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Red Flag Night Launch

This is an example of what worked and what might have been. After night fell at Red Flag, we headed up to the far end of the base where you are looking down towards the runways and the city of Las Vegas is in the background. Here the jets are departing over your head for the night mission. Most of them are sufficiently high and fast to cancel afterburner before they reach you. However, the B-1s stay in burner for a lot longer. Getting a shot of them in the dark – or more accurately, a shot of their engine exhausts – was the aim o the game.

They really look very cool as they blast off the runway and head towards you. It is pretty dark so you have the lenses wide open and the ISO cranked up very high. Even then, the shutter speed is low so it is a bit hit or miss. I did get a few that came out pretty nicely. Meanwhile, I had been trying to get a series of shots with a second camera to make into a time-lapse. Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought a cable release with me. I was trying to bodge together something to keep the shutter depressed. It would work for a while and then I would have to try again. The result of this is that I was progressively moving the camera. No tripod for this effort. It was resting on the roof of the car! The resulting time lapse is shorter than I would like and obviously not very good but I include it below just so you can see what I was trying for. Another time perhaps. Meanwhile, the following week, Chris went back and had a better planned go. I think his results were far better.

http://youtu.be/UVP8Py1gnZw

New Southwest Jets

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Southwest Airlines recently unveiled their new livery for their fleet. The scheme was first put on one of their newest 737-800 jets which also includes the new scimitar winglet configuration from APB. I was curious when I might get to see one for real. I knew of two jets that were out in the wild with the original names Heart One and Heart Two. While I was interested to get a shot of one of them, I figured it wouldn’t be too long before there were tons of them around and it wouldn’t be a big deal so I didn’t go out of my way to see one.

Then, they came to me – well, almost. I was taking a trip last week that took me through Denver in both directions. I arrived at DIA on the outbound portion of my leg and there on the gate across from my next flight was Heart One. Shooting through airport glass isn’t great but it would do. I just had to wait until the servicing vehicles were done and then I could get a shot.

A day later I was coming back through DIA late in the evening. I get to my gate and there is my jet for the next sector. It is Heart Two. It was dark, the jet was mainly obscured by the jet-bridge and I didn’t think it worth much effort so an iPhone shot is all there is to show for it but I ended up with both of them in two days without any planning on my part.

Air-to-Air With Some Raptors

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Day two of my Red Flag visit was to involve a trip in one o the KC-135 tankers supporting the exercise. After the troubles of the previous day, it wasn’t entirely clear whether it would go ahead but we turned up at the allotted time and were escorted to the tanker ramp area. A few confused conversations took place with our escort and the crews but it all got worked out and we were briefed on the flight. We were the Blue tanker and were supposed to be refueling F-22s and F-16s, supposedly from Aviano with the Shaw F-16s (which are almost always out of bounds for photography) supposedly going to the Red tanker.

We waited in the ops building for as long as possible before heading out. It was very hot on the ramp but even hotter in the jet. KC-135s do not have any air conditioning while parked on the ground and are painted dark grey. Consequently, the back of the hold (where we would be) is about as hot a place as I have ever experienced. We got there and it was time to sit very still and wait. Also, rationing the water was a good idea since we would be flying for about three hours.

We taxied for takeoff and, once airborne, the cooling started to work and the temperature became reasonable. We agreed a rotation for everyone to get into the boomer’s position to get shots as the aircraft refueled. There are a couple of windows on each side of the jet too so we agreed to allow everyone get a chance with those too. Soon our first traffic appeared. A group of F-22s from Tyndall AFB came into view. Quite an impressive sight they make as they hang on the wing tip of the 135. They then take it in turns to drop under the jet and hook up to the boom before sliding out to the other side and waiting for the rest to finish. With some encouragement, they might make a more aggressive departure from the boom which is nice.

Our next traffic soon showed up. These were the F-16s but not from Aviano. They were Shaw jets and so out of bounds for photography. This was a big disappointment. We could take shots but they would be subject to scrutiny by the security team so would probably be deleted. I took a few but deleted them myself to speed the review process. They were cool to see even so. Lying beside the boomer and looking straight down into the cockpit of the jet below while the pilot looked up at us was an interesting experience.

We had more F-22s while we were there but it didn’t seem that long before we were heading back down again. We strapped in for landing and then had an extra moment of interest as the aircraft had to carry out a go-around. There was a strong tailwind so, as we were looking like we would land long, a go-around was the safest bet. Once back on the ground, we handed in our cards for review. Waiting for them to be mailed back seemed like an eternal wait as I was keen to know whether I had got anything worthwhile. The summer sun was a bit harsh and there was a lot of fluid on the boomer’s window but I still ended up with a few that I am very happy with. Thanks to the team at Nellis AFB for making I work out.

