Tag Archives: cessna

The KF Centre of Excellence

Usually, when I go somewhere new, I have done some research on what aviation related things might be in the area should there happen to be any spare time to squeeze something in.  I had actually been checking out the layout of the airport at Kelowna before our trip since I knew that Kelowna Flightcraft had their operations and there was an Alaska Airlines paint facility.  I figured it would be worth a drive by if time allowed.

As it turned out, our planned hike got scrubbed because the snow made access to the trail, we intended to try impossible for our not off-road optimized car.  We were looking for something else to do and I asked Nancy is a quick drive by at the airport would be possible.  With nothing else in mind, so generously acquiesced.  We drove up the west side of the airport and passed a pair of Convairs up a side road with a sign saying Open to the Public.

I had no idea what this could be but, when we came back, we drove up to take a look.  Much to my surprise (and Nancy’s bemusement that I didn’t already know), we were at the KF Centre of Excellence.  This is a new museum that the owner(?) of Kelowna Flightcraft has established.  The building itself is a lovely structure.  It is loosely designed to resemble the layout of a plane with a central fuselage element and two wings which are hangars.  The external styling is very nice, and the interior is tastefully finished with lots of wood.  We paid to have a look around with the front desk being a converted nacelle.  (Much of the furnishing is aviation components that have been repurposed.  An office desk from a tailplane, nacelles that have been modified and the café seating is all old business class seats.

The center section of the museum has a lot of exhibits about flying including engines, fuselage components and even an old simulator.  It is quite informative and educational.  We enjoyed looking around.  Then it was to the hangars.  One has a Second World War vintage to it.  The largest item was a DC-3 but it was probably the least exciting.  Alongside it was a Mosquito that had only recently been flown in.  Beside that is a Hawker Tempest which is in an advanced state of restoration to flightworthy condition.  It may well be the only Tempest I have seen.  I’m not sure if I have ever seen one before.

Across to the other side and things are still quite empty.  Clearly there are plans to add more aircraft in due course.  A Staggerwing and a few floatplanes are in place but the two-seat F-104 Starfighter is definitely the most exotic.  It was airworthy until relatively recently.  Sadly, it is rather tight to the wall which made getting shots from different angles tricky.  Still cool to see it though.

I had no idea about the museum.  I had heard something about the Mosquito flying out of Vancouver to a new owner but hadn’t really pieced together what was going on so didn’t realize it was Kelowna.  The whole thing was quite a surprise.  Finding such a collection and in such a lovely building was a shock.  Oh yes, parked out front were two Convairs.  One was the old Honeywell testbed that I have shot prior to its retirement and the other is a retired water bomber.  How cool.  (As an aside, the Honeywell 757 testbed was just down the road undergoing some maintenance work.)

Log Boom with Mark

My buddy, Mark, was heading through the region on his way south but he had a little time to kill.  We agreed to meet up late in the afternoon to see what the traffic was like at Kenmore.  He comes from Vancouver, so floatplanes are not a novelty for him, but a different operator is some variety I guess.  I am always happy to watch floatplanes.  I got there a little before him and got a couple of extra movements but there was still enough happening once he showed up.  Log Boom Park provides a good spot to watch the planes from, but the summer can be trickier as it becomes a popular spot for the local kids to hang out and swim.  Fortunately, the day was cooler, so we weren’t surrounded by kids.

Most of the planes approached from down the lake and came straight in but there was one Cessna that decided the southerly wind necessitated the approach over Kenmore.  I would like more of those to be honest as they provide some interesting angles, but it was just the one this time.

Heritage Flight Museum Fly Day

I made a trip to the Heritage Flight Museum last year for one of their fly days.  I only shot from outside and that was quite good fun.  This year, I made the effort to get up there earlier to take a look around inside before the flying started.  Once I got inside, I decided that the location was worth staying inside for given that I could watch the planes start up and shut down and also get the best of the low passes.

Sadly, the Skyraider was not signed off to fly but everything else put on a good show. We had flying from the T-6, an O-1, a pair of T-34s and a P-51.  They all flew more than once (except the O-1) and the location on the ramp provided a great place to watch the start JP, taxi out, flybys and the recovery process.  I was even able to be in the shade for a lot of the time which made for a very relaxing day.

