnair flight. After sprinting to the check in counter we had again a few minutes to proceed to our departure gate. After a short night - Tis and me have been walking through Rovaniemi until three o'clock in the morning to take a few pictures - we went to the airport the next day. The snow clearing crew was already preparing for the next rush hour.

 

On Saturday it was really warm, that's why we need something refreshing.

 

Our first client, a G-IV. If there wasn't a follow me car you would think it's a black&white picture.

 

Air Finland has sent us a 757, thank you!

 

Hamburg International, the only german airline flying to Rovaniemi. I like this new colour scheme.

 

Because of the long exposure time of 1/15 or 1/20, there are beacons on every second pictures.

 

Some of the pictures I've chosen to convey the athmosphere. It was snowing all saturday, even the skilled snow clearing crews of Rovaniemi had to fight to keep the runways clean. But the aircrafts tried to support them

 

Also Finnair was keen to clear the runways from all that snow.

 

Finally the easy jet from England.

 

The terminal of Rovaniemi - a beautiful design. The busses are waiting for the english tourists.

 

It seems to be that also Jet2 is an often seen guest in Rovaniemi.

 

The temperatures dropped to -15° and the wind got stronger again. But it seems that doesn't matter to the easyjet bus.

 

My first try for a HDR picture.

 

The Jet2manchester G-CELI after the push. The apron is getting pretty empty!

 

After a short run to the Thomson - I didnt have any feelings left in my bare fingers, which held the aluminium trip - Tis helped me to build up the tripod on a hill of ice chunks. When I see these pictures, I know why I fell in love with Rovaniemi. I'm already planning for the next trip

 

Ready for taxi...

 

The next day: All are waiting for the big rush hour!

 

The First Choice 757 is going first, fortunately with winglets.

 

Full reverse thrust and slam on the brakes - the runway was like a slide.

 

Ah, this atmosphere! Incomparable...

 

Because of the unavailable GPU's, the aircrafts have to use their APU's to generate power. Even if they're standing around for hours.

 

Changeover again - was pretty exhausting to change the ends after every movement. Another Thomson 757.

 

Closeup and pannin in one shot.

 

Transavia looks awesome in this dreary landscape

 

Auch bei Tag lassen sich schöne Bilder schiessen. Nur dauerte der Tag genau zwei Stunden.

 

Während des täglichen Betriebes wurde wie im Hintergrund zu sehen fleissig Schnee weggeräumt.

 

Die erste Wahl macht sich aufn Acker.

 

A very early take off, unfortunately. We stayed on the southern end of the terminal, as you can see it was the wrong decision.

 

XL France A320, something you can't see everywhere in Europe.

 

Another impressionistic picture, Jet 2 after vacating the runway.

 

Jet2 is advertising for low prices.

 

Night falls and the tripod became again our most important tool.

 

You have to love Rovaniemi

 

The deicing was always the highlight. We had to run faster than we ever have to make a picture. We were lucky and they had to deice twice. Thank you

 

The papers for the second deicing shower have been hand over in a very special way.

 

M-JETI, a bAE 125-800B.

 

Thomsonfly was no exception and needed a deicing. Shortly after this picture was taken, we went for the security check and proceeded to our gate. But our flight was delayed for around 40 minutes, so we decided to leave again to take pictures of the Thomson 757.

 

We did it And it was worth!

 

Our flight back to Helsinki took around 150 minutes. On the approach we noticed already the very strong snow flurry. Our plan was to go to downtown Helsinki for some sightseeing :/

 

Snow, snow, snow...

 

 

We had to wait 80 minutes for our luggage. While there were four flights on one baggage carousel, all others stayed empty the whole time. Even the Finns have been overextended with such an amount of snow. After a short visit in our hotel, we went to the city centre of Helsinki. The snow storm was a real fun

 

The next day we met a local spotter. It seems fotographers are frowned upon around HEL.

 

Finnair 757, again it started snowing.

 

Three MD11, now flying as cargo. That's why I have to come to Finland next winter

 

We had to struggle through snow and a construction site for this picture...

 

 

Arrived at the airport, we've been informed that our flight was delayed. So we checked the internet and found out that the aircraft even haven't left Frankfurt. So the time for the flight change in Frankfurt got shorter and shorter. The Swiss aircraft which should have brought us to Zurich was also stuck - in Manchester. So we've waited, checked the flights regularly and also looked for other options to come back to Zurich. Finally the Lufthansa aircraft departed in Frankfurt just minutes before the expected arrival time in Helsinki. To make matters worse, the Swiss flight to Zurich has been cancelled. I had to go to work the other day, so we went to the Lufthansa counter and asked for some information. But the only alternative way would have been the train, which has also been stuck in Frankfurt. Around 90% of the passers had to catch a connecting flight in Frankfurt. The flight attendants tried to keep all passengers up to date about the gates of their connecting flights and so on. After the announcement of the captain that we would be landing in a few minutes you could feel the relief onboard. Only 5 minutes later we started to climb again and the Captain told us that the runway's have been changed and the airport was closed for 20 minutes because of snow clearing on the runways. After those 20 minutes, we heard the engines rev up and noticed that we were leaving the holding. Moments later the captain himself came to the cabine and informed us about his decision to divert to Cologne. Nice...

