Category Archives: aircraft

Western Global Decides to Mess With Us

We had a brief phase a few months ago when Western Global was bringing in jets to Paine Field.  The first one I encountered was a 747 freighter.  It arrived in okay conditions but was flight planned for a departure that afternoon.  The weather was getting better and better and, when they missed their original slot, I wasn’t complaining since the light was only going to improve.  However, there was absolutely no sign of them moving.  The crew appeared at one point and then left again.  Eventually it became clear that they weren’t going.

The jet was parked in a position that meant the tail was slightly obscured.  That meant the shot was not quite what I would have liked but it was going to have to do.  They didn’t end up leaving until the next day but that was no longer the weekend, so I didn’t see it go.  A touch frustrating but such is life!

Two Goes At Singapore Arrivals

Singapore Airlines has been flying into SEA for a while.  Initially they stopped at Vancouver and then continued to SEA before reversing the journey, but I guess loads were good enough that they changed to a direct flight.  It arrives first thing in the morning and then heads out mid morning to go home.  I have tried to get shots of it but the combination of weather issues and making it work for a weekend morning when I can plausibly be there has been tricky.  One weekend, the weather wasn’t great, but I decided to give it a go.

I was looking to shoot from a location that gives an angle on the touchdown zone which I figured would help overcome the less than ideal weather conditions with more ground in the shot.  However, I was disappointed to find that they were bringing the jet in on the outer runway.  Consequently, it was a bit more distant than ideal (although the crummy weather meant haze was less of an issue than might otherwise have been the case).

The following week, I had a second go.  The weather was slightly better but still not great.  I was rather worried that I was going to have a repeat of the previous week.  Not great conditions and would it go to the outside.  As I watched the track inbound, I could see a bunch of other aircraft vectoring in for their approaches.  Busy arrivals can often mean the heavies get sent to the inner runway to avoid wake turbulence requirements causing delays to the narrow bodies.  This was the case and I got what I was after.  The only issue was that there were quite a few planes taxiing out for departure and obscuring my shot (and throwing out some heat as well).  However, I did get a shot so let’s count that as a win.

Horizon Special E175

The end of the Q400 operations at Horizon meant the departure of their special paint scheme with a retro livery.  However, it wasn’t long before a new Embraer E175-E1 was delivered in the same scheme.  I ended up coming across it a few times quite quickly after it was introduced and have seen it a bunch of times since.  I think it looks pretty good in the old colors and we’ll have it looking like that for quite some time.  I did catch it in some murkier conditions as it departed Paine Field one evening but it turned out to suit the livery quite well and I was pleased with the way that the shots turned out.

Take the A340 Chances When You Can

Who knows how long the A340s will last.  I thought I had probably seen the last of them but Lufthansa was kind enough to make them a feature of their winter schedule to Seattle.  Of course, not running every day combined with the great winter weather that Seattle is known for meant the chances of getting good shots were limited.  Even when the conditions were favorable, they departed in the middle of the day which meant high sun angles and more glare.  However, when the conditions were as good as could be expected, I took the chances that were available.  Here are some shots from probably the last season.

NEO Versus Not-NEO

For some reason I was thinking about the comparison between the neo and classic versions of the A320 family and it got me wondering whether I had any shots that would provide a good direct comparison between the old and new versions.  The answer I came up with was shots of American Airlines’ A321s departing LAX.  They provided the combination of reliable lighting and similar angles on the climb out.  I was able to put the two together in one shot.  Externally, the differences are there to be seen but, if you are not knowing what to look for, you probably wouldn’t tell them apart.  Given the significant performance increase the neo brings, it would be easy to miss.

Sunny FCLP With a Color Jet

With a nice forecast, the wind in the right direction and an indication of some operations, I figured a day off was worthwhile and headed up to Coupeville to see if I could get some Growler operations.  I was pleased to see the fire trucks getting ready when I arrived, and that the meatball was at the north end.  Looked like I was going to be in luck.  Yes and no!  I did get some ops and plenty of patterns but only a couple of jets actually showed up.  Fortunately, one of them was a squadron color jet so I was able to get a bunch of shots to play with.  I also shot a load of video so here is the edit of that too.  Could have been a busier day but they finished up and the crews headed off so I did the same.

Another Delta A350 – This One From TAM

Delta acquired a bunch of A350s when airlines were disposing of them and they have progressively been heading from storage at Victorville to Singapore for reconfiguration.  I have posted about these already with a couple of LATAM jets having come through.  The most recent one I saw was actually an ex-TAM aircraft.  Again, not the best of conditions for shooting its arrival but it was still fun to see something you would normally never see at SEA.  It was a bit damp so there was a little vapor over the wings which was nice.  Next time I see it, it will be indistinguishable from the other Delta A350s.

United’s Oldest A320 Heads West

I was reading a couple of articles that were discussing old jets getting retired.  The original MD-11 was retired by FedEx and, when I checked my catalog, I didn’t have any shots of it.  United has retired its oldest A320 so I looked for that one too.  Turns out I did shoot it once.  It was arriving at O’Hare and was painted in the colors of Ted – United’s short-lived low-cost airline.  I guess the jet lasted longer than Ted did!

Floatplanes Since I’m In Vancouver Anyway!

Our November visit to Vancouver was about us doing some fun stuff with friends and enjoying what a great city has to offer.  However, when staying so close to the waterfront, it was improbable that I wouldn’t spend a little time watching the floatplane operations.  Even non-enthusiasts find the floatplanes enjoyable to watch so I am not standing out too much here.  The weather wasn’t ideal and the early evenings meant flying would be curtailed before it got too dark but I was happy to get a little bit of flying to watch as part of my weekend away!

One Flying Magister

The selection of Magisters at California City was the subject of a previous post.  The day continued to improve, though, as a bunch of people showed up to take one of the planes flying.  They had come from France and had a crew of people both helping launch and also filming them in the process.  We were allowed to hang out close by to watch them go.  This did mean having to deal with the intense noise from the tiny turbojets that power the plane.

I shot both stills and video and we were able to get out close by the runway.  The video of the launch preparations was fun, but I wanted stills of the jet airborne, so I focused on getting those instead.  The Magister is a great looking little jet and, I imagine it is a bunch of fun to have some that are airworthy.  I imagine that, as warbirds go, it is probably one of the more affordable ones!