Tag Archives: transport

A400M Atlas Demo from RIAT 2019

I was working through some shots from my last trip to RIAT in 2019. Amazingly enough, I hadn’t finished editing some of the shots from that visit and I wanted to get rid of a lot of surplus shots to help the old hard drive space issues! As I was working through them, I got to some shots of the A400M displays I saw over the course of the weekend. I think the A400M is a cracking looking jet. Whether it is doing what everyone wanted of it, I have no idea. I just know it looks great and is capable of some really impressive demos.

For some reason, I had been feeling very brave during RIAT when it came to shooting some of the props. I had gone with quite low shutter speeds with long lenses and the results were not necessarily all I would have wanted. There were always going to be blurry shots to get culled, but the number of sharp ones was a little lower than I would have liked. However, all was not a total loss, and I did get a bunch of shots that I was happy with.

Here is a selection of shots from across the show including the official displays by the Airbus test crew and some of the operator aircraft too. The weather for RIAT 2019 was not that great. We did get some nice light occasionally but one of the days was very wet (and I was feeling crappy too) and the others were overcast a lot of the time. Not the most exciting light for a grey painted plane but they had the potential for prop vortices. Will I have big prints of these on the wall? No, I don’t think so. However, it was okay and there will be other times, I hope.

At Last, a Japanese Pegasus Airborne

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Japan is one of the few countries to order the KC-46 Pegasus tankers for its Air Force. Their initial four jets have been coming through the production line at Everett and I had seen the occasional one when it was on the ground being prepared. However, I had never seen one fly. I finally broke that duck a while back. I was at Everett not only for the departure but the return of a Japanese jet. I thought I was going to miss it taking off because it was lined up when I was getting close to the airfield.

Fortunately, it was doing a high-speed taxi first and then backtracked for the real departure by which time I had arrived. The return was a lot more relaxed from my point of view and I was pleased to finally get one airborne. I doubt I shall have many opportunities to see them once they are delivered.

The Marines Show Up

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I could easily have missed this, but my friend messaged me that a Herc was coming in. I was working on some other stuff and would have been unaware until too late. It was not where I was, and I wasn’t moving but the roll out and taxiing back was in lovely light so I wasn’t missing out. They taxied to the terminal and kept the engines running so I wondered if they were going straight back out but it wasn’t to be. They then taxied to a parking spot and shut down. Maybe they were clearing customs? Apparently they stayed for the night but were gone when I came by the following day.

USAF Moose Low Over Canada

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The air show at Abbotsford has the conspicuous backdrop of Mt Baker. For the evening show, the light was really nice on the mountain and I think I have already posted about that. Some of the display aircraft would make turns in front of the mountain. Most are too small to be obvious in a shot but something the size of a C-17 Globemaster is going to show up. The USAF Moose was one of the display and here it is as it reverses course back towards the airfield.

A More Dynamic Angle on Lynden at Last

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I have had various encounters with the C-130s of Lynden Air Cargo over the years, but they have usually been a relatively normal side on type of shot. I saw one of the aircraft had gone into Paine Field and I was fortunate that the departure was scheduled for a weekend day when I could get up there. I decided at the last minute to make the trip up and, as I pulled up at my preferred location, a quick check of the phone showed the aircraft was already at the hold.

I got set up as rapidly as I could and then they were rolling. The advantage of this location is that the plane will have rotated and is climbing out towards me. The Herc is able to get out of short strips just fine, but it isn’t climbing too rapidly so I knew I should get something different to what I have taken before. I quite liked the front quarter shot but the others were fine too. I was then back in the car and home in a short time. It was almost like I hadn’t been away, but I had got the result I wanted.

A Chinese Plane in Nairobi

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Our flight from the Maasai Mara back to Nairobi took us in to Wilson Airport. This is not the main international airport but a smaller domestic airport that is closer to the center of the city. No terminals and jet bridges here. We disembarked from our Dash 8 on the ramp and walked to the building to get out of the airport. The ramp was packed with all sorts of aircraft. One caught my eye immediately as it looked unfamiliar to me.

The marking showed it belong to the Republic of Djibouti’s Air Force which only served to increase my level of interest. It wasn’t something I had seen before so I had to look up the type. It is a Harbin Y-12 which is a Chinese designed and manufactured aircraft. That was quite a turn up for me. Not sure how happy anyone would be about me getting photos on the ramp but no one seemed bothered at the time.

Components for 767 Production

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One of the reasons we get a stream of unusual freighters into Paine Field is the delivery of sections of fuselage for the production lines. This can include front fuselage sections, center wing boxes and empennage elements. One afternoon an Antonov showed up to deliver some of these parts. While getting the plane arriving was why I was there, it was interesting to see these chunks of future planes (I believe these were for the 767/KC-46 line) being offloaded and driven off to be used.

My First Polaris – Just In Time

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The Royal Canadian Air Force will soon be getting new tanker transport aircraft. They are going to buy some Airbus A330 MRTTs to replace their CC-150 Polaris jets. These are based on the A310 and I have never seen one before. Fortunately, there was one on static display at Abbotsford for the air show. It was in the grey scheme rather than the brightly painted version but that was fine by me. I was just glad to get one before they are replaced. It would be good to see one flying but I suspect the chances of that are diminishing. You never know, though.

Bristol Britannia

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There are many aircraft that the British aircraft industry produced in the middle to late 20^th century that did not end up being terribly successful. There was the occasional commercial product in there but a lot that did not have large production numbers, even by the standards of the day. It was not unusual for the Royal Air Force to end up operating a few of these as the government of the day found a way to prop up an ailing manufacturer. One type like this was the Bristol Britannia.

A turboprop airliner, it was too large given that jets had taken over the market by the time it was coming into service. The Royal Air Force was the “willing” recipient of some of these airframes and, for transporting troops that didn’t have a choice in the matter, they were probably just fine. One of these airframes, Regulus, is not preserved at Cotswold Airport at Kemble in Gloucestershire. I didn’t know it was there until I was driving around the airport killing some time. It looks to be in great condition. I don’t know how well it is handling the corrosion risk that damp UK airfields offer but I hope it lasts a long time. There are a few of these around but not many.

End of the Road for RAF Hercules Ops

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It is a feature of getting old that so many things that seem recent really aren’t. The introduction of the C-130J to service took place in the late 1990s. One of the earliest operators was the Royal Air Force. That means that their aircraft are coming up on 25 years old. That is not that old for a Hercules but they have been used pretty intensively. Combine that with the cost of supporting multiple transport fleets and it might not be so surprising that they are now being retired.

I figured I would roll through my collection of shots to see how often I had photographed the RAF J models. The answer is not that often. The fact that I left the UK not long after they came in to service is part of the reason. I have seen them at various locations though so I am not without shots. It is funny to hear the stories now about whether the A400M is ready to take on the role and whether the Hercs should be retained.

When the Js came along, there were loads of stories of how they couldn’t do the things that the old K models could. Of course, they gradually ironed out the bugs and became a solid workhorse. The same will probably happen for the A400M and in a couple of decades, someone will be complaining that whatever replaces them is unsuited to the task and that they should be retained. Such is life…