Tag Archives: aircraft

Cranfield Jetstreams

I read that Cranfield is getting a new SAAB 340 to be used as a flying testbed. It is replacing the current Jetstream 31. The plane is used for test work but it is also used as a flying classroom for aeronautical engineering students. The Jetstream 31 was an old BAE Systems airframe (one I was involved with in my days at Warton) and it replaced a Jetstream 200. That old Astazou powered airframe was in use in the late 80s when I went through the course. Here are shots of that old plane when we were using it as well as the current one when it showed up at RIAT.

Lining up to Depart SeaTac

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No lengthy story for this. I was waiting at SeaTac for an arrival and got distracted by the jets lining up for departure. It got quite busy at one point with a bunch of jets awaiting their slot. Occasionally the departing jets appeared nicely in the background. Unfortunately, there are some lot poles in the area which are rather distracting.

Martin Mars Storage

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The days of the Martin Mars flying boats are probably done. Coulson had been flying them on firefighting duties but they have been superseded by more modern and cost efficient types. One of the airframes had been painted up in US Navy colors as what was supposed to be a move to a museum but that plan fell through. The two airframes are now sitting on the ramp at Sproat Lake and are showing no sign of moving.

The drive to Tofino takes you right past the Coulson facility so I stopped off on the way over. They don’t take visitors anymore so I just took a look through the fence. On the way over, I was really looking in to the sun so getting a shot was tricky. On our way back a few days later, we had made progress compared to schedule and the light was on the better side so I stopped off briefly to get a couple of more shots. I wonder what the future holds for these planes?

Condor New (ish) Fin Markings

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The collapse of Thomas Cook meant that the German subsidiary, Condor, has gone it alone. The fleet had a tail marking that reflected the parent company but, with their demise, they are now adopting a tail design that is back to their own branding. I saw one of the new tails on this 767 arriving at SeaTac shortly before a BA 777 that I was waiting for because I was picking up the skipper. Below is what it used to look like (albeit in nicer light).

737 Max 10

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The first 737 Max 10 sits on the flight line at Renton. First flight will be soon I imagine.

The 737 Max problems rumble on but this isn’t stopping development activities. The first of the 737 Max 10 jets was rolled out of the factory with little fanfare with only staff being invited. I was showing my relative, Pete, around the area and we stopped at Renton to have a look at what was on the line. It was a nice surprise to see the first Max 10 sitting on the line. I imagine it won’t be too long before first flight.

UPS Evening Arrivals

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Founders’ Plaza sits at the northwest corner of DFW. It is just north of the UPS ramp. As the light was getting good just prior to disappearing in the evening, UPS had scheduled a couple of arrivals. The first of the two was a 747-8F. It landed on our side of the field and then taxied back towards us crossing the field at the north end. It then headed to the part of the ramp that lies east-west so was parked tail on to us.

A little time after it arrived, an MD-11 was due in. The later arrival meant the light was getting even better and the white fuselage was turning a nice shade of orange as the sun started to set. It taxied back up on our side of the airfield so was more head on as it came back. This made for a contrasty shot with the warm light on one side and deep shade on the other. They were a good way to round off a nice afternoon of shooting.

CV-22 Display

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I have seen plenty of MV-22B Ospreys in service with the Marine Corps but I haven’t see too many CV-22s with the Air Force. One of the early ones was at Hurlburt Field when I visited years ago but we weren’t allowed to photograph it. RIAT provided my first opportunity to shoot one in action. I got some shots of it on arrival day but I was not pleased with the results for a lot of them. I don’t know whether the focus was off or it was my struggles with the low shutter speed but I didn’t do too well.

They did display during the flying program, though, so I had a lot more chances to get some shots. The extra lumps and bumps make this distinctive from the USMC version but it is still a hard thing to photograph if you want to get significant blur on those giant, slow turning props. The different shade of gray they go with seems slightly more interesting than the Marine’s scheme too.

Three Vistara Jets At Once

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When airlines take delivery of new jets, they tend to try and space them out a bit. The ability to add a bunch of jets at once is limited so you don’t often see a lot of jets from the same airline on the flight line at the factory. However, there has been a cluster of Vistara 787s at Paine Field recently. I think they were originally assigned to another carrier that couldn’t take delivery of them – perhaps Hainan. Consequently, they have been reallocated at short notice and Vistara is the customer. Here they were sitting together in Everett going through the final phases of testing. I’m not sure whether some will be stored and delivered later or whether they will all go in a group.

Nanaimo Heliport

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Our journey home from Tofino involved a ferry crossing from Nanaimo. We left plenty of time to get across the island as a result of some construction activity and, of course, we made it across easily. We were to early to check in for the ferry so waited in Nanaimo for a while. As we sat in the car, I saw an S-76 from HeliJet coming in to land. I had forgotten that HeliJet flew to Nanaimo as well as Victoria. Missing the arrival was annoying as they aren’t too frequent and there wouldn’t be another until after we had gone to the ferry.

However, departure on the return leg was not for a while so we headed around to the heliport. I assume it is a recent construction because it is a very modern looking building. The S-76 was parked on the pad right by the parking lot and with only a low fence unlike Victoria. It was a bit rainy so I stayed in the car until they loaded up. After start up and letting everything stabilize, they pulled up and headed out over the water en route to Vancouver. This might be a good spot on a sunny day!

The Fun of Finding Old Shots

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I was recently searching for a shot for a project and was having a hard time finding it. I knew roughly when it should have been as it was when shooting at SFO during a visit. I scrolled through to the day and found the shoot and realized that I hadn’t keyworded the photos from that trip. Consequently, the search had failed to run them up. I therefore spent a little while running through everything and adding keywords.

This proved to be way more fun than key wording usually is. I hadn’t looked through these shots after taking them and, while it was a pretty standard sort of collection that a day at SFO would provide, it was all new stuff. I was enjoying looking st stuff I had forgotten I had taken. These shots are just a few from that day out.