Well the one day where I wished the weather stayed fine (very rarely do I wish for these) it co-operated. Yes this crazy Metahead lover of storms wanted a fine day so he could go plane spotting with his cousin at Sydney International airport.

The morning started with alarm not sounding on time noooo, glasses being lost in the process of getting dressed (they are still missing) and the ATC scanner not willing to fire up till it was coaxed with the soldering iron.

After all of this I was hesitant about trying my 2 babies the cameras. Thank goodness they were in fine working order *deep breaths now* Tripod also working fine. Ok grab the keys and jump in the car YAY on the way to Sydney! Arrive at Cousin's house painless transfer into his car and onto the ATM oh wow WOOOOO Tax Cheque money is in new computer here I come.

After this diversion we had a lovely trip to Sydney airport with only a bit of traffic around considering there was a football match on and saw the occasional planes arriving or departing (though planes don't do much else as a standard procedure at an airport really).

"Mitsubish Air request landing on Runway 34L" We arrive on the circuit at Sydney airport but in our excitement we took the turn off to the international terminal and had to waitnin holding pattern to join the final circuit again. After a few direction changes we ended up being cleared for Right Pattern entry and proceed to make Downwind past the Domestic Terminal with delight over the fact there was a Krispy Kreme there and onto Base for the tunnel under the runways finally we turn onto Final at the old ATC Tower Turn off "Mitsubish air clear to land Runway 34L" and Taxi to parking.

Here my Cousin and I take the walk that many of us dedicated spotters know of, the walk that brings us to the fenceline of RWY 34L and right beside it Taxiway Alpha mmm where you can almost touch the planes as they send them out via there and of course you must wave to the crew after all we all wish to be sitting where they are :D

Well what a line up we had more 737s (Qantas, Virgin), Dash 8's (Qantaslink) and Airbus A320s (Jetstar, Air New Zealand) then you could poke a stick at, Plenty of Qantas 767-300ERs, a few Airbus A330s (Qantas), Airbus A340s (Aerolineas Argentinas, Pacific Blue), Quite a number of 747-400s (Qantas, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Malyasian Airlines, United Airlines), 2 777s (Austrian Airlines, Emirates) and the bonuses an OzJet 737-200 powered by JT8D's mmm roarer of an old girl and a Fedex MD-11 which whines like crazy when it spools up for takeoff but is a damn nice sight!

Well time flies and before you know it we had decided it was time to head to the observation deck of the main terminal, grab a bite to eat and cater for a full bladder (there are not facilities at this special spot). Well we packed up and 2 big guys walked around the corner "Hi Gentleman *flashes badge* we are with Australian Protective services we are here to build a rapport with the plane spotting community." Ahh it just turned out that they wanted a friendly chat about how things work in the spot we were in, The equipment we prefer to use and to let us know if we see any suspicious activity around airports to please inform them. They view us Plane spotters as highly important in keeping airports secure as we frequent these areas a lot we easily notice anything odd and lets face it the Protective services can't be around the area all the time either.

Back to the car and onto the International terminal, now where is that Men's room oh yes :D Walk past Maccas mmmm food and upstairs to the check ins and through the doors bingo observation deck yay! Buh Boh 1 problem "Ummm Cuz that elevator tower looks mighty thin" Cousin "Yes Stephen don't worry its see through too." Oh oh seems like a bout of vertigo is in store. Well Cousin got me into the lift, I had to keep my eyes closed the whole way up though and shakily walked out over the weird platform and bing yay a decent sized platform this I can handle. More planes more yahooing, people looking at us funny and finally it was time for a bite to eat. Damn that blasted elevator, This time I waited for it to come up, Cousin coaxed me in, hat over the face and finally it took me back to earth. I dunno how my Cousin can fathom the fact that I can fly at 41,000 feet and be yahooing my head off in excitement (yes I am not scared of heights in planes) and yet go up a simple 10 metres in an elevator and be scared stiff.

Off to the foodcourt upstairs yay! Welcome to heaven, a table right next to the window, Maccas in hand and 2 767-300s, 2 747-400s (Qantas) and a Jetstar A320 all lined up at respective gates and in various stages of being prepared for takeoff or parking. An Air New Zealand Jumbo, Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340 and an Emirates 777-300 made an appearance too.

