Category Archives: Travel

End of the Line for these Dash 7s?

I have been on a bit of a streak on Dash 7 posts recently. A couple of years ago, I was visiting the Pima museum in Arizona with some friends. The museum is very interesting but there are often some airframes just across the fence that are even more interesting. There were a bunch of Dash 7s there. I think they had been used by the US military for assorted purposes and there were signs of fairings added that hinted at modification made.

Civil registrations had been applied to the planes, but they didn’t seem to look like they had an immediate future. The Dash 7 isn’t something in high demand so, while someone might have a specialised need for them, I do wonder whether this will be where they end their days.

My First Experience of the Pods

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I had a flight to take from Heathrow that had an early start. It wasn’t practical for me to use my normal route to the airport and get there in time, so I was going to have to drive. I decided to have my first go with the Pod Parking connected to Terminal 5. I had seen plenty about this over the years and had watched the pods on their tracks while driving around the perimeter road towards the rental car lot when collecting or returning vehicles.

The whole thing was booked in advance, so the number plate recognition system identified me when I got there and let me in. The car park was pretty full, but I got a spot not far from the station B. A short stroll and I was at the station. There were two pods in the station, but both were charging so I had to wait for a minute or so. Amusingly, the screens told me that demand was high and that there might need to be a requirement to share a pod. Since I couldn’t see anyone anywhere near me, I am not sure what congestion that they were thinking of. After a short wait, both pods showed ready and I pressed the screen to get going.

The doors of the station and the pod opened and I climbed in. I had to press one button to close the doors and a second to start on my way. Given I only had one destination to go too, the chances I was in the wrong pod were limited but, once I knew what was needed, we were ready to go. The pod reversed slightly out of the bay and then we were off. There are two stations in the car park, A and B, and they merge in an elevated section of track which then crosses the road and runs inside the airport fencing.

The route brings you around the end of the northerly runway at Heathrow and I had a flight come in over my head as we transited across. The ride was fine if a touch bumpy. It really was a quick run to be approaching the terminal and then we were inside. We loop around the station before approaching the bays where the doors open and I was done. A quick trip up in the lift and I was at the departure level of Terminal 5.

It really was a very simple process and felt like it was a very efficient way of dealing with parking offsite. The same can be said for my return. I collected my bag from the reclaim and headed back to Level 2 of the parking structure. There were two pods waiting and, this time, there was no delay while they charged.

I did have to select which station I wanted in advance. Then, I got in, closed the doors and pressed start – I have learned quickly. Then a quick run back the way I had come before. I was back at the car park in no time and in my car. Since everything was pre-paid, I drove to the gate, and it opened as I approached and I was on my way. If the timing requires it, I will be happy to use the service again.

Aussie Herc in Great Light

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The last returns at the end of the Red Flag evolutions are usually the larger aircraft. The tankers and the AWACS will be near the end as might be the larger bombers if they are involved. You do also get some transport activity on the missions, and the Royal Australian Air Force had one of their Hercs included during one of my visits. I was off base for this return, and the light was beginning to get low which made for far better conditions than the high sun in the middle of the day. The Herc picked up the late light really nicely.

Everything About Eagles That I Love

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As a kid, I was a big fan of the F-15 Eagle. It was the fighter of the 70s and 80s and its size and power were so impressive to me as a kid. It could also go faster than almost anything else (although it wouldn’t in real life). The big wing (causing the nickname flying tennis court) and the nodding inlets looked excellent. Aerobraking and the speedbrake are just a bonus. Being able to see them so close up when at Red Flag was a big treat for me. I am so glad that the EX model means that they will be around for a while yet. Here are some shots of the jets that, I assure you, resulted in a big grin on my face at the time.

This is an Old Hornet!

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This US Navy Hornet was rolling out at Nellis AFB during a Red Flag exercise. Looking at it now, it doesn’t have the antenna locations that the C model had so this must be an old A model. The US Navy has now retired all of its original Hornets (although the Marines haven’t relinquished all of theirs yet). However, when it took this, I think that the Navy was mainly using C models so this must have been on its last legs. I do love the look with the speedbrake deployed. There was a Charlie as well so I shall include that for fun.

