Category Archives: aircraft

Tracking Unusual Aircraft??

Okay, I will admit it right up front, this is a silly post. However, it is something that amused me. If dumb stuff is not your thing, look away now!

I was shopping recently in Harry and David getting some of their good tasting but probably not too good for the waistline snacks. They had some gummy candy called Jetfighter Gummies. What could be better for someone like me. Bought a pack and took them home.

When I opened them up, not only where they gummy jets, there was a selection of different aircraft, all reproduced with a surprising amount of detail! I checked through and they had a B-2, an F-117, an F/A-18, and SR-71, an F-15 and an F-22. Each was reproduced in some detail including panel lines. I was amazed. After eating a bunch of them, I thought I ought to reproduce them to prove I wasn’t making this all up.

The accompanying shots are the fleet as it was left by the time I got around to taking the shots. Some of the remainders were not the best of their type and all of the F-15s had been eaten by then – or withdrawn due to fuselage cracking, who can be sure? There were still F-22s on the ground so nothing inaccurate about that!

Might have to pop back at some point and get some more. I will have a bigger air force than the UK if I buy a couple more packs!

Some Cool Sukhoi Flying

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Was flipping through the Dew Line blog on Flight International’s website and came across this video of the SU-35 displaying at MAKS in Moscow. Some interesting maneuvers in there! Maybe makes up for those how went to see the PAK-FA fly on the day when the engine surged on take-off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRV-c4s5vMo

Chicago Air and Water Show

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The Air and Water Show, here in Chicago, has been a regular for me since moving here – and why wouldn’t it be when I can actually walk to the show!? This year, though, I was not so inspired. The line up was not looking to be too diverse (at least as far as the things I like to shoot) and they had moved it an hour earlier which means more of the show is in the harsh lighting from a bad angle.

I skipped practice day and Saturday was almost rained out. Sunday the weather was good and I eventually found I couldn’t quite quit cold turkey and grabbed one camera and one lens (plus a bottle of water) and decided to walk slowly up the lakefront. This would give me a chance to take some shots from further away but looking more up the display line. It also made the sun angles a bit better.

As the show progressed, I gradually drifted up the lakeshore until I got the North Avenue beach, around show center, just in time for the Thunderbirds display. I should point out my timing was better than that of the Golden Knights and the Thunderbirds. The Golden Knights had finished their jump and were lined up on the beach being introduced by their commentator. Each member of the jump team was given a personal introduction and they were just getting to their special guest of the day who was getting the ceremonial baton when the Thunderbirds roared in from behind the crowd.

That was the end of the presentations as far as the majority of the crowd were concerned since the PA was switched over to the Thunderbirds commentary team who had probably been doing their introductions previously without knowing that no-one was hearing them. Don’t know whether the Golden Knights were running late or the Thunderbirds were early but, either way, not a smooth handover. The Golden Knights jump ship had been orbiting offshore awaiting its final pass but I guess they were told to make themselves scarce once the show box was handed over to the Thunderbirds!

The show was not too bad. I’m glad I went and I took the reverse stroll home which also worked pretty well. I guess I can’t pass up an airshow on my doorstep, even if the schedule doesn’t get me too excited!

More lighter than air fun

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Again you are going to receive an abbreviated post that is directing you to another location for the fuller story. In this case, it is a piece I have put together for Global Aviation Resource. The topic is the Zeppelin NT airship operated by Airship Ventures, a company based just outside San Francisco in California.

It seems that lighter than air vehicles have suddenly become a big thing for me. I blogged not long ago about a blimp that was circling my home (not that it was aware that I was there of course – I think it was doing other things). Then I saw the Zeppelin of Airship Ventures floating over the Chicago lakefront while I was watching fireworks on the 4th of July. They were at Oshkosh and got a lot of coverage while there and now have passed back through Chicagoland.

I had the chance to go out and watch the team at work recently and that is the focus of the article that can be found at this link.

