Category Archives: aircraft

Piaggio Doesn’t Just Mean Avantis!

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I am a big fan of a certain Piaggio aircraft this this post is not about the Avanti.  This is an older generation of Piaggio aircraft and a piston powered one at that.  However, it still goes with the theme of interesting configurations and it is a pusher.  The P.166 is an interesting looking plane and this one appeared at RIAT.  Apparently, it is a regular for the show but a first for me.

I didn’t see it arrive so my first look was in the static display.  It was parked up at the end of the field but this was the end where I was parking so I got to see it each time I arrived.  It was fenced off on the Friday but was easier to see after that.  I was hoping to get a good look at it on departures day but it only backtracked a short way and then took off away from the FRIAT stand.  That was a touch disappointing but there were a lot of planes to get out that day, so I guess there was no point making it use all of one of the UK’s longest runways!

Some Other Evening Arrivals While Waiting for Cathay

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Earlier this year I went out to get the Cathay Pacific A350 arrival later in the evening when the light was still good due to the longer days in summer.  Of course, Cathay wasn’t the only airline coming in at that time.  Some of the regular visitors also were arriving and even using the inner runway that is often only used by the heavier jets.  Here are a few shots from the other arrivals in the nice light you can get late on a summer evening.

Trislander!

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I have written on the blog about the family connection to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.  Bembridge Airport was, for many years, the center of operations for Britten Norman – manufacturers of the Islander aircraft.  The Islander has been a very successful twin engine piston that can get into all sorts of strips around the world.  It remains in production in small numbers and can be found at remote strips all over the world.

It has a less well known sibling though.  When you want to increase the capacity, you need more power.  You could go for more powerful engines – or you could add a third.  Where to put it though?  How about at the top of the fin?  That is what led to the Trislander.  I used to see them a lot as a kid but now they are less common.  Aurigny operated them from the UK mainland to the Channel Islands until relatively recently but they have now been retired.  Duxford has received one of their planes so I was really happy to see it there.  I guess this is a plane that only a mother can love but there is something about it.  Apparently one used to be in the Pacific Northwest but hasn’t been seen for a few years.  I would love to see one fly again.

Ukrainian Sukhois

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Non-Western jets are always a strong attraction at a Western air show and the appearance of the Ukrainian Sukhois at RIAT was no exception.  The SU-27 is a beast of a jet and quite an impressive performer at a show.  The arrival was cool and the practice display was welcome.  I was a bit annoyed as I didn’t have the camera to hand when the jet thundered off the runway and turned towards us and blasted over our heads at the Western Park and View.

The light wasn’t great for any of the times I saw the jet fly but the sky blue camo scheme it wore seemed to do a good job of picking up the light as it maneuvered around the display.  Plenty of blasts of power for the engines combined with a damp atmosphere allowing a bit of vapor to be pulled from the air was pretty cool.  The front fuselage shape is a little odd and this shows more so when on the ground where it droops down.  Once airborne, things are different.

Something photos don’t show is the way in which the auxiliary inlet doors on the underside of the intakes flap around in certain flight regimes.  Looking through the viewfinder, you could see them oscillating a lot but only video would show that off.  It was a long time since I had last seen the Ukrainian jets at Fairford and this was my first time to shoot them digitally.  They were accompanied by an IL-76 and I suspect that will get a post one day!

 

An MRJ Comes This Side of the Cascades

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A lunchtime jaunt up to Everett was the result of ATS carrying out a test flight of a Janet 737.  I got to the field with a little time in hand and was looking on FlightRadar24 for the position of the inbound jet when I saw something orbiting north of me up near Concrete.  It turned out to be one of the Mitsubishi MRJ90 test aircraft.  It was flying a series of patterns up there.  Since they carry out the test flying from Moses Lake, I wasn’t so surprised.  More importantly, I figured that they would head back to base when they were done.

Imagine my surprise when the radio burst to life with their callsign setting up on the approach.  A Janet was worth the trip but the MRJ was truly a bonus.  I have only seen one before and that was a delivery flight from Japan to Moses Lake that staged through San Jose and was in the blog here.  I hoped it was a different jet, but wasn’t going to gripe if it wasn’t (and I was pretty sure it wasn’t based on recollection of the registration).

