Tag Archives: aircraft

The Arrows’ Display Itself

Leave a Reply

I have posted a few times about the Red Arrows at RIAT covering their prep for display and post display.  I haven’t actually shared any good shots from the display itself.  Here are a few that I got over the course of the show.  Some were taken close to show center and others were taken from the end of the display line to give a different perspective on the same maneuvers.  They put on a great show and it is funny that, when you see them regularly, you get blasé but, when you haven’t seen them for a while, you come to appreciate the display a lot more.

Lufthansa A350 at Haneda

Leave a Reply

Lufthansa A350s are something I seem to struggle to get a good look at.  They operate to a number of places where I have been but I either time it wrong or they are on the opposite runway from me so a distant shot is all that results.  The closest I have got to them is at Haneda.  There an example landed and taxied in to the terminal across from me.  The light was at the right angle but the excessive heat meant that haze was a problem and I wasn’t going to get a good shot.  It is the closest I have managed so far but I shall continue to wait for the opportunity to get something better.  The fleet will grow and the route structure will expand so the time will come at some point.

Departure Day

Leave a Reply

I have been to a bunch of shows at RIAT and have done arrivals day a few times too.  One thing I had not managed to do before was be there for departure day.  I wasn’t going to be able to do the full day because I needed to head off on the next leg of our vacation but I got a good chunk of the time.  Of course, the weather continued its theme of overcast conditions.  There were certain things I really wanted to see which didn’t always work out whether it was Tornados going when I wasn’t there or things that departed up field and didn’t come near us.

Even so, there was a great selection of interesting bits and pieces to see heading out.  Some of them just took off and climbed away normally.  Others seemed to be trying to get as high as possible quickly which wasn’t much fun for the gathered photographers.  A few put on a decent wag of the wings to please us.  The rotation point for most aircraft was quite a way from where we were which was a bit of a shame as rotation can make for an interesting shot.  A bit of heavy cropping and you can get the idea.  At least the lack of sun reduced the amount of heat haze.  Here is a gallery of a bunch of shots from the time I had.

Down By the Lake at Love Field

Leave a Reply

Bachman Lake sits at one end of Dallas Love Field.  Early one morning, I decided to see whether the trail alongside the lake made for a good spot to get some shots.  The traffic at Love Field is heavily skewed towards Southwest 737s so I wasn’t expecting a lot of variety but instead wanted to see what angles I could get.  It also would be nice to have a stroll along the lake in the morning light.

There are two runways at Love Field so you have a bit of a guess as to which one will be used at any one time but that is fine.  The view across the lake as the jets come to the northerly runway provides a nice wider view of things.  The near runway allows getting together front quarter shots or to go right underneath for a different perspective.  While most arrivals were Southwest jets, I did see a couple of corporate jets while I was there so there was a bit of variety.

Wright Patterson C-17 Visiting Texas

Leave a Reply

I headed to Alliance during my time in the Dallas area.  There was a C-17 parked on the ramp a bit away from where I was.  However, it was in nice light at the beginning of the day.  Things improved a lot when I saw the beacons come on followed by the sound of engines cranking.  It wasn’t too long before the jet taxied for departure.  The Wright Patterson markings on the fin meant it was easy to see that this jet was from Dayton.  I don’t know if that was where it was headed or whether it had stopped at Alliance en route to somewhere else.

United Retro Jet

Leave a Reply

I once got to shoot the United retro colors on the A320 while I was at SFO up the tower but I had not got a decent shot of it actually flying.  When it showed up on approach to SFO, I was pretty pleased.  Sadly, the cloud cover was not cooperating terribly well.  Only when it had got past me did it pop into better conditions.  It was okay when further out on final but neither of these were too helpful.  One day!

A Pair of Beale’s Jets Show Up at BFI

Leave a Reply

Boeing Field gets the occasional military visitors and you never know what might show up.  I glanced up and saw a pair of T-38s downwind for arrival.  They came in with about a minute of spacing between them.  The tail codes showed them to be Beale jets.  They headed to the FBO at Modern and were soon being refueled.  The canopies stayed up so they may have been heading out again a while later but I had to move on so I didn’t get to see them depart.

Lynx/Wildcat Selection

Leave a Reply

The Lynx was a favorite helicopter of mine in my teens.  It was in service with both the Royal Navy and the British Army in substantial numbers.  We used to see them a lot as they often flew past our home on the seafront in Cowes moving between the Navy bases at Portland and Portsmouth.  The Lynx has gone from UK service, replaced by the Wildcat.  I hadn’t seen any Wildcats before RIAT so was glad to see them from both the Army and the Navy (not that they look that different unliked their predecessors).  Old style Lynxes were still represented though.  The German Navy had an example visiting.  They are not going to be around for much longer, though.  They will be replaced early in the 2020s.

A330 CEO Versus NEO Courtesy of Delta

Leave a Reply

While I had headed to SeaTac to see the 21Air 767 arrive, I hung around for a couple of other arrivals.  Delta operates a variety of long haul types into the airport and this includes A330s of the older and newer generations.  First to arrive was an A330-300.  A little while later, it was followed by an A330-900, the A330neo version.  I thought I would try and get identical shots of both jets to see how much the engine and winglet changes showed up when looking at them in flight.  Here are shots to compare the two types for you to make your own comparisons.  I think the differences are there but they are not drastic.

Rush Hour at Founders’ Plaza for Qantas

Leave a Reply

During my weekend in Texas, I headed to Founders’ Plaza to shoot some arrivals.  I timed my time there to start around the time when the Qantas A380 was due to arrive.  I got there with a few minutes to spare and struggled to find a parking spot.  The place was packed.  I found a space in the overflow area and got the camera out just in time to get a shot of the arriving jet.

As soon as it landed, everyone started to go.  A short while later, there was a backup of traffic as the cars filed out of the parking lot and away.  Within ten minutes, it wasn’t deserted but it was significantly quieter.  The thing is, shooting in the middle of the day was not great from a light perspective and things got progressively better as the afternoon wore on.  However, most people were interested in the A380 and after that they were done.