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SASHA.C — Sasha Chernyavsky, home
The KLM 747-400 seconds from touchdown, seen head-on through the perimeter fence across the runway.

Plane spotting

Spotting

Toronto Pearson · YYZ

KLM Boeing 747-400. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 8 March 2020.

I photograph aircraft around Toronto Pearson. It is where most of my spare time goes, and it is why Plane Spotter Board exists: the hardest part of spotting is knowing when something worth seeing is about to land.

Photographs

  • The six-engined Antonov An-225 Mriya on a Pearson taxiway, white with a blue and yellow cheatline, as rows of parked cars and onlookers line the fence in the foreground.
    Antonov An-225 Mriya UR-82060. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 31 May 2020. The only one ever completed, here delivering medical supplies. It was destroyed at Hostomel in 2022.
  • An Air Canada Boeing 787-9 seen from below, gear down and wings flexed upward, low over an empty road beside the airfield fence under a bright blue sky.
    Air Canada Boeing 787-9 C-FKSV. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 8 March 2020.
  • A KLM Boeing 747-400 in light blue, with the airline’s centenary “100” titles, on approach with its landing gear down against a clear sky.
    KLM Boeing 747-400. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 8 March 2020. Wearing the airline’s centenary titles.
  • The same KLM 747-400 from behind and below as it passes overhead, sunlight glinting off the fuselage, a light pole in the corner of the frame.
    KLM Boeing 747-400. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 8 March 2020.

Clips

Play video: Lufthansa 747-400 on short final, 0:24
Lufthansa 747-400 on short final From overhead to the runway, filmed at 120 frames per second and slowed to half speed. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 8 March 2020. 24 seconds, no sound.
Play video: Air Canada widebody overhead, 0:12
Air Canada widebody overhead Passing low over the approach path east of the airfield. Toronto Pearson (YYZ), 14 August 2021. 12 seconds, no sound.