Category Archives: aircraft

On Top of the City

I have been very fortunate to be on top of some of the largest buildings in the city of Chicago in recent years. Helicopter lifting operations take me to places that are off limits to many and that provide a great perspective on the city. However, until recently, the highest point in the city was not one I had been to. The top of the Sears Tower (I don’t know many that use its other name) had eluded me. The Skydeck doesn’t count of course!

This changed with the installation of the new TV antenna for ABC on top of the building. The good team at Construction Helicopters had been contracted to install the new antenna having helped removing the old one. We gathered early one Sunday morning for the job to commence. This is a location that is unmatched unless you are actually airborne. I will post some views from on high in upcoming posts. However, the first post is an aviation themed one – no great surprise for this blog!

The aircraft used was a Sikorsky S-61N. The aircraft was leased from a Canadian company and was actually on its last job with Construction before being returned. They have acquired a Super Puma which I hope to see in action at some point. The S-61N is an old design but regular upgrades have kept it as a very capable machine. It staged out of Midway and picked the loads from down at the bottom of the tower. The vertical climb is quite a long one but they did well, not only in placing the loads, but holding them for some time while they were secured. Good job to everyone involved.

Reno Air Races

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This year I made my first trip to the Reno Air Races. I have no clear explanation why I haven’t been before. It has been in my calendar for many years but other things always seemed to conspire to stop me from making the trip. This year, I finally made it. I could almost have never made it. With the accident at last year’s races that killed a number of spectators, there were plenty of questions about whether the event would go ahead. Fortunately it did.

I was covering it for Global Aviation Resource. My article will shortly be published in their monthly digital magazine so, if you want to get the full story (and the better pictures) pop along to www.globalaviationresource.com to buy the magazine. I will not reprint anything here that is in the piece for obvious reasons. However, to tempt you a little, here are some other shots from the event that will hopefully give you a feel for what went on.

It was quite a learning experience for me. Fortunately, I had a number of friends their to give me guidance on what to do, where to go and what to look out for. The bus trips to the pylons were a great experience (if a little odd sometimes when we were shuttled about between heats) but getting so close to the aircraft as they turn was something special.

Planning became a real priority. Each race is relatively short with most being six laps. In that time you have to get all of the shots you want. Tight crops, loose views, pylon in the shot, video, slow shutter speeds and there you have used up your race! Getting into my stride took a little time but I soon got a feel for what I wanted. This does mean there aren’t many opportunities for a second chance so you have to shoot a lot quickly to make sure you get enough to work with.

This does result in shooting a lot of images over the time there. All of these have to be downloaded and checked. I won’t say exactly how many I shot but it was a very large number and culling the crap out was a time consuming business. I am still weeding out some now!

The media relations team at RARA are unbelievably helpful. They have a lot of people covering the event yet handle it all with a friendly approach and they really do make your life genuinely easier – not always the case! I planned out my time at the event to get me to the pylons at some points, in the pits and the flightline at others and the final day was mainly spent in the stands. My friend Paul had traveled up for that day so it was nice to have someone to chat with while watching the racing from the spectators’ viewpoint – even if I did have to leave that for a while to cover part of the ceremonies.

A great experience all round. I hope to be back again next year. In the mean time, please do head over the GAR’s site and pick up a copy of the magazine!

Trying Something Different

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If you are not a fast jet pilot, you might think that being one is close to the pinnacle of flying excitement. Everything else would seem rather tame by comparison. However, you might just be wrong. During the course of the Waukegan Airshow, Paul Wood of the Warbird Heritage Foundation hosted a number of the performers. The A-10 and F/A-18 crews both paid I visit while I was there and they all took a chance to go flying.

The aircraft of choice was the Boeing Stearman. Sean took then flying (including his friend Russell – a local guy originally). It is safe to say that everyone came back grinning like kids. They had a bunch of fun playing around with something totally different – not least of which is the open cockpit.

During the after show party, Stewie (who flies Hornets during the day) checked out a number of the collection’s other planes. He certainly looked like he would have taken a lot of things home with him if he had the chance!

Waukegan Show

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The Saturday of the Waukegan show turned out to be a great one with excellent weather, some great flying and a lot of good people to hang out with. What more could you ask for? While Waukegan is not a big airport, the quality of the show has steadily grown and the ability to attract the Canadian display team, The Snowbirds, is a sign of how well they have done.

This year had a great line up for the show as well as plenty of great aircraft on static display. With some great light but the temperatures not being at all uncomfortable, it was a photographer’s dream. Just as well since there were a bunch of photographers there! The show was a mix of displays with sky divers, piston aerobatics, fast jets, vintage piston displays, wing walking, a jet bus, Heritage and Legacy flights from the Air Force and Navy and the Snowbirds to wrap it up.

I mentioned previously that the weather had been less impressive for practice day. In past years, I have had good weather for the practice but not for the show. This year it did it right for the visitors – and there were lots of them! The quality of the flying was excellent and, while some of the acts were familiar, some were new or at least not seen for a while. Seeing the Hornets instead of the Super Bug was a nice change and the display is quite different given the differing natures of the two aircraft.

