Earlier this year I went out to get the Cathay Pacific A350 arrival later in the evening when the light was still good due to the longer days in summer. Of course, Cathay wasn’t the only airline coming in at that time. Some of the regular visitors also were arriving and even using the inner runway that is often only used by the heavier jets. Here are a few shots from the other arrivals in the nice light you can get late on a summer evening.
Walking back through Kamakura, we ducked down a back street to see what was on the parallel roads. We came to a street that had a really attractive tree lined boulevard feel to it. At the end of the boulevard, there appeared to be a big arch so we headed up to take a look. It turned out to be the entrance to a quite large temple. This wasn’t something we had planned on so we weren’t going to spend a lot of time there but it would have been churlish to ignore it!
There were lots of visitors to the temple so it seemed a bit odd to have just stumbled across the place. There were ponds to one side with large numbers of lily pads, the leaves of which people seemed to have taken to throwing coins on to. The main temple was up a large flight of stairs. We had other things to do so skipped the trip up there and in no way was this as a result of the excessive heat of the day and the way it looked like it would make us even hotter!
I have written on the blog about the family connection to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. Bembridge Airport was, for many years, the center of operations for Britten Norman – manufacturers of the Islander aircraft. The Islander has been a very successful twin engine piston that can get into all sorts of strips around the world. It remains in production in small numbers and can be found at remote strips all over the world.
It has a less well known sibling though. When you want to increase the capacity, you need more power. You could go for more powerful engines – or you could add a third. Where to put it though? How about at the top of the fin? That is what led to the Trislander. I used to see them a lot as a kid but now they are less common. Aurigny operated them from the UK mainland to the Channel Islands until relatively recently but they have now been retired. Duxford has received one of their planes so I was really happy to see it there. I guess this is a plane that only a mother can love but there is something about it. Apparently one used to be in the Pacific Northwest but hasn’t been seen for a few years. I would love to see one fly again.
Removing the viaduct takes some specialized machinery. This one piece that was working near Pike Place Market had a couple of different attachments for the task. The process of switching heads was interesting in itself. A drilling head was used to punch holes through the deck of the viaduct and to remove the material from between the beams. There was also a head that was a cutting jaw. This would grab the side barriers and rip them from the structure. It would crunch through sections and break them in to manageable sizes. The effortless with which this seemingly solid structure was crunch into small pieces was intimidating!
Non-Western jets are always a strong attraction at a Western air show and the appearance of the Ukrainian Sukhois at RIAT was no exception. The SU-27 is a beast of a jet and quite an impressive performer at a show. The arrival was cool and the practice display was welcome. I was a bit annoyed as I didn’t have the camera to hand when the jet thundered off the runway and turned towards us and blasted over our heads at the Western Park and View.
The light wasn’t great for any of the times I saw the jet fly but the sky blue camo scheme it wore seemed to do a good job of picking up the light as it maneuvered around the display. Plenty of blasts of power for the engines combined with a damp atmosphere allowing a bit of vapor to be pulled from the air was pretty cool. The front fuselage shape is a little odd and this shows more so when on the ground where it droops down. Once airborne, things are different.
Something photos don’t show is the way in which the auxiliary inlet doors on the underside of the intakes flap around in certain flight regimes. Looking through the viewfinder, you could see them oscillating a lot but only video would show that off. It was a long time since I had last seen the Ukrainian jets at Fairford and this was my first time to shoot them digitally. They were accompanied by an IL-76 and I suspect that will get a post one day!
I don’t want to look like I spend a lot of time visiting the graves of the famous but Seattle has a few on offer. Jimi was covered in this previous post and today’s is about a couple of other famous Seattle performers. Bruce Lee is buried in Lakeview Cemetery which is up on the hill between Lake Washington and Lake Union. Alongside him is buried his son Brandon. Brandon died during the filming of The Crow.
Their grave site brings a regular stream of visitors on a sunny day such as the one that took us there. The location is very pleasant with rolling hills and views to the water in both directions. We took a walk around a bit more of the cemetery and the following shots are of other locations we saw during our brief visit. It seems like somewhere that it will be worth spending longer to look around at a later date.
A lunchtime jaunt up to Everett was the result of ATS carrying out a test flight of a Janet 737. I got to the field with a little time in hand and was looking on FlightRadar24 for the position of the inbound jet when I saw something orbiting north of me up near Concrete. It turned out to be one of the Mitsubishi MRJ90 test aircraft. It was flying a series of patterns up there. Since they carry out the test flying from Moses Lake, I wasn’t so surprised. More importantly, I figured that they would head back to base when they were done.
Imagine my surprise when the radio burst to life with their callsign setting up on the approach. A Janet was worth the trip but the MRJ was truly a bonus. I have only seen one before and that was a delivery flight from Japan to Moses Lake that staged through San Jose and was in the blog here. I hoped it was a different jet, but wasn’t going to gripe if it wasn’t (and I was pretty sure it wasn’t based on recollection of the registration).