The jet hummed its way down the approach and landed in front of me (and a few others that either knew or had got similarly lucky).  It them taxied back and held in front of FHCAM.  There was a departing Embraer in front of it so I figured it was waiting for them.  However, they departed and it didn’t move for a while.  I needed to head back so was desperately hoping it would go soon.  Just as I was about to give up, they released the brakes and taxied to the hold.  The departure was pretty quiet with the Pratt GTFs not making much noise at all.

The original colors of the jet appear to have been overtaken by test markings.  There were some details around the engine inlets and the upper rear fuselage had been painted black.  I suspected this might be for testing of water ingestion to help visualize the water flow but if anyone knows better what the purpose is, please do let me know.

Hawker on a Sunny Day

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I am just going to throw in a gratuitous shot of a business jet today.  This Hawker was on approach one sunny day at Paine Field.  It wasn’t rare or special in anyway (unless you count the scimitar tips to the winglets) so might not have got a post of its own but I just like this family of jets so here it is!

Japanese Coast Guard Gulfstream

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A morning at Haneda provided a few planes to shoot but the temperature was really oppressive so I didn’t hang around too long.  A Gulfstream turned on to the runway for departure and I almost didn’t bother going in to the sun to shoot it.  However, habit got the better of me and I was glad I did.  It wasn’t a normal Gulfstream but one from the Japanese Coast Guard.  It included a large radome under the front fuselage.  I hadn’t seen one like this before.

IWM Duxford

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My wife is a star – well that, or she is a masochist.  Our trip to the UK was in three phases.  We spend the first phase visiting family.  The second phase was my visit to RIAT for a few days while she did things in London and around the south coast.  The last phase was our time to tour around East Anglia and relax a little.  Our last full day had us up near Cambridge.  She suggested I might want to visit the Imperial War Museum aviation collection at Duxford.  Since I had taken a chunk of the vacation to do aviation things, I was not going to push anything aviation related for the rest of the trip but she was quite happy to do this.  What a star!

I haven’t been to Duxford for ages so I was interested to see how things had changed.  What was once called the Superhangar had been rebuilt and had lots of interesting stuff inside.  The American Forces section was there last time I went and hadn’t changed a lot.  Some of the large airliner stuff outside was familiar but other bits were either new or something I didn’t recall from previous visits.  It is a very extensive collection and well worth a visit.  I was really pleased to check it out.

I will give a few of the exhibits their own posts but this is a bit of a summary post.  Below is a gallery of some of the shots I took as we wandered around.

Bristow’s Coastguard AW189

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While walking along the waterfront at East Cowes, I heard the noise of an approaching helicopter.  As it got closer, it turned out to be a Coastguard AW189.  I hoped it would come closer and it obliged by flying almost directly over us.  What I didn’t know was that another of the fleet would be at RIAT when I was there a few days later so I was going to get a closer look than this.  Stay tuned for that!

Romanian LanceRs

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RIAT proved to be a lot of fun with such a variety of types to see.  The shooting conditions were less than ideal but that shouldn’t take away from what was there and the effort that went in to organizing it all – I’m looking at you Tom if you are reading this.  Your team did a great job.  One of the stars of the show was actually a rather aged type.  Romania brought a pair of MiG-21 LanceR jets.  The last time I shot an active MiG-21 was at Rockford many years ago and that was privately owned.  These were very definitely active.

Their arrival on the Thursday certainly got everyone excited and the display itself was great.  The jet is from an era when the current levels of maneuverability had not been achieved but the jet can still put on quite a show.  The speed is something to behold, particularly on final approach when it fairly screams in to land.  I got to shoot it from a couple of locations including being at the departure end on the Sunday of the show and getting slightly closer to the jet as it taxied out.  I understand that they will disappear before too long to be replaced with something more generic – F-16s I think – so it was time to enjoy something old school for perhaps the last time.