Author Archives: Rob

Staring Up at Clouds During the Break

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The show at Old Warden included flying displays in the afternoon and evening. There was a gap of a couple of hours between the end of the first and the beginning of the second and I took the time to relax in my chair. I might have dozed for a little while, but I did spend some time staring up at the sky. The cloud formations looked really interesting to me. I didn’t spend time imagining what I might see in the shapes, but I did like the various patterns that were formed and were changing as I looked. The abstract nature of clouds is very cool.

Finally, a Little Sun on a Cyclone

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My first encounter with a Canadian Cyclone was in the middle of a storm when it was incredibly gloomy. The next time I got to see one flying, the conditions might not have been so bad, but they were definitely dull! I figured I would just not get to see one in good light and, given that it has a dark and dull grey paint finish, it really sucks in whatever light there is. However, I did finally get lucky when I saw one on the ground at Abbotsford. A bit of sun at last. Sure, not flying and might not be the greatest but it was definitely a step up.

Some of Lyon’s Trams Look Cool

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I was in Lyon for a couple of days for a work trip. Lyon has an extensive tram network, but they don’t just have regular looking trams. They are clearly bothered about design and style – this is France after all – and so the cabs of some of the trams are far cooler than the average. I don’t know how much extra it costs to get a custom cab design, but I think it is worth it when they make the system look better.

Video of TBAG’s Event

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I blew parts of this one. This video doesn’t have the best bit of what I saw but, if I hadn’t told you that, you’d probably not know. When the Buccaneer was being run up, they undertook a bunch of tests on various systems. The wings were folded and unfolded. The speedbrake was extended and retracted. The bomb bay was rotated. The bit I didn’t get for some reason was the blown flaps. To get the chunky Bucc on to the small decks of the UK carriers, they utilised flap blowing. Air was ducted from the compressors of the engines to the flaps and this improved the low speed lift. It had been raining when the demo was undertaken and the blowing of the flaps was really visible with the moisture getting blown around. Sadly, that is not in this video. Everything else is though.

Not the Oldest Tree I’ve Seen, But…

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A walk we took through the New Forest brought us to the Knightwood Oak. The New Forest is an ancient forest, but this tree is older than many that are there. Supposedly, there were laws enacted long ago regarding the practice of pollarding trees. The fact this one was pollarded suggests it will have predated this time which suggests it might be 500 years old. That is not the oldest tree I have come across. Our travels in California did bring us to some extremely old trees too. I can’t recall exactly how old but possibly older than this. Even so, 500 years old isn’t bad for a tree.

I suspect if I had come here when I was young, you probably would have just walked up to the trunk. Now, the need to protect the tree means that an enclosure has been set up around it. The good news about that is that it keeps people out of many possibly photos you might want to take. (Funny how, when you are interested in getting photos, you are “focused” on different things to other people.) I had a wander around the perimeter of the enclosure to check out the whole tree before we continued on our walk.

A Pair of PC-24s Overhead

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I was out of position one time when at Boeing Field. Being down near the museum, departing aircraft tended to be quite high by the time they got to me. This didn’t stop me trying some shots since it was something a bit different. I was pretty happy when I got a Pilatus PC-24. They are quite popular and not a rarity at BFI but still pleasing. Then I was rather surprised to get a second not too much later. The PC-24 has great short field capability and can land on grass strips too. From the underside, you get a good look at the wing planform that delivers this performance.

Some Features Show Better in Video

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I was at Ryde one Saturday morning watching the Hovertravel service on a windy day. Because hovercraft are not in contact with the surface, there is no grip to counter any crosswinds. The technique for operating is therefore like flying a plane. You have to yaw into the wind to offset the drift the wind produces. When taking stills, you don’t really show this but, when watching it happen, the drifting is very obvious.

Consequently, video is the way to go. I got some clips of the hovercraft coming in, first over the water and then as it transitioned to the sand flats. For the hovercraft, the change of surface makes no difference. It does mean, when the wind is right, you can get head on shots when they aren’t coming straight at you!

A Grumman Goose Joins the Party

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The Martin Mars was the reason we had made the trip to Sproat Lake last year, but it wasn’t the only flying boat we got. At one point, when we were on the dock rather than out on the water, the rumble of engines came to us. We wondered what it might be but didn’t have to wait long to find out. A Grumman Goose came over the top and headed off to land on the water. We were hoping that it might fly around a bit and maybe come over along with the Mars but that wasn’t to be. Just a quick encounter and that was it.

Who Would Get a Slot and Who Has One?

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I was looking at the various statues on the outside of the cathedral in Salisbury. Normally I will not pay that much attention to the details of these statues, but I paused for a few minutes and noticed the differences between the people represented. It was easy to tell the priests because they were all standing with a hand raised as if giving the sign of the cross. There were a bunch that weren’t in that pose, though. Some looked like they might be specific trades – presumably those involved in building or maintaining the cathedral itself.

The other thing that struck me was that, while there were loads of of alcoves on the façade of the cathedral, they weren’t all occupied. Presumably, when they built it they recognised that additional individuals – bishops I guess – would be deserving of their own slot at some point. Whether there weren’t enough worthy people or they just stopped adding statues, I do not know. I wonder what it would take to add someone new at this point?

A Pair of MC-12s But Only One Moves

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I don’t know why two MC-12s might be showing up in Seattle. Maybe they have training requirements that involve deploying to random places or maybe they were intently listening in to the people of Seattle. I suspect that might not have been super interesting but you never know. Whatever the reason, there were two of them parked on the Modern ramp at BFI a while back. Normally a King Air would not get me terribly excited but stick lots of lumps and bumps on it and now I will show some interest. I was hoping that they both might fly while I was there but only one was fired up. It as a warm day and heat haze was not on my side so the ramp shots were a bit ropey. At least the one that flew came closer when it headed to the runway so I could get a slightly less hazy shot!