Tag Archives: seattle

Boeing Field

No great story for today’s post. I got some time to shoot at Boeing Field in the evening after a day of meetings and travel. Some of the interesting subjects got their own posts. Here are just a few shots of the other traffic that was coming in to the field. The evening light was fantastic and it was fun to watch the movements including some of the Boeing production traffic. Mongolian was a new airline for me. Sadly my timing was off and I didn’t get to see the Indian Navy P-8 on test. Never mind.

SeaTac

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I had an early flight out of Seattle on my way back to the Bay Area. It was a nice morning and the planes were departing to the south. The terminal that Southwest operates from is towards the southern end of the airport so you get the aircraft passing you as they get airborne. I had given myself some margin for getting to the airport, checking in the rental car and getting the shuttle to the terminal and everything had gone smoothly so I actually had a bit of time on my hands. Also, on the shuttle I had seen an Alaska 737 in 75^th anniversary markings on a gate so I thought I might have a chance to get a shot of it if it wasn’t going straight out.

There is a kink in the pier as you head to Southwest’s gates that gives you a good view across the field and is not obstructed by jet bridges. Moreover, it isn’t a busy part of the terminal so waiting there and getting some shots is practical. Of course, you are shooting through some thick glazing but, even so, I was pleasantly surprised that the shots were not too badly compromised. The only problem was that the Q400s that Horizon operates from the central part of the terminal throw of some exhaust distortion which ruins what could be some good angles.

I had to make sure I didn’t forget my own flight but I did get some nice shots. The Alaska anniversary jet did time its departure well for me and I was even more pleasantly surprised when one of their 737s came by sporting the new scimitar winglets from APB. That was the first time I had seen some for real. A nice bonus before heading home.

Boeing 787-9

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One evening I arrived at Boeing Field to see what was moving. Just as I got there, a 787 was rolling out on landing. Since the wind was in the opposite direction to my previous visit, I didn’t see it land but it rolled down to our end of the field. Interestingly, the gear doors were down and the RAT was deployed. These RAT is usually tested on early production test flights so I suspect this was the reason but the gear doors being down is one that had me wondering. The aircraft, which was finished in the livery of All Nippon Airways, taxied off the runway and turned on to the taxiway where it promptly shut down. It hadn’t even straightened up and the nosewheel was still at an angle. I have no idea whether this is normal practice or if something unusual had happened.

Whatever the reason, it sat there for quite a while until a Boeing team showed up to recover it. Interestingly, they brought an ambulance with them although there didn’t appear to be any need for one. This could also be a standard procedure or maybe something unusual had occurred. I doubt I will ever know. In all of this time, it never occurred to me that this would be other than a regular production 787. However, checking into this later, this was in fact one of the 787-9 and so something new for me. In truth, it wasn’t entirely new. The previous evening one of the dash 9 test aircraft had come back in while I was there so this trip got me my first two airborne dash 9s. I had seen a test aircraft on the ground before but that seems like a bit of a cheat in comparison.

Blue Angel

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A surprise visitor at Boeing Field timed his arrival perfectly. I had just pulled up at the field when I saw something running in on the approach at speed and not descending. This had the look of a military break. I didn’t have the camera out but, fortunately, given that it looked like they would break downwind to land, I had some time to grab the camera. Sure enough, it was an F/A-18 that broke overhead. More interestingly, it was a two seater from the Blue Angels.

I was ready by the time it was on the approach and managed to get a few shots as they landed. They then taxied over to Clay Lacy’s FBO and parked up. Not sure what they were in for but it could involve the planning for Seafair later in the year. Whatever the reason, a nice surprise.

Small Corporate Jets

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While the big jets were an interesting target for me at Boeing Field, there is a good trade in smaller corporate jets too. The regularity of Citations and their ilk makes them a little less exciting but they can still be interesting if painted up nicely. However, one that caught my eye was an older Learjet. This is operated by Boeing Flight Test as a support and chase aircraft for their programs. It taxied by before departing over my location.

Also we got a Dassault Falcon 10. Quite a vintage type of jet these days so that was a nice surprise.

