Monthly Archives: December 2015

727 Freighter at Van Nuys

C59F9568.jpgSeeing the 727 at Oklahoma City that was transporting horses reminded me of a trip to Van Nuys a few years ago with my buddy Paul. We were there towards the end of the day and were getting ready to bale when a 727 started up and taxied out. It was a freighter conversion being used for horse transportation. It was pretty much devoid of any external markings with a plane white (at some point in the past) paint job. It also had winglets retrofitted.

C59F9575.jpgBy the time it was ready for departure, the light was really beginning to fade so it was a case of slower shutter speeds and higher ISO. However, it is better to get the shot, even if it is a bit noisy. The jet rotated a little bit away from us which meant we had a really good view of it is it climbed out and away. A white(ish) jet against a grey sky in fading light is not ideal for photography but you take what you can get.  The roar of a 727 is a little more muted as a result of hushkitting but they are still a jet that it is hard to ignore!

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Pick Your Favorite of the Big Corporate Jets

C59F6674.jpgIf you are like me, when you are shopping for your next business jet, you are always making a choice between three types. Our tricky decision is between the Gulfstream, the Bombardier Global 6000 and the Dassault Falcon 7X. They each have slightly different characteristics and capabilities but they are all great jets and suitable for our day-to-day needs. Which one to take is a tough call which is why I would probably get one of each and decide on a given day which one was best.

C59F6924.jpgIt came as a good thing, then, that I got to see all three types at San Jose. This is an airport that is convenient for much of Silicon Valley. The prevalence of big jets is hardly a surprise given how much cash is floating around over there. I wonder if seeing them on this day will help me with my decision?

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Edensor

C59F2788.jpgImagine a stereotypical village in the Derbyshire Peak District – the sort of thing that might be snow covered on a Christmas card. The type of place that you think doesn’t really exist anymore other than in the minds of artists striving for some sort of tranquil setting for their work. Guess what – it does exist. Situated on the Chatsworth estate and right in the path of our hike is the village of Edensor. This is England so, of course, it isn’t pronounced the way it is spelt. It sounds more like Enzor.

C59F2777.jpgAs you walk down off the hills, you see the church spire in the distance so it isn’t hard to know where you are going. The village is small – a group of buildings off the main road through the estate. It appears to be a combination of converted large estate buildings and houses for the estate workers. Everything is built from stone and the lawns and roadsides are all beautifully maintained. I don’t know whether there are rules about how well you have to keep your garden or if it is just social pressure that does the trick but the place is immaculate.

C59F2773.jpgWe came in alongside the churchyard and walked down past some lovely houses. On one side appeared to be a converted stable block which was not accessible to the general public and on the other was a tea room but we did not check that out. This was just somewhere we were walking through en route to the main house at Chatsworth. I imagine on a sunny summer day Edensor is packed with people visiting. A slightly cloudy September makes for a far more peaceful visit.

Humid Approaches to SFO

AU0E6356.jpgMoisture in the air is not always what you want when you are out shooting aircraft. However, it does have its benefits if there isn’t so much of it that everything is either obscured or gray. The weather conditions over San Francisco Bay can be very localized and, as the planes come down final approach, they can go through quite a variety. I was out hunting for Air Force One a while back and I got some good examples of this.

AU0E6062.jpgThe weather at SFO was actually quite nice (although not when Air Force one departed as I have previously written about). The sun was out and the sky was pretty clear. In fact, there was quite a troubling amount of heat haze. However, once you got towards the south end of the bay, there was pretty solid cloud cover. The planes coming in were in full IMC for a good portion of their approach. Somewhere in the region between Coyote Point and the San Mateo Bridge they would break out of the cloud cover. Then, for the next mile or so, they were in the clear but still in very humid conditions.

AU0E6319.jpgThe result of this humidity was a lot of vapor forming up over the wings. The low speed and high lift configuration made the wings a good place to get cloud formations as the moist air passed over them. Additionally, the trailing vortices were showing up well as a result of the condensing moisture in them too. For quite a while, each aircraft showed similar patterns as it descended. The widebodies seemed to be better for showing this but that might just be a function of them being easier to see further away when the effect was most pronounced. The closer they got to the field, the less the effect until it was pretty much gone when they were on final approach.

