Tag Archives: washington

My Rainier Arrivals

I was picking up someone from SeaTac just before Christmas.  The flight was due in just before sunset so I took the camera along just in case.  I was out by the outer runway approach path but the heavies were coming in to the inner runway.  This meant they passed nicely in front of Mt Rainer – assuming you can ignore the 60 odd miles distance to the mountain.  First in was a Condor 767 which still had plenty of evening light on it as it landed.

Next up was a British Airways 777.  It arrived as the light was fading fast.  It still had a bit of illumination but you knew anything following it would be in the gloom.  Being winter, there was virtually no distortion in the atmosphere, which, given the distance was a potential problem.  Things looked pretty sharp in the final images.

Woodinville Lineman

If you take a garbage truck and attach it to a power pole that you aren’t supposed to attach it to, you are likely to cause some trouble.  We had a blackout as a result of such an event.  The pole ended up punching a hole in the roof of a nearby house (thankfully it wasn’t raining) and power to our area was cut off. I got home as the light was fading and got a few shots of the damage.  The power lines are strong and they had succeeded in taking down two lamp posts as well.

I popped back out to see how things were progressing and to watch the teams at work fixing the situation.  Making the initial pole safe took a lot of time as bits of it were removed.  A new pole was put in place and the old pole lifted back up and attached to the new one.  I assume this was a temporary fix.  Focus then shifted to the next pole which was leaning at an angle that suggested it had taken a bit of the load too.  This one just got straightened up and didn’t need to be replaced.  I gave up watching after a while since I preferred to be indoors in the warm.  Power came back on at 9pm so we were able to sort out the things that had been cut off before turning in for the night.

Chihuly Museum

For the longest time I wasn’t interested in visiting the Chihuly Museum in Seattle. I had seen some glass installations outdoors and the rather bright and garish look of them put me off the idea of seeing the collection. It just didn’t look like my thing. Then, when we had visitors that were interested in going, a trip was inevitable. I have to admit, I was very wrong. What I had seen a glimpse off was in no way representative of the collection as a whole and I was most impressed by what I saw.

First, there was a lot of variety in the art. Some of it was more to my taste than others which is only to be expected. However, all of it was interesting. The layout of the exhibits gave you plenty of space to enjoy them and, while the place was popular, I rarely felt overcrowded. Much of the work was much more subtle than I had anticipated and the forms and coloring were most impressive. Other parts were a bit more dramatic but still very cool.

While much of the work was indoors, there was a selection outside and these were nicely integrated into the gardens. The blend of the colors and the reflections of the surrounding structures in the surfaces were interesting for some while others were just interesting shapes. The potential of lighting them is something that was apparent but closing time was around sundown, so we only got a hint of the illumination. We shall return in winter to see how the lighting looks.

Under the Ruslan

I have shot a lot of Antonov 124s at Everett since they are there on a regular basis.  One weekend recently, a Volga-Dnepr flight was scheduled in to SeaTac.  Shooting at SeaTac is a bit restricted in what you can achieve given the layout of the airport so I decided I would go for something a little different.  The heavy traffic usually comes in on the inside runway and there is a small park that puts you pretty much under the approach.  I thought this might be a slightly different position to shoot from.

The timing of the arrival was supposed to be later in the afternoon.  However, something about the routing meant the jet ended up getting in a bit later than I had expected.  Some lovely afternoon light had disappeared and had been replaced by a dull light which was also fading fast.  I was ramping up the ISO settings pretty quickly as the jet turned on the approach as it was disappearing by the minute.  Finally, the Ruslan appeared in view and I got some head on shots prior to shifting to a wider lens as the plane flew overhead.

Oh Man! More New 787s

A nice early winter sunny day is a pleasant surprise in the Pacific Northwest and I was able to head across to Everett to see what was happening.  Boeing is busy building Dreamliners too though and a couple were on test flights while I was there.  One was Oman Air.  The scheme is an interesting change from the boring white liveries.  You can certainly hear the jets as they land because the test flight involves the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine and it buzzes away when they go by.  The other arrival will deserve its own post.

Trumpeter Swans

The snow geese I mentioned in this post were not the only visitors we saw while up on Fir Island. Trumpeter Swans were also to be seen. They weren’t there in such numbers when we visited but I understand they are showing up at the moment. We saw a bunch of them on a muddy field which was not helping their white plumage out too much. Then a second group flew overhead and eventually landed in the same field. I was able to get a few shots as they flew across. The long necks make them easy to distinguish from the geese we saw before.

Air France to Test the Angle

I was at SeaTac one Saturday afternoon for the impending arrival of an AN-124.  The Ruslan was due in later but I was checking out the flightpaths for the inner runway.  An Air France A330 was due in so that was my test aircraft.  The light was nice and the angles worked well.  I was pretty happy with the result.  Sadly, the light wasn’t hanging around for the Antonov and conditions were not as good when it came in.

Chelan Falls

The last leg of our trip across the Cascades took us through Chelan Falls.  The town itself is pretty small but I wanted to see the falls.  Unfortunately, they are rather hard to see from public spaces.  I did get to an overlook where I was able to look down onto the falls but I was looking straight into the sun and even then it was hard to get a good look.  I grabbed some sketchy shots and that is what you see here.  Might be good to see at some other time of day but it certainly wasn’t inviting visitors!

Smoking the Ukrainian Way

The regular AN124 visitors to Everett continue.  This time of year can often bring northerly winds which means a departure up past the Future of Flight building.  Having a heavy Ruslan depart that way can mean a nice angle to get on rotation as well as the climb out which, while a bit backlit, makes for a good change.  I was happy with the takeoff but, as the jet climbed away to the north, the smoky combustion of the old D-18 engines was clear to see.  The further that they climbed out, the less the plane was obvious and the more the smoke trail was.  A bit of mixing from the trailing vortices helped as well.  A lot of the people around me were commenting on how dirty it was.

Snow Geese

We took a day trip up to Fir Island. It is about an hour north of us and a popular place for bird watchers. While we are not particularly knowledgeable about such things, we did know that Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans were supposed to appear in some numbers so we decided to see what we could come across while we were up there. It was a lovely day to be out with a clear blue sky and the warmth that an autumnal sun can still bring. We happened to bump in to a couple of friends of mine and they knew the area well so were able to give us some advice on where to go.

It didn’t take too long to find some Snow Geese. These are apparently a big draw in the area for bird watchers and later in the season the place can be heaving with them. We didn’t see a lot of people so it must have been early. There has been a program to encourage land owners to grow crops that support the birds when they migrate through and it seems to have worked. We saw a bunch of geese across the fields and then, as we drove north, a bunch more were in the fields along the road. More of them seemed to be flying in all the time. Obviously whatever they like to eat is there to be had!