Well it was time to leave and farewell the girls that grace our skies and the ladies and gentleman whom coax these lovely machines around as if they are part of the sky itself. A traffic ridden but safe trip home i am sunburnt, Tired, have a massive grin on my face and some nice pics to boot :D

I shall leave these pics for viewing pleasure after my many lines of Aviation Nerdiness.













Yep that last one gets the definite shot of the day, I reckon the First Officer is looking at me and thinking "What the hell is that guy doing with that camera?"

And just for the record proof I love heights in Planes :D Pic of the flight status on my last flight from Brisbane to Sydney 38,000 feet in a 744 with a K side window seat mmmm Life is soo hard.



Sierra Juliet over and out...

With a nice upper Trough crossing NSW, -10LIs, 2500 CAPE and perfect shear the Metal Stormchaser Blog is born. This supercellular structure is a place to share my fun and adventurous life with the world as well as the usual rantings.

I should introduce myself my name is Stephen Jarrett, Most call me Stevie or Stephen depending on their mood, I am a 24 year old Stormchaser, Metalhead and Photographer from Wollongong NSW. My passions are of course Weather, Storms (the bigger the better) Metal (the cheesier the better lol), Photography (Own 2 SLRs 1 Canon EOS Rebel 2000 Film and Canon EOS 350D Digital) AFL (Go the Sydney Swans!), Beer yes it goes well with the footy and Travelling. I'm currently trying to get into University to do my Meteorology degree so I (just like those lucky canadian Meteorologists *shakes fist*) can make my money off what I do and love best Stormchasing :D

Yep this is yours truly *waves*

Some people fail to see how Storms and Metal go but Metal sings a lot about storms whether it be Dungeon - Stormchaser, Megadeth - Tornado of souls or Blind Guardian - Into the storm. A few mates of mine who also chase are into Metal so lol its a bit of a spectacle on group chases (Besides Metal attracts lightning and lightning = good)

Overall this has been a proper cold winter for this area of Australia, my lovely weather station has recorded averages of around the 5c mark with a fair ratio of nights under 5c and even had one that was -0.7c! Had some nice winter storms most of which I missed due to being in Darwin for 5 weeks or so in 30c days. It was a spin out seeing such dry country up there and coming home to the greenest grass I had ever seen! I know a few people who were happy to see me back even though any chance of a welcome party was ruined by tonsilitis nooooo.

The last week has seen an upper trough and a cold front come through, the upper trough resulted in some nice storms for Sydney which was blanketed in hail but the instability did not extend into the Illawarra as I hoped and I was soon looking at a decaying storm moving in from the SW and north to some crazy action in Sydney (Yep friends up there had some sweet close lighting and hail) The Cold front which came through a few days after it was too moisture starved to do anything thanx to a strong NW & SW flow. Last few days have seen clear blue skies and westerly winds, good for alternative activities and what we call SDS (Storm deprivation syndrome) yes it does occur lol sends us all crazy if we don't get out storm fix.

This upcoming week there is not much till a cold front crosses on Monday evening at this stage, not much is expected out of it as it seems a bit moisture starved maybe a shower or 2 if we are lucky. Wednesday & Thursday show some promise with a Trough coming through, a not half bad tropical moisture infeed and a bit of instability around, the potential convective energy (CAPE) charts are not that promising for it yet but they may just need to synch in a bit more. At this stage we should get a drop or 3 anyways.

Only a few weeks of winter left yay! spring kicks in with Storm season and here are just a few wishes for myself and my friends.

We want a hell of alot of this...

Mmmmmm CGs (Cloud to ground lightning)

At least 100 of these...

Gustfront/Shelf cloud awesome feature of nice storms.

Just 10 of these would be a cause for celebration (and about a thousand beers)

Got to love Classic Supercells NSW style.

Well I hope somehow you are scratching your head thinking "what the hell is he on about" lol its a weird world but you get used to it and I was only going easy on everyone in this post. Many more stories to come...