The Snowbirds proved to be a great conclusion to the show. They flew a tight and polished display (with one minor exception) and did a good job of using the number of aircraft to keep something going on in front of the crowd. They mixed it up with some pairs and four ship crossing to keep everyone on their toes. I think they made a lot of fans. I hadn’t seen them for a while so it was good to see them again. (They were also a lot of fun at the party later!)

Congratulations to Jim and the team at Waukegan. A great show and I hope to see one again some time.

Waukegan Arrivals and Practice

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One of my favorite airshows is held at Waukegan. This show has a lot to offer. It has a good selection of performers, it is not so large that you feel exhausted even getting there, the display is not vast but it does flow well and a lot of people I know are involved. Also, it is close to home so covering several days is not a problem.

I actually had three days up at the show. I shall deal with the show itself in an upcoming post. Before that I headed up for the arrivals and for the practice. These were on the Thursday and Friday and the weather could not have been more different. Thursday was a lovely day. I got there just after the A-10s arrived which was a disappointment but I was there for the F/A-18s showing up as well as the Snowbirds, some of whom flew around for a considerable time before landing.

The practice show on Friday had a solid cloud layer all day. It wasn’t so bad that the practice could not go ahead but it certainly did not make for great photographic conditions. The practice was just for the main acts with the Snowbirds performing, both Hornets doing the demonstration and the USAF Heritage Flight involving an A-10. The rest of the performers were not involved. Since these displays required closing a local street, the aim was to keep the practice relatively short.

The results were not my best photos ever. With the forecast for better things on the Saturday during the show itself, there was a good chance that most of these would be consigned to the trash if Saturday worked out. However, there were some that weren’t too bad. As for Saturday, you will have to wait and see…

Historic Flight Foundation

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Two down and one to go. A trip across to the other side of Paine Field and you arrive at the Historic Flight Foundation – John Sessions collection of vintage aircraft. Combined with my previous two visits, you really have to think of Everett as a goldmine for the aviation enthusiast. Much like the Flying Heritage Collection, the focus here is on airworthy vintage aircraft. However, they are all allied aircraft and are not all military planes.

The hangar is a lovely spot that is spotless. The aircraft are arrayed around the place and they all look spotless too. One was undergoing its annual so was pulled apart a bit more. There is also a B-25 that was outside when I was visiting. I was welcomed to take a look inside. Flights are available too if you want although my schedule and budget were not going to fit in with that and the weather was rather crappy to be honest.

One of the volunteers was an ex-pat Brit and he showed me around the whole collection. He knew a great deal about the planes having been involved with them for a long time and we had a great time. others were passing by and would join the discussion as well. It was a very friendly environment. John Sessions was also about and said hello but he had a group visiting so was making sure they were having a good time.

As with the other places at Paine Field, I can certainly recommend a visit. It is an interesting collection and if you can time it to coincide with some flying activity, you will have done even better.

Museum of Flight Restoration Facility

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The Museum of Flight has its main building down at Boeing Field in Seattle. However, they have a separate restoration facility located up at Paine Field. I had visited this many years ago. At the time, it was a case of showing up and wandering around. They welcomed any visitors but it was all very informal. Since I was nearby, I thought I would pop by and see how their Cutlass restoration was going.

Things have changed a bit. They have an additional part of the building where they now have a proper entrance and a small store. They have also introduced a small entrance fee. This seems perfectly reasonable to me. Anything that helps with the preservation work the museum does is a good thing. I talked with one of the volunteers about the changes since I had last been there and asked about the Cutlass. Apparently it is a basket case and hasn’t moved on much since I was last there. At least it is being protected, even if it isn’t likely to be in much better shape for a long time.

The facility also has the Comet 4 that they have been making progress on along with the prototype Boeing 727. It also had the prototype JetStar which is configured with twin engines instead of the four of later models. Those who know my fascination with this plane as described here and here will know that was a good one for me to see.

This was a brief visit but a good one all the same. Check them out and help support the work they do. If you ask any questions, you will be warmly welcomed and given lots of freedom to see their work.

Flying Heritage Collection

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The Flying Heritage Collection has a museum facility at Paine Field that was the first thing to trigger in my mind when I was thinking about things to see up there. The collection is owned by Paul Allen and they have got a great collection of vintage warbirds. They also have some newer jets but they aren’t in the museum at the moment. I have been tracking the collection on Facebook so wanted to drop in and see what they had.

The museum was easy enough to find and if you can’t spot it, listen out for the noise of construction. They are building a new facility next door and the crews were hard at work making quite a racket as a result. The current building is an old hangar but it does the trick for the time-being. Since nearly all of the aircraft are flown periodically, the hangar is a working hangar. Work is done on the aircraft where they stand and the barriers are moveable so the planes can be taken outside when it is their turn to fly.

