Tag Archives: california

Armee de l’Air A400M

The A400M Atlas is now in service with a number of air forces. My encounters with them, though, have only involved the development airframes displayed by Airbus. That changed in Sacramento when The Patrouille de France arrived as part of their North American tour. They brought an A400M as he support plane. I was rather disappointed that it arrived late in the evening, after I had gone home and disappeared early the following morning to recover some delayed jets.

It was back for the day of the display though. It started up at a remote location but then proceeded to give a short flying display. It then taxied back to the crowd line where it shut down and was opened up for visitors. The people were lined up to get inside it for ages. The plane still looked pretty clean so I guess it had not been in service too long. I was glad to get a close up look around the outside as well as to see the crowds inside and the flying display itself. Not a dramatic performance like the test crews have put on but still good to see.

Mount Shasta

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The move from the Bay Area to the Seattle area involved a two day drive. The first part of the drive north is pretty flat but, as you get further north, you get into the southern end of the Cascades Range. The interstate runs around the south and west of Mount Shasta. You first see it a long time before you are anywhere near close to it. These large mountains are not easy to miss provided it is a clear day and the weather was lovely on this occasion.

We pulled off the road briefly at a viewing location. We were still some distance from the mountain and the view was not unimpeded but I guess this was a better spot than was available further up. The mountain had plenty of snow on it. As you looked closer, you could see wisps of cloud above the surface. I couldn’t tell whether they were actual clouds or snow that was being whipped up by wind as we were too far away. It took a long time to go by the mountain. We came up the west side but for a long time it just was there. Eventually, it was behind us and we continued on to our overnight stop.

Reverse Ops While I Am Waiting

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As some recent posts have covered, I made a visit to SFO recently to go up the old tower before it was demolished. I got to the airport a little ahead of time so had some time along the bay shore awaiting my time slot. I got some shots of operations while I was there. The wind was out of the south so reverse operations were in effect which is always an interesting change to things. The departures to the east are busy and a little different while the arriving jets come closer to you as they touch down and roll out.

The light was a bit subdued but there were a few heavies arriving. A couple of 747-400s including a Qantas jet and an ANA 777-300ER. However, the sun did pop out briefly as a Hawaiian A330 departed (presumably for Hawaii). The sun caught it quite nicely as it climbed and, in the background you could see one of the jets lining up for arrival on the 19s.

Departing the Bay at Sundown

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This post may seem a bit symbolic but it is a bit of a cheat. I flew out of SFO heading up to Seattle to go to my new place. The flight left around sunset and, as we climbed out above the bay, I got some lovely views of the water, the city and the cloudscapes with the last light of the day. As the sunset on my time there, it was rather appropriate. (The reason it is a cheat is that I came back a few days later and left again by car. That wasn’t so dramatic so I shall stick with this version instead.)

Qatar Amiri Flight 747-8 BBJ

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Just a quick post this time. No big description. While up the old tower at SFO, the Qatar Amiri Flight Boeing 747-8 BBJ was parked across the runway. As private jets go, this is pretty well up there. I haven’t been inside so I don’t know whether it is luxurious but I am willing to bet it doesn’t have a utilitarian feel in there. I doubt I will get to find out though.

Sailing Ship in Oakland

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A pair of sailing ships had been in Oakland earlier in the year but I didn’t get around to seeing them while they were there. However, I had lunch with some colleagues in Jack London Square a little while later and saw that one of the ships (or another similar ship) was tied up on the dock. Unfortunately, the sun was behind the boat so it wasn’t an ideal time to photograph it but, with something that unusual, I figured I shouldn’t waste the opportunity.

Taking the Plunge

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We were walking along the shore in Pacific Grove when we saw a bunch of people on the dock that is part of the wall of the small harbor. It appeared that they were getting ready to jump in so we stopped to see if they were or not. Jumping into the Pacific in spring is hardly a polar bear plunge but it was still fun to see their reactions as they jumped in. I guess it was still pretty chilly.

More Pretty Coastline Than You Know What to Do With

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Our trip down the coast included some driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. This is undoubtedly a gorgeous place to be. Each turn in the coast brings with it another lovely view of rugged cliffs and crashing waves. Add some sun and it really is wonderful. There is little point in saying much more. Instead, here are a few shots to show just how great it is.

Sea Otter Tenant

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Our visit to the aquarium in Monterey was mainly indoors but we did step out onto the deck area to see what was out there in the rain. I didn’t have a camera with me other than my phone but I did borrow Nancy’s P900 because a Sea Otter had moved in to the pool to take it easy. Someone told us that she was pregnant and liked the shelter the pool afforded. She certainly seemed to be relaxing comfortably while we were there. Maybe Tyson can update us on how she has been doing.

Sacramento Roundhouse

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One end of the railroad museum in Sacramento is a roundhouse. It is accessible still from the line outside and I was there for a modern locomotive that was being unveiled. Access comes via a turntable which sits right next to the path along the river. I figured I would put together a panorama of the scene. However, I only had my phone (albeit able to shoot raw). I had never tried shooting a pano sequence with it before having only used its internal pano function.

I wasn’t controlling the exposure (although there is a manual function in the app I use) but I had noticed that the Lightroom pano function seemed quite adept at dealing with small exposure variation. I took the sequence and there was not a big difference across them. When I got home, I added them to Lightroom and had a go at the stitching function. It worked better than I had expected. Some small distortions were there but it actually was rather good. I had not been happy about the reduced size of the pano function of the phone so this has provided a better option to use in the future.