Tag Archives: Airbus

Caught Off Guard by an A340 Overhead

A walk in the New Forest one weekend was a very pleasant way to spend a day. This was not supposed to be an aviation related time but, as we walked across some open grassland, I noticed something large and four engined coming towards us at pretty low level. It was clearly an Airbus A340-600. European Cargo picked up a few of these jets and is using them from the nearby Bournemouth Airport for freight runs to China. I don’t believe they are a full cargo conversion but instead load the cargo through the normal passenger doors.

I only had the 24-105 on the camera so was a little limited in what I could get. However, when I went to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum a week later, I could see a couple of their jets on the ground at the airport. One was being loaded for another flight while an all-white jet with a registration that might be Maltese, seemed to be stored. Another time, I did try getting a shot of one departing, but conditions were far from ideal, and the location is not great for photography, so things were a bit compromised. Even so, it is cool to see some A340s still in use aside from the Lufthansa examples that have been my only other recent examples.

Head on For GlobalX

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The GlobalX operations at Boeing Field had become a pretty regular thing so were not necessarily enough to pique my interest. However, I was passing the field when one was getting ready to depart and, since it was a cold, winter day, I figured that heat haze was not going to be too bad. As a result, I decided to go to the street at the departure end of the runway to try a head on shot. I knew they would rotate a long way from me but decided to see what the result might be.

I was quite pleased with the results with the haze being limited and, while I was shooting through a fence, there was not a significant reduction in image quality. This A320 is one that GlobalX took on after it departed the Alaska Airlines fleet. The majority of the airframe is plane white but the rudder has to be balanced after painting, so it was clearly easier to leave it with the remnants of the Alaska livery to save time and money. Not sure who was on this flight, but I imagine they were probably not there by choice.

Asiana A380 Takeoff

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While at LAX, I did see two Korean A380s depart in close proximity. Korean Air is buying Asiana (or may have done so by the time this appears) so I imagine this won’t continue for long. The Asiana colors will, presumably, vanish before too long. I decided a bit of video was in order so shot the take off roll and climb out. Below is that video.

A300s Are Now Quite Rare Here

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The holidays have been known to introduce some interesting freighters to Seattle as UPS buys in additional capacity. This year was a touch disappointing with only a little bought in help and nothing too unusual. However, it did mean UPS brought more of their own fleet into Boeing Field including A300-600Fs. These are not normally used on services to Seattle so they were a welcome addition. I don’t know what UPS’s plans are for the fleet but the A300 must be getting towards the later stage of its life. I know that UPS and FedEx have been struggling a little recently so maybe the jets will be used longer than I had anticipated but we shall see.

Early Morning Breeze Departure

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I’ve seen a couple of Breeze airliners, but they are not operating in our neck of the woods, so they are still a rarity for me. When one of the A220s came to Boeing Field on a charter for a sports team, I was hoping to catch it. They were due out early one morning, so I was able to go before heading to the office. This did mean that conditions were going to be rather restricted with the sun only just above the horizon (assuming clouds weren’t there as well) but this would actually suit me since I didn’t want the jet to be backlit.

Sports charters have a habit of not going even close to the time that they are scheduled so I wondered whether I would be able to get the takeoff before needing to leave. Imagine my surprise and delight when they called up pretty much on schedule. Soon the jet was crossing the runway for taxiway Bravo and then heading to the departure end. As they rolled and rotated, there was just enough light in the sky to make for some rather pleasant colors, and I was really pleased with how the shots came out. The actual light levels were very low, so I shot at high ISOs. The cameras do a remarkable job of this these days but there was still a bit of noise to deal with and the latest noise reduction algorithms in Lightroom dealt with that very effectively.

Lufthansa’s Second Route to Seattle

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Lufthansa has long served Seattle from their base in Frankfurt. I have taken advantage of this to photograph their various types over the years we were in Seattle. The airline has a second hub in Munich, and they have been running a service from there recently. I think there may have been a route before the pandemic, but it is back now. It seems to run on days when Frankfurt doesn’t so maybe the winter months allow a coordination of services. Summer might have more overlap. They have been using an A350 on the route as opposed to the A340 for Frankfurt. It also comes in later in the day and departs later accordingly. That makes for better lighting at the end of the day when it heads out like I had on this day.

More Starlux

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Seattle Tacoma International has been adding a few new airlines in recent times and one of those is Starlux. A Taiwanese carrier, Starlux is not operating to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle with its new A350-900s. It’s already a plane I like to photograph and the Starlux livery is a cool looking one too. I have seen their planes coming in a few times since they first started service (which had its own post) and usually on nicer days which helps make the images a bit better. It’s always an interesting question when new airlines show up as to how well they will do. We shall see whether Starlux has the business model worked out well or not in due course.

Asiana Really Mixes Up Their Scheduling

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Plenty of airlines switch equipment around on routes as the demand ebbs and flows. One that seems to do this more than most when it comes to flights to Seattle is Asiana. Their long-haul fleet includes Boeing 777-200ERs, Airbus A350-900s and Airbus A330-300s and all of them seem to appear. The A330s are not as regular as they used to be but you never really know whether it is going to be an A350 or a 777 at any point. Here is a selection of images I have got over time of the three types as they arrive and depart from SEA.

Video of Overflying A380

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I happened to be out in the parking lot at work when I noticed the approaching contrail of a large jet. Being next to the car, I grabbed the camera with my longest lens and focused on what turned out to be an Emirates A380 heading to California. I grabbed a few shots as it approached but the view through the viewfinder was more interesting as I watched the contrails curl up in the trailing vortices from the wing. The motion of the ice crystals made me think that video was a more appropriate idea. The stabilization of my lens is so good that handholding this video at 800mm was not a problem and the video below is the result.

Heavy Departures from SEA

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I have had plenty of chances to shoot the departures from SEA when they are on a northerly flow and the afternoon light provides a good option for the jets. Previously, I have used the 500mm since it gives good reach but, for the larger jets, as you get the jet abeam your position, it will be too large for 500mm. The arrival of my 200-800 provided a great new option. 800mm provided a tighter view on the jets after rotation (provided the heat haze is not negating any focal length benefit) and the ability to zoom out means that you can keep the aircraft fully framed throughout the climb out. I took the lens down when I first had an open afternoon and the right conditions and here are some of the results. As fall moves towards winter and the heat haze and high sun become less of an issue, this combo should get even better.