Author Archives: Rob

Interjet In Vancouver

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One of the fun things about shooting at a different airport is the airlines you are not used to seeing.  Interjet is a Mexican airline that I have seen occasionally at LAX and I believe now goes to SFO (too late for me though) but they do serve Vancouver.  They are also an operator of the Sukhoi SSJ (although sadly not on this run).  They arrive later in the evening so are timed well for the light to be good in the summer months.  The A320 may not be as unusual as the SSJ but as a different operator to the norm for me, I was happy to get it arriving.

Big Mouth Little Fish

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There was a tank full of sardines at the aquarium that caught my attention.  This was something that was really hard to photograph but I tried anyway.  The sardines were swimming quickly in shoals and they looked much as you would expect them to – a sleek, silvery fish zipping through the water.  The thing that caught my eye was they way that they opened their mouths to feed.  The shape of the head is narrow and clean but, when they open their mouths, flaps of skin unfold to create a huge opening allowing them to scoop up food from a far wider area.  A few of the shoal would do this at any one time so you never knew where to look but they would open wide for a second or two and then close up again.  It totally transformed their appearance.

Sunny Huskie

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I almost didn’t make it to the Olympic Air Show in Olympia this year.  I had been on the road and picked up a cold that had left me feeling pretty crummy.  The drive down and back was not appealing if I was feeling bad but, when I woke up on the Saturday, I didn’t feel too rough.  I wasn’t going to get up and out early to make it inside for the show but there was the chance of meeting up with the guys to shot in the afternoon and that is what I did.  No need to walk much and the drive wasn’t too energetic so I could go with it.

The main reason for going was the Huskie.  Last year I got my first experience of it flying but the light had been pretty flat and overcast.  This year the forecast was for sun so I didn’t want to miss the chance to shoot it in good conditions.  I’m glad I went.  The display was a nice routine but restrained as you would imagine for something that only flies one weekend a year.  It came close to us on a few occasions so I was able to get some shots.  If they flew a little later in the day, that would be good but I got what I went for.  It may not have been the greatest idea, though, because I felt decidedly crap on the Sunday.  I guess the cold had not run its course after all.

Ferry in to Coupeville

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Washington State Ferries cover a wide range of routes.  Some of them are major commuter journeys and the boats are sized to handle lots of cars and passengers.  Others are far more specialized runs that have lower frequencies and capacity.  This can change throughout the year with the peak season demand being way higher than the off-season and larger boats get drafted in.

While I was on the shore at Coupeville, one of the ferries came in.  We actually took this route on a vacation a couple of years ago and it was quite busy then.  This time things were a lot quieter and the boat was clearly not one of the biggest that WSDOT has available.

New FedEx 767 Struggles for First Flight

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Aside from the USAF, FedEx is the main recipient of aircraft coming off the 767 line these days.  They have just placed another order too so they will continue to take new 767 freighters for years to come.  One of the jets was planning to have a first flight at Paine Field.  Prior to first flight, Boeing tends to run a high speed taxi and braking profile.  If this goes well, they will then take off for the first flight.  Judging by the radio traffic this time, things were not going well.  They did one run, braked and vacated.  They taxied down to my end and repeated in the opposite direction.  Then they called the tower to confirm that they were heading back to the ramp.  I imagine they fixed the issue before too long but no first flight on this occasion.

Parking Garage Rooftop Garden

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We have been watching a TV show that has aerial imagery of cities around the US for a 24 hour period (clearly not always a consecutive 24 hours but it is TV!).  One of the shows had Seattle and they covered a parking garage that has a garden on the top level.  I decided I needed to find this when up the Needle and it wasn’t hard.  There it was beneath us just as we saw it on TV.  The Airstream in the middle is apparently for the people that manage the lots.  Quite a cool location.

Not Often You See An Avro These Days

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The BAe146 was a regular feature in the 90s.  It was a popular regional jet with use both in Europe and the US.  They were still in service when we moved to Chicago and I traveled on them on occasion.  However, a four-engine jet became a bit dated and they have mostly been replaced in service with newer and more efficient types.  Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise to see one show up at Vancouver.  In their later iterations, they were renamed Avros to pay homage to one of BAe’s predecessor companies.  They were basically just a tweaked 146 as far as I was concerned though.  The new generation RJX made it to protype form but was cancelled before production.  I guess the economics were just never going to be compelling.

Above Half Dome

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I was staring idly out of the window as I was flying across California when a shape on the ground below caught my eye.  I grabbed the camera as I realized we were coming across Yosemite.  From above, the most conspicuous shape is that of Half Dome.  However, it looks very different when looking down on it than it does when you are on a level with it.  It almost seems distorted.  I grabbed a few shots as we zipped overhead and then it disappeared behind the wing.

Fuddy Duddy

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The Lyon Air Museum has a B-17 as part of its collection.  Named Fuddy Duddy, I was told by a docent that it is airworthy.  I don’t know whether that means it is still flown or not and a quick search has not brought up any recent photos of it but maybe it is out and about at times.  I walked around it in the hangar and got a few shots of it in amongst the rest of the museum collection.  It looked to be in great condition but I have no idea what is beneath the skin.