Red Flag 14-3

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The Global Aviation Resource team put a concerted effort into the coverage of the Red Flag 14-3 exercise. Paul Dunn and Chris Wood both traveled out from the UK and I headed down from California to cover the events. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. We took part in the interview panel with some of the participants in the exercise and that went well. Then we all headed out to a location between the runways to prepare for the launch and recovery of the aircraft. We got there ahead of time and saw a few movements, mostly unrelated to the exercise.

Just as the time was coming for the launch to commence, we got the word to get back on the bus and hold in place. Something was going on and we had to be together while it was established what the issue was. After waiting for a while and as the first of the aircraft were taxiing out to depart, we were told that we were heading off base. We started o drive out just as the B-1s were taking off. Pretty soon we were back at the gate and were told that we wouldn’t be going back. From what we have heard since, there was a suspicious package on the ramp and that was the cause of the alert. The launch went ahead anyway. We headed off base to shoot what we could but a combination of the harsh lighting and some cloudy skies meant we didn’t get anything like what we had hoped for.

I did manage to grab a couple of shots out of the bus window as we were still between the runways so what you see here is a combination of that and what we got off base.

The article itself was written up by Paul this time and it can be found here.

Hercs

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Davis Monthan was not just a hive of A-10 activity. We also got a couple of Hercules while we were there. The first to show up was the one I was particularly pleased with. It was a Japanese forces aircraft and looked very nice in its pale blue colors. The other was a based aircraft which was an EC-130. We actually got to see it twice. Once it was flying around DM itself but it also flew an approach while we were at Tucson shooting the F-16s. A nice addition to the trip!

Taking Your Tern Fishing

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Sitting on the (dock of the) bay watching the world go by, there were a few birds out fishing. A pelican was fishing a bit too far out for the lens I had. However, a tern was coming in a lot closer to the shore in search of food. He kindly dived in for a catch right in front of me. As he flew away, there was clearly a meal in his beak. Terns are a cool looking bird. The shape of the coloring on their head makes them look even sleeker than they otherwise do.

Above Yosemite

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I was on a flight back home recently and our course took us almost directly over the top of Yosemite. I was on the right hand side of the plane which happened to be the side with the view of the valley. I only had my phone with me but here are some shots anyway of a view you don’t normally get. I could clearly see El Capitan. Interestingly, the most famous view of the valley is Half Dome but, from this angle, you were behind it and it wasn’t very obvious at all.

Tucson F-16s

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A trip to Tucson means a chance to shoot the F-16s that operate from the international airport there. This is an Air National Guard unit and it also includes the training unit for the Netherlands Air Force. I have shot there before and posted about it in this post. It is a place for morning shooting. The light is right at that time and the heat has not got too bad. Near the end of the runway is the favored spot and you can get the aircraft just after they lift off as they head straight out. The morning launch is often quite busy so you can get a steady stream of aircraft.

What goes out is usually coming back and the recoveries mean time to move. This time they actually caught us out a bit since some of the early launches came back in less than an hour so were recovering before the others had launched. This actually provided a chance to catch them as they turned off after landing so some ground shots were available although the heat haze was starting to be a problem. I then headed to the other favored spot that puts you inside the final turn. Depending on how tightly they fly the turn, you can either see them a reasonable distance away or they can feel like hey are right on top of you.

County Fair

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Aside from the bike jumping and the pig racing, the rest of the Alameda County Fair was fun to look around. One thing a fair like this has (other than a ton of things to eat) is livestock. We wandered through the halls to see the various animals that were competing (although they didn’t seem terribly aware that they were competing). There were plenty but here are a few of the cuter ones!

Night Star Trails

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My buddy Paul was in town and we had a day of shooting and exploring planned. However, we wanted to have a go at star trails in the evening as well. Consequently, we set up at Schellville as the sun went down to shoot the trails around the Douglas DST parked on the field. I set up two cameras at different angles and with different lenses to try and maximize what I got. The sun was still going down when I started so the exposure was varying a bit more than I was prepared for but a little tweaking in post got things back together. We also did some light painting on the airframe in a couple of frames to make the scene pop a bit more.

The biggest thing I learned during this was to start when it is darker and to take mosquito protection. I got badly bitten during the early part of the shoot and the bites reacted quite severely! Also, doing this in the winter so you don’t have to wait so late for it to get dark might also be a good plan. However, it went reasonably well and I have a few things I will know to do differently next time. I might also try a trail on one camera and a time lapse on the other.