The glossy paint finishes on airliners tend to make the fuselages look uniform to the naked eye – particularly when at a distance. Of course, when you get closer – particularly on an aluminium fuselage – you can see the joints and reinforcements that go into the detailed design. A British Airways A380 was on one of the gates at Heathrow early one morning as we taxied by. I assume it had been there for a while because there was a lot of condensation on the skin from morning dew. This served to highlight the different parts of the structure including where the skin was thicker and were there was an overlap of skin layers. I thought it was interesting to see how it made a normally uniform fuselage look so much more complex.
Virgin Atlantic’s jets usually look pristine. Getting the red of the nacelles and the fin to show up in images properly is a bit tricky, but they do tend to look pretty smart. Consequently, I was surprised when looking at some images I took of one of their A350s while taxiing in at Heathrow to see that the paint on the fin seems to be peeling off in chunks. No idea whether that is from the original paint when built or following a repaint, but it looks rough and I imagine that a repair will be demanded at some point soon.
The conditions for these shots were not ideal, but sometimes you just have to take advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself. I don’t now live somewhere where I get to see the Lufthansa long haul fleets so the special liveries that they have been applying for their 100th anniversary are not something I have seen until we were getting ready to depart Dulles. As we were on the gate in our seats, the Lufthansa A380 taxied in. I was only able to get an oblique shot through the window of our 777. We then taxied past it on our way out when it was on the gate at which point things were very dark. At least I have got one of them now.
I recently shared some images of a Spitfire two-seater that was providing rides at Compton Abbas when we visited. It wasn’t the only plane providing rides (although it was definitely the most expensive). There was also a de Havilland Tiger Moth taking people up. I might not have quite the nostalgia that some have for old de Havilland types (let’s leave the Dragon Rapide out of the conversation at this point), but I have developed more of an interest in older types as I have similarly become an older type myself.
I did wonder whether the gusty conditions might make it a bit difficult for a tail dragger but they seemed to be coping just fine. It did look in fine condition and had a more sedate pace that didn’t test my panning skills quite as much as the Spit. I have had a flight in a Tiger Moth once in my life and that came courtesy of my friend Eric. I know how much I enjoyed that and I imagine that the passengers at Compton Abbas had a great time too.
After landing back at Heathrow from a work trip, we were taxiing back towards T5 and passing a variety of parked airlines. These two 787-9s caught my eye. Both are in Norse livery but one is labeled IndiGo. This Indian airline has been leasing jets from Norse. I guess only one got the change in titles. At the time of writing this, I understand the lease arrangements have ben terminated so maybe this was a lucky break to catch this before it wouldn’t be seen again.
The Gazelle was very widely used in the UK armed forces when I was young. You would see the occasional civilian one as well, but I would see the military examples at air shows all the time. They have gone, now, but there are still examples to be found in use. That included a very pleasant surprise when I came across one at Boeing Field. The owner was doing some hover testing on the ramp at BFI, and I do love a Gazelle.
He was manoeuvring the airframe around a fair bit in the confines of the ramp, so I was able to get some different angles as well as a bit of variety in the background. Plenty of images were taken while I watched. After he landed, he came over to me and asked what I was doing. I was quite straight that I was taking photos of his helicopter. He did answer some questions about it but was not keen on the images being taken. Time has moved on quite a bit now, so I figure there is no harm in sharing them now.
Sometimes, when I get the window seat at the airport, there is really nothing much to see. I am on the wrong side, and everything is out of the other windows. However, on this recent flight, I did have a good view of the parallel taxiway as well as the runway for departing jets. Sure, it was backlit and sometimes taxiing jets could block the view of the runway. Also, windows looking into the sun are not great for clarity. Even so, an A380 from Singapore or a Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 is worth a look and whatever shots the phone can manage.
When the work schedule allows, I am making the most of the early light to get some bike riding done. When the weather is at its hottest, this is also the best time of day to ride anyway. It is a very peaceful time to be out in country lanes with very little traffic and plenty of wildlife. I was riding along one morning when I saw a hot air balloon off in the distance. Balloon rides are popular in our area, so this isn’t that surprising.
I then lost site of the balloon as I headed north for a while. As I got towards the northern part of my route, I briefly spotted the balloon again through the trees but then it was gone again. I wondered whether it would appear again as I started south but I couldn’t see it because the roads have tree cover on the side that might have offered a view. I gradually lost interest as I figured it had either landed or our routes had diverged again.
As I came through Micheldever, a Land Rover van came in the opposite direction towing a trailer. This was clearly the recovery team heading north. I thought I had my confirmation that they had landed somewhere I had already passed. Turning out of Micheldever, I was riding across the rolling hills towards Stoke Charity when I saw the balloon north of me and quite low to the ground. I stopped and watched it for a while. It was not coming right towards me but was heading slightly more to the east.
I was going to get moving again but then had a change of heart. I wasn’t under any time pressure to finish the ride since it was still really early. I turned around and rode back to Micheldever. I don’t know the village well having always ridden through it on one road. I went the other way with the hope that some sort of open space would show up. Sure enough, I came to a football field and the balloon was coming straight towards me. I stopped and waited to see where it would go next.
Turns out that they were planning on landing in the field I had just made it to. They delicately descended to the ground with a couple of minor skips as they touched down and then settled. When I have seen balloons in the past the crews got very tetchy if you got to close. In this case they kept the balloon inflated and just sat there. I rode onto the field and around while keeping a safe distance. However, they were more than happy to chat as I got closer. I spoke to them briefly and then decided I really ought to continue my ride.
Another morning flight for a work trip meant another stop at the Pod Parking. Since the traffic had been light, I was there a little ahead of schedule so it would be rude not to get some shots of the arriving traffic on the northerly runway at Heathrow. Had I been there at sunrise, the sun would have actually been right around on my side, but I was a little later in the morning, so it had come around on the nose.
A Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 was nice to have but I got some short haul types from across Europe. The really interesting surprise was a Loganair ATR42. There are lots of poles in the pod parking and they make getting an unobscured shot tricky. I will confess that some AI removal tools in Lightroom have been exploited to remove some of the distractions. I have not taken out anything that was actually over part of the airframe, even though that can actually work quite well. These are just tidied up to allow the airframe be the focus.
Rolling shutter is a phenomenon that has become very apparent with the widespread adoption of digital sensors in cameras. The way in which a sensor scans across its surface means that relative movement can result in the position of objects being different at the end of the scan than the beginning. DSLRs used a digital sensor but a mechanical shutter so weren’t terribly susceptible to this (except when in video mode) but phones and video camera like GoPros have been.
Usually, if I am photographing aircraft with props, I am using my main cameras. (While I now exclusively use electronic shutter on my bodies, the read speed of the sensor is sufficiently high that the rolling shutter effects are barely visible. However, I rode my bike to Popham one Saturday and decided to grab a few pictures with my phone while I was there. The resulting shots have props that are clearly suffering badly from rolling shutter. It is not something I normally get so I actually found it rather funny. That wouldn’t be the case if I had desperately wanted the shot.
The glossy paint finishes on airliners tend to make the fuselages look uniform to the naked eye – particularly when at a distance. Of course, when you get closer – particularly on an aluminium fuselage – you can see the joints and reinforcements that go into the detailed design. A British Airways A380 was on one of the gates at Heathrow early one morning as we taxied by. I assume it had been there for a while because there was a lot of condensation on the skin from morning dew. This served to highlight the different parts of the structure including where the skin was thicker and were there was an overlap of skin layers. I thought it was interesting to see how it made a normally uniform fuselage look so much more complex.
