Category Archives: civil

The Mighty Skycrane

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I enjoy shooting helicopter lift operations in the city. Midwest Helicopters are the local operator and a great bunch of people who have helped me out lots of times. This lift proved to be one of those times although it wasn’t them doing the job. They had finished a job in the city on a very snowy morning and I was exchanging messages with their Chief Pilot when he mentioned that Erickson were in town for a job.

Erickson specialize in lifting very heavy equipment. Midwest fly Sikorsky S-58T aircraft which are good for about 4,500lbs. Construction Helicopters in Michigan (who have made appearances on this blog too) have S-58T aircraft as well but tend to bring S-61Ns to Chicago since they have a higher capacity of up to 8,000lbs so can lift loads too heavy for the local guys. Erickson are a different story altogether. They build and operate the S-64 which can lift a whopping 25,000lbs. This is obviously way above the capabilities of the other operators and way more than most jobs can justify.

Consequently, an appearance by Erickson in town is not so common and is worthy of a look. Moreover, they were lifting just across the river from my home so how could I not go? I have worked on site with Erickson before and so contemplated calling to arrange to be there for this job. However, I was suffering with a bit of a cold and the weather forecast did not look promising so I decided to not try and be on site but to shoot from outside the safety perimeter. Since the lift was alongside the river, getting good shots should not prove to be difficult.

Come the morning of the lift, visibility was terrible and snow was falling hard. All this could be seen from my window so I didn’t need to be out on the ground. Instead, I got ready at a leisurely pace and grabbed a couple of cameras when the weather started to improve. The streets around the Hyatt Regency hotel (the location of the job) had been closed for a while which I found curious since they obviously weren’t going to start until the weather cleared. Lifting in poor conditions is tricky enough but getting to the site in the first place is more of a problem.

As the weather started to clear, I talked to one of the crews maiming the perimeter and he confirmed that they had launched and were on their way, Time to wait. The S-64 is a big beast and you don’t have any questions when it arrives. It’s sound travels well and you know it is coming. Fortunately, there were a bunch of loads to go up (and some to come down too), so there was plenty of opportunity to shoot at different locations. Moving across the river provided some alternative views of the lift. Meanwhile, the weather was continuing to improve until it was actually sunny. Sadly, the lifting location was always in shade but you can’t have everything. Watching the downwash blow the snow around both on the ground and on the roof was quite amusing.

The lift seemed to go well and I covered everything I was after. I also got some video which I shall share later.

First Crossing Shot of the Season

Leave a Reply

Just a quick joke. I was out shooting wildlife when there were a couple of airliners overhead. It is a bit early in the year for airshows but I guess this might count as my first crossing shot of two jets for the year. Hopefully there will be a few more!

Head on Big Boys

Leave a Reply

My day out shooting with Hayman was mainly an aviation themed event. One of the things I was interested in was looking for something more head on as the heavier jets launch out of SFO. Most aircraft depart off 01 and head out across the bay. however, the heavier widebodies launch off 28 and climb out towards South San Francisco. A head on shot of them coming off the runway is what i really want.

Hayman had a location which was halfway to what we wanted. You are a bit further from the airport and so they rise out of the surrounding landscape rather than seeing them come off the runway itself. The location has a lot of promise. Sadly, on this day the weather was not nice and, as the day was moving along, what light there was after the clouds had taken their share was fading fast. however, it was rather fun to see the 747s and A380 climbing out over us. Definitely something to try again some time. As for the runway shot, we shall have to keep exploring to find the right spot for that!

Cloudy SFO

Leave a Reply

I was in the Bay Area visiting my friend Hayman, a fellow ISAP member, so it wasn’t hard to predict what we would do with the day. we actually decided to stay locally checking out whatever SFO had to offer. We did not have the best run of luck. First the weather was a bit crappy so the photo opportunities were going to be a bit more limited. However, sometimes, bad weather can give something different so we weren’t to be deterred.

One location we had in mind was crowded and we couldn’t even park. This coincided with the arrival of the Lufthansa A380 so we already had missed one opportunity. Oh well. More strange was that everything was departing from 10 as we approached the airport. This is a very strange procedure for SFO, particularly given the wind was calm so not forcing something different. This could have given us some unusual departure shots. Just as we approached, they reverted to normal operations. See a pattern developing?