The place is not huge and you are close to the planes which is good from an interest point of view but makes photos a little more difficult. If going back, I would take a wider angle lens. However, it wasn’t too bad and the light was pretty reasonable too. The Axis and Allied aircraft were very interesting but I was particularly keen to see their recent addition, the Ilyushin IL-2 Shturmovik. It had not long been in the collection after delivery from restoration in Russia. I was a touch disappointed when one of the docents told me that, with the flying of the German aircraft they had planned for the coming weekend, Steve Hinton was coming in and was going to take the chance to get the IL-2 up in the air. Missing the flying at the weekend was one of those things but something even more rare in the air just after I left was rather unfortunate!

Putting that aside, it was good to take a look around the collection and I shall endeavor to get back there at some point soon – hopefully next time to see some of the collection up in the air!

Dreamliner Storage

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A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest recently included a free afternoon in which I had a chance to do some exploring. When I first new I was going to be in the area for a couple of hours, I wondered what to do. I was thinking about shooting at Boeing Field or Everett. Everett can have some interesting moves but can also have absolutely nothing happening. Boeing Field can be the same of course. I was still pondering this when on the flight across and then it occurred to me that Everett had some other things I had been meaning to do for a while other than hope for wide-body moves from the Boeing plant.

Paine Field (to give it its proper name) is home to a number of vintage aircraft collections. I shall describe more exploration of them in upcoming posts. However, as an appetizer, I shall mention something that does involve Boeing wide-bodies. The 787 parking lot! I knew that Boeing had produced a bunch of 787 airframes while they were still dealing with the design and production issues and that these were stored awaiting rework for delivery. I had even seem some pictures. However, I guess I had not really thought about it until I got there.

Paine Field is covered in Dreamliners! They are everywhere. Every time you go to a different part of the field, you come across 787s parked up. Some are in areas being worked on prior to delivery. Others are sitting on spare ramp space awaiting their turn in the rework process. Some can be identified either because they are fully painted or parts of them are that allow you to work out where they will go. Others are just white and who knows what awaits them. They have large weights attached to the engine pylons to keep them balanced without forking out huge amounts of cash for the engines. If you are of an accounting bent, you will still marvel at the amount of cash tied up in these airframes that will not be cleared out for at least 18 months. No engines reduces this a bit but they are still expensive things to have lying around. Boeing ran out of their own space so they are renting space from the airport for all of this parking. I guess the airport is happy to have a bunch of cash coming in without having to suffer too much inconvenience!

If you are anywhere near Everett in the coming months, do at least pass by to see just how much is there. Of course there are plenty of new jets being readied for delivery too but that just makes it look even more amazing!

Chicago Air and Water Show

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My reduced enthusiasm for air shows has cropped up in posts recently. I mentioned it here not so long ago. I also talked about it last year with regard to my “home” air show, the Chicago Air and Water Show. I have been a bit reluctant to go to the show because it is very busy/crowded and the content of the show has been a bit reduced due to the lack of available performers.

This year the show snuck up on me and suddenly it was here. I had kept my calendar clear on the Friday before the show because I like to go to the practice day. Not only do you get a full show (usually) but there are a lot less people there. You can even get bonuses with the headlining team (either the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds) tagging on a few extra practice moves at the end as they tighten up their performance. For some reason the Friday also seems to be more lucky with the weather. This year I figured I would follow the pattern and go then and avoid the busy weekend performances.

The plan turned out to be a really good one. The air temperature was about 70F but the skies were clear blue. There was even a hint of moisture in the air earlier in the day which would prove beneficial! They have moved the show an hour earlier compared to years gone by. I’m sure this has a number of benefits for the organizers and getting people in and out. However, the light is a little harsh earlier in the day until it comes around behind the crowds so starting earlier reduces the time for good light. However, you can still make that work if you plan your shooting.

I met up with a bunch of familiar faces down on North Avenue Beach and we settled in for the show. We had most of the main performers and a bonus with two Super Hornet displays. Two crews cover the show, one flying each day. However, they both get to practice on the Friday. It is safe to say the first crew got high marks from us for the style of the display and for having it close enough to see. The second crew seemed to be flying a very different display and were a lot further out. The first crew also benefited from the humidity levels by dragging some clouds around with them throughout the show. That helped their rating from us but they were clearly better on the day.

A lot of familiar acts were displaying but I got to see some I haven’t seen much of. Kirby Chambliss put on an excellent display I thought. All of the pilots are good but sometimes you see someone and just instantly recognize that they are a cut above the norm. Kirby fitted that description.

The Blues were the headlining act this year and they performed pretty well. Most of the display looked slick with the one glaring issue being the poor timing of the sneak passes. The four ship had been long gone by the time the solos arrived so people had plenty of time to see them coming. It was practice day so hopefully they fixed that on the real days. I didn’t see Saturday but was at home on Sunday to watch them come through the downtown as they repositioned. I did see that four was instead three on Sunday so I guess a jet or a pilot was sick – don’t know which.

With the combination of the great weather, the good friends and some excellent flying, I had one of my best air show experiences in a long time. This might be my last Air and Water Show so, if that proves to be the case, at least I will have gone out on a high.