Category Archives: aircraft

Transition From KAWO to Amazon

I am not sure of the reasons why, but Croman moved both of the helicopters used for the Amazon lift over to the site the day before the operation. They were a short distance from Arlington but apparently there was a reason to not start from the airport. Fortunately, they did this late in the afternoon after the Astar had arrived. I had moved across to a parking lot near the site ahead of time hoping to be in a good spot to get them arriving and also to see whether it would be good for the lift itself.

Both helicopters approached my side of Amazon prior to landing. This meant I got a good head on view of them and a reasonable view as they approached landing. They did, unfortunately, go directly over my head which limited the shots a little but still wasn’t too bad. The sun was more on their tails as they made their final approach which wasn’t ideal, but it was the side I was on so could have been worse. They landed behind some concrete walls so disappeared from view as they went in. The S-61 was first followed by the Astar. Now to see how the lift itself went.

My Only A330-800

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The A330 has been a huge seller for Airbus. The A330neo has not sold as well. As an upgrade of the basic jet, it didn’t get a huge amount of interest from customers. It has started to seek a bit better and it is basically a good jet. It comes in two version and the A330-900 is the larger of the two and by far the more popular. The A330-800 has not sold well at all with a few going to operators, one of which is Uganda Airlines.

For some reason, they brought one of their jets to Seattle. It arrived on a cloudy day and didn’t leave for quite a while. It’s departure was late at night and I didn’t even bother trying to be there but I did catch it arriving. It certainly got a lot of attention from local photographers. It has a bit of nice color in the livery but isn’t the most distinctive of planes. However, I don’t know when I shall next catch an 800 so this could be it for a while for me!

Croman S-61 On The Ramp

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Amazon is finishing up a huge fulfillment center up in Arlington WA. I understand it will be over 600k sq ft of space. The structure is approaching completion and they needed to install the air handler units on the roof. The most efficient way to do this is by helicopter so, after my many times with helicopter lifts in Chicago, I was looking forward to this happening.

They contracted with Croman Helicopters. This is an operation out of Oregon, and they do a lot of firefighting work. The lifting is. A smaller part of their business. However, it is still a good line for them. They brought two helicopters up for the lift. One was an Astar (which might have been theirs or might have been chartered since it had a different name on it) and the other was one of their S-61s. I’ve shot S-61s a couple of times but not often, so this was something I was looking forward to. They came up ahead of the lift and parked on the main ramp at Arlington. Conditions were pretty good and I was able to get some shots of the airframe.

Most of the pictures I have seen of their S-61s have them in a yellow scheme but this one was a dark grey. It was a nice-looking finish but a bit tough if the lighting wasn’t great. The S-61 has plenty of rivets which make for some cool textures in the right light. It was also fitted with a good bubble window for monitoring the load along with some duplicate engine gauges on the outside in the line of sight of the lifting pilot. I had fingers crossed for good conditions to get it in flight…

Tufting The Wing

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I didn’t notice this at the time but, while working my way through some shots of the Alice taxi trials, I realized that the port wing is tufted. Tufting is a simple but effective way to see how the flow is behaving on a surface. It does need to be recorded, though, so I then looked for the camera and saw the blister up on the side of the fuselage that must contain the camera. I don’t know whether they have been paying attention to the flow visualization while doing taxi trials or not. They have had flaps down as well as up but, without the nose off the ground, maybe there has not been anything significant to see. They sure aren’t saying and have other things to address after some of the testing issues.

Alaska’s New Special

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The arrival of this Alaska 737 on the flight line at Renton got a lot of attention from the locals. A special livery is always going to be of interest but this one is better than the average. The dark blue combined with the orcas is a really cool look. I first saw the jet while it was on the flight line at Renton ahead of a first flight. I wasn’t able to get it as it left Renton but I was able to catch its arrival at BFI. After a few test flights, it has now been delivered to Alaska so now I just have to hope I can catch it in better conditions.

Canadian Dauphin Eludes Me

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I don’t often see civilian Dauphins in service. The Coast Guard operates the type but the US does not have a lot of them in private hands. I saw a Canadian example showed up in Seattle and was quite a surprise. It had a large winch mount on the fuselage which is unusual for a civilian operator. It was quite a coincidence since Airbus Helicopters has just delivered the final Dauphin to a customer. It has been superseded in their line by the H160. I was hoping it would depart my way but it was cleared to the north on a downwind departure which they turned on to promptly after getting airborne. I got shots but they were distant ones.

More Fuselages Arrive

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I’ve posted photos of 737 fuselages on the delivery trains before so this is a repeat. This time it was a collection of five fuselages on one train, possibly the most I have seen at once. I saw the train across the field but thought I might have time. I was getting something else and, since the train has to switch off the mainline south of the airport, it often has to wait for the route to be set. I did get around just before the train moved which was handy.

With that many fuselages, I wanted to get a longer shot with a long lens. That is something that can only be done well in the winter when heat haze is significantly reduced. The overcast conditions mean that the green of the protective film on the fuselages looks a bit more vibrant than it does in bright conditions.

Hurricane Hunters Back In Town

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I was heading back from south of Seattle when I was surprised to find out that the NOAA WP-3D Orion, Kermit, was at Boeing Field. It had come in the day before but I hadn’t heard about it. I was planning to stop for lunch so why not go to BFI? Just after I got there, I saw a prop start turning on the number one engine. However, after running it up, they shut down again. I was dreading that they were going to go tech and the plane wouldn’t move.

Fortunately, whatever they were concerned about wasn’t too much of an issue. A little while later, while I was still eating my lunch, I looked up to see two engines running. This looked more promising. Sure enough they taxied shortly afterwards. The nice news was that they crossed the runway to taxiway bravo so we got a good look at them. A while later it was their turn for departure and they came my way. The nice thing about a four engined prop is that they didn’t climb too rapidly so a good angle on them. It was pretty overcast so not ideal light but the dark colors show up better without too contrasty light.

Twin Twinstars

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Arlington had a couple of different visitors. They were both TwinStars and they arrived within a few minutes of each other. The first TwinStar showed up and I got some shots. When I saw a TwinStar on the approach, I assumed it was the same aircraft back around again. I figured I would drop the shuttle speed down a bit to vary things. Consequently, I was a bit annoyed when I realized the airframe in the viewfinder was a different one. I had to cross my fingers that I hadn’t blown it by going with the low shutter speed. Fortunately, a few of the shots were okay. Phew…

Air France A350

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Regular readers will know I am quite a fan of the Airbus A350. Getting a new operator of the jet in Seattle is nice for me and the Air France service has swapped from the 777 to the A350. It started a while ago but the conditions have been so bad for a while, I didn’t even bother trying to get out and shoot it. I was coming through the area when it was due in so made a diversion to get a few shots. Not too nice a sky but still okay and I will hopefully get better conditions at some point before too long. They arrive at lunchtime so the light is not ideal anyway at that time.