Thunder Over Michigan

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I made a last minute decision to go to Thunder Over Michigan at Willow Run. For some reason, I have never been to this show before. I have seen plenty of interesting shots of the aircraft from previous years so why I have never been is a mystery to me. There are some practical issues about going but not that can’t be overcome.

Being just outside Detroit, it is the best part of a four hour drive to get to Thunder. It is also a time zone change so making the trip across early in the morning is not a practical proposition. Therefore, an overnight is required. I decided that two nights would make for a more relaxing time. In the run up to the show, the heatwave across the Midwest was still forecast to be in place and the chances of storms were mixed in with the high temperatures.

I booked the room since I could cancel it at short notice and then decided to wait and see. In the end , I figured I would take a chance. Nancy was convinced I was not going to make the trip and looked amazed when I finally walked out of the door.

It was definitely worth the trip. I met up with a bunch of people I either already know or have crossed paths with online including the team at Warbird Digest who recently published the article on Warbird Heritage Foundation I wrote. Greg was particularly generous as he had a photo pass I could use for the show. This was a welcome addition since it not only provided a good location but also included shelter from the sun and cold drinks!

The weather ended up being okay. The heat was pretty significant and the light moves round during the day making the shots a bit trickier. It also got cloudy when the Blue Angels closed out the show. however, it was the warbirds that I was there to see and they were a lot of fun.

I would include pictures to share with you but instead, I have written a piece for Global Aviation Resource which is illustrated so here is the link to that instead.

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/reports/2011/airshows-usa-thunder-over-michigan-review/index.php

Not this year!

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Two years ago, I made my first trip to Oshkosh for the EAA extravaganza that is Airventure. I have no idea why it took me so long to get there but there’d always been some work related reason why I hadn’t gone. I loved it. So much good stuff to see, plenty of space, even when shared with thousands of your closest friends, and more variety than you can imagine.

Last year it was sacrificed because I had made the quick trip to the UK for RIAT and, as it turns out, I missed the chance to get very wet. This year, timing was again tricky. It coincided with the last week of a consulting contract i have with a client so planning ahead was not easy. By the time it looked like I might be able to go, the chance of finding anywhere to stay within an hour of the event was minimal.

So, I am in Chicago, barely two and a half hours away but I am not going. This is a big disappointment to me but hardly something I can complain about. I have a bunch of friends there, (another reason for my disappointment) so I can hear how it all went but it won’t be first hand knowledge. No looking at unique aircraft, no watching some of them display, no chatting to people sitting under the wing of their pride and joy and no lounging by the lake at the seaplane base enjoying the tranquility that contrasts so much with the rest of Airventure.

Next year maybe. In the mean time, I will have to look back at some shots from two years ago.

Unusual Thunderbirds

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I have been running through a bunch of older pictures while trying to clear out a bit of space on the hard drives. I came across some shots of the USAF Thunderbirds from a few years ago when they were performing here in Chicago for the Air and Water Show. Friday before the show is a day when they carry out a nearly full practice for the show. This is a day that I am often going to be down there as there are less people and, for some reason, the weather often seems better.

What I had completely forgotten was that, during the Friday practice that year, the Thunderbirds were undertaking some photography work of their own. Aside from the six display aircraft, a seventh F-16 was taking part. it was flying along and around the formations photographing them at various points in the display. I have a bunch of shots of the formations being shadowed by this aircraft.

There is nothing much else to say about this but I found it interesting so thought I would put up a small gallery of some of these formations. Enjoy hopefully…

First Flight – for a while at least

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My friends at the Warbird Heritage Foundation in Waukegan have been working for a long time on adding another aircraft to their already excellent collection. The newest aircraft is a P-51 Mustang called Baby Duck. It is many years since Baby Duck last flew and she has gone through an extensive restoration since being recovered from a storage location near Philadelphia.

