The path of jets into SeaTac from the north takes them right over Boeing Field. Sometimes, when you are watching something on one path, something going into the other field gets in your field of view. Either that or a British Airways Boeing 747-400 decided to sneak up on a Cessna. Knowing some guys who fly for them, I wouldn’t rule it out.
As the locks at Ballard transfer the water, they manage to catch a lot of salmon at the same time. It was very common while we were there to see the salmon leap out of the water. Some would leap out and crash back into the water on their sides while others would leap upright and nose back in to the water like a dolphin. Catching this on the camera was a touch trickier. I have a lot of shots of splashes as the salmon has just reentered the water. I did get some on video though so you know I am not totally making this up!
I saw something at Vancouver that I hadn’t seen before and that was a FedEx jet that was not registered in the US. I had assumed that all of their fleet was N registered but, apparently, that is not the case. A number of the jets are on the Canadian register and the 757 that departed while I was there was one of them. My first commercial flight was on a 757 with British Airways and many of those jets ended up with FedEx. I don’t know the origin of this example but it was good to see it still providing good service.
Portland International is home to a paint facility owned by Boeing and operated under contract to them. It provides additional paint capacity for their jets assembled up in the Seattle area. One of the jets landed at Portland while I was there for the ANG open house. It was a 777 freighter. It landed on the runway closest to us and turned on to the taxiway just in front of where we were standing. It then taxied back to the opposite end of the field where the paint facility is located. The only clue as to what airline it was destined for was the rudder which had a small element of the future colors. My guess is Qatar but I’m sure someone can put me straight if that is wrong.
Nancy and I decided to have a day trip to Whidbey Island to do some exploring. We focused our trip on the small town of Langley. Located on the southeast side of the island and not far from the ferry terminal at Clinton, it is an easy place to get to. The town has a very relaxed feel to it. We were there outside peak season which, no doubt, helped but there were still plenty of visitors. Even so, the town had a laid-back feel and did not seem too busy.
We wandered around the shops, had a spot of lunch overlooking the water and checked out some of the older buildings and their history. We also saw some local entertainment but I shall save details of that for another time. On a sunny fall day, you couldn’t have asked for a nicer place to hang out and watch the world go by. When we had looked around the streets, there was still the shore to explore so a little stroll along the water’s edge wrapped up a great little visit.
One evening after work I headed down to Kenmore. It is a short distance from my office and, sitting at the top of Lake Washington, it has a nice waterfront park including a pier. I walked out on the pier to see the arrivals of the Kenmore floatplanes at the end of their workday. They are not the only arrivals, though. Various boats were out on the lake including some rowing crews carrying out their training. One of the crews was heading in when a floatplane came in to land. I suspect they had plenty of space but the plane did seem to adjust its course a bit to avoid them. Taxiing in after touchdown (landing seems to be the wrong word) they did seem to be chasing the crew down a bit!
Taking any of the Washington State ferries provides with some interesting scenery. Puget Sound is surrounded by large mountains so you can see something in most directions. The other ferry plying our route passed us mid-way across the journey and catching it with a mountain in the background was not tricky. The ferries seem large when you are close to them but they are quickly put in context with a volcano in the background!
We relocated to the other end of Boeing Field for the return of the Blue Angels. They ran in across the field trailing white smoke. Unfortunately, with little wind, this meant a pall of smoke was now hanging over the airport. As they broke into the downwind and then turned onto final, it was sometimes hard to see them at all. A healthy boosting of the contrast makes some of the shots a bit more visible but, in truth, the viz was really awful. I only hope they had a slightly better view of the ground than we had of them since their being able to see was slightly more important.
The houseboats aren’t the only thing along the shore of Lake Union. It is still definitely a working waterway and this is reflected by the yards along the edge of the lake servicing the boats. Floating dry docks and regular moorings are filled with boats of all sorts. Some look like they are retired from their original role while others seem to be in for maintenance before heading back into use. I’m not sure how busy the yards are compared to their peak and whether the neighbors are trying to ease them out but they do seem to be needed based on the number of them and the number of boats!
I last saw a Mosquito in flight in the early 1990s when the BAe operated example was on the air show circuit prior to its loss at Barton. I had assumed at that time that I was unlikely to see another one fly. I never saw Kermit Weeks’ example fly and it has been on the ground for a long time. I hadn’t counted on the recent interest from collectors in getting rare aircraft rebuilt. The Mosquito has been a popular project and there are a couple now flying in the US and, I think, another one in Canada. It is great to see people with the available funds getting these aircraft back in the skies (even if these are pretty close to totally new builds).
One of the Mossies is part of Paul Allen’s collection and the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM). It had flown a few times since we moved to the area but I had not seen it fly until they held their European Theater Day. I was determined to see it this time. I had forgotten just how large an aircraft the Mossie is. It flew with a bunch of other fighters and included a number of passes with a 109. The Mossie is huge when next to the 109 and it really has presence. It is a bit of a pain to photograph because the color scheme has camouflage upper surfaces and black undersides. With the sun high in the sky, this makes for a very contrasty subject.
I probably got a little overenthusiastic photographing the plane. It was parked on the ramp before and after the flypasts although not well positioned for the light in either case. That didn’t stop me though. When it was flying it got my maximum attention – a little bit of a compromise since the 109 it was partnered with was also something worthy of some shots. I did get a few of them and they will be in an upcoming post. It is nice to have finally shot a Mossie though after all of this time. I look forward to seeing it again, particularly on its own and in more of a display format.
