Tag Archives: california

Air Force One and More Bad Weather

The Boeing VC-25, known as Air Force One when the president is on-board, made another visit to San Francisco a short while ago. I had previously gone out to try and get this aircraft when it was in town. One visit got there shortly after it had left. Another got there in time but the weather was a lot less than ideal. I wrote about the missed opportunity here and the slightly more successful time here.

The weather forecast for the time of departure was not good. Arrival had been around the time I was flying home a few days before so I had been more interested then in whether our flight was going to be delayed. With the weather looking poor, I was not making a plan to go. Instead I was visiting some people in Hayward to discuss another aviation project. As it happened, we wrapped up at about the right time for me to make the dash across the bay to SFO so I figured I would go. The rain had been bad but it did appear that things might be clearing up.

I got to the airport and could see that the VC-25 was still parked up. Aircraft were still arriving and departing so I knew I had some time. I just hoped it hadn’t all been delayed without me knowing. I hadn’t been there long when I got a visit from law enforcement. The big lens obviously got some attention. We had a chat and my details were verified but everything was ultimately cool. The cop was very friendly. As we finished up, I noticed that things had got very quiet. Nothing was arriving or departing – a good sign! The only thing airborne was a Coast Guard MH-65 in their new paint colors.

Meanwhile, the sun was making periodic peeps through the clouds. Was I actually going to get reasonable conditions? I could see the APU was running on the jet and a little while later, the beacon started flashing and the stairs were pulled away. Given that they don’t hang around, I figured we should see something soon. Sure enough, they taxied out from the parking area and headed for runway 28R via the taxiway on the opposite side of the peninsula on which the runways are built. A little worse for me with heat haze (yes, even on a crappy day the heat haze was still a problem).

I was aligned with the end of the runway so the jet taxied up and turned straight towards me before lining up and pushing the throttles up. The secret service vehicles that had followed it down the taxiway turned and raced alongside for a short while until the speed was too much for them. Unlike last time, they must have been a lot heavier because they used a lot of the runway before rotating. Then they climbed away. A successful shoot and time to head home!

Kiler Ridge Olive Farm

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How much do you know about Olive Oil? If you are like me, probably not a lot. I know I like it and it is a regular part of my diet. After that, not so much. While staying in Paso Robles, we paid a visit to an olive oil farm. Kiler Ridge Farm has a large number of olive trees and a pressing facility. They press their own olives and olives for other growers, some of the oil from which they will also buy if they like it. The farm is still developing their crops but they have a significant business underway.

The tour is in two parts. One is a 90 minute discussion about the way in which they grow the olives, harvest them and turn them into oil. The owners are a very engaging couple who are passionate about this business and very analytical about the way in which things get done. At points, I think a portion of the visitors were zoning out when the math of yields was being discussed in great detail. For an engineer, it was perfect!

When the tour is done, you get to taste the oil. I was a little skeptical about this aspect. Taking a sip of olive oil seemed a little odd to me. We got to try and number of different types of oil and were shown how to taste it and what to look for. Despite having the remnants of a cold, I could still see the differences that were being discussed. Amusingly, they also provided a sample of a well-known “premium” brand of oil and the blandness was striking after tasting the others. There were some quite shocking details about just what can be sold as Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the US!

Aside from the interest of the tour and the tasting of the oil, the location was not bad either. Sitting atop a hill surrounded by olive groves and the rolling hills around Paso Robles on a sunny day was a delightful way to spend some time. Once we were finished, we just wandered around the grounds for a while taking in the view. Very relaxing. Stop by if you are ever in the area.

Egrets in Hayward

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The marsh areas along the shore of San Francisco Bay in Hayward are a popular spot for birds. Egrets are certainly a common bird in this area so seeing some of them while walking along the trails in the area was no surprise. I was interested to see how close you could get without disturbing them. The area is popular with people so they probably are relatively used to having people around. Even so, I did not want to cause them any disturbance. As it was, they seemed far more focused on whatever they were going to eat next than they were of me.

Zero G 727

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If the weather is really crap, my first thought is not to go photographing aircraft. I have experimented with going out on bad days to see if you can get an unusual view of something but when the forecast is for heavy and constant rain, that isn’t too appealing. So, what do you do when you get a notification that the Zero G Boeing 727 is coming in to Oakland. (Zero G operates flights that provide multiple short exposures to weightlessness as the plane flies a parabolic arc.) A type that is not too common any more, an unusual operator, your local large airport and it is on a Sunday morning so you aren’t at work. Everything is saying go.

Oakland is not a great place to shoot when operations are in the normal direction. You are also on the wrong side of the runway for good light. However, the storm meant that the approaches were coming down from the north and they pass by some locations that give good views of the runway. All of these things were suggesting I need to take a chance. I headed off equipped with wet weather gear. I chose to get there a little early to get some practice in.

