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El Centro Video

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We were kindly hosted by the team at NAF El Centro for a photocall.  I will post later with some of the shots from the visit to the base itself.  However, one of the things I wanted to do this time that I learned following my previous visit to El Centro was to shoot more video.

I was still going be predominantly shooting stills but the motion and proximity of the aircraft is hard to appreciate sometimes from a still image (a failing of mine as a photographer of course).  Video gives you more of a  sense of the activity.  Therefore, I took a GoPro with me to the day and mounted it on top of my camera on the hot shoe.

This had the advantage of allowing me to shoot video at the same time as stills.  It did have a couple of disadvantages.  One is that the sound of the shutter clicking is picked up by the camera on the soundtrack.  When the jets are close it isn’t too bad but when they are further away, it becomes more intrusive.  Second, the GoPro is fixed at quite a wide angle so it makes everything look a little further away than it is.  However, this is an add-on to my normal shooting so both compromises are worthwhile.

I did shoot a small bit of video with one of the SLRs and it probably won’t be hard to spot which bit of film that is when you watch.  I didn’t bother with any music since I think the sound of the jets does a pretty good job.  Here is the result.

El Centro Preamble

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In a previous post, I mentioned that I was heading to NAF El Centro in California for a photo shoot.  The main part of the shoot was going to be on the base.  It was due to commence at noon.  That left a free morning.  El Centro has a couple of good locations off base where you can photograph the aircraft and one is better suited to morning shooting since the light is good for departing aircraft and those breaking into the pattern.

I was ready for an early start and got out as the early departures were underway.  Not only was this a good spot to shoot from, it was also a good gathering spot for some of us going on base later so it served multiple purposes.

There was a fair amount of morning activity.  The majority of traffic was from T-45 Goshawk from NAS Meridian who were deployed to El Centro for training.  The local ranges provide opportunities for basic weapons training but other missions as also flown including some field carrier landing practice (FCLP).

Hornets and Super Hornets from the west coast training squadron were also operating and provided a regular stream of departing and arriving traffic.  The Canadian forces were also operating Hornets from the base.  They tend to depart reasonably straight out and break into the pattern a little early but sometimes come into a good location for shooting.  When they are weapons training, though, they always come to the end of the runway to make all weapons safe so we get a good view.  They had also brought a C-130 tanker with them which was a nice addition.

A couple of C-2 Greyhounds were practicing their pattern work to mix it up.  Helicopter traffic included some AH-1 Cobras from the Marines transiting and a British Army Apache although they stayed well to the south so were not something I could get any shots of.

All of this gave us an idea of what was on base and provided some good shooting opportunities from a different position to that we would get later in the day.

 

Victorville Flyby

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A while back, I found myself in Southern California with my buddy Pete.  Pete is a pilot with about 15,000 hours on multiple types but he always wants to try out something new.  He was renting a Cessna 172 for the day and getting checked out at a couple of interesting fields – Catalina Island and Big Bear.  I was along for the ride.

He asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were out and I wanted to take a look at Victorville.  Victorville is the old George AFB and is now a place where a lot of airliners come for storage and often to be broken for spares.  I had seen a few pictures of the place and wanted to see what was there to be seen.  Pete had an added interest as there were some British Airways 747s parked up there – the type he currently flies for his day job!

I had been in the back for the first two legs of our trip a we had an instructor along checking Pete out.  For this leg, I took the right seat to be well positioned for the photos and also to get a bit of time in myself.  I had no idea how enthusiastic Victorville would be about passing light aircraft coming to take a look.  However, when we called up the tower, they were very happy for us to make a pass.  When we told them what we wanted, they even allowed us to break off from a low approach and turn north to pass the collection of stored airliners.

There was quite a selection of aircraft on the ground.  Some of them were obviously temporary residents but a few looked like they were only going to be leaving in bits some day.  Rather sad but it happens to us all eventually.  Anyway, a fun distraction on our route (a great trip as a whole by the way but maybe I will save that for another time) and some interesting things to see.

As an aside, Pete was back here before too long to pick up one of the BA jets to return it to service.

Bye Bye JAL 747s

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When I was a small kid, I had a book called Pictorial History of Aircraft.  This was the 1970s and so the Boeing 747 was still a relatively new kid on the block.  It certainly wasn’t the times of the 400 series being knocked out at the rate of one a week.  The pictures in this book showed Japan Air Lines (JAL) as an operator of both passenger and freighter versions of the jet.

As time passed by, JAL grew its fleet substantially and was for a long time the largest operator of 747s in the world.  Therefore, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the poor financial state of JAL combined with the introduction of more efficient big twins has meant the 747 has gone from JAL’s passenger operations.  It is odd to know I won’t see one again (except perhaps at a storage yard).  Every once in a while the airline industry has a big change – the end of Pan Am is one that springs to mind.  For me, this is one of those moments.

Anyway, they are gone but I have a few shots of them to remember them by.  I wonder what will be next to go?!