 

On our unexpected flight from Frankfurt to Cologne.

 

 

After we got our luggage, we left the terminal because we didn't have any information what we'd have to do. At the exit two Lufthansa employees were fighting with the crowd and the taxi drivers. It was a horrible and mess and everyone was screaming. Finally we organised a taxi on our own and went to a really nice hotel. Tis and me both didn't think that Lufthansa has an overview of all the stranded passengers and so we booked tickets for the first germanwings flight at 6 in the morning. The trains to Zurich were completely full and sometimes still cancelled due to snow and ice. We informed the Lufthansa counter that we'd make it home on our own. We tried to get back our money from Lufthansa, but they denied to pay them. The only thing they paid was the taxi to our hotel. After two more hours of sleep I went to work at noon.

 

I want to thank you for checking out my pics!

 

PS: Here's a Making Of Movie (Tis made):

 

PPS: Hi Juoni

 

 

Best Regards

 

Marc Läderach

[Petri Koivisto 372]

Hey Marc!

 

Thanks for sharing a great, great story and pics!! And welcome again anytime!

 

I've always wanted to do that trip too, but somehow never didn't. Eventhough I live more than a half closer than you, here in Vantaa

 

oh, and I almost forgot: Welcome to the finnish forums!

[Lauri Sodervall 0]

Great photos, especially some of those First Choice 757 ones were awesome!

[Heikki O Salonen 0]

Great photos! Especially the De-Icing photo!!

[Santeri Saikkonen 0]

Wow! Excellent photos! Especially the Thomson 757! 

[Jan Fredriksson 2]

It's not often I read the stories, but this was so entertaining that I had to do an exception. Last winter was exceptional as well - in a good way (although it messed up your return back home). Hopefully next winter is as good and snowy.

Welcome to the finnish forums.

 

-Jani

[Patrick Ojanen 239]

Very nice pictures, and all 757's was great .

[Jari Ahonen 0]

Great pictures! Very nice

[Vieras]

Excellent photos

[Juha-Matti Keränen 3]

Whoa!

 

That "Another impressionistic picture, Jet 2 after vacating the runway."-pic would fit an ad for Jet2 perfectly....TOP5 pics ever posted on this forum (just my humble opinion). If that pic doesn't capture the Nordic atmos in aviation, don't know what will...

 

Nice job 

 

[Heikki Sten 1]

Hienoja kuvia. Mahtaako olla 1000pix leveitä? Minäkin haluan laittaa näin isoja.

[Timo Nurmi 9]

Hienoja kuvia. Mahtaako olla 1000pix leveitä? Minäkin haluan laittaa näin isoja.

Näinhän tuolla sanotaan....

"Suurin suositeltu kuvatiedostojen leveys on 800 pikseliä."

 

Ed: Lis. hymiö

[Jan Fredriksson 2]

Joo, kyllä se on heti astetta näyttävämpää kun laittaa snadisti isompaa. Mun mielestä foorumin 800px on kyllä niin aikansa elänyt, mutta tätä samaa mä oon tietysti toitottanu jo pitkät ajat. Modet antaa varmaan kohta kick/bannia tästä hyvästä. 

 

-Jani

[Mikko Maliniemi 5]

Tässä tapauksessa ei näköjään kukaan moderaattoreista nähnyt vaivan arvoiseksi ruveta englantia solkkaamaan, vaan tapaus on mennyt läpi sormien... Muistaakseni Sami on sanonut, että maksimileveyden muutosta mietitään sitten forumisoftan päivityksen yhteydessä, niinkuin lukuisia muitakin muutoksia/parannuksia jne. Nykyiseen versioon ei enää kannata ruveta vissiin koodaamaan omia, jos uusi on tulossa....

 

 

[Mikko Maliniemi 5]

Hello Marc,

 

And welcome to the Finnish counterpart of your own discussion forum.

 

If you wonder what people are talking about in Finnish, it's about the size of your photos. In our current forum rules it's said that the max. width is 800px and people are discussing wether the limit should be brought up to 1000 or even more pixels. Well, that change is most likely coming at some point with the forum software update, but for time being we have let your photos slip through our fingers this time.

 

Nice photos from Finland you've taken! Hope to see some more in the future...

 

[Marko Pajunen 36]

Thanks for the great photos! It seems 757 rules, once again...

 

If you are planning to return in January,  there will be hardly any charters at Rovaniemi and probably the coldest weather. I would recommend March, still winter but a lot more light in the whole country.

[Guest MarcL]

Good morning

 

Thank you so much all for the warm welcome

 

 

Hey Marc!

 

Thanks for sharing a great, great story and pics!! And welcome again anytime!

 

I've always wanted to do that trip too, but somehow never didn't. Eventhough I live more than a half closer than you, here in Vantaa

 

oh, and I almost forgot: Welcome to the finnish forums!

