Welcome!
Welcome to my Aviation photo website! It became necessary to build this hive of aviation filth after my previous account with Fotopic.net reached it's capacity & I would have had to have parted with coin of the realm in order to gain more space. Despite this I am perfectly willing to fork out on something like this - I just saw it as an opportunity to create this much more personal & professional site, so when I get used to it I'll buy my own domain name & 'upgrade to pro' to remove any annoying adverts that are mandatory with the free version.
Update: As most of my friends within the aviation community will know, my photos have never been brilliant - usually grainy and a little blurred. Following the purchase of a Canon EOS 400D DSLR camera in January 2012, all photos from here on in should be much higher quality - especially as the year progresses and I get more practice / experience with the new tech!!
Update: As most of my friends within the aviation community will know, my photos have never been brilliant - usually grainy and a little blurred. Following the purchase of a Canon EOS 400D DSLR camera in January 2012, all photos from here on in should be much higher quality - especially as the year progresses and I get more practice / experience with the new tech!!
About Me
My name is Chris Smith, I'm 22 years of age & have been a professional aviation enthusiast & plane spotter (for the record, I dislike both of those terms and only use them through lack of a better alternative) since 2006, which, ironically, is about when Durham Tees Valley Airport began it's spiral into the lower leagues of the aviation world. Despite going pro in 2006, I've held an interest for as long as I can remember. So how did I get my start? Well it all began during childhood, when my Grandparents would go on holiday to Jersey each & every Summer religiously. My parents & I would take them to the then Teesside International Airport where, without fail, a British Midland Fokker 100 from London Heathrow would be on stand, sending my Mum into panick thinking it was the Jersey flight & we were late, despite me telling her each & every year it wasn't!! (The Jersey flight was also operated by a British Midland Fokker 100). There was one occasion when five of these beautiful hollow aluminium tubes appeared on the ramp together, this time it was me flying somewhere though, it was the late 1990s if anyone knows what caused this? A mixture of the Heathrow/Jersey flights, along with some diversions or delayed DTVA flights I can only assume???
Durham Tees Valley Airport
Durham Tees Valley Airport is a small regional airport situated near the town of Darlington, North East England, UK. Due to several reasons, including politics & a lack of investment over the decades, it always has & likely always will be the secondary airport of the North East. Due to poor management & ownership (I'm able to say this only because the vast majority of the persons responsible have since moved on) the airport has lost over two thirds of it's business over the past five to six years or so. There is a continuous uphill struggle ongoing to try & claw this business back. There is no light at the end of the tunnel just yet, but fortunately the downfall has reached it's peak (unless the powers that be decide to shut the facility, heaven forbid!). Despite the above gloom, the majority of the spotting community including myself wholeheartedly support the new management team/owners & are confident that over the coming years the airport will be able to re-establish itself.
