Tag Archives: Airbus

Wow (and I Mean That Literally)

AE7I1195.jpgYes, no exaggeration in this case.  It really is Wow!  Of course, Wow is an airline, not something so unusual.  They are a low cost airline operating out of Iceland and they have started direct flights to San Francisco.  I hadn’t managed to see them since they started service.  They come in on certain days and later in the afternoon but had not been helped by air traffic delays in Iceland which had meant the flights were arriving late on a regular basis.  I did finally get to see one of their A330s come in – late but not as late as had sometimes been the case.

AE7I1233.jpgThe light at this time of year is not so easy.  At the end of the day, the sun angle actually moves sufficiently far around to be on the nose and then even slightly backlit.  The late arrival exacerbates the issue but the sun was still slightly on the right side when they came in.  It does result in quite some contrast between the nose and the fuselage sides which, with a dark color like they have, makes for a more difficult exposure.  I want to visit Iceland at some point so having a direct flight is definitely something to consider for me.

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A340 Season

AU0E3312.jpgIt may be that the A340 is in its twilight years but it is still a type that is in operation with a number of airlines. Having watched a few different types disappear from service recently, I am paying more attention to those planes that might not be around for too much longer. I figure the A340 is one of those types. SFO gets a number of them on a normal day from a variety of operators. Virgin Atlantic brings in an A340-600 most days. Meanwhile, the original version shows up with a couple of airlines. Swiss and SAS bring in the A340-300 as part of their services. Philippine Airlines has been known to bring them in too but they are currently using 777-300ERs on this route and the 340s are elsewhere.

AU0E2600.jpgI made the effort to get the visitors both arriving and departing. Arrival shots are not great at this time of year as the heat haze starts to become a problem. However, you can still get something reasonable if you get a little lucky. You can go further out on the approach to minimize haze but you lose the context a little.

AU0E3240.jpgMoving around to the departure end of the 28s means you can get the planes as they come over your head when taking off. Sadly, all of them went from 28L rather than 28R which means they are slightly backlit when they come by. However, this doesn’t hurt things too much. The shots of them retreating into the distance were not possible on this day though due to the cloud rolling in off the hills which they disappeared into pretty quickly. I guess they will be around for a little longer but it won’t be too long before the A340 is consigned to secondary operators and lower utilization.

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The Early Emirates

Scan 2-1349.jpgIf you were to ask someone to name one of the dominant global airlines these days, it wouldn’t be long before the name Emirates came up.  The rapid growth and large fleet of wide-bodies makes Emirate a familiar sight around the world.  It is easy to forget that is was not always thus.  I first saw Emirates in 1988.  At the time, I had a small book of airliners around the world and it listed the planes that were potentially going to be seen in the UK.  It didn’t include short haul jets from the opposite side of the world but it did have something that could conceivably be seen.  At the time, Emirates were listed as having one A300 and two A310s.  A far cry from what they have now.

They used to fly in to Gatwick with the A310s.  While working for the CAA, I got to spend a bunch of time under the approach to Gatwick recording noise levels of the passing jets.  I did manage to get the occasional shot too!  Here is a scan of a slightly rough negative of an Emirates A310 passing the middle marker.  This plane would now be considered a bit too small for their regular operations!

Rainy and Dark at SeaTac

wpid13589-AU0E0409.jpgIn the past I have been able to get some reasonable shots of departing aircraft at SeaTac from the pier of the terminal that Southwest operate from while I am waiting for my flight.  I was heading home in the evening and thought I would have little luck because the sun would be on the wrong side.  Turns out, the sun was nowhere to be seen – this is Seattle so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.

wpid13593-AU0E0433.jpgInstead, it was raining (shocking news) so, even though the light should not have faded, it was pretty bleak.  Normally, I would have thought this meant I would no be getting any shots.  However, I decided to have a go anyway.  Sometimes, the bad weather shots can come up with something a bit special.  I did not anticipate getting this but it would have been frustrating to watch and miss something cool.

wpid13585-AU0E0385.jpgAs it turned out, things weren’t too dramatic.  I did get a few shots of the jets and turboprops as they headed out.  Sometimes there would be puffs of vapor over the wings or clouds in the inlets but nothing too good.  An Emirates 777 took off which meant a fair bit of spray behind it as it powered away.  Sadly it rotated just as it went out of sight so the real clouds of spray were not visible from where I was.

Nice to Still See an A310

C59F1918.jpgThe freight ramps on the south side of LAX are a good place for some older jets. FedEx has a substantial fleet of aircraft and they are currently in the process of replacing many of the older jets with new (or newer) types with reduced operating costs. The fleet of Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft are gradually reducing. There was a nice looking A310-200 parked up on the ramp as we flew over. I haven’t seen too many of them recently so this was a nice surprise. A great view to get of it too.

Fiji Airways

C59F0369.jpgSeeing a new airline is always a nice surprise. I had not come across Fiji Airways before but saw a few of their A330s during my time at LAX. Not a bad looking livery given the boring schemes you often see these days.

Korean A380

C59F0772.jpgThe Airbus A380 may be a lot more common now than it was a few years ago but they are still comparatively rare. LAX is a place that gets a lot of them so the chance of catching one airborne was high, particularly given the time we were flying. Korean Air were the operator that obliged. We picked up the aircraft as it was on its downwind leg. Knowing it was out there made it easier to keep track of it – particularly knowing which runway it was coming in on.

C59F0836.jpgWe spotted it when it was still well out on the approach. As it came across the buildings surrounding the airport were were able to choose how we wanted to have it line up with the background. Finally it was coming across the parking lots, passing the In’n’Out Burger and then coming over the threshold. A little float and then the tires smoked on touchdown. The angles and light were pretty much ideal and Paul, our pilot, had us ideally placed. We could also keep an eye on it as it taxied in including getting on the gate.

A330 Wheelies

AU0E9692.jpgI have seen a few Airbus A330s landing recently and they have a slightly unusual landing approach. I am not sure whether this is a feature of the design, the training techniques for the pilots or just a random occurrence that I have seen more than my fair share of. The planes appear to do a wheelie as they land. They have two main gear legs with a four wheel bogie on each. As they touchdown, they seem to hang on the rear wheels longer than would seem normal, even as the aircraft is de-rotating.  Meanwhile, the reversers will start to deploy (sadly not in any shots I have) so there must be enough weight on wheels to trigger their activation. Gradually the jet sinks down on to all main wheels and the nose lowers.

Did Anyone Bother With This Livery Design?

AU0E1538-2.jpgNot long ago I complained about the dirty condition of a China Eastern A330. At the time, I thought it might be a non-standard jet because the livery was basically white with a couple of distinguishing marks. It turns out that I hadn’t appreciated that China Eastern have replaced their previous colors with a new and less colorful scheme. Since then I have seen some 777s come in with the new scheme. In an era of relatively bland airline colors, it seems to me that China Eastern have gone a stage further and taken any interest at all from the livery. Not a cool effort on their part I think. They should check out what China Southern is doing by comparison.

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JetBlue’s 200th Aircraft

AU0E5008.jpgThe repetitive nature of the same airlines and the same types is what you expect of airports these days. Every once in a while, though, the airlines put some extra decoration on their aircraft. Usually you can see that there is something there before you get to see what it actually says. JetBlue have an Airbus A321 that is apparently their 200th aircraft. It has a big decal on the rear fuselage to highlight this fact. It apparently joined them over a year ago so a bit late for congratulations.