The jet hummed its way down the approach and landed in front of me (and a few others that either knew or had got similarly lucky). It them taxied back and held in front of FHCAM. There was a departing Embraer in front of it so I figured it was waiting for them. However, they departed and it didn’t move for a while. I needed to head back so was desperately hoping it would go soon. Just as I was about to give up, they released the brakes and taxied to the hold. The departure was pretty quiet with the Pratt GTFs not making much noise at all.
The original colors of the jet appear to have been overtaken by test markings. There were some details around the engine inlets and the upper rear fuselage had been painted black. I suspected this might be for testing of water ingestion to help visualize the water flow but if anyone knows better what the purpose is, please do let me know.
When the old lifeboat station was in use, it was a lot more constrained. It was not designed to accommodate many visitors and it certainly wasn’t intended for them to be there during a launch. The new station at Bembridge has plenty of space for visitors (as long as there aren’t too many of them) and you can stay in place during the launch. In fact, they want people to witness the launch since fund raising for the RNLI is vital to sustaining the service.
I got there ahead of the crowds and asked the crew where a good spot was to watch the launch from. The pointed out a corner in the railings behind the boat as the best spot so I stationed myself there and waited for things to get going. In hindsight, I think they were mistaken. If I am to go back again for a launch, I will aim to be in location directly astern of the boat as you will understand from the shots.
The launch sequence is pretty quick. The boat rests on a tilting table to keep it level in the boathouse for maintenance work but to allow it to be repositioned for the slipway when needed. They pull on a winch line at the back to move the boat slightly at which point it tilts nose down and ready for launch. The engines are started and both props checked for correct rotation. If all is good, there is a sound of the ship’s horn and then the restraining line is released and off they go down the slipway.
It depends on how low the tide is as to how long the run down the slipway is and how big of a splash there is when it enters the water, but the water entry is impressive to say the least. My position meant I had a bit of the side of the boathouse in the shots which I regret but I think you can still see just how big of a splash there is as they enter the water. One in the water, the mast is erected quickly (it is lowered when in the boathouse) and they are up to speed.
Since this was not an operational launch, they got the boat configured and then did a run past the end of the station to wave to everyone gathered to watch. With the second launch planned for that evening, I persuaded Nancy and Mum to go along. I think neither of them was particularly bothered either way, but they accommodated me and were so glad that they did. The evening launch turned out to be the same boat. I am not sure what happened with the swap that was planned but clearly plans had changed. I left the twosome to head into the boathouse and positioned myself along the shore to get some different shots.
The tide was a bit lower so I figured the run down the slipway would be a bit more dramatic. Unlike the morning launch, this one had been given more publicity so there were plenty of people showing up to watch. I understand the boathouse was busy but not uncomfortably so. The new design is clearly working out for visitors. When you are outside, you don’t get the commentary that is provided inside during demonstrations so I was waiting and hoping to know when the launch would occur.
I could just see the front of the boat through the windows so I knew I would see when it tilted down. Sure enough, when it started to drop, I knew to be ready (and also warned a few people around me too). Then we heard the horn blast and out came the boat. It moves swiftly down the ramp, but it isn’t so fast that you could miss it. I was actually able to get some wide and tight shots as if slid down. Then the entry to the water which is what I was really there for. Again, the crew erected the mast and did a run past the boathouse. They then headed off for some training and we met up to head to the pub for dinner. The excitement they had both experienced I fully understood from the morning launch.
If you can, go and watch a launch. It is something most impressive. Also, make a donation if you can. The boat is funded by donations and almost everyone involved is a volunteer. We saw this all on a sunny, summer’s day. So often, this is on a stormy winter’s night and they are heading into awful conditions – just because they want to do what is needed by someone they don’t know. That is something special.
I am just going to throw in a gratuitous shot of a business jet today. This Hawker was on approach one sunny day at Paine Field. It wasn’t rare or special in anyway (unless you count the scimitar tips to the winglets) so might not have got a post of its own but I just like this family of jets so here it is!
A day trip to Kamakura was tagged on to the end of my visit to Japan. It was a train ride of about an hour south of Tokyo to a coastal town. We were heading there because of a large statue but that will get it’s own post in due course. Coming out of the station, we are immediately on a narrow street that is filled with food and shopping.
Kamakura is known for little fish called shirasu. They can be eaten raw or cooked and everywhere we went on this street, you could have shirasu added to your dish whether it was a hot dog or pizza. I chose not to try it out. Given the intense heat and humidity at this time of year, a lot of the food stands were devoted to ice cream and frozen foods. Not a bad idea. I wonder what they sell at cooler times of year.