Tag Archives: airplane

Max 8 Departs Just Before Grounding

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Paul and I were in Vegas for Red Flag but the early morning is also a good time to shoot at McCarran International.  The morning light is ideal for the north/south runways and, with the wind playing ball, you can get the iconic McCarran shots of jets taking off with the weird and wonderful hotel buildings behind them.  Where else will you get a pyramid and the Empire State Building in the background.  Southwest has a big presence at McCarran and we saw a string of their jets head out including one Max8.  We watched it climb out little realizing that the grounding order would be coming within hours or even minutes.  Whether the jet continued to its destination or turned around, we don’t know but that was its last commercial flight for a while.

Low and Sporty Lightning II Departure

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Speedway departures can be a mixed bag at Nellis.  Flex departures with a pull over the Speedway are the best but it does depend on how high planes have got.  Some climb out quite steeply and are way too high for a good shot by the time that they reach you.  On my most recent Nellis trip, though, we were treated to a few departures by the locals that broke the mold. They got airborne and kept it nice and low as they accelerated towards us before breaking in to the flex departure routing.

The evening light combined with the great angles made for some good shots.  It didn’t hurt that I had a lower shutter speed than usual so got some nice blur of the mountains behind the planes courtesy of them being nice and low.  The Strike Eagles also gave it a go which was nice.

Dornier 328Jet

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The FBO ramps at McCarran had a selection of Dornier 328Jets.  I noticed one at first and only later realized that there were more.  What did please me was seeing a bus pull up by one of them with the door open.  I figured we would have a flight before too long.  Indeed it did, in due course, power up, taxi down to the departure end and take off.  It was a bit far away but I’ll take a 328Jet when the opportunity arises.

Sunset Burner Departures

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Fighters departing Nellis are well out of burner by the time they get anywhere near you outside the base.  However, if you are shooting in low light, the burners can show up quite well even though you are a long way off.  The plane is a small part of the overall shot but the intensity of the burner plume can make it far more conspicuous in the shot than would otherwise be the case.

My Convair Up Close

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The Convair CV580 has shown up in a couple of posts at least so far.  Getting to Everett early one morning prior to heading to Whidbey Island, it was a pleasant surprise to see it out on the ramp.  It was even nicer to see the door was open.  Before too long the giant square blades of the props started to turn and they were heading off.  They did turn the opposite way to what I was hoping for when they taxied but nothing to sniff at.  We decided to see whether we could get to the end of the field before they did but they must have taxied smartly and got a quick take off clearance because they were up and away as we drove towards to the runway.  Still, a nice start to the day.

E-8C JSTARS

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E-8 JSTARS are not a rare thing at Red Flag but they do often get involved in the night sorties.  Seeing one heading out to play for the daytime activities was a pleasant surprise.  On their return on the first day they were following in the KDC-10 that I mentioned in a previous post.  They also adopted some sporty approach techniques and were similarly unsuccessful in converting them in to a landing.  The go around ensued and was followed by a more conventional straight in approach and landing.

Back How it Was Delivered

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The BOAC retro jet that BA has painted up was a nice treat to get.  There are two other retro jets in other colors but, based on their interior configuration, they should not normally be used on the Seattle route.  Therefore, I wasn’t expecting a chance to get them any time soon.  Then, I saw that the Landor scheme aircraft was coming to SeaTac.  It must have been a substitution.  Now I was interested.  However, it pushed off the gate at Heathrow and then went back on with some engine start issue.  Was it going to scrub?

Apparently not.  The issue was resolved and they pushed again.  While the passengers were, no doubt, unimpressed by this, I was delighted.  It now meant the arrival was at nearly 7pm.  No problem to get to SeaTac after work and the light might be really nice.  The weather was better than forecast although the chance of Mt Rainier making a second appearance was low.  Again, plenty were out for the arrival.  She showed up on the approach and the light played ball.  This jet would have been delivered to BA with these colors so it was a case of reverting to how she had appeared many years before.

Please Come Back Before Sunset

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Some late day departures after the Flag returns included F-15Es, F-35As, L159s and A-4s.  You don’t know how long anyone is scheduled to be out but you find yourself hoping that they will all make it back before the sun sets so you can get some arrival shots in the nicest light available.  Once they are gone, it is a case of watching the time and crossing your fingers.  As it was, we got lucky.  They came back in a steady stream with all of them showing up as the sun was at its best.  Arriving over Cheyenne is not ideal from a sun angle perspective at this time of year but we still got some nice angles.  Some turned tighter while others went wider so we got to try all sorts of angles out to see which picked up what light was remaining.

Kalitta Charter 727

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Boeing 727s aren’t a total rarity but they are certainly not common and, when one showed up at Paine Field, it was worthy of a look.  Operated by Kalitta Charter, it was making a trip around the west.  It arrived at Paine in nice light and a flight plan was filed for a departure shortly afterwards.  This turned out to be a bit optimistic but I had plenty to do so I sat nearby awaiting the departure.  It ultimately came later in the day so the weather was great.

What wasn’t great was that I missed them calling up on the radio as I was busy with some work.  I happened to glance up and see the aircraft rotating in lovely light.  I grabbed the camera and tried to get a quick shot but the camera was not happy and I got a second of open shutter.  Nothing usable.  A quick reset and then I was able to get tail on shots as it climbed away.  To say I was annoyed is an understatement.  At least I saw it, even if I have no shots to share.

Husky on Floats

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Renton may be home to the 737 and to plenty of other aircraft but it also has a floatplane dock at the north end.  A Husky was dragged over to the ramp during my Sunday morning stroll and dropped into the water.  The pilot powered up and proceeded to water taxi around for quite a while, presumably while the engine was coming up to temperature.  Finally he was ready to go and given acknowledgement from the tower that he could go if he wanted.  A surge of power, up on to the step and then airborne and climbing away.  No two ways about it, flying floatplanes is definitely cool.