Burning Off Neighborhood Gas

Working from home introduces you to sounds from the street that you never normally hear when you are there outside working hours.  Nancy knows all of these things since she hears them all the time but they are new to me.  However, we were both taken aback by something that sounded like a roaring noise.  I had to investigate.  It appears that the power company was doing some work digging up the road outside our street.  I guess they had to cut in to a gas line and they had set up some device, presumably to burn off excess gas before continuing their work.  It was only a brief event but a noisy one!

JetSuite X

I have been noticeably unsuccessful when shooting JetSuite X aircraft.  When we lived in the Bay Area, they were running flights out of Concord.  I did see some aircraft on the ramp but they were not convenient to shoot and I never saw them move.  I have seen them a few times at Boeing Field but the conditions have always been less them impressive.  Finally, I got to see one landing on a nice day!

Their schedules are easy to track so I knew it was going to be coming in.  It wasn’t why I was there but you will take any opportunity!  The white with red stripe livery is a slightly odd one but, on a sunny day, it looks pretty nice.  I have often pondered what they are re like to use but have not found out to date.  I don’t know whether they will survive the current crisis so maybe the opportunity is gone?

Backyard Rabbits Are My Current Wildlife Photography Subject

When looking for wildlife photography opportunities, the one thing I have close to home at the moment is the local rabbit population.  We get a steady stream of these guys coming through the back yard and eating what could loosely pass for grass in my yard.  We get some bigger buns and there are some tiny looking ones that I assume are young rather than a different breed.  They are usually pretty jumpy so getting shots is not always easy but a couple of them seem pretty relaxed with me showing up.

B-2 At Fairford

I was thinking back to previous RIAT shows when I was putting together the 2006 post here.  RIAT was my first encounter with the B-2.  I recall it showing up to a show one year for a flyby without landing.  It flew through accompanied by a pair of F-15Cs, one on each wing.  Then, another year – maybe the next but I don’t recall for sure – one was actually deployed to the show.  It was parked up so close to everyone on the flight line.  I took quite a few pictures of it because it was so new and interesting.  (A few pictures in the film days was a let less than it became in the digital days!)  Even now, I think a show would consider it quite a coup to have a B-2 on the ground.

Photographing the Moon

I was skimming through some photos and saw one of the moon I liked.  It made me see what others I had shot over the years.  I used to shoot the moon a lot when we lived in Chicago but haven’t done so much since.  One shot is from California as the moon was setting over the hills while the sun was coming up.  Others have involved cloudy nights that make for unusual shadows.  I also decided to make a bit of an edit to one of the shots based on a picture I saw on someone’s shelf on a video I was watching.  One for the Star Wars fans out there.

Dreamlifter Reflections

The idea for this was spotted by my friend, Paul, during a visit of his but we missed it at the time.  It was early in the morning and the water was calm as a millpond.  However, the jet was beyond the water before he spotted it.  I have missed the chance since or there was not water.  However, while the conditions weren’t ideal, when I saw the Dreamlifter taxiing back to the ramp, I realized the opportunity was going to be there this time.

The water wasn’t quite still and I had the long lens on the camera but a phone is a good second best these days.  The jet taxied in with Mt Rainier in the background before reaching the north end of the field and crossing over.  Then it was time to be ready.  The phone has the added advantage of being able to shoot through the fence with no interference.

Stranger to Our Backyard

We have plenty of wildlife in our backyard.  We get a variety of birds visiting.  Recently, while sitting out on the deck, we had a new visitor.  I am not an expert on birds but I do have a very big book with lots of pictures of them.  There are so many that it is easy to pick the wrong one but I think this one was a Steller’s Jay.  It stayed around for a couple of minutes before flying off.  If you are knowledgeable about birds and I am wrong, please feel free to let me know what it actually is.

What Aviation Can I Shoot From Home?

The answer to that question is clearly “not much” but it isn’t zero.  We do get things flying overhead here on a regular basis.  We are on the approach to SeaTac for some arrivals and we do sometimes get Boeing Field traffic too.  It’s a rarity when there is something interesting and I am ready, though, so that doesn’t provide a lot.  However, I did recently have a T-38 from Boeing’s chase fleet come over the house.  It was a bit high but it was enough to get me out in the driveway!

We have also had helicopters fly over on occasion.  An Army Chinook came past one time while and Navy Seahawk was another transient.  In each case, I only heard them shortly before they arrived so grabbed the camera while at my desk and shot through the window.  That is not a good plan but it was all I had available at the time.  These can count as my lockdown at home aviation projects!

Evening on Embarcadero

Lockdown continues to be an opportunity to go back to previous photos and these come from our trip to San Francisco in January.  What a long time ago that now seems and how strange it is to think of a time when we freely traveled across the country.  On our first evening, we met up with friends for a drink and some food.  We met them down around Embarcadero.  At the end of the evening, before heading back to our hotel, I took some photos of the area.  The Ferry Building was nicely light as was the Bay Bridge.  It was a lovely evening to be out which I guess is indicative of the benefits of Northern California in the winter!

Lockheed Martin Test Assets

An early ISAP symposium included a visit to Lockheed Martin’s facility at Fort Worth.  We were there to see the first F-35 test aircraft, AA-1.  In addition, they had arranged to bring Glacier Girl, a P-38 Lightning, to be there too to provide two Lockheed Lightnings.  However, while I was up the scissor lift that was provided for us to get an elevated view, I looked the opposite direction.  There were two interesting looking airframes parked up.  One was an old F-16 that had probably been used for test duties.  The other was not a flyable plane but it was some sort of test rig for the STOVL configuration of the F-35 – what would become the F-35B.  A couple of cool looking items that you wouldn’t normally get to see.