Tag Archives: jet

How Many 747 Operators Have I Shot?

The delivery of the last production 747 got me digging out a lot of older shots of operators long gone or unusual ones that I had come across.  This then triggered me looking through my collection of 747 shots to see just how many operators I had got images of.  There are others I have seen but didn’t photograph in my younger days like Continental but, once I added them all up, I was surprised to see that, including some government jets and some testbeds and counting freight operations separately from passenger for some airlines, I have over 70 operators that I have shot over the years.  I was rather surprised about that.

I am not going to include a shot of all of them.  That would make for a very long post and I doubt too many people would get to the bottom.  Instead, I shall just provide a selection of some of the more unusual ones.  The full list is as follows:

British Airways, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, JAL, Asiana Cargo, Air Atlanta, Lufthansa, United, Pan Am, JAL Cargo, South African Airways, Qantas, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Polar Air Cargo, Air New Zealand, KLM, EVA Air, Kalitta Air, Tradewinds, NCA, PIA, Thai, Saudia, Air France, Northwest, Air China, Air China Cargo, UPS, China Airlines Cargo, Southern Air, Korean Air Cargo, Cargo 360, Northwest Cargo, Focus Air, Malaysia, Air Pacific Fiji, Air India, China Cargo, NASA, Delta, Southern Air, Great Wall Airlines, Yangtze River Express, Atlas Air, Evergreen, Asiana, Cargolux, British Airways World Cargo, China Southern Cargo, Rolls Royce, Centurion Cargo, State of Kuwait, Japan, TWA, Global Supertanker, Sands, Qatar Amiri Flight, Boeing, Qatar Cargo, UAE, Wamos, Virgin Orbit, SF Airlines, Cargo Logic Air, Cathay Pacific Cargo, Pratt and Whitney, Western Global

What A Difference A Few Minutes Makes

Paine Field is getting rather full of spare 777X airframes.  They are getting stored in all sorts of locations and a recent spot for them is alongside the main assembly building at the north end of the field.  I was using the long lens and so, rather than change lenses, I shot a few images to make a pano.  It was a little dull but more of a record shot.  A few minutes passed by the the clouds behind me had moved on and the light on the airframes had improved significantly.  I reshot the scene before it changed again.  Looking at the two shots, it is hard to believe that they were only a few minutes apart.  What an impact a change in lighting can bring to a shot.

This Is Not What You Expect To Find in Washington

I was doing a favor for a friend from the Midwest a little while back that involved visiting someone north of Seattle who owned a jet that the friend was interested in researching.  The documentation was the main reason for the visit, but we also took a trip to his hangar to see the jet.  While we were there, he showed me another jet that he has.  If you go to a random hangar in Washington, are you expecting to find a pristine MiG-23?  He had told me he had it so it wasn’t a surprise at that point, but it was in excellent condition.  It hasn’t been re-assembled since it arrived, so the wings are off and the engine is out.  However, it was freshly overhauled before he took possession, and the engine has zero time since overhaul too.

Tucked alongside it in the hangar are the various parts that are removed.  I don’t know the status of any of the weaponry, but I am told it has no hindrance to being made airworthy again.  He has no interest in doing that and I don’t think he has any plans to dispose of it so it may sit there for a while yet.  MiG-23s are impressive jets when airborne and I would love to see this one fly again.  The engine is huge and the only time I saw one fly a display at RIAT many years ago, the plume of the afterburner made quite the impression.  Maybe one day…

MD-10s Quietly Bow Out

FedEx acquired a large fleet of DC-10 freighters over the years and, more recently, put them through an upgrade program to make the cockpits common with their MD-11Fs.  They were renamed the MD-10s.  However, they were old jets and their time was coming due.  New jets have been added at a good rate with FedEx taking 767-300Fs new off the line at Everett.  With a downturn in business for FedEx, the fleet needed a trim and the MD-10s were the ones to go.  Here are a few that I have shot over the years.  They certainly provided good service.

Many Magisters

After checking out the graveyard for Gulfstreams at California City, I headed over to the main airport building.  The ramp around the parking area had a bunch of Magisters parked up.  A variety of colors but all of them in great condition.  Some had covers fitted but, as I walked around the corner, I saw more parked out on the main ramp.  The Magister is a neat little jet and one that used to be a regular at air shows when I was a kid.  It was fun seeing so many of them together.  If only one would fly.  Well…

SOFIA On The Ground

The aerial display by the SOFIA was a high point of the Antelope Valley Air Show 2022 at Edwards AFB.  When it finished, it landed and taxied in to it parking location.  I was at that end of the ramp so was able to watch it come in and position prior to being maneuvered into its final position.  Being that close to a 747 is always pretty impressive since even the SPs are large jets.  Everyone was crowding to see it come in and it was drawing attention away from some of the flying display!

An Atlas 777F For MSC Air Cargo

A lot of attention has been focused on the end of 747 production at Boeing (and this blog will not avoid that topic) but, in the meantime, Boeing continues to produce 777 freighters which are selling well.  One evening I was able to be up at Paine Field when a 777F that will be operated by Atlas but is under contract for MSC Air Cargo, a subsidiary of a large shipping organization, returned from a test flight.  Getting a nice shot in good light is what you want when you have a new livery to shoot.  Sure, it isn’t like some artistic masterpiece, but it looks pretty good.

GlobalX Takes UW Students to Texas

The arrival of new airlines is of interest until they become a common sight.  When they are still small, they will be picking up all sorts of jobs to get their utilization up and bring in some revenue.  This includes odd charter jobs.  The University of Washington football team had made it to a bowl game that was being held down in Texas.  GlobalX was taking a bunch of the students down to the game.  A load of coaches dropped them off on the ramp and they slowly boarded the jet.  They certainly took there time about it but, eventually, everyone was on board.

As with all unscheduled flying, the wait for departure seems to take far too long.  The doors had been closed for ages but the jet was still sitting there.  I can imagine that a plane full of students was not happy waiting to get going (or maybe they couldn’t get everyone to sit down and strap in).  Finally they taxied and departed for Texas.  I don’t think the game went well for UW but the kids probably had a good time anyway.

Aussie Tanker on Show

The KC-46 will end up being a big selling tanker because the USAF will buy loads and a few export customers will follow suit.  However, where open competitions have been held, the Airbus A330 MRTT has been most successful.  It is developing a wide customer base and one of those customer is the Royal Australian Air Force.  They have brought their tankers, known as KC30, to the US on exercises but I had not seen one in person until I got to the Antelope Valley Air Show at Edwards AFB.  The tanker was sitting on the ramp in the static area.  It was looking particularly clean for a military jet and was configured with both the boom and the underwing pods for probe and rogue refueling.  Fitting in a big jet in a busy ramp is tricky so a pano can help out making a shot possible.  Now I just need to see one actually airborne!

Don’t See A Lot Of Eclipses These Days

Time flies fast and it seems like it wasn’t long ago that Eclipse was talking about building light jets at a rate more like that for a car company.  Their ambition faltered and bankruptcy followed.  A small company was established to support the existing fleet, provide updates and potentially restart production.  I actually visited them north of Chicago which tells me just how long ago that was.  They did build a few new jets but also went bankrupt.  However, the Eclipse fleet lives on.  A lot of jets were built before it all went south.  I don’t know how tough it is to support them these days so I am always pleased to see one out and about.