Oh, you definitely have to go there! It's worth it.

I'm also thinking about spending 2-3 days in Helsinki for spotting (even if I recognized that spotters are not welcome there), I really would like to get the Finnair cargo MD11

 

 

It's not often I read the stories, but this was so entertaining that I had to do an exception. Last winter was exceptional as well - in a good way (although it messed up your return back home). Hopefully next winter is as good and snowy.

Welcome to the finnish forums.

 

-Jani

Thanks, it was really a exciting trip home. I liked it, unfortunately we had to pay the flights by ourselves.

I hope that too, I don't want to have rain when I'll be in Helsinki/Rovaniemi

 

 

Whoa!

 

That "Another impressionistic picture, Jet 2 after vacating the runway."-pic would fit an ad for Jet2 perfectly....TOP5 pics ever posted on this forum (just my humble opinion). If that pic doesn't capture the Nordic atmos in aviation, don't know what will...

 

Nice job 

 

Thanks Juha-Matti!

Unfortunately it's not very sharp, but I have a Nikon D700 now, so next time I won't have any problems with the sharpness

 

 

Hello Marc,

 

And welcome to the Finnish counterpart of your own discussion forum.

 

If you wonder what people are talking about in Finnish, it's about the size of your photos. In our current forum rules it's said that the max. width is 800px and people are discussing wether the limit should be brought up to 1000 or even more pixels. Well, that change is most likely coming at some point with the forum software update, but for time being we have let your photos slip through our fingers this time.

 

Nice photos from Finland you've taken! Hope to see some more in the future...

 

Hi Mikko

 

I was already wondering about the finnish posts and was already trying to translate it when I read your post If you want, I can also reduce the size to 800px, that wouldn't be a problem. But if you think you'll update this rule soon, I hope it's okay if I just leave them as they are. And thanks for the compliment

On the swiss flightforum they just changed the size to 1024px, which is not a bad idea. I'm just used to do it with 1000px.

 

 

Thanks for the great photos! It seems 757 rules, once again...

 

If you are planning to return in January,  there will be hardly any charters at Rovaniemi and probably the coldest weather. I would recommend March, still winter but a lot more light in the whole country.

Interesting, I thought that maybe we have some russian charters (unfortunately no Yak/TUs) at the beginning of January. If not, I'll think about December again...

 

 

I wish you a very nice day and of course a long and relaxing weekend

 

Marc

[Mikko Haajanen 0]

Hi Marc!

I need to say that you have taken beautiful photos .

[Mikko Maliniemi 5]

If you want, I can also reduce the size to 800px, that wouldn't be a problem.

 

No need for that this time. I give you special rights

[Juho Pyhäjärvi 0]

Interesting, I thought that maybe we have some russian charters (unfortunately no Yak/TUs) at the beginning of January. If not, I'll think about December again...

You thought right, there will be several russian charters at the beginning of January. BTW, great photos Marc!

[Guest MarcL]

Hi Marc!

I need to say that you have taken beautiful photos .

Thanks Mikko

 

No need for that this time. I give you special rights

Wow, it's an honour, thank you

 

You thought right, there will be several russian charters at the beginning of January. BTW, great photos Marc!

I just saw the pictures on jetphotos. Which week would be better, the first or second one in January? I'm thinking about coming to Rovaniemi for the second week, 7.1. to 16.1.

 

 

Marc

[Markus Valo 13]

I just saw the pictures on jetphotos. Which week would be better, the first or second one in January? I'm thinking about coming to Rovaniemi for the second week, 7.1. to 16.1.

 

If this helps for the Russian fleet (assuming that the main traffic is because of the Russian New Year):

 

The Old New Year (Russian: Старый Новый год, Ukrainian: Старий Новий рік, Macedonian: Стара Нова Година) or the Orthodox New Year ( Serbian: Православна нова година or Pravoslavna nova godina) is an informal traditional Slavic Orthodox holiday, celebrated as the start of the New Year by the Julian calendar. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Old New Year falls on January 13/14.

 

[Harri Koskinen 288]

If this helps for the Russian fleet (assuming that the main traffic is because of the Russian New Year):

 

Well, you are not right. Old New Year on January 13/14 is not a public holiday in Russia, please check http://sgholiday.com/2010/10/russia-holidays-2011/:

 

The biggest 2011 Russia public holidays is the New Year celebrations, celebrated for 10 calendar days from 1st January 2011 till the 10th January 2011. Christmas in Russia comes 2 weeks later than other countries, celebrated on the 7th January 2011.

 

I.e. Russians celebrate New Year at the same time than we and in addition the Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on 7 January. Therefore the Russian charters concentrate on three different times, the following was the scheme for 2009/2010:

- around 28-30 December (arrivals for New Year)

- around 3-5 January (arrivals for Orthodox Christmas and departures of New Year)

- around 8-10 January (departures of Orthodox Christmas)

 

Note also that finding accomondation in Rovaniemi during the winter charter period is very difficult and expensive.

[Guest MarcL]

Thanks for the information, I'll book the flights during the next days!

 

 

Marc