Category Archives: civil

Woohoo!

I shall be a touch self-congratulatory here and celebrate something good that happened to me. Rotor Magazine held their annual photo contest and I entered a picture in the category Helicopters at Work. I am happy to say I won the category. The picture was in the edition of the magazine for Heli-Expo and was on show at the event itself. Many thanks to the guys at Midwest Helicopters. It was one of the shoots with them that the shot came from. I hope they are as glad as I am!

Chasing the MD-11

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I mentioned in a previous post that one of the few remaining passenger operators of MD-11s is KLM and they are currently bringing the jet into SFO on alternating days. I had previously missed it because the day I was there was the day that the A330 was running the service. I wanted to make an effort to see the jet since you never know how long it will be before the opportunity is gone. The draw-down of the fleet is underway but they can change routes with little warning. Therefore, I decided to make the trip.

This time it was a quick visit. We were heading over to the peninsula for other reasons so I persuaded Nancy to allow me to make the diversion. Since tracking flights is now so easy, there was little element of chance in this. We knew when the jet was coming so I didn’t need to make her wait long.

Sure enough, the MD-11 came into view overhead as it made the pass before coming onto the approach. There was some limited visibility out on the bay but the light was fine for the landing shot and I was happy with the result. I got a few other shots while I was waiting and then it was back to our previously arranged schedule. Glad to have shot this aircraft before the opportunity finally disappears. At least FedEx will keep using them for a while to come.

Night Shoot at SFO

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One idea that Paul had was for us to have a go at shooting some light trails at SFO after it got dark. This sounded like a good plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any tripods or cable releases with us. No matter. Target was around the corner so we popped in there and bought a couple of $15 specials. Hmm, these were quality items indeed. Given how much a good tripod costs, can you imagine what a $15 tripod is like?

However, we made the best of it. Getting perfect alignment was tricky so some post processing cropping to level stuff up would be required. The camera wobbled a lot on the tripod when touched so I chose to trigger it with the shutter button on a 2 second delay. This allowed some wobbling to stop and, on a long exposure, any lingering wobble would be lost.

We got some stuff but it wasn’t brilliant. However, a short while later, I had to go to SFO to pick up some family members arriving on an evening flight so I decided to go a little earlier and try again, this time with some more appropriate kit in the form of a decent tripod and a cable release. This time, I was able to control things a bit better and get a few shots of interest. There wasn’t a huge amount of traffic so I didn’t get too many trails but I did get a slowly taxiing British Airways 747 which left an interesting smear across the frame.

The alignment with the moving planes is not fantastic from where I was but it was okay. Coyote Point looks like it might be better but I think it closes at sunset so I’m not sure whether that will be possible or not. We shall see.

Another SFO Day Out

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My friend Paul was in the area for work and we had a day to go out and shoot some aviation. We had a couple of options that we considered and one that we tried but that was not looking too productive so we ended up having a trip to SFO. With plenty of time to play with, we shot from a couple of locations. We started out at Coyote Point which is great early in the day when the light is good and also provides good light looking down the approach towards the runways.

Later we moved across to the bayshore area near the airport where you can get better views of the traffic on the airfield including the landings. The problem here can be that the distance, even on a coolish winter day, can result in some heat haze issues. These can be exacerbated by aircraft holding for departure when their exhaust plumes are in front of what you want to shoot.

There were a few things that we wanted to catch and then plenty of time between to take it easy, go and get something to eat or just chat about what we had been up to. The Air New Zealand 747 is now a rare beast so catching that was worthwhile. Cathay are also bringing theirs in which I can’t imagine will be the case for too much longer. We had hoped for the KLM MD-11 which is a rarer beast yet but, unfortunately, it alternates between an MD-11 and an A330 and that day was the A330 day.

The other thing to try and get at SFO is the parallel approaches. The two closely spaced runways can be used simultaneously and you can have two large aircraft coming down the approach in formation. Usually there is a bit of an offset but every once in a while, they are right alongside each other. Trying to get this is one of the goals. There were a few when I got them further out which made them appear closer than they were. Sadly, one approach was the Emirates 777 with a Gulfstream right next to it. I didn’t realize in time and was shooting with too long a lens. The 777 is fine but the Gulfstream was cut off so I blew it. At least Paul got the shot so we do have a record.

SFO Quick Visit

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On my way home I wanted to stop into SFO to get something specific. JAL operates their new 787s into SFO and the daily arrival is around 4pm. I had seen a few shots from people catching it coming in and had been planning to try and get it for a while. This was a good opportunity since the weather was looking nice. I got there slightly ahead of time and just in time to catch an EVA 777 coming in.

