Tag Archives: civil

Low shutter speed SEA shots

A recent post was focused on some shots from BFI when I was dropping the shutter speed. I had also been playing with this one gloomy morning at Seattle Tacoma International a while back. I was waiting for a specific movement but was passing time with some of the more regular movements. Since they weren’t the most exciting subjects, I tried dropping the shutter speed down to make the motion more apparent. They were really dramatic shutter speeds, but it made a slightly more interesting shot than would other have been the case.

Departures Off the Parallel

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Having made the FOD Walk at Boeing Field before, I missed it the next year but did it again this year. I saw a few of the local aircraft operating from the short runway while the long runway was closed for us. Since I was on the south end this year, I wasn’t as close to the runway as last time, but I still got a good view of the passing planes as they climbed out.

Gloomy Day for a National Arrival

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It was a wet and gloomy weekend morning up in Everett and so might not have been worth heading out. However, National Airlines was bringing a 747-400 into the Boeing facility and that was worth a trip. The plane emerged from the gloom as it came down the approach and, as it came across the threshold, the vortices could be seen streaming off the flaps. A grey jet on a gloomy day is always a tough one but I think this was definitely a result.

Nothing to Say Other Than It’s an Avanti

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No shock to any regular reader that I found a way to photograph another Avanti. Just some good fortune about when it showed up at Boeing Field and that the light was playing ball when it had been rainy for a good portion of the time. I was able to be there to catch it and would have loved to have been there for departure too, but you take what you can get.

Brief Time Shooting on the Ramp at SEA

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I was clearing out some old shots to try and clean up some hard drive space. As I ran through some of them, I found some shots I took at Seattle Tacoma International during a visit. We were heading out to a part of the airfield to look at where some future work may be undertaken. As we drove across the ramp, I did grab a few shots of the aircraft as they taxied around and also as some were departing. It is fun to shoot from a ramp as you get a very different perspective on things.

Asiana Really Mixes Up Their Scheduling

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Plenty of airlines switch equipment around on routes as the demand ebbs and flows. One that seems to do this more than most when it comes to flights to Seattle is Asiana. Their long-haul fleet includes Boeing 777-200ERs, Airbus A350-900s and Airbus A330-300s and all of them seem to appear. The A330s are not as regular as they used to be but you never really know whether it is going to be an A350 or a 777 at any point. Here is a selection of images I have got over time of the three types as they arrive and depart from SEA.

777-300ER High Lift Flows

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Regular followers of the blog will know of my aerodynamics background and the fascination I have with fluid flows. Anything that shows it off will pique my interest. The damp conditions that the Pacific Northwest offers can, if the light is nice, provide a good show on a plane that is configured for landing. Plenty of flap angle and low speeds will drop the pressure and condense the moisture. This Qatar Airways 777-300ER was coming over SODO on its was into SEA when I shot it. Plenty of moisture over the flap system and some conspicuous trailing vortices. Just the sort of thing this guy loves.

A Rainy Sunday But it is an Avanti

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This part of the world is not known for its great weather. Actually, we can have some really nice conditions, but it is true that it will rain here from time to time. That might be a disincentive to going out to photograph planes but, when it is an Avanti and I don’t have something else on, I might well sneak out.

This one is the one that does live in the area, but Boeing Field is not its regular spot, and BFI does allow some good locations to get shots, so I headed off. Sure, it was damp and dismal, but I wanted to get something of this plane again. It was on the Modern ramp which was a possible shot without the heat haze. Then it taxied out and took off to the south, so I got a distant rotation shot and then a closer look on the climb. What a great plane.

Embraer’s Colorful Demonstrator

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Embraer developed a new generation of their E190/E195 family to take advantage of the latest generation of engines. The E2 versions of the jets have been quite successful (while the smaller version hasn’t sold, and I think the program is on pause). Embraer has liked to market the jet as the Profit Hunter and has taken to painting their demonstrators up in dramatic liveries to reflect hunting. There was a lion, and the current version incorporates an eagle’s head around the cockpit.

They were taking the jet to Asia for some customer demos, and it routed through Seattle. Initially it came up from Mexico to Boeing Field before continuing on to Anchorage and then across the Pacific. The return came back through Boeing Field and on to Florida before heading home to Brazil. I managed to catch it a little but not always how I would have liked. Still, it was interesting to see it as a different livery always make an airliner look better and this type has not sold in the US, so it is a bit of a novelty for now.

Helos at the End of the Day at Gateway

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During the visit Mark and I made to Mesa Gateway Airport, we got a couple of rotary visitors to the field as the day was winding down. The first to show up was a Bell 412. The Huey is a very different beast when it is equipped with the modern rotor and this one also sported a nice paint scheme. It looked pretty slick. A bunch of guys were dropped off and then the 412 was back on its way. No idea what they were doing and probably shouldn’t know either.

A short while later, it was an Astar that came in. Maybe not as impressive a livery (although it did look nice) but the evening light was getting better and better, so it did make for a nice image. Looking through the images, one of the passengers seems to be super excited. If I was running around in an Astar all the time, I guess I would be pretty pleased too. A nice way to wrap up a fun day.