Tag Archives: Airbus

Virgin America A321neo

I recently posted a Virgin America A320 thinking back to when they were an airline before getting swallowed up. Then I got involved in looking for some other images of them and got thinking about their introduction of the A321neo. That got me to this image I took when they were early in their use. As with a lot of images recently, I took a fresh look at how to process it and went through my current approach to get a better result than I had achieved when I first took it. I like the look of the bigger engines on the neo and the A321 is a nicely proportioned plane.

Virgin America Before Alaska Took Over

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I just happened to come across this shot while looking for something else. It was a Virgin America A320. Virgin America did a reasonable job of building a profile on the west coast before they were swallowed up by Alaska. Initially their fleet was added to Alaska’s, but it wasn’t too long before Alaska disposed of the Airbus planes to focus on their Boeing fleet. They were good looking jets, and I flew inside one once after the merger where the interior finish certainly marked them as a bit different to the norm. I just figured I’d share this shot as a memory of something long gone.

Gear and Flaps

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Photographing at Heathrow means you get a steady stream of planes with barely a minute passing without another one landing. You can end up with a ton of similar shots. That got me thinking about other things I would like. A close up of the undercarriage and perhaps the flap system came to mind. For some reason – possibly the noise that the bursting vortices made after they landed – I decided that the 777-300ERs would be the ones I tried these shots with. However, an A380 did sneak in.

There is something about the mass of machinery that you get around the main landing gear and the inboard flaps that seems so complex. Of course, this is all under the wing so the lighting is less than ideal, but you get what you can. Just before sunset would be perfect but you don’t get to choose when the jets land. Here are a few of my favourite shots from that part of the afternoon shoot.

This Paint Job Would Have Been Quick

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This Brussels Airlines A320 came into Heathrow one weekend. I am not sure even now what the livery is supposed to represent. All I know is that I love it and am delighted that they went to the effort to paint the jet like this. I am assuming there are a ton of vinyls involved in this rather than having it all hand painted but, either way, it looks amazing. If it was painted, that is even better. What a great change from the average livery.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000

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If you are a regular reader, you will know I love an A350, you will also know I like late day light on planes. How about the combination of the light and the plane. In this case, it is Cathay Pacific – an airline that has a livery that works quite well with a warmer lighting set up. In this case it is an A350-1000 which has pleasing proportions although the -900 is not a bad looking jet either. I was happy to get this one.

Virgin Atlantic Names of Planes

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Since they first started flying, Virgin Atlantic has been naming their planes with slightly quirky titles. Many airlines have names on their planes, but they are more often something like cities, rivers, castles etc. Features of the country that the airline is based in. Virgin has a different approach, and they do like a good amount of pun activity in their names. This can also be reflected in the registration of the aircraft with the letter combination sometimes tied to the name.

I have seen this naming over the years and never really given it much thought. However, on a visit to Heathrow a while back that was aiming for something specific, I naturally got to see a bunch of Virgin jets arriving. I decided to get a few close-up shots of the names at the front and then decided to check out what other names I had come across. This is not a comprehensive list of the different planes, nor do I plan on making it a goal to get them all, but it is a fun look at some of the names that they have gone with.

Thinking Back to LAX and Old Favourites

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I’m not sure what it was that got me to these pictures. I was working on something other project and then found myself looking at some shots from a visit to LAX a long time ago. Two planes jumped out at me from that day. One was a Lufthansa A340-300 and the other was a British Airways 747-400. Both were taking off later in the day and the light was very nice. I decided both deserved a re-edit.

The backgrounds for both jets were a little busy and so I decided to try something similar to my processing for airborne shots but that I hadn’t done much on the ground. I used the smart masking tools to select the aircraft. Then I inverted the mask to select the background. This allowed me to take the lighting down for the background and also make things a little cooler with the white balance. Then I could warm up the plane a little more and brighten it up. This helps to separate the aircraft from the background and make it more the focus of the shots.

The BA fleet of 747s are long gone now and passenger 747s are definitely a rarity. The Lufthansa A340s are still operating but only because of the delays to new aircraft deliveries. It won’t be too long before they are heading to the desert. This will be a nice reminder of the fun stuff I used to be able to photograph.

BEA Gets a Reprieve

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The British European Airways liveried Airbus that British Airways has been operating for a number of years was due to be disposed of. As new jets come into the fleet, the older jets are headed for parting out. However, the delivery rate from Airbus has apparently not been enough to meet the requirements of BA and they are having to send some older jets for major checks when they become due rather than park them. This will give them an extended life until the new jets can make it. This one was scheduled to go but has now been sent for a check. What I don’t know is whether it is due a repaint or not so we might or might not get to see it again.

Only Slightly Better Prepared for the A340 This Time

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You might look at this image and ask, “why make a post about it?” That is a fair question I suppose. The first thing is it is an A340 so that might be enough for me. However, it is more about my luck with getting these European A340s as they operate in Bournemouth. This time I was walking with a longer lens. Last time I had one overfly me, I only had a short lens and so it was a bit distant. This was an improvement. However, this time it was a bit rainy and overcast so not great conditions. The specs of raindrops are clearly visible in the image. That might ruin it for me but, for some reason, this time I feel like it adds something that reflects my frustration with trying to get good shots of these jets. Whatever way I try and justify it, it doesn’t really matter. I just like it.

Another A350 Operator for Me

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Regular visitors to the blog will know I find the A350 to be the best-looking airliner in production at the moment. During a visit to Heathrow, I got my first look at one of the more recent operators. Air India started taking delivery of jets last year. They have done the decent thing and put a colourful livery on their planes as opposed to the usual mostly white. I am grateful for this as well as for the good light I had when it came in.