Roche Harbor on San Juan Island is now a resort town with a marina, hotel, restaurants and accommodation. However, it started out as a production facility for lime. Some of the original elements of the town have been preserved and one part is the old power production site. The original generator set was supplemented by a second as demands increased for power. The images of them belching smoke as they worked didn’t make it look like a fun place to be back in those days. Now, they are inactive and cleaned and painted but they are a reminder of how things used to be done.
I do like shooting bizjets and they can provide a bit of variety amongst the regularity of the other aircraft around. However, there is one thing that can disappoint and that is the unimaginative way in which they are usually painted. Airlines have adopted the variations on white but the bizjets have been doing this for ages. Consequently, when one shows up that is not basically white, I am really pleased.
Black painted bizjets look so much more interesting. The engineer in my finds myself wondering how well they keep cool out in the sun on the ramp but, since I am not the customer, not a problem I need to worry about too much. Instead, I can just be pleased to shoot a jet that looks a little out of the ordinary.
Nothing special behind today’s post. It is just that I have a bunch of photos of wood ducks that I have taken over recent months and I figured they warranted their own post. No story about how it was taken or that they were doing something unusual. Just a bunch of duck photos.
I had read quite a few articles about the Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter but I had not ever got close to one. Then, when we were at Klamath Falls, I regularly saw two of them showing up on FlightRadar24. Since they were not a focus for the visit, I didn’t think much of it. However, at the end of one day, we were positioning for the return of a Huey that we knew was out on a flight. While we were waiting, the two Cabris flew overhead. One continued on southwards but the other turned to make an approach. Their base was apparently close to where we were waiting and they taxied right by. The person in the left seat was clearly feeling the heat as they had opened the door and were dangling their hand out of the gap while the right seater taxied them back to the ramp.
The Pacific Northwest provides a lot of dark and damp environments within which things can grow. The shady environment is not just good for them but it also provides a spooky setting for visiting humans. As we walked down through the trees to get to Short Sand Beach in Oswald West State park, we passed a tree along the trail that looked like exactly the sort of thing a set designer would come up with for some supernatural movie. It looked like it was designed to capture the unwary. On a sunny day, it was interesting. On a dark and cold evening, it might be a little less appealing.
One of the last legs of the trip Mark and I took was to Medford for an overnight before heading home. Medford is also home to Erickson Aircrane’s operations and I had intended to swing by to see if there was anything to see there. As we drove towards the airport, an S-64 was flying downwind. It wasn’t apparent whether it was heading away or arriving. However, I knew the route to their parking lot so we made a rapid move there just as the helo turned on to approach.
It made a stately descent and then taxied in. We were able to shoot through the fence as it did so without any problem – if you ignore the fact that the temperature was 103F and getting out of an air conditioned car was quite a shock. They taxied in and shut down and we rapidly retreated to the cool of the car. We really couldn’t have timed the arrival any better!
There is a log in the water in Juanita Bay that is just above the surface. It provides a good spot for the eagles to land when they want a drink and need to clean themselves. It is a bit far from the viewing platforms but you still get a good look at them as they rest and sort themselves out. Watching wildlife do things like this seems perfectly normal but, I think law enforcement might be involved if it were humans!
I was up at Paine Field after work one day for the arrival of a DHL/Singapore Airlines 777F. Before it was due in, an Alaska Airlines 737 was due in on one of the scheduled flights. Alaska operations at Paine Field originally were just using the Embraers but, with the success of some of the routes, they have upgraded a number of the services to the 737. I thought this would be a good opportunity to see whether the low shutter speed settings I was planning for the 777F would be okay.
I wasn’t going down to some crazy low shutter speed. I wanted to make sure I got a good shot. However, when you are close to the runway, as is the case at the windsock, you don’t need to be too low to get some blur. I was only using the 24-105 at that range as things are very close. The level of background blur I got was okay. It would be good to get more but it was going to be fine for the 777F. When playing with this approach, you know that a bunch of the shots will not be sharp enough. Unfortunately, you never know whether the key moments will be the sharp ones. Fortunately, one of the better shots was with a healthy dose of tire smoke as they touched down. I was happy with the result.
A recent post showed some of the closest shots I have yet got of cormorants. What I didn’t originally realize when I was shooting them but which soon became apparent was that the structure was not just a place to hang out for them. A pair of birds had built a nest within the metalwork. At first, this was a little obscured from where I was and hard to see. As the ferry moved out, though, I was able to get a good view of the nest. The main area was shaded from the sun, understandably, but it was still possible to get some shots.
One weekend I was casually looking at FlightRadar24 and saw a French registered aircraft on the ramp at Boeing Field. It didn’t show what it was but a quick search showed it was a Falcon 6X. This got me rather excited. Dassault had developed a large cabin twin jet called the Falcon 5X which used an engine called the Silvercrest from Safran. This engine had a lot of development issues and delayed the Falcon 5X a few times. Eventually, Dassault’s patience ran out and they cancelled the jet. They then commenced a new design based on the 5X with a new engine and the associated changes this required. This became the Falcon 6X.
The jet is in test at the moment. I am not sure how long it is before they expect it to be certificated but it shouldn’t be too long. My online search showed that they were running a world tour with the jet at a time which appeared to conclude around the time of the Farnborough show so it would, no doubt, provide some good publicity. The jet had come to Seattle from Van Nuys and it was to there where it was headed next.
I had no idea how long they were hanging around for but figured it was definitely worth a shot. I drove over to the field and, sure enough, there was the jet on the ramp at Signature near the main terminal. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before they headed off so, after getting some shots, I headed to the other side of the field assuming a departure would come. Sure enough, they taxied out. Unfortunately, they didn’t use the full length and went for an intersection take off. I decided that, since it was hot and the haze was not great, I would go with video instead. The result is below. They spooled up the engines for quite a while before releasing the brakes. I guess that is what you do when you have a development jet.
Roche Harbor on San Juan Island is now a resort town with a marina, hotel, restaurants and accommodation. However, it started out as a production facility for lime. Some of the original elements of the town have been preserved and one part is the old power production site. The original generator set was supplemented by a second as demands increased for power. The images of them belching smoke as they worked didn’t make it look like a fun place to be back in those days. Now, they are inactive and cleaned and painted but they are a reminder of how things used to be done.
