A Turboprop Goose

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Rob

While on the terrace at Future of Flight, I saw a Goose parked up over near the FBO.  I had mixed feelings since it was interesting that it was there but I was disappointed I didn’t know it had come in and had missed the arrival.  You can imagine how happy I was to see it taxi out a short while later.  It made a mid flight departure so was still reasonably low as it came past.  The dark paint might have Ben a problem on a cloudy northwest day but we had sun so it showed up nicely.  Only as I looked at the shots afterwards did I realize that it was a turboprop conversion rather than a piston-engined plane.  Oh to see it on the water!

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Automated Chevy Bolt

Posted on July 20, 2019 by Rob

The Chevy Bolt is not the sort of car that would normally grab my attention.  This one did though.  It was at The Henry Ford (even if it is a Chevy) and it is tricked out with all sorts of sensors.  I assume it was some sort of development tested for automated vehicles.  I could have made the effort to go and read whatever was written next to it but that seemed far to much like hard work.  I guess I am the sort of person an automated vehicle is designed for if I can’t be bothered to even do that!

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Boeing 2707 Mockup

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Rob

An online discussion I was involved in recently revolved around supersonic transports.  While the TU-144 and Concorde were the main focus, the Boeing 2707 also came up.  I had seen the front fuselage mockup of this when it was at the Hiller Museum in San Carlos.  I realized I didn’t have any good photos of it and was a touch annoyed.  Looking up the story of the mockup, I found it was now at the Museum of Flight Restoration Facility at Paine Field.

I hadn’t visited the facility since moving up here so figured a visit was in order.  The mockup is easily accessible in the main part of the hangar.  However, it is rather big and so only fits in with the nose section removed.  I had a chat with the docent and he advised that it was unlikely to be moved to the main museum building given the amount of space it takes up.  I assume it will stay where it is for the foreseeable future.  The rest of the mockup was destroyed long ago so it is great that this piece has survived as a relic of a long gone program.

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South Park Sculpture

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Rob

I parked up in the South Park area south of Seattle when I was off to get some shots of the large stored 737 Max population.  I walked across the bridge to see the planes but I was also rather taken with a sculpture that was sitting on the sidewalk.  It was a multi layered creation with an angler fish style design with many more intricate elements built in to the structure of the fish shape.  It was striking.  There were lots of distracting background elements near the sculpture which I didn’t want in the shot so I decided to shoot close up to it with lots of shots and then combine them into a pano when I got home.

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Nice T-38 Surprise

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Rob

A Beale AFB T-38 was parked over at the FBO when I was at Boeing Field.  The canopies were up which gave me optimism but you never know whether they are just doing something to the jet or maybe haven’t long arrived.  When the crew walked out to the jet, I realized it was good news.  They taxied to the other end of the field and I waited.  A nice low departure kept them below the skyline of the hill beyond the field and I was happy with a slightly unusual visitor being photographed.

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Exotic Doesn’t Always Mean Expensive

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Rob

Exotics@RTC does attract many types of vehicles.  Neither of these little vehicles will be competing for the attention of the Lambos or McLarens but they still get a few people checking them out.  Hard to believe vehicles so small have ever been sold in the US.  They would fit in the trunk of some older cars or could go in the back of a large minivan!  Kind of interesting all the same.

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How Slow Can I Go With the Turboprops?

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Rob

Shooting Dash 8s and Q400s at YVR is not going to be particularly interesting so I was able to spend some time playing with shutter speeds progressively lower and lower.  Shooting very low shutter speeds on the 500mm handheld is a bit of a crapshoot but you never know what you might get.  Besides, the evening light meant it wasn’t so bright that you were at ridiculous apertures with the associated endless dust spotting!

I was quite prepared to have got absolutely nothing from these shots.  However, either my luck was good or my technique has improved – I think we both know which it is – and I got a few sharp ones with plenty of prop blur and background blur combined.  Background blur always makes for a more interesting shot.  However, when you want to make sure you get the shot, you aren’t always willing to risk it.  Having something that is not a make or break shot means you can have a lot more leeway for experimentation.

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Ferrari F40

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Rob

Super cars have come a long way.  Now they are ridiculously powerful and also very technologically advanced.  A supercar from the 80s has a very sparse feel to it in comparison.  Coming across a Ferrari F40 was quite a throwback for me.  I saw my first F40 when I was a student.  It was parked in a mews street in Kensington near a pub I used to frequent (that doesn’t narrow it down much).  I was shocked to see one then and I still am a little shocked now.  This one was not getting as much interest as I thought it was due but I was happy not to have it surrounded by people.

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A DHL Delivery But to Them Rather Than By Them

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Rob

A lot of freighters come out of Everett these days.  All 747s are now freighters as are the 767s.  The 777 passenger variants are a regular feature but there is quite a demand for 777Fs too.  I saw one go to DHL not long ago.  They have some aircraft already in service but they are in a hybrid scheme.  This was the first one to be delivered in the full DHL yellow colors.  It taxied out and went to the other end of the field for a northerly departure which meant we got a good view of it airborne.  The short delivery flight across the US meant it was rather light so it got airborne quickly and was a long way up by the time it got to us again!

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Porsche 928 Takes Me Back to My Youth

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Rob

I have mentioned that I am not much of a Porsche guy but my college years did include rather a penchant for the Porsche 928.  This was a car I could really have enjoyed has a huge amount of cash come my way at the time.  The later models, like the S4 and the GT, were something that looked super cool to me.  Seeing a rather racy looking 928 at Redmond was a very pleasant surprise. Annoyingly, a lot of people seemed to be around it while looking in the opposite direction so I struggled to get some shots of it but managed to find a way to get a few.  I wonder if it goes as well as it looks?

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