The A220 (or C Series CS100 if you are not yet ready to have it labeled as an Airbus) has been in service for a while but, until recently, I hadn’t seen one. Then, while I was on the shuttle between the terminals at DFW, we came around the terminal that Delta uses and I realized that the jet that had just pushed back was an A220.
It was early evening so the light was quite nice. The shape of the jet was quite distinctive. Aside from the cockpit shaping, the wings are quite large (giving it quite decent range capability) and the large fans of the Pratt GTFs are conspicuous. It is not a bad looking jet the Delta colors looked good on it. Sadly it taxied to the other side of the airport so I didn’t see it depart but it was nice to finally see one for real.
My effort to shoot an arriving A350 at SeaTac provided a secondary benefit.The majority of arriving aircraft land on the outer runway.This is further away and also has a threshold further up the field.This means the aircraft are higher up on the approach.On a clear winter’s day, the planes have the backdrop of the snow covered Olympic mountain range.They were a bit far away but did provide a rather scenic view.
Delta has replaced the 767 on the Narita run with the A350.It arrives in to SeaTac in the morning and SeaTac early arrivals from the south do not provide good opportunities for photography.I had an idea for a possible place to try so headed out on a sunny Sunday (very cold) morning.It turned out my chosen spot was a non-starter so now I was looking for an alternative and rapidly.I ended up a little further away than was ideal and with a slightly obscured view.The cold played to my advantage though.Heat haze is probably usually a big problem at this spot but, on this occasion, I could get away with it.
While obscured, I had some views of the approach path and also close to the touchdown zone.Only the heavy jets land on the inner runway so I didn’t have much chance to practice what would happen.Only one heavy came in beforehand – a Korean Air 777 – and this showed me I need to change my plan a little.Then I just had to hope things would work out for the A350.It wasn’t great but it worked out okay and I was pleased to come away with some shots.
I had a long layover at Salt Lake City when connecting on a Delta flight. The sun was out and the mountains in the background were covered in snow so it made for a rather pretty backdrop for the airport operations. It was a bit Delta-centric given that they hub at the airport and we were in one of their terminals but it did make for some nice light and scenery for aviation shots.
How about another airline that I don’t normally see? Tiger Taiwan operates a number of flights to Japan. I saw them both at Narita and at Hyakuri/Ibaraki. I figured I would share a couple of shots of their jets in service for those that haven’t seen them before.
The Thomas Cook A330s do come in to
Seattle and I got some distant shots of one once – it was actually one of the
Voyagers that is leased out by Air Tanker – but they were not much use. SFO proved to be a better hunting ground and
the light even played ball. This is not
a Voyager – just a standard A330 – but the Thomas Cook colors popped a bit
better this time around.
During the summer season, Asiana was
flying their new A350s in to SeaTac. I
did get some more distant shots but nothing of significance. With the introduction of the winter schedule,
they changed to a lower capacity type.
However, while I was at SFO, I was able to shoot one of the A350s as
they continue to run there in the off season.
The light was quite nice as it came in so I was pleased to get a
shot. They will soon be pretty common
but, for now, it was a nice catch.
The A340s are disappearing from the
fleets of major airlines pretty quickly as the 787s and A350s come in to
service. Lufthansa is one airline that
still has not only the A340-600 in service but the A340-300 too. I shot a 600 on approach to SFO last year and
it got me wondering just how long they have remaining in service. While fuel prices are relatively low, they
may hang on but higher fuel prices could accelerate their demise. We shall see.
In the meantime, here are some of their fleet in service across the
years.
Sorry for the corny pun but I just
couldn’t resist. One of my favorite
airliners to shoot has been the Air Tahiti Nui A340-300. I have seen them at LAX on a number of
visits. Shooting them taking off on the
south complex has been possible on a few occasions and I was super lucky to get
one of them landing on the north complex when I was overhead in the
helicopter. The A340s are getting a bit
old at this point, though, so their replacement has been ordered and it is
going to be the Boeing 787-9.
One of the jets was in flight test at
Everett so, with nice weather on a weekend and flying underway, I couldn’t
resist a trip up to get the return. I
was too late for a takeoff shot. The
conditions were great. A cold snap meant
that the air was clear and the sun, while it disappeared for a while shortly
after I arrived, was back in plenty of time for the return. Consequently, as the plane came across the
Cascades, I could see it easily prior to it turning north to come in on the
approach. Mt Baker was clear in the
background as they made the turn to final approach.
The dark colors of the livery make it
necessary to use a bit of shadow slider when processing the shots. It was just after midday so the light was a
bit on the nose of the jet but you could still get something good for the
fuselage sides. The touchdown was a bit
firm providing a smoky cloud of tire rubber.
I wonder how much tread the airline expects to have at delivery? Often the jets will come back for a rejected
takeoff run but this time they went straight back to the ramp.
I was at SeaTac one Saturday afternoon for the impending arrival of an AN-124. The Ruslan was due in later but I was checking out the flightpaths for the inner runway. An Air France A330 was due in so that was my test aircraft. The light was nice and the angles worked well. I was pretty happy with the result. Sadly, the light wasn’t hanging around for the Antonov and conditions were not as good when it came in.
The A220 (or C Series CS100 if you are not yet ready to have it labeled as an Airbus) has been in service for a while but, until recently, I hadn’t seen one. Then, while I was on the shuttle between the terminals at DFW, we came around the terminal that Delta uses and I realized that the jet that had just pushed back was an A220.
It was early evening so the light was quite nice. The shape of the jet was quite distinctive. Aside from the cockpit shaping, the wings are quite large (giving it quite decent range capability) and the large fans of the Pratt GTFs are conspicuous. It is not a bad looking jet the Delta colors looked good on it. Sadly it taxied to the other side of the airport so I didn’t see it depart but it was nice to finally see one for real.
