Category Archives: photo

Passing Through the Gulf Islands

To get to Victoria for our visit, we took the BC Ferries route from Tsawwassen.  This route crosses some open water but then it weaves its way through the Gulf Islands.  This makes for a really picturesque journey.  On the day we crossed, it was a cloudy day but the beauty of the islands and the waterways between them was more than enough to compensate for the gloomy skies.  Some of the passages are really narrow so you find yourself very close to the shore and looking at the houses and woodland areas along the water’s edge.

If you don’t mind being blown about a bit, standing out on the deck rewards you with great views.  The only problem is you can only see to one side at a time.  You need to nip through the boat to the other side periodically to see what is passing on that side.  Not such a relaxing way to sightsee!

The Vision Returns

My first encounter with this Cirrus SF50 Vision was in this post.  It was scheduled for departure while I was on some calls and I hoped it would time its departure conveniently for me.  I was lucky and it headed out just after I finished a call and before I headed back to the eastside.  The skies were not friendly for getting a shot but it was still nice to see it in action and the flat light avoided any harsh shadows and deep contrast.

Direct to Ethiopia is Still Not That Heavy

Ethiopian Airlines has been taking delivery of some Boeing 777F freighters for their cargo operations.  One of the new jets was being readied for delivery while I was at Paine Field.  Operations were in a northerly direction so, from the terrace on top of the Future of Flight, we were going to get a good view.  I was hoping that a direct flight to Bole in Ethiopia would be sufficiently long to mean that the jet would be very heavy with fuel and would run long on take off giving us a good view of rotation.  However, while there was a lot of fuel on board, the lack of any other payload meant it still got off the ground pretty swiftly.  Still, it was a good view of the initial climb out.

Otter Crew

While walking along the harbor in Victoria, I happened to be looking over the edge when three otters came out from under where we were and dropped into the water. I was quite surprised by this and we watched them swim out a way into the water before the dived. It wasn’t long before they popped back up with their catches in their mouths. They then climbed up onto the jetty for one of the ferries to enjoy their crab lunch and to play around as otters are prone to do!

Bill’s G650

Another stint in the lots by Boeing Field to deal with some phone calls prior to heading back out of Seattle after some meetings and some more interesting movements.  A G650 landed while I was there.  I was on a call so I didn’t have an opportunity to get a shot of it as it landed and rolled out which was a shame.  It parked up across from me and an SUV took the occupants away.  Then it was pushed into a hangar.  A quick search on the registration gives a company name and Googling that shows it is associated with Bill Gates.  Looks like he has a nice jet although I think he needs a new Global 7500 if he wants to stay on top of things.

My Rainier Arrivals

I was picking up someone from SeaTac just before Christmas.  The flight was due in just before sunset so I took the camera along just in case.  I was out by the outer runway approach path but the heavies were coming in to the inner runway.  This meant they passed nicely in front of Mt Rainer – assuming you can ignore the 60 odd miles distance to the mountain.  First in was a Condor 767 which still had plenty of evening light on it as it landed.

Next up was a British Airways 777.  It arrived as the light was fading fast.  It still had a bit of illumination but you knew anything following it would be in the gloom.  Being winter, there was virtually no distortion in the atmosphere, which, given the distance was a potential problem.  Things looked pretty sharp in the final images.

Woodinville Lineman

If you take a garbage truck and attach it to a power pole that you aren’t supposed to attach it to, you are likely to cause some trouble.  We had a blackout as a result of such an event.  The pole ended up punching a hole in the roof of a nearby house (thankfully it wasn’t raining) and power to our area was cut off. I got home as the light was fading and got a few shots of the damage.  The power lines are strong and they had succeeded in taking down two lamp posts as well.

I popped back out to see how things were progressing and to watch the teams at work fixing the situation.  Making the initial pole safe took a lot of time as bits of it were removed.  A new pole was put in place and the old pole lifted back up and attached to the new one.  I assume this was a temporary fix.  Focus then shifted to the next pole which was leaning at an angle that suggested it had taken a bit of the load too.  This one just got straightened up and didn’t need to be replaced.  I gave up watching after a while since I preferred to be indoors in the warm.  Power came back on at 9pm so we were able to sort out the things that had been cut off before turning in for the night.

Terminal View from the Shuttle

I was in San Francisco for a work visit a little while back.  I was picking up a rental car so took the shuttle that runs around the terminal areas and then out to the rental car facility.  This trip gives you a view of the apron areas by each terminal.  As you drop away from the central terminal area, you get a good view back across the ramp area predominantly used by United but also other Star Alliance carriers.  I grabbed some shots from the shuttle to give an overview of this area that is otherwise obscured from view.

Chihuly Museum

For the longest time I wasn’t interested in visiting the Chihuly Museum in Seattle. I had seen some glass installations outdoors and the rather bright and garish look of them put me off the idea of seeing the collection. It just didn’t look like my thing. Then, when we had visitors that were interested in going, a trip was inevitable. I have to admit, I was very wrong. What I had seen a glimpse off was in no way representative of the collection as a whole and I was most impressed by what I saw.

First, there was a lot of variety in the art. Some of it was more to my taste than others which is only to be expected. However, all of it was interesting. The layout of the exhibits gave you plenty of space to enjoy them and, while the place was popular, I rarely felt overcrowded. Much of the work was much more subtle than I had anticipated and the forms and coloring were most impressive. Other parts were a bit more dramatic but still very cool.

While much of the work was indoors, there was a selection outside and these were nicely integrated into the gardens. The blend of the colors and the reflections of the surrounding structures in the surfaces were interesting for some while others were just interesting shapes. The potential of lighting them is something that was apparent but closing time was around sundown, so we only got a hint of the illumination. We shall return in winter to see how the lighting looks.

Farewell to Hawaiian’s 767s

Hawaiian Airlines had a reasonably large fleet of 767s for its long haul services.  They introduced A330s to expand the fleet and more recently have added A321neos to serve destinations on the west coast of the US.  The arrival of these planes has meant the 767s are no longer needed.  Consequently the fleet has been run down and the final flights have taken place.  It won’t be an Airbus only fleet for the longer flights for long though.  787-9s are on order so Boeing will return to the long haul fleet before too long.