L-100

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My Boeing Field visit also included a very nice surprise. The evening was drawing in quite quickly but a view off to the south showed a lot of smoke coming from something on the approach. At first I had no idea what it was but soon the familiar shape of a Hercules came into view. This was a civilian model, the L-100. It was operated by Lynden Air Cargo delivering something large!

They were heading for a ramp close to the threshold so the crew were not shy about thumping the aircraft down right on the numbers. A decent cloud of tire smoke let you know they were down and then they put the props into reverse and were soon off the runway and taxiing back to the stand. An interesting aircraft and a lucky break.

Big Business Jets

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I was back in Seattle recently and, while the reason for being there took up the majority of my time, I did have a couple of opportunities at the end of the days to pay a visit to Boeing Field. I had been there last year and made the best of the nice light later in the day then. This time, the light looked good but proved to be a bit fickle and the day was not as long given the time of year. However, I did get an interesting selection of aircraft to shoot. Boeing Field is a popular location for business aviation given its close proximity to Seattle city center. There were some very nice large jets visiting. An Airbus ACJ from Germany was parked up the entire time I was there but I never saw it move. However, I did get to see some Globals and Gulfstreams stretch their legs.

The Global Express is a great looking business jet. One arrived shortly after I did and I managed to get it as it came in. I was at a spot I hadn’t tried before. It gives a better angle on the aircraft as they approach and touch down but it does suffer from a more cluttered background which is a shame. The Global looked like it was heading out again as I got ready to leave for the evening so I decided to go to the departure end of the runway and try and get it head on. By now the light was really going but I ramped up the ISO and decided to go for it anyway. Having Mount Rainier in the background certainly doesn’t harm a shot but it was really a bit too dark.

The other nice visitor was a G650. The newest of the big Gulfstreams is a significant improvement from an aesthetic point of view as far as I am concerned. This one had a great paint scheme too so I was very happy to see it. The runway direction was changed just before it left so I got to see it as it was airborne rather than on the takeoff roll which was nice.

Throw in some Dassault Falcons and I had a lucky run given how limited the time was that I had there. Hopefully I will be back again sometime soon.

Bremerton Ferry Video

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In this post I showed some shots from the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton. I also got a bit of video while on the boat so here you go.

Other SeaTac Stuff

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The SeaTac shooting had a number of specific things that I have already covered. However, since it is an airport that serves a lot of destinations and carriers, it has a bunch of other things worth seeing. Long haul operators include Delta (serving a lot of routes that were once Northwest), British Airways and Icelandair. I have always seen the Icelandair aircraft on the ground when traveling through SeaTac but they seem to have a schedule that means one arrives at around the same time the previous day’s arrival departs. Not a very efficient use of the airframe but I guess it works for them.

The domestic carriers were also there with Alaska making up the majority of the movements – at least in the time windows I had.

FedEx shots

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A recent trip to Seattle gave me some time at the very beginning and end of the day to pay a visit to SeaTac. Plenty of interesting things are to be seen there. One specific area of interest for me was the amount of traffic for FedEx. They had a lot of movements with a variety of types. (A contractor operates Cessna Caravans for them which I saw but did not get any shots of sadly.) With FedEx just having announced a reduction in types in their fleet plan, this was a more interesting opportunity than it might otherwise have been.

Two McDonnell Douglas types came through while I was there. The MD-11s are busy as usual but I also got MD-10s. Meanwhile, the Airbus A300s were also in use. I don’t get to see them often and, since they are going to be retired in large numbers soon, I might not get many more chances. With movements at the beginning and end of the day, I was able to catch them several times. They were busy. I am assuming the middle of the day is quieter for them so I didn’t miss much while at work.

The only unfortunate side of shooting the FedEx jets was their departure profiles. When on the departure end of things, I was generally in a good location to catch the jets as they came by. FedEx was the exception. I don’t know whether they practice rapid climb outs due to flying into some dangerous places or just for noise abatement (they do have some aging aircraft) but the result is that they climb fast and are much higher than average by the time they reach you. Nothing much I can do about that of course but it was a bit of a shame. Approach shots were not an issue of course. The three degree glideslope is the same for everyone! Time to enjoy some of these jets before they go for good.