On my way home I wanted to stop into SFO to get something specific.  JAL operates their new 787s into SFO and the daily arrival is around 4pm.  I had seen a few shots from people catching it coming in and had been planning to try and get it for a while.  This was a good opportunity since the weather was looking nice.  I got there slightly ahead of time and just in time to catch an EVA 777 coming in.

It was a quiet time at SFO so I was able to relax and watch the activity along the shoreline between arrivals.  A few departures looked interesting but the light was too far round to get a decent shot of anything that wasn’t departing from the 28s.  A few heavies did go from there and I made sure to shoot them for practice.

The JAL 787 showed up as planned and so I got my shots.  I was a little unsure about lens choice.  SFO is a place where the 500mm can be very useful but it is too much for the longest aircraft when they are abeam you.  The 787 is a deceptive aircraft that looks smaller than it really is so I was a little unsure as to whether to risk the long lens and miss the shot.  I started out with the 100-400 which was fine for the part where it crossed the threshold and the aircraft holding for departure.  Things looked about right so I quickly swapped back to the 500 and it was not too much.  Good to know in future.

I was about to head home after the arrival when I looked up and saw a four engine jet passing over heading to the approach.  A quick check on Flightradar24 confirmed it was a Swiss A340 so I figured I could manage ten more minutes.  Once it was on the ground, a Virgin and BA 747 pairing were taxiing out.  The Virgin jet went off 01 so was not well lit from my side and the BA jet spent so long taxiing it was clear the sun would be below the hills before it got going so I called it a day.