Category Archives: Pacific Northwest

The First 737

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The Museum of Flight has a number of prototypes of Boeing airliners.  They have the first Boeing 737.  This is a 737-100.  Very few of these were built with the 200 series being introduced soon and then taking over completely until the introduction of the 300 series many years later.  (For those of us of a certain age, the 200 series was known as the Classic once the 300/400/500s came into service.  Today they are often called Classic when compared to the NG models which are, themselves, now being superseded by the Max.)

The first airframe ended up with NASA being used for testing duties of all types.  At the end of its testing career with NASA, it made its way back to Boeing Field and to the Museum of Flight’s outside collection.  These are now under cover with a roof having been built over the many aircraft.  The 200 series is a pretty short jet but the 100 is even more so.  It is quite something to see this aircraft and compare it to the big aircraft that are now the staple of Boeing’s output.  The Max 10 will be nearly 50% longer than the original.

The aircraft is displayed in its NASA colors rather than the original in-house colors when it was first built.  Also, since NASA used it for a variety of odd tests, it has a bunch of additions from those test activities.  Since it is parked in amongst the 787 and 747 test aircraft and is kept at the far end of the space, it is a little lost I feel.  However, when you contemplate its place in the history of airliner development, it really is a very significant plane.  There was a time when Boeing contemplated selling the whole program.  How different things could have been!

Growler Overhead

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The approach to the runway at Coupeville brings the jets right over one of the local roads.  This meant I had the opportunity to go for some head on type shots of the jets.  As they came right over the top of me, I got a nice view of the underside of the jets.  I also experienced the noise level of a Growler.  I hadn’t thought to bring hearing protection and, if I go back, which I am pretty sure I shall do at some point, I will remember to take some.  You are really quite close and the sound levels are high!

Fort Casey Emplacements

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I posted about the lighthouse at Fort Casey here but the fort is obviously a lot more than just a lighthouse.  It was built to defend Puget Sound and this meant some big gun emplacements.  Much like similar emplacements along the west coast, most of the hardware is now long gone but some has been kept in place to show how things once were.  The emplacements themselves are pretty substantial and are well maintained by the park team.  With the guns gone, you see just how big the space taken up by the guns was.

Meanwhile, a couple of installations are still equipped.  One has a gun elevated to the firing position while the other has the mechanism retracted.  The complexity of the gearing to raise, lower, elevate and rotate the guns is old school engineering at its best.

Behind the guns are some of the spotting towers.  From here the crews would have identified targets and called in the sighting requirements to the gun crews for them to engage.  They are painted green to blend in with the background since they would have been a primary target for any invaders.  As it happened, no-one came so these forts never engaged any enemies.

PDX Evening Arrivals

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Back in the summer of 2017, we made a trip to Oregon for the solar eclipse.  You can read all about that in previous posts here and here.  The night before the eclipse, we stayed in Portland and the most convenient place to stay was at a hotel near the airport.  The location turned out to be between the two runways at PDX and that evening the approach paths brought the planes in from our direction to the runways.

I figured I could pop out for a few minutes and photograph some of the arrivals.  The evening light was coming in and we were a little on the wrong side of the closer runway but this was an impromptu shoot so I didn’t mind.  A little biz jet traffic came in on the other runway while I got a selection of Q400s, FedEx freighters and the usual narrowbodies.

Since I was close to the centerline of the approach, it provided a slightly different perspective to that which I would normally go for.  Looking up and almost straight down the nose is interesting.  Not something to do all the time but certainly some variety (particularly if it only requires you to walk out to the parking lot).  It’s good to try different angles on a regular basis and avoid getting repetitive.

FCLP Training for the Growlers

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Naval aviators have to practice the art of landing on a carrier a lot.  Before they ever go to the boat, they undertake a lot of field carrier landing practice.  This involves flying the carrier pattern to a runway as if it was the boat.  The outline of the deck landing area is painted on the runway, the lighting is replicated and the guidance calls are provided by crews alongside the runway just as if they were at sea.  The crews fly around the pattern and thump onto the runway just like it was the deck and then apply power just like they would if they were aiming for a wire.

Of course, there is no wire so they power up and fly away to repeat again.  The goal is to be as practiced with the whole procedure as possible before they ever go to sea.  Naturally, there is still a difference dealing with a static runway in a field as opposed to a moving ship in open sea.  Still, it is the way to prepare.  Naval air stations tend to have separate fields away from the main base at which this training can take place.  They are away from the normal base flying and allow this training to take place uninterrupted.