It was a quiet time at SFO so I was able to relax and watch the activity along the shoreline between arrivals. A few departures looked interesting but the light was too far round to get a decent shot of anything that wasn’t departing from the 28s. A few heavies did go from there and I made sure to shoot them for practice.

The JAL 787 showed up as planned and so I got my shots. I was a little unsure about lens choice. SFO is a place where the 500mm can be very useful but it is too much for the longest aircraft when they are abeam you. The 787 is a deceptive aircraft that looks smaller than it really is so I was a little unsure as to whether to risk the long lens and miss the shot. I started out with the 100-400 which was fine for the part where it crossed the threshold and the aircraft holding for departure. Things looked about right so I quickly swapped back to the 500 and it was not too much. Good to know in future.

I was about to head home after the arrival when I looked up and saw a four engine jet passing over heading to the approach. A quick check on Flightradar24 confirmed it was a Swiss A340 so I figured I could manage ten more minutes. Once it was on the ground, a Virgin and BA 747 pairing were taxiing out. The Virgin jet went off 01 so was not well lit from my side and the BA jet spent so long taxiing it was clear the sun would be below the hills before it got going so I called it a day.

Sonoma Skypark

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A return trip to Sonoma was something I had been planning and I went back up for the Saturday burger lunch. This time I was a bit more focused on actually getting some images of the visiting aircraft. The lunchtime run attracts a great selection of aircraft. I would keep an eye on what was happening since the better location to shoot from is on the other side of the field. Regular trips across were required when something either appeared in the pattern or I could see someone getting ready to head out.

We saw some nice aircraft. A great 1952 Beech Bonanza made a visit along with a Taylorcraft and a Stinson. I also watched a group head out in a combination of a Cessna, a Super Cub and an Apache. Trying to pick the right spot to get them when airborne but not too high was not easy. Thankfully, Eric gave me some good pointers. However, depending on how heavy they were, things could change a bit.

The weather was great again so the lovely winter light, even in the middle of the day, made for some great shooting. I had other things I needed to do during the day so I didn’t stay around as long as I would have otherwise liked. However, it was still fun. I also shot some images of some RC models that the guys were flying between the movements of the larger aircraft. Quite hard to shot since they are close and move a little bit more erratically but panning practice is always welcome.

Decaying PV-2 and DC-3

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While Schellville has a great collection of vintage aircraft in operation, it also has a couple of large airframes that do not look like they are going anywhere in a hurry. Parked near the runway are a DC-3 and the PV-2 Harpoon. The DC-3 is a rare sub-type….

The PV-2 has apparently spent some time as a spraying aircraft and it has some Arizona logos on it from a previous existence. It doesn’t have any doors on the bomb bay so I am assuming that these were removed as part of whatever conversion was done for the spraying role although that is just a guess. Both of them are sitting out on the earth and, with the low sun angles you get at this time of year, they look particularly interesting.

We grabbed some shots of them both while keeping an eye out for any other interesting movements that the field would bring.

Ryan ST-A

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Our Schellville expedition brought me into contact with a type I have never seen before. The Ryan ST-A is not a plane I was familiar with and, when one taxied out for departure, I was quite curious as to what it was. A quick departure was followed by some passes over the field before the pilot headed off to the local area where we could see him carrying out some aeros in the distance.

A while later, while we were sitting eating some food, a guy came across with his lunch and joined us. His name was Dave Masters and it had been him flying the Ryan earlier on. We had a great chat about the history of the aircraft and how he had come to own it. He also told us about a similar aircraft in one of the hangars which we made time to see in due course.

A great looking aircraft design and two of them kept in wonderful condition. This place is already looking like a great spot!

Stearman Central

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Schellville also seemed to have quite a few Stearmans around on the day I was there. I think they were generally doing rides for people. A nice day for some open cockpit flying so I hope the passengers enjoyed themselves. Here are some of the shots I got of the Stearman.

Flying in the Champ

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While I was with Eric, he suggested we do a little flying in his Champ. I haven’t flown a Champ before and Eric let me get some stick time. Most of the aircraft I have flown over the years have been pretty benign in yaw with not a lot of need to use my feet. The Champ is a different story. Plenty of rudder is required to fly it properly and I did nothing of the sort. A few turns later and I was starting to get a bit tidier but I certainly need a lot of practice to get comfortable with the aircraft.

Eric also flew some more dynamic maneuvers while I was shooting. I also grabbed some video clips. They aren’t a complete story but just a few clips so go the video below gives you a quick glimpse of what we did. Thanks Eric for a lot of fun and for reminding my stomach how long it is since I have flown anything resembling a dynamic maneuver!