Southwest Max 7s Awaiting Release

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The 737 Max 8 has been the best seller of the Max product line.  The Max 7 has barely sold at all and Boeing even had to redesign it to be a shrink of the Max 8 rather than the rework of the -700 that it was originally intended to be.  Southwest and WestJet have bought them but they are about the only ones.  I guess production examples have started to come off the line during the grounding.  When you go around the back of Renton, amongst the stored Southwest jets are a bunch of the Max 7s.  I guess certification and delivery of these will be something intended to follow on closely from the return to service of the Max 8 and Max 9 jets.

Sun on The Snowy Mountains

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The ferry ride from Swartz Bay back to Tsawwassen was on a day that wasn’t particularly nice weather wise.  And we emerged in to the open water from the islands, I was wandering about with the camera.  The view to the mountains north of Vancouver opened up and they were in clear sunlight with the snow reflecting the warm winter light beautifully.  It was a distant shot but a panorama seemed to be a good idea.  Everyone on the boat seemed to be taking notice and plenty of people came out on deck to take their photos.

Cranfield Jetstreams

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I read that Cranfield is getting a new SAAB 340 to be used as a flying testbed.  It is replacing the current Jetstream 31.  The plane is used for test work but it is also used as a flying classroom for aeronautical engineering students.  The Jetstream 31 was an old BAE Systems airframe (one I was involved with in my days at Warton) and it replaced a Jetstream 200.  That old Astazou powered airframe was in use in the late 80s when I went through the course.  Here are shots of that old plane when we were using it as well as the current one when it showed up at RIAT.

That’s a Big Log!

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Seeing logs on the shore is not unusual.  Plenty of logs get washed ashore.  However, when taking a walk along the beach at Shoreline over the holidays, there was a tree trunk that had become lodged on the water’s edge.  It had become wedged in amongst some piles in the water with the roots of the log still out in the water.  Usually the logs appear to have been cut but this was a tree that had got washed out into the sound.  Everyone was taking a look at it or climbing out on to it.  It was pretty big and finding a way to convey the size was something I pondered at length.

Lining up to Depart SeaTac

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No lengthy story for this.  I was waiting at SeaTac for an arrival and got distracted by the jets lining up for departure.  It got quite busy at one point with a bunch of jets awaiting their slot.  Occasionally the departing jets appeared nicely in the background.  Unfortunately, there are some lot poles in the area which are rather distracting.

Dallas Sunrise

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A work visit to Dallas and I was meeting some colleagues for breakfast early one morning.  Looking out of the window at the hotel and the view looked pretty dramatic.  Everyone was heading to the window to get a picture.  Making the best of avoiding a reflection from the window was pretty tricky but I managed to sneak a couple that minimized a view of the inside of the room.  It only lasted a few minutes so the timing of getting there was lucky.  A minute or two either way and I’d have been sitting at the table eating breakfast.

Martin Mars Storage

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The days of the Martin Mars flying boats are probably done.  Coulson had been flying them on firefighting duties but they have been superseded by more modern and cost efficient types.  One of the airframes had been painted up in US Navy colors as what was supposed to be a move to a museum but that plan fell through.  The two airframes are now sitting on the ramp at Sproat Lake and are showing no sign of moving.

The drive to Tofino takes you right past the Coulson facility so I stopped off on the way over.  They don’t take visitors anymore so I just took a look through the fence.  On the way over, I was really looking in to the sun so getting a shot was tricky.  On our way back a few days later, we had made progress compared to schedule and the light was on the better side so I stopped off briefly to get a couple of more shots.  I wonder what the future holds for these planes?

Butchart Cove

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Just before Christmas we made a trip to Vancouver Island to see Butchart Gardens at night with their illuminations.  We got there before the sun went down and took a stroll through the Japanese Garden, a section that is closed for the night event.  At the bottom of the garden, you come to Butchart Cove.  There was a hole in the trees that provided a very predictable but worthwhile frame for the view into the cove.  I decided to go for HDR for the shot given the extreme range of light between the shady trees and the exposed cove.

Condor New (ish) Fin Markings

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The collapse of Thomas Cook meant that the German subsidiary, Condor, has gone it alone.  The fleet had a tail marking that reflected the parent company but, with their demise, they are now adopting a tail design that is back to their own branding.  I saw one of the new tails on this 767 arriving at SeaTac shortly before a BA 777 that I was waiting for because I was picking up the skipper.  Below is what it used to look like (albeit in nicer light).

Otters in the Sammamish

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With mum visiting from the UK, we took a walk along the Sammamish River Trail.  The river was very high as a result of the heavy rains we had experienced in the preceding days.  The river has otters living in it and I was hoping we might see one.  As it turned out, we saw four.  A group of four otters was moving up river diving for food as they went.  I wished I had brought a longer lens with me but you go with what you have.  Of course, they chose to stay on the other side of the river for much of the time but it was fun to watch them anyway.  They got a lot of attention from the other people on the trail too.