The Tennessee Jet Joins Southwest

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AU0E1486.jpgSouthwest have a program of painting some of their jets up to represent states that they serve.  One of the most recent additions to the fleet is a jet painted for the state of Tennessee.  Having announced that the jet was joining the fleet, I decided to keep an eye out for it if I should be in a position to get a shot of it.  Fortunately, I was in Oakland when it was due to depart.  I popped along to the departure end of the runway to await it.  It was scheduled on a flight a short while later.  Another departure was due to go first so I figured I would shoot it as well in order to make sure that everything was working with my camera settings.  Another Southwest takeoff is otherwise not too special.  Imagine my surprise when they had switched the jets around.  My practice turned out to be the Tennessee jet.  Consequently I got the shot.  If I had been waiting for the planned flight, I would have been sitting in the car when it took off.  Lucky break and a good example of the benefit of not sitting in the car when something is happening!

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Mallards Getting Frisky

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AU0E0144.jpgThis is the time of year when the wildlife starts to get a bit interested in mating.  This can result in some battles between competing individuals but, while walking alongside a river, I saw a couple of mallard ducks behaving pretty strangely.  One was male and one female so I think they may have been interested in each other but their behavior was sufficiently strange that I couldn’t be sure that was actually the case.

AU0E0115.jpgInitially they were splashing around in the water.  They would seem to dive just below the surface and flap around down there making a lot of noise and moving quite randomly – not necessarily towards each other.  It would stop for a while and then start again.  Very odd behavior to the uninitiated.  After this had gone on for a while, one of them took off followed by the other.  They then appeared to wheel around the sky with a tail chase underway.  This also went on for quite a while before they landed back where they had started and everything seemed to revert to normal.  Anyone who knows what was going on, please let me know in the comments.

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Air Force One and More Bad Weather

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AU0E3953.jpgThe Boeing VC-25, known as Air Force One when the president is on-board, made another visit to San Francisco a short while ago.  I had previously gone out to try and get this aircraft when it was in town.  One visit got there shortly after it had left.  Another got there in time but the weather was a lot less than ideal.  I wrote about the missed opportunity here and the slightly more successful time here.

C59F9318.jpgThe weather forecast for the time of departure was not good.  Arrival had been around the time I was flying home a few days before so I had been more interested then in whether our flight was going to be delayed.  With the weather looking poor, I was not making a plan to go.  Instead I was visiting some people in Hayward to discuss another aviation project.  As it happened, we wrapped up at about the right time for me to make the dash across the bay to SFO so I figured I would go.  The rain had been bad but it did appear that things might be clearing up.

AU0E3976.jpgI got to the airport and could see that the VC-25 was still parked up.  Aircraft were still arriving and departing so I knew I had some time.  I just hoped it hadn’t all been delayed without me knowing.  I hadn’t been there long when I got a visit from law enforcement.  The big lens obviously got some attention.  We had a chat and my details were verified but everything was ultimately cool.  The cop was very friendly.  As we finished up, I noticed that things had got very quiet.  Nothing was arriving or departing – a good sign!  The only thing airborne was a Coast Guard MH-65 in their new paint colors.

AU0E4033.jpgMeanwhile, the sun was making periodic peeps through the clouds.  Was I actually going to get reasonable conditions?  I could see the APU was running on the jet and a little while later, the beacon started flashing and the stairs were pulled away.  Given that they don’t hang around, I figured we should see something soon.  Sure enough, they taxied out from the parking area and headed for runway 28R via the taxiway on the opposite side of the peninsula on which the runways are built.  A little worse for me with heat haze (yes, even on a crappy day the heat haze was still a problem).

AU0E3996.jpgI was aligned with the end of the runway so the jet taxied up and turned straight towards me before lining up and pushing the throttles up.  The secret service vehicles that had followed it down the taxiway turned and raced alongside for a short while until the speed was too much for them.  Unlike last time, they must have been a lot heavier because they used a lot of the runway before rotating.  Then they climbed away.  A successful shoot and time to head home!