We still had some fun and got a few shots. As you can see, nothing terribly special from me. Hayman may have done better. None of these will be seen beyond this post but a day out with a friend shooting aircraft is still better than a lot of the alternatives! Cheers Hayman.

Shuttle Memories

1 Reply

A New Year often gives you a moment to reflect on things from the previous year. One of the things I wished to see this year but didn’t was the delivery of the shuttles to their final homes in museums. It didn’t work out and that is done. However, I did get to see a shuttle launch once during the program and that happened before I started blogging so I decided to have a post that maybe gets counted as an archive outing (or is that lack of recent shots means I have to go back and get old stuff?).

Anyway, here are some shots from the launch of Atlantis on STS-129 in November 2009. This was a trip that could have ended up going sadly wrong but in the end it was a great success. We had planned to make a trip to see a launch for a while and this one was one we had picked out for various reasons. However, we failed in our first effort to get tickets for the causeway which was where I wanted to be to be as close as possible. When we couldn’t get that, we decided instead to get tickets for the visitor center since it would still be a good place to see things.

We planned a few days in Florida with the launch on the first full day there. The idea was that we would have some margin if the launch got delayed (as they often did). Unfortunately, NASA were one step ahead of us and moved the launch after we had made out travel arrangements. They moved the launch to the last day we were due to be there. This made it a one shot deal. Once we were down there, we had a few days to look around. While out wandering around Celebration, I got a call from a good friend of mine. He didn’t know where we were but, when I told him, he said he knew a retired astronaut who might be able to help us out.

I have to admit I thought this was a long shot. An hour later, he calls back and tells us we are on a VIP bus. We have to go to KSC the next day and they will have our information and sort us out. I was stunned. Needless to say, we went to KSC the next day. Initially, they didn’t know who we were but they did eventually sort it all out and we were now on a better plan than we could have envisioned. We even got premium parking! Come the day of the launch we headed out early – no point in being late for something like this.

The atmosphere at the visitors center where we had to go first was excellent. There were loads of people there and everyone was excited. It was like being at a fair. When the time came, we loaded up on the buses and went to Banana Creek. This is just past the Vehicle Assembly Building. Moreover, you are looking across water the whole way so, while you are slightly further away than the press area at the VAB, you don’t have much heat haze – a big deal when shooting over three miles in Florida! This area was really busy as well and this group was probably even more excited than the crowd at the visitor center. There were a really nice bunch of people around us and the time zipped by.

Finally it was time for the launch. It all happened very quickly. Suddenly the countdown was approaching zero and then it happened. A spectacular sight. I shot a ton of shots but I did remember to just look and be impressed by it all. My abiding memory was how orange the flame was. It is so bright that it blows out in all images but when you see it you realize it is very orange. Look at the color of the clouds around and you will get an idea of the true color since they reflect it in a very toned down way.

Within a couple of minutes the boosters had separated and it was gone. We were all hurried back onto the buses since the exhaust plume apparently contains some quite unpleasant chemicals. Then it was all over. It was so sudden and no instant replay! Then it was time to hang around since the traffic out was going to be horrendous (it was even much later). A great experience and one I am always glad I did.

Night flight

Leave a Reply

A recent flight home meant an arrival into Midway a while after the sun had set. I had been taking some pictures out of the window as we headed back across the country and decided to try my luck after dark. I had thought about trying out some auto ISO shots as I described in a previous post. However, since I was shooting night scenes, the camera does its best to try and make things look properly exposed and this is not what you need. Instead, I had to manually set the ISO to a higher number and then drop the exposure compensation to between -2 and -3.

The shots came out okay but they weren’t terribly interesting. However, as we got lower, I decided to go for something a bit more interesting and slowed the shutter speed down dramatically. I braced the camera against the window frame and decided to see what sort of light trails I could get. The exposures were a couple of seconds or more so this is rather tricky. While the background is blurred deliberately, I had the top of the engine and the winglet in for reference. Avoiding blurring them was more hit and miss.

I tried a bunch of shots and was pleased with the number that came out well. However, the effect only seems to work in a couple of situations. One is a turn. This puts more ground lights in the frame and turns everything into a nice curve. The other is when you are very low at which point everything is moving past you close and fast. I might try this again before too long but will have to ponder what might improve things. One technique issue I was pleased with was remembering to turn off image stabilization. With long exposures, it causes the image to wander so, when bracing, it actually makes things worse. Unlike me to remember that first time out but sometimes I do get lucky!