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Commuter Train Without Commuters

AU0E0306.jpgThe Altamont Commuter Express or ACE is a train that runs from Stockton to San Jose each day. It brings commuters from inland to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley stopping off en route to pick up and drop off passengers. It only runs on weekdays so I never normally see them operating although I have visited their team for work in the past. However, they do run special services when the 49ers are playing at home.

AU0E0289.jpgI decided to head out one Sunday when the train was due. I occasionally need shots of trains for work proposals and presentation usage so thought I should get some stock shots. There is a crossing south of Pleasanton that I went to. You get a good view of the train as it approaches. I set up with one camera and had a second with a wider lens closer to the crossing with a remote. Sadly, despite my testing, I had pulled the plug on the remote slightly out by mistake and it didn’t fire. However, I did get the main shots I was after.

737-500

AU0E8351.jpgSpending a lot of time traveling on Southwest flights means I am pretty familiar with their fleet. Normally I get a 700 series jet which means decent sized bins and wifi.   Occasionally, I get lucky and have an 800 series which has a nicer interior (although the window spacing is wider which isn’t so good). If my luck is not so good, it will be a 300 series. There are still plenty of these in the fleet. Some have had the bins expanded but many still have smaller bin space. Definitely no wifi on these guys.

AU0E8385.jpgThe other week, I had something I have not had for a while. A 500 series jet! These are smaller than the rest of the fleet and are disappearing fast. The interior is certainly not modern with old style seats and small bins. Not an ideal interior for a busy flight. I should be disappointed to get one. However, they are going away quite quickly so this might be the last time I get to ride in one. If so, I’m glad I got one last shot but I certainly won’t miss them.

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NAS Alameda

AU0E8196.jpgNAS Alameda was once a busy naval air station. Of course, as is the way with these things, they get closed down long before I end up living in an area. How cool it would have been to be near a station when it was operating such a variety of types as were there at its peak. Now it is more famous for being the location that Mythbusters have used for a number of their driving related exploits. Big runways with little use provide a great playground.

AU0E8191.jpgThe climb out of Oakland International takes you directly towards Alameda and you get a far better view of the runways than is otherwise possible. The hangars are now getting used for other tasks and the area is not deserted but it is nice to image ramps full of jets and maritime patrol aircraft. Oh well.

Caves Above Rydal

C59F2105-Pano.jpgAs we turned back towards Grasmere from Rydal, the path took us up the hill to the overlook of Rydal Water. At the top of the hill was a large cave. I have no idea whether it is natural or the result of some quarrying or extraction activity. It doesn’t really matter. It was a pretty large cave with plenty of water covering a lot of the floor.

C59F2128.jpgGetting shots of the cave made for a challenge. It was pretty large and way too big for the lens I was carrying for the hike. Therefore, I went with a pano stitch to cover the full thing. However, this brought in the other limitation of the shot. The range of light between the sky and the entrance to the cave was way too large for a raw conversion to cope with. Going with HDR combined with such a large pano stitch seemed like more hassle than I wanted to deal with for what was really just a vacation snap shot.

C59F2101.jpgI did head in to the entrance of the cave a short distance to see how far it went back. My cameras may be rather old and left in the dust by the modern bodies when it comes to high ISO shooting but they can still do a reasonable job of picking out the detail in a very dingy environment.

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Hainan 787

C59F7306.jpgThe San Jose trip also gave me a chance to catch another jet that had been of interest. Hainan Airlines is a Chinese operator. I have seen their jets around at various times but have never had a chance to shoot them close up. I really like the brightness of their livery and had wanted to see one. Unfortunately, my late arrival at San Jose meant their jet had just touched down when I got there. However, it did depart at a convenient time so I managed to get one at last.

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Cartmel

C59F2549.jpgCartmel is a small town at the south end of the Lake District. There is a food shop there that specializes in something Nancy wanted to take home which was why we were there in the first place. Of course, we had to take a look around while we were there. Apart from the center of the town and the Priory (of which more in another post), the town is particularly well known for having a race course. We weren’t there during a meet but we did park in an area that involved driving over the end of the race course itself.

C59F2513.jpgAs you walk across the track, so can see up to the starting locations and the finishing straight with the grandstand. The grass was in excellent condition. It appeared to be a course that included flat racing and hurdles although I have never been there during a meet so don’t know which type of racing is most common. Looking up the straight, you could imagine a bunch of horse thundering towards you with the crowds cheering and hoping for a big win.