Category Archives: aircraft

Going Further Gets You There Quicker

The title of this post is a pretty weak premise for the pictures I am posting. The pictures are of Air India Boeing 777-200LRs. In the pictures, they are not doing anything special. However, I shall justify the pictures with a slightly interesting fact. Air India has been serving SFO for a while. It is a long flight from Delhi to San Francisco and they were looking in to alternative routes. A lot of negotiation ensued that finally allowed a polar route to be used. This route is nearly 1,000nm longer than the route that they were previously flying. However, the prevailing winds on the longer route are helping the jet along. The result is that the longer route is actually two hours quicker. Strange but true.

Korean A330 Aiming for the Keys

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After watching a few aircraft making their approaches, you get a feel for how high the jets will be at a given point. Any variation from this seems pretty different, even if it is not really that large. A Korean Air A330 made its approach and it seemed noticeably lower to me. There was a displaced threshold in operation so maybe they were aiming a bit closer to the piano keys than normal. They didn’t do anything untoward but it did catch my attention.

Skywest’s Own CRJs

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Skywest provides feeder services for a number of airlines around the country. They do also operate under their own name for some routes though so you do occasionally come across their aircraft in their own colors rather than those of their customer airline. I have shot a number of the aircraft over the years and here are some of them. The interesting thing is that they rarely seem to be in the same colors. I don’t know whether this is because they have changed their colors a number of times or because they are leftovers from schemes they wore in other uses or from previous operators. Whatever the reason, there has been some variety.

I’m not sure what the long term prognosis is for the CRJs with Skywest. These jets are rapidly disappearing from service with various operators as larger jets with more seats are more affordable to operate. Skywest may have plans for them or may operate them on services that can justify the cost or maybe they will all disappear quickly and we will barely notice that they have gone.

Welcome Back from Hawaii

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Hawaiian Airlines are a regular feature of the Northern California aviation scene. Whether it is SFO or OAK, their jets are a regular feature. I was awaiting a movement coming in to Oakland when a Hawaiian A330 came over the top. Initially I wondered where it was going but it turns out that it was making a wide turn back in to Oakland. A short while later it showed up again on the approach. Annoyingly, it had passed the moon as it went over the top but I was too slow to catch it.

Anyone Order Some Engines?

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Modern engines last a long time on the wing of an airliner but they do need to be changed. Older engines tend to need to be changed more often. Allegiant fly a bunch of MD-80s as part of their fleet and they use the older Pratt and Whitney JT-8D engines. I guess one of the planes was due for a change because, while I was at McCarran, this truck showed up on the ramp with a couple of engines on the trailer. I can’t say whether these were fresh engines about to be fitted or the ones that had come off due for overhaul but, judging by the direction he was heading, I am going to say that these were being delivered.

Time Lapse Up the Old Tower

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My trip up the tower at SFO got me thinking about what things I wanted to get done while I was there. One thing I had in mind was a time lapse. I was a bit bothered, though, because we would only have about 20 minutes and setting up the camera and getting it going would eat into that time. Fortunately, Nancy had just given me a new GoPro to replace the one I killed in Hawaii. This one had a time lapse function built in. Also, because it is small, it would be easier to get it close against the glass to minimize (but not totally remove) reflections.

When we got up the tower, I went straight to the window, hit the start button and leaned the camera against the glass. I had no idea whether it was working or not so just left it and hoped. I then started taking the other shots I was after. When our time was up, I had to remember to go and get it again. Only when I got home did I find out that it had taken a steady string of images. I then processed them using my usual software of LRTimelapse aided by the lens correction in Lightroom for the GoPro. The result is this video. It is a little wide angle for some of the distant action and it would have been fun to have a longer time to capture images over but, overall, it worked out quite well.

Just Not Quite the Right Spot

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As I was heading to the tower for my visit, I decided to check out a spot that I had read about for photography. The Airtrain Terminal 2 station has open ends that provide a view of the runways and taxiways. You can get a view of the operations which is quite good. However, you are looking out at each end. The middle of the view is obscured by the terminal buildings – at least for now until demolition takes them away to be replaced with something new. (Supposedly, the new building will include a viewing terrace!)

Unfortunately, some of the most interesting moments take place in the obscured area. Rotations for takeoff and touchdowns for landing can be just out of sight. This is unfortunate. Consequently, this is not a spot I shall try much but it does provide a slightly different view of things at SFO which is at least worth a try. Reverse operations were in effect so I might want to see how it is when things are operating the other way.

One More JetStar

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Considering how few JetStars there are around, they seem to make a disproportionate appearance on the blog. This one is another active example. My friend, Paul, was telling me how he had seen an example at McCarran on a previous visit. Just as he pointed to where it had been, a short distance away was the same jet. It was away from the fence which was helpful so I figured I should get a shot and add it to the archive. Not a great place to get good shots but better than nothing. Cheers mate!

Breitling Jet Team

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There are a number of jet display teams that are operated by militaries around the world. Private jet demo teams also exist although there are a lot less of them. The Aero Vodochody L39 Albatros is an airframe that has proved popular with private teams. In the Midwest, the Hoppers used to display with four jets while out west the Patriots team are a regular fixture. In Europe, the Breitling team has been around for a long time. I saw them when we still lived in the U.K. at a couple of shows but they decided to bring the team to the US for a couple of seasons.

My first chance to see them was at San Francisco Fleet Week. I didn’t have any expectations about how the show would be and I wasn’t super excited about seeing the team. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the show that they put on. The display was well planned and kept something going on in front of the crowd. The Albatros is not a powerful jet so they need to manage the energy well to keep the display going and they did this effectively. The backdrop of the bay was obviously a good addition to the display. They did combine the individual jets with the formation jets well. They also made good use of flares at one point during the vertical maneuvers. That is something you don’t see enough these days. Sadly, it doesn’t always translate as well on photos as it appeared when you are seeing the display.

I don’t know what the plan is for the team this year but I imagine they will need to go back to Europe at some point. Two years away must have been an expensive proposition and means they will not have made any appearances over there. Maybe they will be here again but I can’t count on it. I think they are done. Good job though.

The Old Tower is Stripped Out

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The rebuilding of SFO has included building a new tower. I wrote about the old versus the new a while back in this post. The new tower has now been commissioned and is operational. It is time for the old tower to be demolished. Fortunately, the airport invited people to visit before demolition started. The inside of the tower was looking a bit sad. The equipment had all been ripped out. I doubt much of it is getting reused since the new tower will already have been equipped with the latest generation of air traffic control gear. However, the surrounds for the old gear were still there looking rather skeletal.

A week later the process of everything coming down would start. Soon it will look a lot worse and then it will be gone forever. We got a fleeting glimpse of its last days. I hope someone takes some pictures as everything comes down to preserve the last days forever.