Tag Archives: airliner

Boeing’s Contribution to Sunday at Seafair

The fast jet displays were the stars of the Seafair performances but the home manufacturer, Boeing, also provided a contribution on each day.  On Sunday, that contribution was in the form of the 777X development aircraft, a 777-9.  I was at Boeing Field on this day so got to see the aircraft launch and recover.  An elevated view of an aircraft as large as the 777-9 is most impressive.

Since the plane is so large, I wasn’t going to use a longer lens to shoot it because I would have had way too much lens for the jet as it came by.  Consequently, I was a bit short of lens when the aircraft was on the take off roll and rotating.  Not enough time to change bodies so the compromise was okay.  I still had a decent view of the jet even at 105mm.

The display was a long way away from where we were, but we did get to see the jet as it periodically popped up above the hills.  It looked like they were really throwing the jet around.  I imagine it looked pretty impressive for the crowd down on Lake Washington.  I did stick with a longer lens for the recovery of the aircraft to get a good look at approach and touchdown.  There is something really fun about getting to photograph a large jet like this from close proximity.

Let’s Experiment with Silly Shutter Speeds

I have mentioned this in previous posts but the frame rate capabilities of my R3s have encouraged me to play around with some more aggressive settings.  When something is a more important subject and not something I want to risk failing to get, I will be more cautious but there are plenty of other planes that I wouldn’t otherwise care about that provide a good subject to be a bit more ridiculous with.  I was going down to 1/50th of a second shutter speed.  With this, I would go to the 30fps setting on the frame rate or even, occasionally, the 194fps setting just to see what might yield a sharp shot.  The parallax issues are going to be an issue at this shutter speed but when you are directly abeam, you can get a good outcome.  Here are some of the results from experimenting.

Heavy Departures from SEA

I have had plenty of chances to shoot the departures from SEA when they are on a northerly flow and the afternoon light provides a good option for the jets.  Previously, I have used the 500mm since it gives good reach but, for the larger jets, as you get the jet abeam your position, it will be too large for 500mm.  The arrival of my 200-800 provided a great new option.  800mm provided a tighter view on the jets after rotation (provided the heat haze is not negating any focal length benefit) and the ability to zoom out means that you can keep the aircraft fully framed throughout the climb out.  I took the lens down when I first had an open afternoon and the right conditions and here are some of the results.  As fall moves towards winter and the heat haze and high sun become less of an issue, this combo should get even better.

Conair Q400 Water Drop Testing

I went to Abbotsford for the day to see the arrivals of the planes for an event on the airport that weekend.  Abbotsford is also home to Conair with them undertaking conversion of aircraft for firefighting duties as well as maintaining their in service fleet.  They have a fleet of de Havilland Canada DHC8-400s that have been converted to waterbombing duties for fighting wildfires.  One of them was undertaking some test flying while I was there.

It took off while I was waiting for some other arrivals and then started undertaking a series of water drops at the far end of the field.  I did try getting some shots of it, but it was far away, and the heat haze was brutal, so this was not going to be a good result.  After eight drops, they landed and taxied back to the ramp.  Fortunately, later in the afternoon, they came back out for some more runs.  This time, since I was about to leave anyway, I headed to the other end of the field to get some shots of the test drops. 

Unfortunately, the weather became rather damp, and I was standing out trying to get some shots without getting drenched.  Seeing something like this without being in a dangerous spot where real fires are raging was a nice bonus.  I did also try a little video while I was at it so that is lower down too.

A Better Perspective at BFI

Oh how good it is to know people that know people.  My friend, Annie, called to ask a favor.  In return, she would be able to get me on the tower at Boeing Field on the Sunday of Seafair.  Her friend, Reed, was king enough to allow me to tag along and the lift Annie needed hardly seemed that much of an effort when compared with getting to spend an afternoon on the tower walkways!  I have photographed at many locations around and on Boeing Field over the years but the tower just provides a better view of things.

The arrivals and departures of the performers are obviously the high points of being there but it is also great to get a different perspective on the airfield as a whole.  The stockpile of Boeing jets either in production flight test or stored awaiting a customer delivery is great to see from there.  Looking across the various ramps and hangar areas is also cool.  Even looking at the locations I might otherwise be occupying was fun.  Was I looking down on the other photographers?  Literally, yes.  Metaphorically, well probably yes too!!

I will post a variety of shots of specific performers in future entries but, in the meantime, here are some shots of a more general nature.  The team from the tower were very welcoming.  I spent quite a while chatting with the boss and hearing about the various things that they do.  I would love to go back and see the operations rather than just to photograph (although let’s not kid ourselves, photography from there is definitely welcome!).

What Sensors Are Behind These Panels?

I was working through some shots of the 777X development aircraft as it landed at Boeing Field and I noticed a couple of the front windows were blanked out.  One was a conspicuous sensor of some sort but not far behind it is one blank that looks a lot more normal but also seems to have some sensor protruding from it.  No idea what they are sensing but I imagine it is important.

Shooting Deliberately Tight on Arriving Airliners

The arrival of the Starlux A350 has already appeared in a previous post.  I got there a little ahead of its scheduled approach and, since I was playing around with using my longer lens, I decided to try shooting some of the preceding arrivals with the same lens from head on to get some tighter compositions and see just what would work before the planes got chopped off by the limited field of view.  I had a variety of types coming in from the little E175s to 777Fs.  They gave me some things to work with and I quite like how some of them came out.  A bit of variety is good when the subjects are very repetitive.

Getting the Collection of GlobalX Liveries

GlobalX (also known as Global Crossing Airlines) seems to have a variety of ways in which it paints its airliners.  Not sure what the strategy is with the liveries.  Maybe they are used for different roles or clients or maybe they just can’t make up their minds.  Whatever it is, there are some interesting ways to brand the airline.  Here are the ones that I have seen so far.

Starlux Arrives in Seattle

The increase in air traffic post the pandemic has been significant and international travel has been boosted.  Seattle Tacoma International Airport has been adding to its international destinations with new operators on a pretty regular basis and the most recent new addition has been Starlux.  Starlux is a Taiwanese airline operating services to Taipei with its fleet of new Airbus A350-900s.  I had seen that they were operating to San Francisco and was a little jealous of not getting to see this new fleet but, now they are coming here, I can see them too.  Here is one of their jets on approach to SEA to inaugurate the service.

Practicing Angles Before the Westwind Arrives

A previous post covered a recent Westwind arrival at SEA one weekend.  As I mentioned in that post, I was shooting from a new location for me.  Having not shot there before, I didn’t want to make the Westwind the first thing I photographed.  I used some of the preceding airliners to try a couple of spots to see what the angles were like and how much the surrounding trees obscured things.  These shots are from the experimenting.