With the prolonged closure of Lučko effectively rendering it useless for aviation photography, one has no other option but to turn to the world of commercial aviation at nearby Zagreb Intl :). While the traffic picture there is mostly an endless succession of Airbii, 737s and Dashes of all sorts, the airport’s strategic location at the entry point to the Balkans often guarantees some interesting visitors.
The case was no different over the past few weeks, bringing in several interesting and very welcome visitors… ripe for me to photograph and enjoy! 😀
Operating out of Pleso with “my” Skyhawk, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to stop and snap a few shots on my way to the terminal. One of the more interesting subjects on that route is this Renegade, the only one in Croatia and, for the past few years, a permanent resident of Pleso. A remnant of several abortive attempts at starting inter-island floatplane services on the Croatian coast, this little thing hadn’t flown in years, but is apparently regularly cleaned and maintainedOpportunities for night photography had also abounded on 12 March, when heavy snows caused havoc in the skies over Western Europe. Reduction in airport capacities and long waits in holding patterns had seen almost a dozen bizjets and bizprops divert into Zagreb for fuel, including the two Citations pictured here. In just one hour, we’d seen three Citations, two Learjets and a King Air 350 – more biz traffic than Pleso gets in a whole dayA far bigger attraction though was the very welcome sight and sound of the classic Diesel-9. Rumbling out of RWY 23 for the trip home to the States, this C-9 had spent several days flying through the region on unknown business, luckily stopping in Zagreb when the weather was just rightA “straight” combi version of the DC-9-32, the C-9B shares its family tree with the C-9A Nightingale, a medical evacuation model intended to transport wounded from operational bases to medical facilities far behind the lines, as well as the VC-9, a VIP transport for state staffMother Nature likes this! Bathed in a pool of light while rainclouds loom all around is the biggest visitor this year, the legendary Ruslan. In town on a technical stop, UR-82072 is today ferrying combat vehicles from Sarajevo to RAF Brize Norton in the UK following an international military exercise. Too heavy to meet climb requirements out of Sarajevo with full tanks, the aircraft had taken on just enough fuel to get to Zagreb, where it had topped up for the rest of its journey.
Achtung, Skyhawk! 
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