Skiathos Plane Spotting Low Landing

Austrian A320 Morning Landing & Extreme JETBLAST at Takeoff – Skiathos Plane Spotting Low Landing

There is no better way to start your day than smelling Jet A1 burning, as a giant mass of flying metal flies over your head for landing, then turns around for an -unexpectedly- strong jetblast, as the pilots hold their brakes with full TOGA thrust set!

OE-LBO, an Austrian Airlines Airbus A320-214. As plane spotters thirsty for a good blast, we all hope to see some good jetblast: a proper shortfield takeoff with the pilots holding their brakes while setting takeoff power. Despite the runway’s short length, we do not see that often! Many pilots apply thrust while rolling, others taxi forward, stop, then set takeoff thrust, in an attempt to keep things “safe” at the spotting point. To have one of those “proper” shortfield takeoffs right after our breakfast was a real treat and it caught me unprepared: even though I was not standing directly behind the line of thrust of the engines, I completely lost control of my camera for the first time ever, during some proper chaos!