The work has been undertaken at Tap-Air in East Troy WI. They have been putting her back together after a thorough restoration of the whole airframe and engine and the whole process has been coming to a climax with the approach of the first flight post restoration.

After some engine runs and taxiing tests, the date for the first flight was set. Paul Wood, the owner of the foundation, kindly invited me up to see the flight and I headed up to East Troy on a gorgeous day. Pilot for the first flight was Vlado Lenoch. Vlado is a highly experienced pilot of Mustangs. He has his own aircraft, Moonbeam McSwine which he displays all around the country. However, he has flown many other aircraft. I think he said that this was his 25th!

After some final checks on the airframe, Vlado fired her up and taxied off for departure. I headed to a spot up the field to be ready for the first wheels up moment. While it was a lovely day, it was warm and sunny so heat haze was a big deal. However, you don’t get to choose when these things are happening so you go with it and get what you can.

The first flight went very well. Vlado took her up to altitude, cycled the systems, undertook some handling checks and basically made sure things were good. Then he brought her back for a flyby – a good sign that he was pleased with the aircraft. There then followed a debrief about e issues that he had found. The Tap-Air guys then took the opportunity to try and fix a few of the issues that could be dealt with immediately while we had a bite to eat before Vlado took her up again.

This time he had a longer sortie and pushed her a little harder with some basic aeros. All went well and again he showed his comfort with everything with another flyby. After landing, another debrief with the guys and a list of tasks to be worked on. There is still some work to do but, hopefully she should be making her way to her new home pretty soon. Probably not soon enough to make it to Oshkosh this year but there is always another year!

As a finish, I animated some of the shots together to make a pseudo-video. Here is the result.

Victorville Flyby

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A while back, I found myself in Southern California with my buddy Pete. Pete is a pilot with about 15,000 hours on multiple types but he always wants to try out something new. He was renting a Cessna 172 for the day and getting checked out at a couple of interesting fields – Catalina Island and Big Bear. I was along for the ride.

He asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were out and I wanted to take a look at Victorville. Victorville is the old George AFB and is now a place where a lot of airliners come for storage and often to be broken for spares. I had seen a few pictures of the place and wanted to see what was there to be seen. Pete had an added interest as there were some British Airways 747s parked up there – the type he currently flies for his day job!

I had been in the back for the first two legs of our trip a we had an instructor along checking Pete out. For this leg, I took the right seat to be well positioned for the photos and also to get a bit of time in myself. I had no idea how enthusiastic Victorville would be about passing light aircraft coming to take a look. However, when we called up the tower, they were very happy for us to make a pass. When we told them what we wanted, they even allowed us to break off from a low approach and turn north to pass the collection of stored airliners.

There was quite a selection of aircraft on the ground. Some of them were obviously temporary residents but a few looked like they were only going to be leaving in bits some day. Rather sad but it happens to us all eventually. Anyway, a fun distraction on our route (a great trip as a whole by the way but maybe I will save that for another time) and some interesting things to see.

As an aside, Pete was back here before too long to pick up one of the BA jets to return it to service.

Bye Bye JAL 747s

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When I was a small kid, I had a book called Pictorial History of Aircraft. This was the 1970s and so the Boeing 747 was still a relatively new kid on the block. It certainly wasn’t the times of the 400 series being knocked out at the rate of one a week. The pictures in this book showed Japan Air Lines (JAL) as an operator of both passenger and freighter versions of the jet.

As time passed by, JAL grew its fleet substantially and was for a long time the largest operator of 747s in the world. Therefore, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the poor financial state of JAL combined with the introduction of more efficient big twins has meant the 747 has gone from JAL’s passenger operations. It is odd to know I won’t see one again (except perhaps at a storage yard). Every once in a while the airline industry has a big change – the end of Pan Am is one that springs to mind. For me, this is one of those moments.

Anyway, they are gone but I have a few shots of them to remember them by. I wonder what will be next to go?!