They flew some formation flybys including a missing man formation.  Then the individual planes would do a series of passes.  Having shot a similar day from outside before, being inside did provide a good opportunity to try different things.  Outside has angles to offer but inside gives some shots that can’t be matched including the lower passes.  Besides, watching them taxi by at such close range is really cool.  I hope to get back up for another of their fly days this year.  I also need to explore the museum in more detail.

Citation X With Winglets

This post is for Pete.  He is a big fan of the Citation X so I might have posted it anyway but it is a special one.  Most Citation Xs were built without winglets but a few were retrofitted and I think Cessna even built a few with them from the factory towards the end of the production run.  I think they are a pretty nice looking winglet design so, Pete, this one is for you.

At Last a Longitude

The Citation Longitude is the largest member of Cessna’s corporate jet family.  It was certificated a while back but I had never seen one.  I saw that they came in and out of Boeing Field periodically as part of NetJets’ operation but I had never been there when one was on the move.  Finally I broke that duck.  NetJets was the operator again and the sun was out for its arrival so I was happy to get a shot of what is not a particularly interesting looking plane but not a bad one either.

XOJet Colors Change Again

I shot an XOJet Citation X at Paine Field over the holidays.  The light was at a nice low angle since it was not long after the shortest day and it picked out details on the airframe nicely.  I was surprised to see that the jet was in a grey paint finish.  I have shot a few XOJet Citation Xs over the years.  Some of the earlier ones were in a pretty standard looking livery, not unlike NetJets.

I then started to see them in an all white paint finish.  This was definitely not too exciting and had the look of someone that was ready to save money when they sold their jets without the need to repaint them.  The new scheme is not much better but at least it looks slightly more deliberate than a plane you couldn’t decide what to paint it.  I wonder if this is a new standard for them or just an oddball?

NetJets Gets the Good Conditions

In this previous post, I mentioned the good light I was hoping would be available for a Dornier 328Jet.  While that didn’t work out, I did get a NetJets Latitude arriving at that time.  NetJets colors are certainly not very exciting so they are a bland subject normally (and a Latitude is hardly the most exciting looking bizjet either.  However, with the right lighting, even this can look pretty dramatic!

Evening Cessnas on Floats

Another jump back to just before things got locked down and a visit to Log Boom Park in Kenmore.  I was hoping for either some interesting wildlife or some Kenmore Air activities.  The only floatplanes I ended up with were a couple of Cessnas.  However, the light was nice and the evening was calm so this actually proved to be a good alternative.  They may not be as neat as a de Havilland Canada beast but they are still fun to shoot.

Cape Air Ramp

I have read a lot about Cape Air.  They are a small operator in the New England area flying a fleet of (mainly) Cessna 402s.  The reason I know this is that they have been heavily involved in the development of a new piston twin with Tecnam which they intend to use to replace their fleet.  The first examples have started to show up but, for now, the 402 is still their workhorse.  While I was sitting at a gate at Logan waiting for a flight home, we were right across from their ramp so I was able to watch the comings and goings of their planes.  Seeing them mixing in with the big airliners was pretty impressive.

My First Latitude – Now They are Everywhere

This post is a little late in coming to fruition but it is even more the case now than when I first wrote it.  The corporate jet market has been in a bit of a slump for a while but one thing that is likely to provide a boost is a new model.  Cessna launched the Latitude jet a few years ago.  An evolution of their existing line, it took parts of the Sovereign and combined them with a new fuselage.  (As an aside, I have never been a fan of the Sovereign.  The fin looks like a barn door on it.  The larger fuselage of the Latitude actually suits the fin size a lot better so things are a bit more in proportion.  Still, not many of the Cessna jets are that elegant in my mind.)

The one at the top of this post was the first Latitude I got to photograph.  I did see a test jet take off from Wichita Mid Continent when I was there visiting friends but I didn’t have a camera.  They are easy to identify with the gently upcurved wingtips.  Having seen this one, I have since come across a bunch of them.  It appears that the arrival of the new type attracted a bunch of customers and Cessna was ready to build to meet that demand.  Now I don’t consider them particularly noteworthy.