Tag Archives: anniversary

4,000 and Counting

I was looking through some old posts the other day to try and find something and I saw that the published post count was exactly 4,000 posts. I hadn’t been keeping track of this so was quite surprised that it was a) that many and b) I happened to look when it was exactly 4,000 published posts. The first post I made was on March 14, 2011. At that time, things were not as structured. My first entry was followed by a second a week later. Then I had a couple in one day.

By May, I was posting every other day. I come up with subjects long in advance and tend to prepare the posts in batches which are then scheduled out. I was getting to the point where I had so many posts scheduled, it was going way out into the future. It was this that triggered me to go daily. That’s how it has been ever since. While my initial focus was on aviation themes, the lack of interest from some family and friends on those topics meant I went to alternating with aviation one day and non-aviation the next. That is how it continues. Let’s see how long it all continues.

Ten Years of the Blog

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March 14, 2011 was the day I first posted something on this blog. At the time I did it, I didn’t have any idea how things would develop. Initially posts were sporadic. I then started to have a post every other day. I would draft them ahead of time – as I still do. However, I was developing quite a backlog and transitioned to a daily post to get the backlog back under control. I haven’t changed since then and still I post daily.

One thing I did was change the focus on odd days. Having aviation related posts was not of interest to lots of friends and family so I decided to alternate between aviation and non-aviation themes each day. This has proved to be a good formula for me given that the arrival of new subject matter can be erratic at times. If you ask Nancy what I am thinking whenever we are out somewhere, the answer will be something along the lines of “thinking of blog posts that will result”. What would have been a single post in the early days is now likely to be broken down into individual topics.

I have no idea how long the blog will continue. Viewing numbers have been stable for a long time now but that isn’t really the purpose. Now it is a personal challenge. I am coming up on 3,000 different posts and that is something I would not have thought likely when it all started. I haven’t used the same tracking system from the beginning so I can’t say for sure which is the most popular post but this is the one about a 767 that never was currently shows as the most read and the most read non-aviation post is about the desert side of Maui. We shall see how long it goes on for. Thanks for coming along on the journey.

Concorde Formations Flypast

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RIAT is known for putting together formations of different types to celebrate certain events. The fiftieth anniversary of the first flight of Concorde resulted in two display teams getting together. Concorde was an Anglo-French collaboration and so was the celebration in this case. The Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France both fly formations to represent Concorde so, for this joint effort, both teams got airborne and flew their two Concorde formations in line astern. They made passes in each direction with the national anthems of each country playing – one on the first pass and the other on the second. It was a simple demonstration but an impressive one all the same.

Islander Anniversary

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The Britten Norman Islander recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of the first flight. A group, based in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight – the home of the Islander – were involved in celebrating this event. BNAPS is the group and they have been restoring the first production aircraft. My mum is a part of this group so this one is close to home.

GAR covererd this topic via two articles produced by Bob Wealthy who is a key player in BNAPS. It was good working with Bob on these pieces and you can find them at the links below.

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2015/06/13/aviation-history-britten-norman-islander-50th-anniversary/

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2015/06/15/civilian-aviation-britten-norman-islander-g-avcn-restoration/

SeaTac

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I had an early flight out of Seattle on my way back to the Bay Area. It was a nice morning and the planes were departing to the south. The terminal that Southwest operates from is towards the southern end of the airport so you get the aircraft passing you as they get airborne. I had given myself some margin for getting to the airport, checking in the rental car and getting the shuttle to the terminal and everything had gone smoothly so I actually had a bit of time on my hands. Also, on the shuttle I had seen an Alaska 737 in 75^th anniversary markings on a gate so I thought I might have a chance to get a shot of it if it wasn’t going straight out.

There is a kink in the pier as you head to Southwest’s gates that gives you a good view across the field and is not obstructed by jet bridges. Moreover, it isn’t a busy part of the terminal so waiting there and getting some shots is practical. Of course, you are shooting through some thick glazing but, even so, I was pleasantly surprised that the shots were not too badly compromised. The only problem was that the Q400s that Horizon operates from the central part of the terminal throw of some exhaust distortion which ruins what could be some good angles.

I had to make sure I didn’t forget my own flight but I did get some nice shots. The Alaska anniversary jet did time its departure well for me and I was even more pleasantly surprised when one of their 737s came by sporting the new scimitar winglets from APB. That was the first time I had seen some for real. A nice bonus before heading home.

The Blog Has a Birthday

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The other day I was thinking about a few things related to this blog when it occurred to me that I must be getting close the the first anniversary of the blog starting. I had been posting about things that I had done the previous year and hadn’t been blogged about before so knew it was still in the first year but figured it must be getting close.

A quick look back through the complete listing of posts showed me that the first posting went up on March 14th 2011 – a year ago today! So, happy birthday to the blog. (Sad to say, I haven’t bought it a present…)

So, what has the first year taught me? Well, I have been able to consistently put new information up on the blog. I seriously wondered how well I would do at finding new things all of the time and not having gaping holes in the timeline. A little figuring out of things in advance along with keeping some of the more complex topics in manageable chunks has certainly helped. It has been easy enough to drop time sensitive stuff in when necessary but it isn’t a problem to space out postings when required. Anyone who was there might wonder about the timing but I doubt many other people notice.

It has also helped me to think about the way I write stuff. The work I have been doing for other outlets always helps but the format of the blog has tempted me to think about other writing outlets. Nothing to report on that at the moment but, as things develop, you know where the first information will become available!

Thanks for reading. I know how many people visit the blog and I am glad that it has an interest for some people out there. It certainly does for me and I am glad that some want to share in that too. Cheers!