Oakland is a pretty busy airport during the week but the weekend schedules are a lot lighter. I figured I wanted to shot a couple of approaches before my plane came in to view to get things set up right. The light was crap so I had to ramp up the ISO. Also, while the sky is dark, a lot of exposure compensation helped to get detail on the fuselage itself. Having found a combination I was happy with, a heavy belt of rain came in and the visibility rapidly diminished. By now the 727 was not far out so I figured I might just have blown it.

Fortunately, the rain came in fast but eased off just as quickly and soon I could just make out the outline of San Francisco in the murk which told me I should be able to get my picture. They checked in with the tower for landing clearance so I knew it was time to get out and get wet. Initially, everything looked really grey as the plane came in to view. Fortunately, as it ran down the approach, it was in the clear all of the way and I was able to get off a burst of shots. Once it was down, the weather was not going to get better and there were not many movements scheduled anyway so I decided I was happy with the catch and preferred to warm and dry indoors.

Placerville

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During the fall, we decided to take a trip up to Placer County. The aim was to visit some of the apple farms up that way and to buy some fruit. This we did quite successfully! When we had finished, we dropped in to Placerville to have a look around. I actually have some friends who live in Placerville but I hadn’t warned them that we might be in the neighborhood and they were out when I called to see if they were around so we missed out on catching up. However, we did have a nice look around the downtown area.

As an old mining town, it has a selection of older buildings and the feel of the place is more eclectic than the experience you have in a newer town that hasn’t had a chance to evolve much. The geography of the area means that the roads are not dead straight so everything has a more individual feel.

Huey at Hayward

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Given the number of times that I have been specifically trying to catch something out in the wild, it is a little funny when I get completely lucky and come across something cool without ever trying. I was out walking along the shore in Hayward through the parkland that includes the marshes out there. The weather was not particularly nice but I was checking out the area as a place to walk on another occasion. While I was walking along, I heard the unmistakable sound of a Huey in the distance. I scanned the horizon for a sign of the helicopter and picked it up low and coming towards me. Could I be so lucky as to get it coming right by me?

No, as it got closer, it turned away. I was a bit disappointed but not too surprised. It dropped out of sight and I figured it had landed at Hayward airport. I went on with my walk and didn’t think much more about it. Before too long, it popped up again and a similar situation occurred. As I headed back to the car, the same thing happened again. I was a bit closer at this point and got some shots but it was still some way off and the sky was a bit grey so still nothing worthwhile.

As I got to the car, some rain started to fall so I figured I was heading home. As I drove away, the rain stopped again and I figured I was going to be coming right by the airport so I might look and see if I could see the Huey or not. When I got to the fence, the sound returned and right behind me was the ubiquitous shape on its downwind leg. It turned in to the field and ended up hovering a short distance from me. Not only that, but the sun came out! A dark background with sun on the foreground is always a great combination. They were flying a bunch off circuits so I stayed around for a while to catch a couple of them before the light went away and my desire for lunch started to take over.

The aircraft is a restored airframe run by a volunteer group to commemorate the emergency medical service provided in Vietnam. They are called EMU Inc. and are based around here. I hope to spend more time finding out about what they do so watch out for more in the future.

New Apple Campus

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The bottom of the peninsula runs in to the San Jose area and it is full of the tech businesses that are dominating the news these days. The departure from Oakland if you are heading south takes you out to the coast and then back over this part of the world. If you are sitting on the left side of the plane, you get a good view of the area. One of the most high profile companies is Apple and they are in the process of building a huge new campus. This is like a giant spaceship shaped as a circle that has landed in Sunnyvale. Given how big it is, it isn’t hard to spot from the air. We might have been high but it was still conspicuous. Here is the view I got.

Any Expensive Jets Here?

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Airliners were not the only thing we got to see above LAX. On the south side of the field are some FBOs and they had an interesting selection of planes parked up on their ramps. As we passed overhead, it was a good time to see what was around. There were plenty of Gulfstreams on show. The view from above shows just how large the wing is on the largest of Savannah’s products. We also had some BBJs, a 757 that appeared to belong to a casino and some Cessnas, Challengers, Falcons and Hawkers. I am not sure I would be able to choose which one to use today. Maybe I will rotate them?

Shoveler Ducks

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Nothing too dramatic or unusual today. San Francisco Bay has a lot of birds that live on its shores and one species that I have seen a lot of recently is Shoveler Ducks. I thought that they deserved their own post so here are a few of the residents.

Ano Nuevo Island

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I have shot Ano Nuevo Island a few times on previous visits. It is out of bounds to visitors and very popular with the wildlife. In the past, it has been a bit gray or misty and not so easy to get a good shot of. On this visit, the conditions were very nice and I got some of the better shots I have managed there. It certainly looks like a place that it would be pretty cool to explore.