Category Archives: Pacific Northwest

Sun Greets the Talon’s Return from California

For a while, I saw a lot of the Boeing T-38 chase jets but, it had been quite a while since I last saw one. Then I saw one had been in use for a couple of flights. I wondered what had been the cause of this but didn’t follow up on it. Then I saw that one was coming back to Boeing Field from California. I don’t know what the test activities were down there but, with it heading back and the weather being pretty decent, I figured I would try and catch its return. Since it was coming up late in the day, I was going to be able to be there.

I wondered whether the good weather would give up before the jet made it back but things held together nicely and the sun was out when it touched down. Since the T-33s went into retirement, the Talons have been the only chase jets to see and they have, as I mentioned, been a bit rare. I don’t know how long they will have. Maybe Boeing will ultimately replace them with T-7s – perhaps the early jets that will not be to a production standard and can take over chase duties. Since I am now gone, I won’t get to see either one so this was a nice catch before I departed.

Frost at the Office One Morning

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Writing a post about the office when it isn’t an office I work at anymore seems a little odd. Back to Kirkland for a day, I guess. I was driving to work on a chilly morning and, as I came off the freeway towards the office, it suddenly got misty and there was lots of frost on the surface of all of the trees along the road. When I got to the parking lot, the plants all had a layer of frost that had formed on them from the cold mist. It looked really pretty but trying to capture it with my phone proved a little trickier. It was still dark at that point of course. I figured I would try and a little processing at home helped bring the shots to something more like what I saw at the time.

Metrea Defeats Me Again – Sort Of

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I was heading to a meeting south of Seattle when I got a message from the person I was joining that they were running late. I stopped off at Boeing Field to wait for their call and to see if anything cool was around. One of the Metrea KC-135Rs was on the Modern ramp. It was the nicest of their paint schemes and the winter light was lovely. Naturally I grabbed a shot as I waited. They were looking ready to go and I hoped that they would take off before the call came through. I was to be disappointed. I heard from my contact that he was en route, so I left. About ten minutes after I did so, the jet took off. I can only imagine how good it looked in that light.

A few days later, I was back in Georgetown to meet some friends, and I saw that the jet was out again on a mission. It was due back shortly before sunset so I hoped I might get lucky with the light clearing up. It certainly wasn’t as nice as it had been previously, but you never know. As it turned on to the approach, conditions were getting better but not what I was hoping for. Despite that, the jet still looked okay as it came into land. It could definitely have been better but not a total bust.

This Color in the Trees Will Always Make Me Think of Washington

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No lengthy travels for this photo. This was taken at the end of our driveway in Woodinville. The vibrant colors that the local trees have in the fall are really lovely. While our time in Washington is coming to an end, I will have great memories of the rich red foliage to take with me on our next journey.

I Wish This Praetor Had the Thrive Livery

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I have seen a couple of jets in the Thrive fleet and they have a really cool livery that they use for some of the planes. When most jets are rather blandly painted, a cool paint job is a great change. Thrive was bringing one of their Praetor 600s to Seattle and I was hoping that it might be in the company colors, despite previous pictures of it online being in something a little less cool. Sadly, they have not spent the funds on updating the look of the jet. The livery is not a bad looking one anyway but it would have looked better in the full paint job. Oh well…

Cormorant Fishing Gets a Big Result

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While mum was visiting, we took a stroll down to Log Boom Park in Kenmore. You never know what wildlife might turn up and we did get one bald eagle directly overhead. What pleased me more (as will come as no surprise to regular readers) was the large gathering of cormorants. They were on the posts, in the water and flying overhead. Plenty of them to see in lovely light (although a bunch were backlit.

The high point was one cormorant that was fishing alongside the jetty and came up with a sizable fish in its mouth. It was going to have to work hard to maneuver this fish into position to swallow it. I figured that video might be a better way of recording the efforts the bird had to make. It did take quite some time to get it in the right place but finally the fish went down in one piece. I am amazed at the things that birds can swallow when they catch them.

A Vietnam Airlines 787-10 Might Catch the Sun

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The run up to the end of the year can be handy if you want to see jets on test flights because Boeing is looking to get as many sales completed as possible before the end of the financial year. While it wasn’t built at Everett, a Vietnam Airlines 787-10 was there for rework/modification and then delivery. I love Vietnam Airlines because they have an interesting livery in a time of white planes with limited color.

I was able to catch it taking off one Saturday morning. The light was great as it rotated and climbed away. Later in the afternoon, Nancy and I had been out to see the salmon run and she was fine with a small diversion to Paine Field to catch the return. The light had faded a little compared to the lovely morning conditions, but it was good to catch the returning jet. I think it was delivered not long after this.

Global 7500 Sketchy Takeoff

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For the longest time, I struggled to photograph a Bombardier Global 7500. Over time I have seen a few of them but that initial drought makes me still feel as if it is something special when I catch one. They have sold really well and there are loads in service so they really aren’t something I should be so excited about but apparently my brain hasn’t worked that out yet. I was happy to get one at Boeing Field when it was taking off.

It taxied out and headed to the north end of the field for departure. I was not expecting a lot because they have good field performance and are likely to be well airborne before they get near where I was going to be standing. Sure enough, they did get off the ground quite quickly but, as they rotated, there was quite a roll that developed. Not sure whether it was a big gust or that they weren’t anticipating the crosswind, but I imagine it must have spilt a gin and tonic or two. They quickly recovered the situation and climbed out without any further problems, but I hope there wasn’t much clean up required onboard.

Lynnwood Link Opening Day

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Sound Transit has a series of extensions to the Link light rail system coming online at the moment. In September 2024, it was the turn of the Lynnwood Link Extension to open. This was not one we were involved with, but I was keen to see the new extension come online and also to catch up with some colleagues that would be there.

The sun was shining so it was a great day for an event. There were plenty of dignitaries there for the opening and a lot of speeches. Each station was going to be holding celebrations throughout the day, but I decided against taking a ride on the first day. There were so many people there to see it open and the line to board the trains was lengthy. Let everyone have fun and I can check it out another time. (As a side note, I still haven’t ridden the line. I kept meaning to do it and now the chances that I will are diminished.)

I did watch the first few services come and go and the teams all boarded along with media before the rest of the riders could then have their go. I understand the extension has been very popular both for commuters and those heading downtown for events like games and shows. The parking garage can get quite full from what I am told. Great to see this new extension getting well utilized and, when the Eastlink connection opens and additional vehicles can access this section of the system, the frequencies should improve too.

Something Large to Bypass the Pleasure Craft

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When it isn’t peak boating season, the smaller lock at Ballard is the main one to get used. It can accommodate much of the traffic and there isn’t too much demand to require the big lock to be utilized. There are priorities about what traffic goes through the lock and commercial traffic will always get precedence over the leisure craft. There were a few boats lined up to come in when a tug and some barges came in from Puget Sound. It got priority and, since it was far larger than the small lock could deal with, the big lock needed to be used.