Tag Archives: etihad

Etihad 777-200LR in its Last Days

When Boeing developed its updates to the base versions of the 777, it came up with the higher capacity long range 300ER and a lower capacity but ultra long range version, the 200LR.  The 300ER sold very well but the 200LR was more of a niche product and, while it sold, it never went in the same numbers as its larger sibling.  Etihad was one of the customers but they have now decided they have no further use for the type and it is being retired.  I was glad to catch one at LAX in the days running up to their retirement.

Jet Airways/Etihad

wpid12535-C59F2623-Edit.jpgThis one caught me out. I was at SFO getting some shots when I heard Etihad call up on the tower frequency. I didn’t realize that Etihad flew to SFO and then saw the plane was a Jet Airways 777-300ER – an Indian airline. I was a bit confused by all of this so took some shots thinking it was something unusual going on. Turns out it is not unusual. Etihad have leased some jets from Jet Airways to allow them to add service while they are short on jets of their own. This was one of those jets.

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SFO from the Bay

wpid12523-C59F1849.jpgWhile not a specific trip to shoot planes at SFO, I did have some time by the bay to get some shots of the planes as a result of being on the peninsula for another purpose. It was earlier on a Saturday morning that I found myself there. Winter is a better time to shoot at SFO since the heat haze is less of an issue. Even so, I was surprised to see how much haze there was for shots that were looking back towards the approach. I’m not sure if this was a result of the tide being too far out exposing the mud flats or not. The angle of the light early is also a bit far back but still there were some options.

wpid12533-C59F2607.jpgI was pleasantly surprised by my luck while I was there. Despite there not being too much traffic, I had a couple of parallel approaches take place. One was a China Eastern A330 with a United A320 in close contact. This was a very cool thing to see. A couple of United A319s also were quite close together on another approach but they had just slightly more offset.

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