Category Archives: Travel

Building a Big Box

I have stayed in the same hotel in Addison TX a couple of times recently for work trips. The view from my window has been of a building site that has been progressively developing on each visit. On one morning, I was just getting ready to check out when I could see the crew getting ready to lift a concrete panel into place. The crane they were using was a substantial beast. The crew were scattering to different locations to carry out their roles and then they started lifting the panel. They had several lift lines which could be controlled individually to allow the, to rotate the panel as required. Sadly I had to go before they finished. I should be back before too long, though, so I shall see how progress is going.

Stadium Construction Update

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A previous post showed the start of construction of the new stadium in LA. When I was on that trip, my arriving flight had passed right by the construction site but I didn’t have a camera to hand at the time. I made another LA trip more recently and, this time, I had a camera at hand as we made our final approach. Obviously the construction process has moved on a bit but there is still plenty to be done. Maybe I will make some more trips and get further updates in the future.

One of the Early F-16s

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The early versions of jets are often repurposed throughout their life. They serve a role for testing but they are not configured like production jets and to make them so is too expensive to be worthwhile. Besides, they are instrumented to some extent so they can be useful for carrying out alternate tests. As a result, they often get used for trials, research tasks or development of alternate concepts. The early F-16s did a lot of this sort of work and ended up in some odd programs like the AFTI effort. Sitting outside at the Frontiers of Flight museum is one of these test aircraft. It spent its life with General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) at Fort Worth and, once it was done with, it found a new home at the museum. Compared to the average F-16, this jet will have had a lot of interesting experiences!

Freeway Interchange

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Dallas is a place that has a lot of highways. Big highways and smaller ones but lots of them. The interchanges take up a lot of space but I guess in Texas you have a lot of space. The patterns of an interchange are best appreciated from the air. In this case it was the window of an Alaska jet heading in to Love Field so not the ideal platform but it did quite a good job all the same.

Flying Pancake

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A long time ago, I was part of an ISAP symposium held in Dallas. During the field trip day, we went to a number of locations, all of which were very interesting. One of them was the restoration facility at what was then the Vought factory, now Triumph I think. This was run by volunteers that had retired from the plant and was working on a number of projects including painting an F4U while we were there. Another project that was a work in progress was the Flying Pancake. At the time is was skinless and in a rotating frame to allow everyone to work on it more conveniently.

Roll forward to now and I was at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field. The museum is the home of the finished restoration. The aircraft looks fantastic. The restoration team did a great job. To see it completed including the huge propellers is something special. Fortunately, there is a mezzanine level above the plane so it is possible to see it from a number of angles. Great job everyone involved.

Rusty Discoloration

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The Riverwalk along the Chicago River takes you under the bridges. Each bridge is on a cycle for refurbishment so, while they are repainted regularly, they do progressively show signs of weathering. Some of them are rather old structures with the iron and riveting being something of a period long gone. I stopped for a while to look at the different colors that the gentle corrosion created. Nothing too drastic but an interesting contrast with the original paint color.

Bridge Perspectives

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Walking under the bridges along the Riverwalk in Chicago provides a very different perspective that that which you get from above. Some of the bridges have solid deck and others have gridded metal decks which allow light through (and anything else someone might drop). The lattice structures under the deck are ornate yet grubby. They are obscured from most views and get covered in the grime that washes down from above. I am not making this sound very appealing but I find them very cool to look at. The noise of the traffic above is there but slightly isolated which adds to the atmosphere for me. They do put a curved stainless-steel cover over the walkway itself so you are not vulnerable to anything from above ending up on your head which is something I am grateful for.

Storms Over LAX

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When you first think of Los Angeles, you think of sun and warm weather. It is true that a lot of the time, this will be what you get in Southern California, but it is not always the case. On the first day of my trip down to LA, I had intended to get some flying in. The weather had other ideas. The cloud base was low and waves of rain were coming through the area. Just when the sun came out and you thought it was okay, another bunch of clouds would roll in and, if you didn’t get under cover quickly, you would get drenched by some torrential rain. This does, of course, provide for a shot of LAX that you don’t normally get!

Lyon Air Museum

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A weekend in Southern California for work was not my idea of fun but I did have a few hours free on the Sunday morning so I headed down to Santa Anna to the Lyon Air Museum. It is located on the opposite side of John Wayne Airport from the main terminal building and is not terribly obvious unless you look hard. Even the entrance road is a bit obscure and could be easily missed. However, once there, it was definitely worth the time.

The museum is in a modern structure and has an impressive collection. Supposedly the planes are all airworthy and they have some interesting ones there. Some of the collection will get their own posts. For now, here is an overlook of the museum and a few of the side exhibits that don’t get their own story.

Frontiers of Flight Museum

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A work trip to Dallas wrapped up a few hours prior to my flight home. I was flying out of Love Field so figured a quick detour to the Frontiers of Flight Museum just across the field from the terminal was in order. What I hadn’t appreciated was that tons of school parties had the same idea. The place was heaving with kids and being kids, they were doing everything at high speed and high volume. The inside of the 737 exhibit was not a great place to be!

Southwest has a big influence on the museum including a whole 737 and the front fuselage from another. They don’t dominate things though and there are plenty of other airframes both inside and out. I shall pick on a few favorites in due course but here is a sample of what was there. It was a brief visit but a fun one.