Tag Archives: civil

Stacking the Approaches Again at Heathrow

A bit repetitive from some previous posts today but I get a kick out of this stuff, so you end up getting a post. While I spend most of the time when shooting at Heathrow offset from the approach. However, I do always take a bit of time to line up with the approach and get some head on shots. That also means the chance to get a view of the line up of jets heading in. Two shots from that visit for this post. What I did like on this day was watching the furthest out jet as it came in from the side to line up on the localiser. Some video of that is probably something I should try and some point.

Stargazer’s Special Mods

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The last of the Pegasus missions has now been flown. Built to carry the Pegasus (and later Pegasus XL) air launched orbital booster, it was a conversion of a Lockheed L-1011. For a while now, it has been the only airworthy example of this classic airliner. I saw it at Mojave many years ago and it came to the Edwards AFB air show that I went to a few years back. At that point, they were still conducting training flights to retain currency for upcoming missions. I took a bunch of images during the show that looked at the details of the exterior changes for the launcher mission.

Now that the last booster has been launched, I imagine there is no further use for the airframe and it will be retired. Sadly, the launch, while successful, carried a payload that was not operational in its intended role. Such a shame to end that way. Will the aircraft go somewhere else – a museum for example – or will it be stored at Mojave until it is broken down?

These Engines Look Bigger Than the Fuselage

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The Embraer sales team have been doing quite well with the E2 versions of their jets. They are selling well and showing up with lots of operators. I have seen them passing our house as KLM brings them to Southampton now and there were a few at Heathrow when I was there a short while back. The head on shots I got really emphasise the unusual proportions of the E2. The most noticeable change from the E1 was the addition of the Pratt geared turbofans. These have a far larger bypass ratio and the diameter of the engines compared to the narrow fuselage of the original airframe is a little disproportionate in my view. What do you think?

The Better Way to Get to Padstow

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We had a holiday in Cornwall which included a few days in Padstow. I was in our room when I heard a helicopter. I figured it wasn’t going to be too visible so, rather than grab the camera, I just walked to the window to look out. As it happened, an A109 was descending across the harbour to land just out of sight to my right. The light was rather lovely on the airframe as it passed in front of me. I was rather annoyed that I hadn’t grabbed the camera.

However, I figured that it was likely either dropping someone off or picking someone up so was unlikely to be staying on the ground. Would it come back out the way it had come, or would it depart in a direction I couldn’t see? Only one way to find out. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long. They were retracing their route back out over the water so came nicely in range. Sadly, the light had faded a touch, but it was still pretty good. I had driven for a number of hours to get to Padstow. This looks like a far more convenient way to make the trip.

Air Peace Almost Catches Me Out

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During my visit to Heathrow for the Cathay special, I was looking at the list of inbound types to see if there was anything else that would be of interest. An Air Peace 777 was listed but it didn’t show its departure time so I figured that it might have been cancelled. Consequently, I wasn’t expecting it to show up. Consequently, when I saw it appear on approach using FR24, I was delighted and rather surprised. Here is is – another new operator to see in person.

Even a Gloomy Day Can Yield Some Aviation

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Sometimes, my aviation explorations take me to lower key locations. Snohomish is about 20 minutes north of where we lived in Woodinville and it has a small airfield, named Harvey Field. I was interested in the skydiving operations that they undertake there using a Cessna 208 and went up to have a look around. It was not a particularly nice day but still good enough for some flying to be underway – but not the skydiving! There was a Cessna 152 doing some pattern work and a Super Decathlon came in while I was there. These shots remind me of how much aviation takes place that might not normally get much attention.

Another Look at the BOAC 747 With the Reds

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This is an old shot from 2019. I came over to the UK for a visit that included a trip to RIAT. As part of the display, a British Airways 747-400 painted in the retro BOAC markings did a couple of flybys with the Red Arrows on one of the weekend days. A few weeks before, this 747 had come into Seattle and I got a lovely evening shot of it in front of Mt Rainier.

A year later and the onset of the pandemic had resulted in BA retiring their entire fleet of 747s. This wasn’t the last time I photographed one of their jets, but it was probably one of the more impressive ones. In one of the shots, you can see Red 10 flying offset from the formation – presumably acting as whipper in and providing a photo platform. I came across these shots recently and figured, since these hadn’t been on the blog before, they were worth a look again.

BA 787-10 Climb Out

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Working back through some old images, I came across a couple of shots of a British Airways 787-10 Dreamliner as it was climbing out of Heathrow. The departure routing includes a turn out to the south and the angles made for an interesting view of the upper sides of the plane. Not sure which of these two shots I prefer (setting aside the softness from heat haze), so I have included both. You decide if you have a preference.

Cathay’s Special

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For its 80^th anniversary, Cathay Pacific painted one of its A350-900s in a retro livery. It makes you feel a touch old when you remember their whole fleet having been painted in these colours but then again, I am a touch old! This plane has been in to Heathrow on a number of occasions but combinations of time of arrival, weather and my availability have meant I have never seen it until recently. It was due on on a Saturday late in the afternoon. It was not going to be too close to sunset so, any delays should not be an issue.

The forecast was for overcast but, during the majority of the day, it was really sunny. I was hoping that this would stay but, unfortunately, the forecast was not wrong. I was watching the sun descend behind a cloud layer hoping that it might pop out below in time for the arrival. Sadly, this didn’t occur, but the lighting was not too bad, and I am pretty happy with the shots that I got. It really is a nice livery. The only discrepancy from the original is the the Union Flag is gone since Hong Kong is now back under Chinese control.

Sikorsky X2

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A few manufacturers have been experimenting with high-speed rotor craft. Sikorsky put its efforts into a project called X2. This is a contra-rotating helicopter with a pusher propellor. The contra-rotation of the rotors offsets the retreating blade stall issues that high speeds on helicopters cause. The rear pusher propellor allows the higher speeds to be achieved.

When the programme was completed, the airframe was donated to the National Air a Space Museum which put it on display at the Udvar-Hazy Annex at Dulles. Seeing it in person made it quite clear just how small the vehicle is. Since it is a research airframe, there is no need for payloads to be carried. It is about proving the concepts. That means it can be smaller and smaller also can mean cheaper. Seeing it from the side was also matched by having a good view down on it from one of the stairways. It would have been cool to see it fly, I imagine.