Category Archives: photo

Doc Weekend Rides

I have posted some photos of the arrival of Doc previously on the blog. However, at the weekend, it did a series of flights and I went down one morning to get some shots of it before heading off to Skagit for the fly day up there. Shooting at BFI in the morning is not ideal so I decided to head up the hill to look down on the airport. I headed up there and met my friend Mark. We went in to the clearing to get ready and realized we had timed it well. It wasn’t long before several other people had arrived and things were getting rather crowded. Early arrival meant the choice of spots.

You are shooting from quite a distance at that location but you are elevated so the heat haze is not such a problem. Even so, not the simplest of shots to get. The crew kept Doc really low on departure, much as they had done on the first flight I saw. They were flying right by the Boeing ramp so you had a combination of modern Boeing planes and 1940s products!

Once they had headed out, we moved down to the approach end. Originally, I set myself up next to the fence. However, a Beech came in to land and I realized that the proximity to the fence, even with ladders, was not ideal. I relocated to the other side of the road and awaited the return of Doc. They made a pretty sporty turn from downwind. I got shots of it but none that were a combination of sharp and as dramatic as I would have liked. Then they were rapidly on to short final and swooping across the threshold.

It was all pretty good fun. I was okay with the results I got, even if they weren’t amazing. I could have hung around for more but had another place to be. It would have been good to go back over the weekend but timing wasn’t good with the other things I had on. I didn’t get the visit the plane itself which was a disappointment. I do hope they come back at some time and I can have a tour of the aircraft.

Kids Love To Play With Sticks

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If you see a kid wandering along the beach of through some woods, what are the chances that they will be wielding a stick that they have picked up? Apparently, this is not limited to humans. A family of ducks was swimming across the bay and one of them had a small twig in its beak. At first I thought it was mistaken in grabbing it or had it stuck but it dropped it and then picked it up again swinging its head around with the stick swiping anything in sight. I guess all kids are similar!

Is That A MiG 21?

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Chatting with Kev Perry, who we met in Klamath Falls, we got on to the topic of a Taiwanese F-5E Tiger II located at Corvallis Airport in Oregon. This was on our route home so we figured we would check it out. Corvallis is not a particularly busy airport and we drove around looking to see if we could find this jet. We got to the center of the airport and it involved driving past the open frontage of a large hangar. As we drove by, a look inside showed the nose of a MiG 21! This was a bonus that we hadn’t expected but it wasn’t alone! More to come.

Return To Crater Lake

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Nancy and I made a trip to Oregon many years ago and included Crater Lake as part of our itinerary. It was a beautiful spot but the only downside was that there was a lot of fire activity in the state at that time and the view across the crater was a little obscured. We could still see across but it was all a bit washed out. I have been pondering a return ever since.

Since the road trip with Mark took us down to Klamath Falls, Crater Lake was only a short distance away. One afternoon, after we had wrapped up the aviation photos for the day, we decided to make the trip to the mountain. Not only did it make the possible plan to go there when heading to Medford the following day simpler it also meant it was a weekday and the visitor count might be a little lower.

There was no traffic on the road to the mountain which made it very relaxing. It is a steady climb to get there with a steeper climb for the final section. We got to the Rim Village area pretty easily and the conditions were fantastic. The late afternoon light was really great and, while there were plenty of people around, it wasn’t crowded. We also found that the rim road was open to the north entrance along the west rim but the east rim was still closed – presumably because the snow was still blocking things. With the sun being in the west, this meant we had access to the best side.

There are plentiful pull offs along the rim road and we stopped at pretty much all of them. Each one provided a slightly different perspective on the view and it is so beautiful, you don’t get tired of having different views all of the time. (It is true that you can get a little blasé quite quickly about just how stunning it is, though.)

The Plane Almost No One Wanted

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When Boeing launched the 737NG family, the original models were very similar in size to the previous generation of 737s. However, there was pressure for more capacity so they added a new model to the family with the 737-900. A few were sold but it was not a capable enough aircraft and hardly anyone bought any. Instead, Boeing had to redesign the aircraft with some more capacity after redesigning the rear bulkhead and some more range resulting in the 737-900ER. This has sold considerably better. There are still a few -900s around though and Alaska has a few. They are very early jets and they are not worth the investment for adding winglets so they are some of the few NG generation jets to still have wings with the original wingtips. Here is one of them arriving at Paine Field.

Beaver Damage

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Getting photos of the beavers is a lot of fun. You are aware of what they can do to a tree if they choose and, while it is good for some of the environments when they take down a tree, it can also be disappointing. Consequently, many of the trees have wire mesh around the trunk to protect them. However, while cycling along the Sammammish River, I saw a small tree that one of the beavers had taken down. Since they hadn’t taken it away, I am not sure why they took it down, but they had certainly done a job on it!

Newcastle Has A Great View!

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We had a work team event in Newcastle at the golf club. We were playing on their little putting course so not a great demonstration of golfing skills but the location was great. I had heard about the place from a number of people but had never been there before. It is located on top of the hills overlooking Lake Washington and the view is very impressive. You can see down to Lake Washington and on to Seattle and Puget Sound. Quite a cool spot to spend some time relaxing.

Newly Arrived Dak

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I heard that a DC-3 had arrived at Arlington. It was a plane that had been with Air Atlantique in the UK for many years and was familiar to a friend of mine that had worked there a while back. I am not sure if I had seen it in the UK or not but had definitely seen shots of it. It came in during the week and was parked on the ramp at Arlington over the holiday weekend. Unfortunately, the weather was not great. However, with nothing much else to do, I figured I would head up and see it.

The rain was pouring down as I left home but it was actually drier and even with a hint of light up in Arlington when I arrived. Even so, the conditions were not great. However, the clouds, while plentiful, did seem to provide some interest to the sky. Consequently, I went with HDR to try and make the best of the conditions.

I am not sure what the plans are for the plane and whether it will remain in its old RAF colors as a Dakota rather than a DC-3 or C-47. We shall see. Hopefully it stays in the area and I’ll get to see it flying.

Finally Closer Shots Of A Flicker

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We get a ton of flickers in our area. This species of woodpecker is very common and the spring is the time when they love to thrum on the gutters of the houses to mark out their territory. However, I have had a really hard time getting pictures of them. They are very easily spooked. We sometimes get them in the back yard poking around in the grass for food but if they even detect your movement, they are gone.

I recently had one back there and managed to get some shots through the windows of it. Double glazing is not ideal to shoot through but you get what you can. I also saw some in Juanita Bay Park where I was able to shoot through some branches to get a few more distant shots. I have yet to get one flying which is a shame since there is a flash of red from the underside of the wings that I think would look great to capture. I’ll keep trying!

G-Force One Returns

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G-Force One is a cool 727 that is operated providing zero g experience to people who are willing to pay. It shows up at Seattle periodically, presumably because one of the tech companies is giving rides to some employees (but maybe it is just a rich person chartering it themselves). Zero G is the company although the plane is operated on their behalf by Kalitta Charters. I have had mixed luck shooting this plane but I did okay on this visit. I got it arriving and heading out on a flight. I missed the return and was actually driving along I-5 south alongside Boeing Field as it departed back to Long Beach. Not the perfect combination but at least I got a few good shots of it this time.