NAS Whidbey Island has its outlying field at Coupeville.  They announce when flying training will take place there in order to keep the local community aware of the potential noise.  Usually there is little chance for me to go because of work but it turned out that one of the flying days was scheduled to have good weather and I should be able to take time off.  Not only was the weather due to be good but the wind was in a direction that meant they would be flying to the end of the runway that is more accessible.  I planned to be there.

As it happened, something came up at work and I had to go to Seattle before I could leave.  Consequently, I was behind schedule.  I eventually managed to get on my way and I got to Mukilteo just in time to catch a ferry.  Once on the island, I headed up to Coupeville and, sure enough, as I got closer, I could see Growlers flying patterns.  I got to the field and parked up away from the road.  I walked back, all the time hearing jets flying around.  Then I was in position to get some shots.

I kept moving so I could get closer to the touchdown point but the flying stopped as I got closer.  Then they packed up operations.  They were done, at least until the evening.  If I had missed the boat, I would have missed the whole thing!

Fort Casey Lighthouse

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My trip to Whidbey Island meant I had a fair bit of spare time to work with.  I was chatting with a guy while I was there and he suggested a trip to Fort Casey.  It was barely five minutes from where I was and it was a sunny day so why not.  Fort Casey is one of the forts that were built to protect the Puget Sound area from possible invasion.  Not only was it a fort but it also has a lighthouse.  When I first got there, the lighthouse was off in the distance but, after a little exploration, I headed over to see it.

As with a lot of lighthouses in this part of the world, it is not terribly large.  It doesn’t have to shine too far since there are islands all over the place blocking the line of sight so no need for it to be too high.  Still, it is well maintained and comes in standard lighthouse white!

A Sick IL-76 Waiting for Help Perhaps?

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Suddenly IL-76s are appearing at Paine Field on a regular basis.  I came across one by surprise not long ago but didn’t get a chance to track its progress.  However, a quick check on Flightaware showed it had departed.  Fortunately, I checked the flight and realized that it did a quick pattern and then landed again.  After that, it didn’t move for ages and was still there when I next visited.  I wonder whether it got sick and has been awaiting parts?  Anyway, since taking this shot it has departed to Iceland successfully.  At the time of writing, it is back though.  So much Ilyushin traffic!

Cannon Beach

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Cannon Beach was quite a way north of where we were staying in Oregon.  However, it was on our route home so we stopped off to wander along the sands for a bit prior to hunting down some lunch.  We were not the only ones enjoying a sunny day on the beach but, given the expanse of sand available, there was plenty of space for everyone to spread out so it wasn’t crowded.

The huge flat sands were most impressive and the rocks that sit out in the water look very cool.  It is hard to gauge their scale when they are out like that as they are so separated from the people that you don’t have enough of a reference to work with.  It is safe to say that they are pretty big though.  There was a bit of sea spray in the air which made everything take on a slightly more misty look when you were looking south towards the sun.  Looking north this was a lot less apparent.  I could see why a landscape photographer would come here to spend some time in the early and late hours.

Swans on the Lake

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When I was still at college (and because I am an old git, I was shooting on film), I spent some summers in Huntingdon, a town in Cambridgeshire that my mum lived in at the time.  The river Ouse ran through the town (actually separate Huntingdon from Godmanchester) and there was a park along the river that I walked in frequently.  One afternoon I was walking there when a swan took off on the water alongside me and I grabbed a single shot of it that was one I was really happy with.  (After I write this, I will go back through my stuff to see if I have a good scan of it to add to the bottom of this post.)

Ever since I have been shooting digitally, I have wanted to get shots of swans flying.  However, I haven’t lived in places where swans were very common.  That has changed since moving here.  There are some wetlands north of here that are heavily populated by swans and I shall be checking them out before too long.  However, we do get some swans in Juanita Bay.  Nancy and I were out for a walk a while back when three pairs of swans took off from the water near us and flew right by.  You can probably guess that I wasn’t carrying a camera that day.

A week or so later, I was back at Juanita Bay with the camera this time and there were swans hanging out in the same area.  I thought that, this time, my planning would pay dividends.  Sadly, that was not to be.  They seemed very content where they were and all I got was pictures of them sleeping, swimming or occasionally stretching their wings.  I shall be back for another attempt though.