A Rare Beast

Leave a Reply

Over recent years I have made many trips that take me through Baltimore Washington International airport or BWI. It is the easiest route for me when heading to Washington DC. One of the nice things about BWI is that Northrop Grumman have a facility there that focuses on radar development. As part of this facility, they have a flight test department that makes use of some interesting aircraft. A few times I have seen one of them on the move while I was in the airport but normally I did not have a camera to hand to catch them. However, one time I did get lucky.

I managed to see their BAC 1-11 taxiing out for departure. This is an aircraft that has received a number of modifications for airborne testing of radar systems. While it is an old airframe and there aren’t many of them in service any more, it obviously still performs the required role well and they continue to operate it. It taxied past the terminal and then departed across in front of us. Since it is a bit dated, the noise levels were apparent even inside the terminal. However, it was fun to see it in action. A recent trip also spotted a smokey trail on approach. Sure enough, it was back. Sadly, no camera to hand that time!

Other O’Hare stuff

Leave a Reply

The trip to O’Hare for the arrival of the United 787 meant I had a bit of time to shoot some other aircraft while I was there. I had started out at the arrival end of 28 for the 787 to show up. When we changed rapidly to 10, I was now on a good side of the field for some of the departures.

Departures at this end can be a good selection. Some will turn towards you and give a nice topside view. Others head out straight or turn away so you are always wondering whether this one will be worthwhile. I wasn’t out for a long time so this was just a chance to see what would come out before heading home. A 747 freighter is a welcome addition but it, sadly, turned away. Even so, it still looks cool. A few gave me a better view. I grabbed some shots and then headed home.

United 787

Leave a Reply

A while back I was in Seattle and headed up to Everett to see the large numbers of 787 airframes parked up awaiting rework and delivery to their customers. When you see that many of them lying around, sometimes it is hard to remember that some of them are now getting delivered and entering service. One of Chicago’s local airlines (if you have a local airline these days) is United and they are the first US operator to take delivery of the aircraft.

Houston is the base of operations for the early aircraft but as they are trying to build experience for the crews, they are carrying out internal flights before taking the planes overseas. The first revenue flight was a leg from Houston to Chicago O’Hare. I was interested in covering this for the magazine since they were planning a reception for the aircraft when it got to O’Hare. The Chicago airport media relations people were not handling the event but they gave me the contact details for United. Sadly United were not inclined to respond to inquiries.

However, I decided that it was worth heading up to O’Hare anyway since the forecast was looking quite pleasant. Admittedly, these things will soon be a very common sight but getting the first arrival seemed like something worth spending a morning on. (In truth, the 787 had already been to O’Hare a few times on proving flights but let’s not get too picky!)

I was not the only one there. A lot of people had shown up and the place under the approach to 28 was pretty busy. That is until they changed runways shortly before the 787 was due in. A convoy of cars suddenly headed out to get around to the 10 arrivals. I was part of the convoy and found a spot that seemed reasonable. I had barely got out when the 787 came into view. Fortunately, the sun was being cooperative and the 10 approach actually was better for putting the light on the nose of the aircraft rather than the rear. I wonder how long it will be before I get bored with United 787s showing up.

On Top of the City

Leave a Reply

I have been very fortunate to be on top of some of the largest buildings in the city of Chicago in recent years. Helicopter lifting operations take me to places that are off limits to many and that provide a great perspective on the city. However, until recently, the highest point in the city was not one I had been to. The top of the Sears Tower (I don’t know many that use its other name) had eluded me. The Skydeck doesn’t count of course!

This changed with the installation of the new TV antenna for ABC on top of the building. The good team at Construction Helicopters had been contracted to install the new antenna having helped removing the old one. We gathered early one Sunday morning for the job to commence. This is a location that is unmatched unless you are actually airborne. I will post some views from on high in upcoming posts. However, the first post is an aviation themed one – no great surprise for this blog!

The aircraft used was a Sikorsky S-61N. The aircraft was leased from a Canadian company and was actually on its last job with Construction before being returned. They have acquired a Super Puma which I hope to see in action at some point. The S-61N is an old design but regular upgrades have kept it as a very capable machine. It staged out of Midway and picked the loads from down at the bottom of the tower. The vertical climb is quite a long one but they did well, not only in placing the loads, but holding them for some time while they were secured. Good job to everyone involved.