Tag Archives: cargo

Penultimate Boeing 747

By the time this post goes live, the last production 747 will have been delivered long ago and will be in service.  As the countdown to the last jet was underway, the interest in the remaining jets off the line went up significantly.  The penultimate jet to be built was also for Atlas Air and was branded for their contract supporting Kuehne + Nagel.  I saw a few shots of it appear online as people got it arriving in some gorgeous lighting.  Sadly, I couldn’t be there for that but I did manage to get it arriving from a test flight one afternoon.  The light wasn’t fantastic, but it was okay.  After this one, there was only one more to go.

MD-10s Quietly Bow Out

FedEx acquired a large fleet of DC-10 freighters over the years and, more recently, put them through an upgrade program to make the cockpits common with their MD-11Fs.  They were renamed the MD-10s.  However, they were old jets and their time was coming due.  New jets have been added at a good rate with FedEx taking 767-300Fs new off the line at Everett.  With a downturn in business for FedEx, the fleet needed a trim and the MD-10s were the ones to go.  Here are a few that I have shot over the years.  They certainly provided good service.

An Atlas 777F For MSC Air Cargo

A lot of attention has been focused on the end of 747 production at Boeing (and this blog will not avoid that topic) but, in the meantime, Boeing continues to produce 777 freighters which are selling well.  One evening I was able to be up at Paine Field when a 777F that will be operated by Atlas but is under contract for MSC Air Cargo, a subsidiary of a large shipping organization, returned from a test flight.  Getting a nice shot in good light is what you want when you have a new livery to shoot.  Sure, it isn’t like some artistic masterpiece, but it looks pretty good.

Alaska Air Cargo Finally in Good Conditions

Alaska Air Cargo operates some 737-700s that have been converted to freighters.  For some reason, I feel like I have struggled to get any good shots of them.  I have either been too distant or the weather was crummy or I just made a bad job of the shots.  They operate in and out of SEA daily so you would think that, after six years up here, I would have got something of them that I liked.  Finally I got a bit more lucky.  Some afternoon departures to the north on days when I could be there and the light was cooperating meant I was able to get something better.  The -700 is not a big jet so, even with the 500mm, I was stretching things a bit but winter light makes everything better.  If only the Cargo logo wasn’t hidden behind the wing for a good chunk of the time.  The low light does make the texture of the door conversion on the front of the fuselage show up, though.

FedEx Skycourier Arrival in the PNW

Late in 2022, an interesting arrival came to SEA in the form of a Textron Cessna 408 Skycourier.  I had seen my first example of this plane at Boeing Field as it transited from Alaska back to Wichita.  That had been a crappy weather day and this was no improvement.  This was the first example to show up in the region in the colors of FedEx.  I am not sure whether it was delivered or just coming for familiarization with the local operations but it was using an Empire call sign and Empire is the local operator of FedEx feeder services.

It was due in later in the day and the weather was already looking bad with low cloud and the possibility of snow.  It was also a little behind schedule which didn’t help.  The light disappears early in December and it is a lot worse when the weather is bad.  I was waiting watching the ISO levels creeping upwards.  Meanwhile the cloud was creeping down.  A couple of planes came in and then a few jets started making missed approaches including the British Airways Heathrow arrival.  I then saw the Skycourier change course.  I thought it was heading to the inner runway instead.  I made a quick move down the street to that location and checked again and now it had switched back left.  I had a frantic return to where I had been and it transpired that they were actually going for the middle runway.  I hadn’t even considered that.  This meant they were a bit far away but not as bad as it could have been.  Light was terrible so ISO was cranked up high.  Was it worth it?  They will be very common here before too long but that’s not the way my brain works apparently.

Strange Cargo Door On This 747-400F

I caught this 747-400F departing from SEA one weekend while waiting for something else.  It is an original freighter rather than a converted passenger jet so it has the small hump and the nose door.  However, when I was editing the shots, I noticed that the rear fuselage cargo door has blocked windows on it.  This had me curious.  Is this a door that has been swapped on from a converted passenger aircraft or did the doors all have windows for some reason?  That seems unlikely so I am leaning to the former solution but anyone that is an expert on these things, please let me know.

Not Often You Get To See A 747 These Days

Passenger 747s are few and far between these days but the freighter world still has plenty of them.  Even so, seeing a 747 is coming in is a nice addition to an afternoon.  Heathrow’s arrivals included a Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-8F which was a nice bonus.  I haven’t had much luck with the Cathay 747-8Fs over the years so was looking forward to it showing up.  I had positioned a lot closer to the approach path when it came in and I wondered whether I might have too much lens since the 8F is the longest variant.  Fortunately, it all worked out just fine and the sun played ball too.

Fill Of FedEx Freighters

Portland is a big base for FedEx it seems.  (I think, at this point, I should called it FedEx Express but, since I am old enough to remember when they were called Federal Express, having Federal Express Express seems a bit redundant.  I know, I am grumpy old git!  Back on topic…) They had a ton of movements when Mark and I were there.  On our first day, it was the afternoon and the southern runway was not ideal for photography given the light angles.  Still, it was not terrible and the freighters provide a fair bit of variety.

The following morning, the light was move favorable for a while so we were able to get plenty of shots.  The freighter traffic is usually busy at the beginning and end of the day for the express parcel business so we had enough to shoot.  The big jets were operating with plenty of 767s on the move.  They also had the feeder services with a steady stream of Super Cargomasters (Grand Caravans) and ATR72s to handle the local distribution.  Good to take advantage of them before the replacement for the Cargomasters arrives.

A Singaporean DHL 777F

The only 777s coming out of Everett at the moment are freighters.  This can mean unusual airlines but not usually and I don’t head up there terribly often at the moment.  However, one of the jets on test recently was destined for DHL’s operations in Singapore.  Consequently, it is a hybrid of the DHL and Singapore markings.  It seemed worth a look and it helped that they had taken off mid afternoon and were due back after work.

A few photographers had showed up for this arrival as was expected.  At this time of year, even early evening is not the best of the light, but it was pretty good.  They could be seen out as they set up for approach with Mount Rainier in the background.  They touched down with the sound of the RAT buzzing in the background.  I was ready to go and headed for the car, but I heard a shout from Royal and Nick that it was coming back.  Sure enough, they had taxied back to do one further acceleration and abort on the runway, so we got a second chance at some shots.

Is This Airline Really British?

I got another new freighter while at LAX although not a great shot of it.  Cargologic has a pair of 747-400Fs in service.  The threshold for the south runways is a long way east of Imperial Hill so it is easy for freighters to stop and turn off before they get past all of he buildings that are in the way.  Consequently, I didn’t get a clear shot of this jet.  At the time I took this, a bunch of restrictions had been imposed on Russian operators as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.  Cargologic is a British registered airline so was not restricted.  Its ownership traces back to Volga Dnepr which is restricted.  Not sure the distinction is a real one but, at the time, it was enough to allow them to keep operating.  I suspect the UK government is not going to look too hard.