At some point last year I was driving downtown in Seattle and I realized that the Space Needle had changed. A scaffolding arrangement had gone up around the saucer at the top of the needle and it seemed to be fully enclosed. I figured that a rehab program was underway but I guess I don’t see enough of the local news to have found out how much they were updating. With my mum coming to visit, I was hoping that they would have concluded the project before she came since a Space Needle visit was going to be on the cards.
Memorial Day must have been the target for getting things ready because, shortly before she arrived, things started getting opened up around the top. Part of the scaffolding was still there but it was getting a lot more open. I thought we would be in good shape. It turns out we were but they are certainly not yet finished. The wire fencing at the deck level has been replaced with glass screens. These lean out so you can look straight down. There are glass benches which means you can lean back on the glass – something that certainly seems to upset a few visitors.
Meanwhile, construction work continues. The level inside the viewing deck is still undergoing a lot of work. The restaurant downstairs is not yet open but I assume these will all get sorted out as summer progresses. I was a little worried that the glass screens would impede photography. The old wire fence provided clear access. However, there are gaps between the panels that you can shoot through. A big lens might not fit but my mirrorless did fine. We shall have more visitors so I will get to see how the whole thing looks when it is finished I suspect.
I had gone to Paine Field for an Antonov arrival that has its own post here. We got a nice bonus while there. A Hellcat was up for a Check flight of some sort which I didn’t even know about until it flew a pattern overhead. I had figured it was just another light aircraft making a midfield departure. The overhead was nice to see but a bit distant.
However, whatever the check flight was for was obviously done quite quickly as they called for an approach. As they came down final, another light aircraft was ahead of them and was not going to vacate in time so they were told to go around. Two approaches! Thank you. The first had been straight in but the second was a nice curving approach with a good top side view. That will do nicely.