Kiler Ridge Olive Farm

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AU0E2446.jpgHow much do you know about Olive Oil?  If you are like me, probably not a lot.  I know I like it and it is a regular part of my diet.  After that, not so much.  While staying in Paso Robles, we paid a visit to an olive oil farm.  Kiler Ridge Farm has a large number of olive trees and a pressing facility.  They press their own olives and olives for other growers, some of the oil from which they will also buy if they like it.  The farm is still developing their crops but they have a significant business underway.

AU0E2448.jpgThe tour is in two parts.  One is a 90 minute discussion about the way in which they grow the olives, harvest them and turn them into oil.  The owners are a very engaging couple who are passionate about this business and very analytical about the way in which things get done.  At points, I think a portion of the visitors were zoning out when the math of yields was being discussed in great detail.  For an engineer, it was perfect!

AU0E2467.jpgWhen the tour is done, you get to taste the oil.  I was a little skeptical about this aspect.  Taking a sip of olive oil seemed a little odd to me.  We got to try and number of different types of oil and were shown how to taste it and what to look for.  Despite having the remnants of a cold, I could still see the differences that were being discussed.  Amusingly, they also provided a sample of a well-known “premium” brand of oil and the blandness was striking after tasting the others.  There were some quite shocking details about just what can be sold as Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the US!

AU0E2455.jpgAside from the interest of the tour and the tasting of the oil, the location was not bad either.  Sitting atop a hill surrounded by olive groves and the rolling hills around Paso Robles on a sunny day was a delightful way to spend some time.  Once we were finished, we just wandered around the grounds for a while taking in the view.  Very relaxing.  Stop by if you are ever in the area.

A Very Pleasant VC-32 Surprise

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C59F3521.jpgYou go to Red Flag with the goal of seeing a lot of different combat aircraft. However, Nellis is a regular base and has other traffic. You don’t always see something during the course of a mission launch but sometimes it happens. While we were checking in at the gate, a VC-32 came down the approach. This is the USAF’s version of the Boeing 757 and it is a pretty nice looking plane. Unfortunately, when we are the gate, the security team is not too keen on us taking shots so we watched it land and figured we had missed our chance.

C59F3523.jpgTurns out we were wrong. While we were out between the runways, the VC-32 taxied out and got ready to depart. Even better, it departed to the southwest which meant it came past us with good light on it. It turns out that Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter had been visiting and the plane was taking him onwards. I was very happy to get something I haven’t seen up close for a number of years.

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Mare Island Museum

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C59F7901.jpgThe Society of Aviation History organized a visit to Mare Island recently and I went along.  The tour started at the museum and walked to a number of locations before ending up back at the museum which we were then free to roam around.  I will start at the end today and cover a little about the museum itself.  That should set the scene for the follow up posts about elements of Mare Island that we took a look at.

C59F7860.jpgMare Island was a naval shipyard.  From its earliest days it grew into a major shipbuilding facility.  In its later days, it was involved in building many nuclear submarines.  Ultimately, as part of the reduction in bases undertaken in various phases around the US and beyond, Mare Island was closed as a naval facility and returned to the local community.  Much ship related work is still undertaken but the location is a faction of what it once was.

C59F7843.jpgThe museum has a lot of displays of what went on at various stages in the history of the yard.  Outside there are some missiles and cannons on display covering old wooden frigates through to a Polaris missile from a nuclear ballistic missile boat.  The submarine theme shows up in many of the displays and a periscope has been recovered from a submarine and erected in the museum.  You can operate it and survey the surrounding area.  The clarity of the optics is quite amazing.

C59F7850.jpgThe running of the museum is not cheap – not least because the local town of Vallejo charges them a substantial tax each month.  Therefore, getting people to visit is an important issue for them.  If you have a free day, I would certainly pay them a visit and see a little of the shipbuilding history of the area.

