Monthly Archives: April 2014

Small Corporate Jets

While the big jets were an interesting target for me at Boeing Field, there is a good trade in smaller corporate jets too. The regularity of Citations and their ilk makes them a little less exciting but they can still be interesting if painted up nicely. However, one that caught my eye was an older Learjet. This is operated by Boeing Flight Test as a support and chase aircraft for their programs. It taxied by before departing over my location.

Also we got a Dassault Falcon 10. Quite a vintage type of jet these days so that was a nice surprise.

The Strip at Night

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A project recently took me to Las Vegas. Vegas is not one of my favorite cities. I am not a gambler so, after you have seen it once, you are pretty much done. However, aside from the Strip, there are some other interesting things in the vicinity so the trip was worthwhile. We came in from the west and overflew the airport before turning back to land. All of my main gear was in the overhead but I did have my phone to hand. No problems with using it all the way to landing now so I tried grabbing a few shots of the city as we flew overhead. See what you think of the iPhone’s night capabilities. Of course, at the size for being online, some of the issues are disguised. However, the shot below gives you a full size view so you can see how the detail holds up – and my night panning in a moving airliner. Not so good I guess!

L-100

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My Boeing Field visit also included a very nice surprise. The evening was drawing in quite quickly but a view off to the south showed a lot of smoke coming from something on the approach. At first I had no idea what it was but soon the familiar shape of a Hercules came into view. This was a civilian model, the L-100. It was operated by Lynden Air Cargo delivering something large!

They were heading for a ramp close to the threshold so the crew were not shy about thumping the aircraft down right on the numbers. A decent cloud of tire smoke let you know they were down and then they put the props into reverse and were soon off the runway and taxiing back to the stand. An interesting aircraft and a lucky break.

Firehouse Art Center

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Bit by bit, I am seeing more of the local area in our new home. We have been to Pleasanton a few times and it has cropped up in the blog before too. We were recently there for a spot of lunch and decided to have a wander around before heading off to our next task. A sign showed the way to the Firehouse Art Center. As you might imagine, this is located in an old firehouse. The building has undergone significant restoration and modification it appears.

Time was not on our side to go in and have a look around but the lovely day made a quick external recce worthwhile. The building looks very nice and there is a great sculpture of an artist at work outside. It is surrounded by some nice grounds and it looks like a pleasant place to relax if you had a book handy on a nice day.

Heading back to the car, I couldn’t help myself but grab a quick shot of the gas station in town. This has such a nice throwback feel to it, it had to be done. All of these were just shot with the phone but they give a little bit more of a feel for the area.

Big Business Jets

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I was back in Seattle recently and, while the reason for being there took up the majority of my time, I did have a couple of opportunities at the end of the days to pay a visit to Boeing Field. I had been there last year and made the best of the nice light later in the day then. This time, the light looked good but proved to be a bit fickle and the day was not as long given the time of year. However, I did get an interesting selection of aircraft to shoot. Boeing Field is a popular location for business aviation given its close proximity to Seattle city center. There were some very nice large jets visiting. An Airbus ACJ from Germany was parked up the entire time I was there but I never saw it move. However, I did get to see some Globals and Gulfstreams stretch their legs.

The Global Express is a great looking business jet. One arrived shortly after I did and I managed to get it as it came in. I was at a spot I hadn’t tried before. It gives a better angle on the aircraft as they approach and touch down but it does suffer from a more cluttered background which is a shame. The Global looked like it was heading out again as I got ready to leave for the evening so I decided to go to the departure end of the runway and try and get it head on. By now the light was really going but I ramped up the ISO and decided to go for it anyway. Having Mount Rainier in the background certainly doesn’t harm a shot but it was really a bit too dark.

The other nice visitor was a G650. The newest of the big Gulfstreams is a significant improvement from an aesthetic point of view as far as I am concerned. This one had a great paint scheme too so I was very happy to see it. The runway direction was changed just before it left so I got to see it as it was airborne rather than on the takeoff roll which was nice.

Throw in some Dassault Falcons and I had a lucky run given how limited the time was that I had there. Hopefully I will be back again sometime soon.