The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t let up, so I haven’t been to the airport to spot planes for nearly half a year. I’m really rusty, so I headed to Haneda Airport on this day (Vernal Equinox holiday, March 21st) to practice.

Also, due to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, European international flights have largely been grounded, so I skipped Terminal 3 and just hung out at the Terminal 2 observation deck to try and regain my old touch. By the way, I bought the Sony a7m4 several months ago and took it out for the first time to shoot planes, but I only ended up with these two shots. The other photos were still taken with the Canon 5D4.

Now there are only monotonous domestic flights, and I only saw one special livery aircraft; the fun of spotting has decreased significantly compared to before the pandemic. The bridge in the background of the photo above is the “Dinosaur Bridge”, that is, the Tokyo Gate Bridge The background in the photo above is the Makuhari area in Chiba Prefecture, across Tokyo Bay. This is where I watched the Chiba Red Bull Air Race World Championship in the past.

A special livery aircraft from the hit manga Demon Slayer. I don’t know much about this manga, and the lighting was average, so I just made a simple record.

Occasionally, I spotted a Boeing 767 with its speed brakes not retracted. I would fire off a burst of N shots for such a small scene, which was unimaginable in the past.

Approaching evening, the light was soft, and I felt like I was finally getting into the photography groove. The pier in the background of the photo above should be the Central Breakwater Outer Foreign Trade Container Terminal. The cluster of buildings in the background of the photo above is Tokyo Disneyland, and the volcano on the right is the Prometheus Volcanic Zone in Tokyo DisneySea. The buildings in the background of the photo above are the Tokyo Disney Resort Official Hotels.

Suddenly, I received a message from a friend on WeChat about the crash of China Eastern Flight 5735. I was absolutely heartbroken. I completely lost the mood to shoot and hurriedly headed home…