The title gives this one away to be honest. I was walking back along the shoreline of Victoria Harbour and the sun was setting behind me. I looked back to see the view and the sky was looking rather appealing so I was hardly going to avoid taking a couple of shots.
The grounding of the 737 Max fleet worldwide means that they have been coming off the production line and going in to storage. A few of them were scattered around the Boeing ramp at Paine Field. One was particularly interesting though. It seemed to have the front fuselage wrapped in something while the rear fuselage windows were not covered but had individual panels sealed across them. No idea what this was all about but it did look unusual.
The end of our wildlife spotting trip in Jackson took us around the back of the elk refuge. Alongside the road is a slope which is very popular with the Big Horn Sheep. It has steep sides and food for them to graze on. The terrain renders them safe from the predators that might otherwise bother them since they are the ones with the advantage on such a steep and craggy slope. There were families of sheep scattered along the slope.
They weren’t very far away from us but, seeing as they are not large, they didn’t fill the viewfinder. Our guide carried a spotting scope which gave us a really close view. It also allowed you to get a quite impressive photo using only your cellphone since you could hold it up against the eyepiece. I did shoot with the bigger camera too, though. Some of the sheep moved up on to the ridge line where they were silhouetted for me to photograph. It was fun to watch them move around as they were constantly walking to the next good food source all while they were perched on some pretty precarious spaces.
This HondaJet was on an FBO ramp at Paine Field. I have seen one close up at Oshkosh and a few at a distance while flying but this was the closest I had got to one in the wild. It is certainly a curious looking jet. The engine mounts are the focus of a lot of attention but I am also a little put off by the front fuselage shaping around the cockpit windows. Having only one product doesn’t seem like a sustainable approach but maybe Honda has ideas for more to come. If they do, we shall see if they continue with this design philosophy or go in a different direction.
Chicago was a stop off on a work trip. We were on final approach to O’Hare and I was looking out of the window at the industrial areas that surround the airport. There are rail tracks scattered throughout these areas so seeing trains is not a surprise. However, I was a little caught out by what appeared to be some old Metra commuter cars parked up in one space. They have clearly been out of use for a while. If anyone knows who they belong to, please let me know.
Sometimes you find the oddest things by the road. Just outside NAS Whidbey Island, there is a drop tank sitting by the road. I have no idea what it is doing there. It seems to be on someone’s yard. The shape was not something that looked like a Navy tank (which you might expect). I thought it looked like something from an F-111. Fortunately, It had a data plate which showed a serial that seems to suggest a Fort Worth General Dynamics product so I guess F-111 is probably it. Anyone know the story?
Strolling along a trail on Whidbey Island I saw a slight movement off to one side. I stopped to see what it was and it took a moment to realize it was a snake. I don’t know much about snake species but a conversation with someone later and a look online told us it was a garter snake. It froze when I saw it so we had a standoff to see who would move first. Gradually it moved around a bit until I could get the briefest of views of its head. Having tried to get a picture of it, I left it in peace to do whatever it was doing.
Departures over the Speedway are best when they flex. The straight out departures are fine but not that exciting and they often get pretty high pretty quickly. Those jets that flex seem to stay a bit lower and provide a more interesting shot. The later in the day it is, the better the light on a flexing jet. If they are doing an evening departure after the Flag participants are back, the conditions can be ideal.
Here is a selection of jets in both good and okay lighting. If a four ship goes out, you hope for the last jet to be more dramatic since it will be playing catch up with the others and shoot turn in a bit tighter. The fourth Saudi F-15SA was another story though since he went very early and then straightened up before having another go inside us. Not sure he had been paying attention at the brief!
Since The Henry Ford is a museum founded by a Ford, it is no surprise that they have some significant Ford vehicles on display. This includes the number one Mustang. It looks quite different from what followed it, an example of which is not far away on the display. It seems quite light and small compared to what followed and definitely compared to the current incarnation (like the pun?). It’s is always cool to see something that is historic, irrespective of what the subject may be. This one definitely led to an iconic brand.
My inability to see a Boeing T-33 jet in nice conditions continues. I was at Boeing Field when one of the T-33s was taking off in support of a Pegasus test mission. The weather was crappy with rain and a heavy overcast. I thought that this was not going to work well but sometimes bad weather provides good opportunities so I gave it a go. Besides, I don’t see them enough to pass it by. As it turned out, the flat conditions and the dampness made the jet show up nicely against the background when it was still low on climb out. Once it was against the sky, things weren’t so great but it turned out a lot better than I expected.
