Gibraltar Airport Report; Cloudy Sunday Creates a bit of Trouble for Landings, 4 December 2022
- Michael HARTUNG
- Dec 4, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 8, 2022
Sunday morning presented challenges at Gibraltar Airport this cold and rainy December day. Three easyJet flights were scheduled for morning arrivals and departures on 4 December 2022. The three landed and departed safely, but not without some issues.
The originally scheduled Manchester flight was delayed so it showed an arrival time of 10:50 am which put it right in line time wise with the Bristol and London Gatwick landings. I love when this happens because it makes for a very fun plane spotting morning.
This morning, I left Spain and headed over into Gibraltar. According to Mete the forecast called for rain and clouds. I thought around 9:45 am I would be in the clear to head out on my bike, but I was wrong. I got wet, a lot more wet than I expected. But, I had to weather the storm for the planes!
I arrived in Gib in time to walk down a very quiet main street. By this time the rain had subsided and I made my climb up to The Great Siege Tunnels. Check out the video of Main Street at Gibraltar here.
Only to be met by a group of thugs trying to hustle me for food 😂😂😂
At The Great Siege Tunnels, the clouds were way to low to be able to see the plane from Bristol coming in for landing on runway 27. The cloud was so think I couldn't see down to the runway, but I could hear the A20N, G-UZLL coming in for landing. I quickly left that spot and headed down to Princess Carolines Battery where the cloud wasn't as thick, or it seemed.
The cloud over Gibraltar seemed to lift and come back down in a matter of minutes. (Check out this playlist featuring timelapse clouds over Gibrlatar set to realxing and classical music). I was able to see flight EZY26299 as it was taxiing to the terminal at Gibraltar Airport. While there I was watching the Manchester flight on FightRadar24 and seeing it spin around the south side of The Rock of Gibraltar to head for landing at runway 09. The opposite of the Bristol flight that had just landed. It was a very calm morning with no wind, and when there is no wind, the planes seem to change their landing and departure direction.
The Manchester flight, EZY1963 didn't even come down out of the clouds. It did a go around. In this video you can hear it, but there is no chance of seeing it. She didn't even come down from the clouds. This was the Amy Johnson Flight Initiative Livery aircraft, G-EZTK.
Manchester continued to gain altitude and head east to out over the Alboran Sea. At this point, I wasn't sure if she was going to land or be diverted to Malaga. Sweeping in just minutes later to land was EZY8901.
EZY8901 out of London Gatwick landed without an issue in a very thick and heavy fog/cloud. The A320, G-EZPE, raced down the runway to slow down, being engulfed in thick cloud. Landing time, 11:07 am. Notice the second picture at 11:09 am, that's how fast the cloud moved across the airport runway at Gibraltar. Honestly, it was quite incredible how quickly the cloud shifted. I'm not sure how thick the cloud looked from the ground or how the visibility was on the ground, but from this vantage point it was pretty dense, I am at about 700 feet above sea level. I'm sure on the ground it was more clear, but I was up in the cloud.
The Manchester flight was not diverted after all. She was out over the Alboran Sea, the Sea that is part of the larger Mediterranean just to the East of The Rock of Gibraltar. After hearing EZY1963 do a fly over 20 minutes prior, it was now landing time at 11:17 am.
By this time the Bristol flight was filled with its passengers and the rear staircase had been pulled. The London Gatwick flight was busy loading passengers and luggage, as the Amy Johnson Flight Initiative Livery, G-EZTK, raced by at high speed as it was slowing down just after landing.
It was quite an interesting morning the way the clouds were dipping down and pushing back up during the three landings. The Bristol flight had landed at 10:41 am, while London Gatwick touched down at 11:07 am, and finally Manchester at 11:17 am .
No time was wasted in unloading and reloading the aircraft, which is normal for these flights here at Gibraltar. They departed as: EZY6300, to Bristol at 11:30 am; EZY8902, to London Gatwick at 12:08 pm; and EZY1964 to Manchester at 12:15 pm. I know for a fact the passengers on the Manchester flight both arriving and departing, were so happy to see this plane land successfully at Gibraltar. Having to bus to Malaga or vice versa to catch the flight there would be such an inconvenience.
By the time the planes departed the heavy cloud had lifted a bit. There were bursts of sun here and there across the town of La Linea, the border town in Spain. The rain tended to keep at bay for the time I was up at Princess Carolines Battery. I didn't end up going back up to my favorite spot at the Great Siege Tunnels because those Gibraltar Monkey's are quite mischievous at times, so I hailed from this location to avoid them.
The cloudy and rainy day at Gibraltar Airport proved to be interesting for the 3 morning landings. It was a bit cold today, and the rain on my bike ride here didn't help. But, luckily I was able to catch some views of these planes at Gibraltar today. And most important is that all the passengers and crew arrived and departed safely despite the weather.
The videos for these 3 flights will be released on Ministry of Flight on YouTube later this week after editing. Please take a moment to click the subscribe button on YouTube for Ministry of Flight. Also if you plan on buying something from Amazon, consider clicking on one of the links on this page as it helps me out as small business and I may receive compensation for it.
Thanks for reading and be sure to take a look at some of my other articles reporting on and about the Gibraltar Airport. Check out this short documentary about the Road on the Runway at Gibraltar Airport.
Final note: Today I had a short conversation with some runners who stopped at my location for a quick break. I chatted with them briefly and when I told her my channel name, she responded oh, is that with the government. My response was no, I made it up only to find out that everything else revolving around British and Gibraltar Government is named Ministry. For the record, this channel is not affiliated with any government entity, it's just a name I made up.
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