Category Archives: civil

Where Have the Twin Otters Gone?

A few years ago we spent some time in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Victoria has a lot of floatplane activity and, at the time, an airline called West Coast Air was operating with a large fleet of Twin Otters. Since that time, West Coast was taken over by Harbour Air. Harbour Air is the dominant operator at Vancouver. However, while we were there, we saw only one Twin Otter. A check online seems to suggest that they have focused more on the Otters and Beavers and reduced the Twin Otter fleet. I assume they are not so economical for the type of operations they undertake but, if anyone has any more information about what happened, pleas let me know.

Otters and Beavers

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A trip to the northwest may involve seeing plenty of wildlife but the Otters and Beavers that I was most excited about were slightly different. These came from the stable of deHavilland Canada. More importantly, they were on floats. The Pacific Northwest is a great place for watching floatplanes. They are heavily used for transportation between many locations on the water. I saw a few while we were on San Juan Island or on the ferries between the islands but not a large number and not when I was in a position to get good shots. However, once we got to Vancouver, things ramped up a bit.

If you have not been to Vancouver, the harbour (it is a Canadian harbor so I think I am spelling it correctly) has a very busy floatplane base. Flights go to surrounding areas and the gulf islands on a regular basis. The planes are a combination of turbine powered Otters and Beavers with either piston engines or turbine conversions. Harbour Air is the dominant operator but others do show up occasionally. The area along the waterfront has undergone a big redevelopment with a convention center and it has great walkways along the water that provide an excellent view of the operations. Planes seem to be coming and going all the time. The may come in across Stanley Park and land in front of you or swing around the harbor and land towards you depending on the wind. As they water taxi in someone else will be heading out and departing towards North Vancouver before turning around the park and heading out over Lions Gate.

We were there at the end of the day so the evening light was very nice on the aircraft. The large number of high rise buildings on the shore does mean that shadows can encroach before the sun has gone down but this is a small issue. Later in the visit we were over in Stanley Park and I got to see some aircraft taking off since they came closer to our position. The damp air certainly makes for some nice streaming vortices off the props when they are at takeoff power.

My First 737 Max (Sort Of)

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Sometimes you take a shot when you know it is pointless. However, something inside you says take it anyway and delete it later. One such shot was a 737 I saw heading to SFO while I was over in Hayward. I don’t know why I bothered with the shot, maybe the colors looked unusual, but when I looked at it later, it appeared to be in Boeing house colors. It looked like one of the 737-8Max development aircraft. A quick check on Flightaware and indeed it was. This shot is useless for most purposes but it is my first shot of a 737Max!

Why Am I Excited By a White Jet?

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I have mentioned A340s and their gradual demise a few times in the blog. Sometimes it has been that I have got ahead of myself. However, I recently was genuinely surprised. Apparently, during the summer, an A340 makes a single flight a week into Oakland from the Azores. I had no idea about this until I read something about it online. A direct flight from Oakland to an island in the middle of the Atlantic? Who would have thought it?

I managed to be in place for the arrival one time. The airline is HyFly. I am guessing you have never heard of them. The jet is chartered from another operator but the whole operation is Portuguese controlled. (The Azores are Portuguese if you didn’t know.). The aircraft is totally unbranded. An all white A340-300 sounds really dull. I guess it really is. However, the novelty certainly caught my attention and I am both pleased and annoyed that I had no idea it was a regular visitor so close to home.

A Surprise Private 757

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If you spend a day somewhere, you can get absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Alternatively, you can be somewhere for a short time and get a really lucky break. I was down in Hayward awaiting an unusual Airbus movement as I headed to something else and, in the short space of time I was there, someone else showed up. This was a Boeing 757 that has been converted for private charter use. I have actually come across this aircraft before but, when it showed up heading in to Oakland, I was rather pleased with my good fortune.

Norwegian East Bay Arrivals

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Norwegian Airlines have been flying in to Oakland for quite a long time now. They started out with flights from Oslo but they now also have flights from London Gatwick. Despite them having been coming in for a long time, I have never got good shots of them. I have often seen the jets while standing on the BART platform at Bayfair but that is not a time to get a shot. I have also seen them across the bay from the SFO side. Finally I got to see one coming in from the right side of the bay and on the side of the jet that had light.