Coast Guard Air-to-Air (ish)

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C59F1783.jpgMy flight over LAX was intended to get lots of shots of airliners. We did also get a little benefit. For the time being, the Coast Guard have a base at LAX. They will be moving soon but, until that point, operations continue as normal. One of their MH-65 Dolphins returned to base while we were airborne. ATC vectored them behind us and around to land on their pad. We managed to yaw around to provide an angle on them as they came in.

C59F1754.jpgShooting the Dolphin was a bit harder than some of the other aircraft. I was using a 100-400 lens which was fine for the jets when I could keep the shutter speed up high to compensate for any motion or vibration. However, dropping the shutter speed for the rotors, even if I didn’t take it too low, meant a very high failure rate on the shots. Even then, we were still a reasonable distance away which didn’t help. A few of the shots are passable. However, they won’t handle too much scrutiny. I’m glad we got them though since they will be gone if I go back for another shoot.

Egrets in Hayward

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AU0E9952.jpgThe marsh areas along the shore of San Francisco Bay in Hayward are a popular spot for birds. Egrets are certainly a common bird in this area so seeing some of them while walking along the trails in the area was no surprise. I was interested to see how close you could get without disturbing them. The area is popular with people so they probably are relatively used to having people around. Even so, I did not want to cause them any disturbance. As it was, they seemed far more focused on whatever they were going to eat next than they were of me.

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Back to My Roots with the Typhoons

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C59F3875.jpgThe Brits were at Red Flag in numbers too for 16-1. An E-3D Sentry was part of the AWACS fleet while a C-130J Hercules launched each day I was there. Judging by the dust and dirt on the underside, they were landing on rough strips out on the ranges during their missions. However, the thing I was most looking forward to seeing was the Typhoon. The RAF brought eight jets from 3 and 11 Squadrons. Most days six of them launched.

C59F4789.jpgIn my youth, I worked on what was to become the Typhoon in my BAE days. I was an aerodynamicist looking at airframe loading and the possible flight envelope for the first flight. I was not looking forward to the job when I was given it but working on loads turned out to be a great task and taught me a lot about structural limits, flight controls and the process for expanding the flight envelope. A mentor of mine had told me it sounded dull but was very valuable and he was spot on. I guess he is a smart guy because he has gone on to be rather successful in the company!

AU0E8613.jpgBack on topic, the Typhoon is something I am very pleased to have worked on. Getting to see them in action is great. The launches when we were out by the runways were great. When we were by the EOR, we were directly across from the ramp that the Typhoons were using so I managed to see them crewing up for the launch. Then, of course, they had to come right by us as they taxied out. I know it was a long time ago but I can’t help but still have a soft spot for them when I see them in use.

Speeding Up Lightroom

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YouTube is a fantastic way to lose track of time.  It may well have an abundance of crap but it also has lots of informative material.  More importantly, watch one thing and you get recommendations of other things, many of which are actually quite useful.  I was watching a video by Tony Northrup on building a computer for photo processing and he was talking about putting the Lightroom catalog on an SSD.  This got me thinking about something.

When I built my system, I installed an SSD to be the drive on which the OS is installed along with the applications.  I have traditional hard drives for the data storage.  One of these was set up with the Lightroom catalogs keeping them separate from the image files to make the response time better.  At the time of the build, a 250Gb SSD was affordable but not cheap so that was what I went with.  With everything installed, that doesn’t have enough space for the catalogs.

I never thought more about it until after this video.  I started thinking about some old SSDs I have and looked at whether the catalogs would fit on either of them.  It turns out that, with all of the preview files, the SSDs were not big enough.  However, I did then have a look at the price of a drive that would be large enough such as another 250Gb drive.  That would have plenty to spare to account for future needs.

While looking at these, I was also able to see 500Gb drives and they are only about $150.  I was unaware just how much the price had fallen.  Consequently, a spare drive bay now holds my Lightroom catalogs.  I only have a relatively small amount of experience with the new configuration but it is safe to say that things are positively zipping along compared to where they were before.  I was wondering whether the system might be in need up upgrade or replacement but this one change seems to have made things significantly better.  I will report further if I discover more but, if you have a similar configuration, this might be the upgrade that makes things noticeably better.