Look at the Tailplane on the Bone

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I have been looking back through a variety of shots from old visits to Red Flag exercises. Therefore, there is going to be a steady steam of Red Flag photos in the near future. Sorry if that gets a bit repetitive but I assure you that they will be different types on the whole. I start with the B-1B Lancer. This example was taxiing along the runway as it backtracked for departure. The pre-take off routine includes exercising the full range of travel for the tailplane and it really can move a long way. This shot showed it in the full nose up position.

Reprocessing Some Backlit Shots from LAX

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Every once in a while, I put together two things that I hadn’t previously connected. I have been playing around with the masking tools in Lightroom for ages to put different processing on aircraft versus the sky in the background. When I had done some photography from helicopters over LAX, the lighting had been good on the northern complex but the planes arriving and departing the south complex had been quite harshly backlit.

The processing approach I was using at that time did not make for very good results and so I had tended to ignore the shots I had taken on that side and focus on the north complex instead. Then, while looking at something from another photographer, it got me thinking that the masking tools would be a good option to revisit these backlit shots and try and get a more balanced looking image.

You can’t escape the fact that, if the original shot is not great, you aren’t ever going to turn it into something marvellous. However, there is the potential to come up with something significantly better than I had previously managed.

Selecting the airframe with a more cluttered background is a bit tougher for the automated tools so a fair bit of manual addition and subtraction was needed. However, because you are against a ground background rather than a sky, there is a certain amount of tolerance that you have for not getting the selection absolutely perfect. You don’t want glaring issues, but it won’t be as conspicuous as it is with a sky behind.

With the masking applied, it is a lot easier to come up with an exposure for the planes that looks a lot more like the eye would have perceived whilst still having a background that is okay. I can actually darken it a bit more in order to make the plane pop. On one of the shots, there was a second plane on the taxiway in the shot, so I selected it separately to give it a reasonable look without it taking over the image as a whole. This was a very satisfying process with some images I had previously left alone.

Visualise That Trailing Vortex

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I was working through some images that I had taken on my one and only visit to Rainbow Canyon when the military was still flying through that part of region. One of the shots that caught my eye was this one of a Super Hornet. It had passed me and was heading down towards the valley. This involved a few tight pulls around the curves in the canyon. A strong trailing vortex changes the density of the air which affects the refractive index. This distortion of the light makes the vortex visible if only by impacting the view of whatever is behind it. A good view of that effect can be seen in this shot.

The Ramp Action at Barcelona

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When I made a trip to Spain for work, my route took me through Barcelona. Not a city I have visited before, but I do plan to return. I hadn’t brought a main camera with me since it was a brief work trip, and I was travelling light but I did take my old M6 along with me. Going to a new location can mean some different airlines. However, these days the airlines across Europe are usually the same ones. Ryanair is everywhere of course. There were some converted freighters sitting on the opposite side of the airfield from my terminal. I grabbed a few shots in the brief time I had which wasn’t long given that the schedule was pretty tight.

The Canal Cutting in the Dark

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If you saw the previous post about the locks on the canal in Chester, you will know I was in the dark along the water. While it was very dark down there, this was a pretty busy place with people out walking their dogs or pushing their pushchairs and purchases along after some shopping in the city. I decided to walk along the canal back in the direction of the centre of town. For quite a stretch of this part of the canal, there was no lighting. A sign warned about this as you entered the darkest spot.

There was some ambient light coming down from the streets above. However, the canal course was cut into the rock so the light from above was quite a way off and things were really dark down along the path. What was slightly more concerning was that the water level was almost the same as the bank and, in the low light, it was hard to see where one ended and the other started. I was pretty cautious as I walked along.

As before at the locks, the camera was able to pick up way more detail than my eyes were seeing. There was an old bridge across the canal. According to a sign I saw further up the path, this was to connect the old prison with the chapel on the opposite side. It has since been joined by a larger bridge that carries traffic and this bridge now seems to be out of use. I was soon back out into the (relatively) lighter area and back towards the middle of Chester. As with the locks, this is somewhere I wouldn’t mind exploring in the day so I can see what it actually looks like!