The big planes are back over London: Airbus A380-842 A6-EVG
Four-engined jets used to be a commonplace sight here in Hammersmith, West London. Now the B747s are mostly retired and most of the A380s are having a long holiday in a desert in Spain.
So it was a surprise to see and hear Emirates flying this graceful monster again today over my neighbourhood and on down to London Heathrow airport. The A380 is quiet before it passes over but you get to hear a full roar for a short time afterwards. Four engines do usually sound quieter than two in my experience here, but any plane this close overhead sounds loud, especially if you are trying to sleep.
It can’t be carrying anything like an economic load of passengers, surely. And even if it did, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the queue at the UK border desks with the current manual checking of the quarantine locator documentation.
Maybe there’s a load of freight on board or maybe the airline needs it to fly to maintain the crew and plane certifications current.
Note the undercarriage is in place in my second photo, about a minute after my first image; the plane is then approximately over Richmond.