Norwegian has famous people from that country on the fins of the jets. This one was Edvard Munch. I don’t know how many different people they have on the jets but, with this being the first one I have shot, I don’t have what you would call a collection. It was nice to catch it later in the day as the sun was getting lower. Maybe I shall catch more in due course. However, there won’t be a lot because Oakland is a bit quiet unless you are after Southwest or FedEx jets so I won’t be there often.

Pinal Air Park

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Pinal Air Park is located northwest of Tucson. A number of business operate there. It used to be a location for Evergreen International. They carried out a number of programs of a spooky nature which meant there was strict security controlling access to the area. Evergreen have gone bust so now the airport is a lot less restricted. The hangars and ramp areas are still controlled but the roads around the field are now freely accessible.

The airport is used for active operators but also for storage of airframes. Some of these are planes that are clearly not going to be making it back into the air again. They are either old enough to not be in demand or of a type that has more value in the spare parts they contain than as a complete airframe. That isn’t the case for all of them though. Many of them are stored awaiting another operator finding a use for them. Consequently, you see a variety of aircraft from old TWA 747s to unmarked A330s.

While I was there, a Pratt and Whitney 747SP engine testbed was visible on one ramp while the Global Supertanker 747-400 was not far away. There were also some stored Grumman Goose aircraft (should that be Geese?) that looked like they weren’t moving for a while. A turbine Caribou was on the ramp obscured by a CASA 212. Plenty of variety. This would certainly be a fun place to tour with someone that has good access.

KLM’s New Toy Comes West

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The arrival of the Boeing 787-8 on the scene got a lot of attention. It was a new generation of aircraft with a lot of new technologies. It also was a major disaster for Boeing. Years late, massively over budget and with a grounding, it did not go according to plan. The next version was the 787-9 and, with this one, Boeing really got it right. The -8 was not a bad plane but the -9 is so much better. It carries more and goes further. They also fixed a lot of production issues. The result is a jet that Boeing is happy to sell and airlines want to buy. Boeing does not like building the -8 anymore and you will notice that not many have been sold recently. The -9 is going to be the core product and the -10 stretch will be the second option.

Airlines have been adding the -9 to their fleets in good numbers. Entry of airlines that didn’t order the -8 did pick the -9 and KLM is one of them. They have started spreading them out on services across the world. The demise of the MD-11 in their fleet meant that the 777-300ER and the A330 were their staples. Now the 787 is becoming a big deal and the SFO run is one that they have started using the jet on. I was pleased to see it show up. They still send 747-400s to SFO but the 787 is part of the future. The 747 will be gone before too long. Meanwhile, I enjoy the novelty of the new jet. Soon I shall be glad to see the 747 before it disappears.

Shots from the Flightpath Museum

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On the south side of Los Angeles International Airport is the Flightpath Museum. Charting the history of the airport, it has many artifacts that show how the airport and the airlines that serve it have developed. It also has a terrace area. You can’t be out there without someone being aware of you and what you are doing because you have access to a live ramp area but you can get some good views of the operations in the southern runway complex. Whether it is the arriving aircraft or those taking off, it is a great spot to be to watch what is going on.

There is plenty to see. Off to one side is the freight ramp. You can see some of the freighters loading and unloading before they continue on their way. The arriving jets land a bit away from you but you have a good view of them as they roll out. The departing jets get airborne very close to or a little before you. This provides a different perspective on the aircraft to that you can normally achieve. No fencing in the way. Not too much distance. It is definitely something to check out if you are visiting LAX.

I Never Expected a Sabreliner

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Corporate jets show up at SFO on a regular basis. They will be the usual Gulfstreams or Bombardier jets. However, every once in a while something really unusual will show up. I would love to say that it was part of my planning that this worked out but I was very lucky. I saw on Flightaware that something unusual was coming but I didn’t recognize what it was. I am glad I didn’t because the surprise was more fun. A Sabreliner showed up. I didn’t realize anyone was still flying them. Great stuff.