Tag Archives: aerial photo

Stadium Construction Update

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A previous post showed the start of construction of the new stadium in LA.  When I was on that trip, my arriving flight had passed right by the construction site but I didn’t have a camera to hand at the time.  I made another LA trip more recently and, this time, I had a camera at hand as we made our final approach.  Obviously the construction process has moved on a bit but there is still plenty to be done.  Maybe I will make some more trips and get further updates in the future.

The Start of a New Stadium

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NFL fans in a couple of cities are still mourning the loss of their teams to Los Angeles.  With the Rams and the Chargers both now based in LA, a new stadium is being built to accommodate them.  Meanwhile, they are playing in existing stadiums.  The new stadium, when it is finished, will be one of the most extravagant designs and will be used for other tasks including the future Olympics.  Right now, construction work is underway.  I saw the work site from my plane as I came in to LAX but didn’t have the camera to hand.  However, when flying above LAX in the helicopter, I was able to get some shots at a bit of a distance of the work in progress.

It’s Cloudy Out at the Coast

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AE7I9380.jpgThe weather over Sonoma was absolutely gorgeous when we were out on the photo flight (when isn’t the weather great in Sonoma?).  While we were orbiting over the county awaiting the second aircraft to come up to shoot, I was looking out towards the coast.  There was a lot more cloud that was hanging over the coastline with the sun still above it.  With the door open and a long lens on one body, I figured I should get a few shots of the coastline.  It looked gorgeous from where we were.

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Flying Over LAX

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AU0E5853.jpgA view from above is a great perspective. You see things in a very different way. One place you don’t usually get to see from over the top is a major international airport. However, it is possible to charter a helicopter to fly over Los Angeles International Airport or LAX to the regulars. Flying in a helicopter with the doors off means you can shoot almost unobstructed in any direction with a little coordination with your pilot. Paul was our pilot and he knew exactly what he was doing as well as what we wanted from him. It made for a great combination.

C59F1684.jpgThe patterns in a major airport are interesting. You get the layout of the gates, the taxiways and runways, the lines guiding the aircraft, the shapes of the terminal buildings and even the coloring of the borders to the hard surfaces. Then you get the buildings themselves. Different generations of building have styles of architecture appropriate to what was expected at the time. LAX is famous for its spaceship like building in the middle of the complex and its more modern tower. Terminals went through a phase of being bland buildings but the recent addition to Tom Bradley International Terminal certainly has had more styling incorporated.

AU0E5882.jpgThe large number of aircraft scattered around add another element to the view. Combine that with all of the service vehicles on the move and there is a complex compilation of elements. I particularly like the ability to see the tower from above. That is usually the highest point around but we were looking down on them while they were kindly providing control of the space to allow us to get our shots without interrupting the operations.

Canyons and Farms

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C59F9004.jpgFlying out of Madras on our air to air sorties we had a short time when we were transiting to and from the area where we were with the target aircraft. The area is dotted with farms but also has some dramatic terrain. I took the chance to get some photos of the various canyons, lakes and homes. It looks like a place with lots of great places to have a house. I hope they didn’t mind us flying over!

Tiger Moth Flying

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wpid11948-AU0E2995.jpgWith so many things going on, I realized it had been a while since I made a trip up to Sonoma Skypark for the normal Saturday activities. I arrived and spent time with my friend Eric discussing many things aeronautical. While we talked, a Tiger Moth flew back into the pattern. We stopped to watch it for a moment and Eric assumed I had flown in one before – he couldn’t believe an aviation enthusiast from the UK could possibly not have done so. However, I hadn’t.

wpid11954-AU0E3015.jpgAs it was, Eric got in discussion regarding an issue with the engine with Mike, the owner of the aircraft. Eric thought a short flight would be necessary to help diagnose the issue and thought I should provide ballast. I was not going to turn down this opportunity.

wpid11944-AU0E2831.jpgThe flight was a short one as was required to check out the engine. We took off, climbed to a moderate height, flew a couple of turns and then returned to Skypark. It was a remarkably smooth aircraft and seemed to just glide through the air. Eric pointed out the guy with the stick might have something to do with that (for those of you who are photographers the assumption you must have a great camera will spring to mind) and, while I was certainly appreciative of Eric’s flying, I did like how the Tiger Moth flew.

wpid11946-AU0E2947.jpgNot sure when I will next get a chance to fly in the type but it was certainly great to experience and my thanks to Mike for letting me ride in his plane and to Eric for taking me up.

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Victorville Flyby

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A while back, I found myself in Southern California with my buddy Pete.  Pete is a pilot with about 15,000 hours on multiple types but he always wants to try out something new.  He was renting a Cessna 172 for the day and getting checked out at a couple of interesting fields – Catalina Island and Big Bear.  I was along for the ride.

He asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were out and I wanted to take a look at Victorville.  Victorville is the old George AFB and is now a place where a lot of airliners come for storage and often to be broken for spares.  I had seen a few pictures of the place and wanted to see what was there to be seen.  Pete had an added interest as there were some British Airways 747s parked up there – the type he currently flies for his day job!

I had been in the back for the first two legs of our trip a we had an instructor along checking Pete out.  For this leg, I took the right seat to be well positioned for the photos and also to get a bit of time in myself.  I had no idea how enthusiastic Victorville would be about passing light aircraft coming to take a look.  However, when we called up the tower, they were very happy for us to make a pass.  When we told them what we wanted, they even allowed us to break off from a low approach and turn north to pass the collection of stored airliners.

There was quite a selection of aircraft on the ground.  Some of them were obviously temporary residents but a few looked like they were only going to be leaving in bits some day.  Rather sad but it happens to us all eventually.  Anyway, a fun distraction on our route (a great trip as a whole by the way but maybe I will save that for another time) and some interesting things to see.

As an aside, Pete was back here before too long to pick up one of the BA jets to return it to service.