I was out one evening at SeaTac awaiting one of the British Airways special 747 schemes – see this post. The preceding heavy jet was an Aer Lingus A330. It was the test for me to make sure I had the exposure set up the way I intended. The evening light was getting good and the green on the jet looked pretty good.
I was a touch disappointed that a Global 7500 demonstrator from Bombardier landed at Boeing Field about 15 minutes before I got there. I had not seen one previously and I missed it arriving. It was parked up across the field although the heat haze was not making for much of a shot. The following morning they filed a flight plan for departure at a time which meant I could get there before having to go to work so I headed across. In common with these things, they weren’t exactly prompt. However, they still taxied and got airborne in plenty of time for me. The morning light limits your shooting locations so I was further down field than ideal and the jet was quite high but I have still finally got one. They will be loads of them before too long but, for now, I am pleased to have this one.
Igor Sikorsky is well known as a developer of helicopters even though his early work was based on fixed wing types. The airframe he developed to demonstrate practical rotary flight was the VS-300. This helicopter went through a number of design changes over its life including upgrades to the cyclic system to make it more controllable. When testing with it concluded, it was donated to the Henry Ford museum in Michigan and that is here I saw it. It is a historic landmark and hugely significant. However, it is stacked up in a display behind other artifacts, so it is actually pretty tricky to photograph. I tried making a pano of it to avoid the things in front with some success.
The A220 (or C Series CS100 if you are not yet ready to have it labeled as an Airbus) has been in service for a while but, until recently, I hadn’t seen one. Then, while I was on the shuttle between the terminals at DFW, we came around the terminal that Delta uses and I realized that the jet that had just pushed back was an A220.
It was early evening so the light was quite nice. The shape of the jet was quite distinctive. Aside from the cockpit shaping, the wings are quite large (giving it quite decent range capability) and the large fans of the Pratt GTFs are conspicuous. It is not a bad looking jet the Delta colors looked good on it. Sadly it taxied to the other side of the airport so I didn’t see it depart but it was nice to finally see one for real.
I have read a lot about Cape Air. They are a small operator in the New England area flying a fleet of (mainly) Cessna 402s. The reason I know this is that they have been heavily involved in the development of a new piston twin with Tecnam which they intend to use to replace their fleet. The first examples have started to show up but, for now, the 402 is still their workhorse. While I was sitting at a gate at Logan waiting for a flight home, we were right across from their ramp so I was able to watch the comings and goings of their planes. Seeing them mixing in with the big airliners was pretty impressive.
Returning from Whidbey with Paul, we stopped off at Paine Field to see what might be moving. There was a bit of frustration with a delayed departure that we couldn’t catch but we got a few bits and pieces and that included a Global 6000. This one popped up on approach just as the sun was reappearing from behind the clouds so we could get some nice light on it as it crossed the threshold and touched down.
Paul and I were in Vegas for Red Flag but the early morning is also a good time to shoot at McCarran International. The morning light is ideal for the north/south runways and, with the wind playing ball, you can get the iconic McCarran shots of jets taking off with the weird and wonderful hotel buildings behind them. Where else will you get a pyramid and the Empire State Building in the background. Southwest has a big presence at McCarran and we saw a string of their jets head out including one Max8. We watched it climb out little realizing that the grounding order would be coming within hours or even minutes. Whether the jet continued to its destination or turned around, we don’t know but that was its last commercial flight for a while.
The FBO ramps at McCarran had a selection of Dornier 328Jets. I noticed one at first and only later realized that there were more. What did please me was seeing a bus pull up by one of them with the door open. I figured we would have a flight before too long. Indeed it did, in due course, power up, taxi down to the departure end and take off. It was a bit far away but I’ll take a 328Jet when the opportunity arises.
The Convair CV580 has shown up in a couple of posts at least so far. Getting to Everett early one morning prior to heading to Whidbey Island, it was a pleasant surprise to see it out on the ramp. It was even nicer to see the door was open. Before too long the giant square blades of the props started to turn and they were heading off. They did turn the opposite way to what I was hoping for when they taxied but nothing to sniff at. We decided to see whether we could get to the end of the field before they did but they must have taxied smartly and got a quick take off clearance because they were up and away as we drove towards to the runway. Still, a nice start to the day.
The BOAC retro jet that BA has painted up was a nice treat to get. There are two other retro jets in other colors but, based on their interior configuration, they should not normally be used on the Seattle route. Therefore, I wasn’t expecting a chance to get them any time soon. Then, I saw that the Landor scheme aircraft was coming to SeaTac. It must have been a substitution. Now I was interested. However, it pushed off the gate at Heathrow and then went back on with some engine start issue. Was it going to scrub?
Apparently not. The issue was resolved and they pushed again. While the passengers were, no doubt, unimpressed by this, I was delighted. It now meant the arrival was at nearly 7pm. No problem to get to SeaTac after work and the light might be really nice. The weather was better than forecast although the chance of Mt Rainier making a second appearance was low. Again, plenty were out for the arrival. She showed up on the approach and the light played ball. This jet would have been delivered to BA with these colors so it was a case of reverting to how she had appeared many years before.