Tag Archives: aircraft

Concorde

Few would argue that Concorde is an elegant aircraft design.  It may have had commercial limitations, but it never failed to be a head turner.  Getting good shots of it when it was flying was not too difficult.  One the ground it can still be a good subject but having it confined in a tight space does make things a little more tricky.  The Museum of Flight’s example is in their covered annex across the street from the main museum.  The annex has a great selection of aircraft but they are right up against each other.

I decided, after getting some shots on an initial visit, that I would try something a bit different and took a fisheye the next time I went.  Concorde already has some interesting curves and a fisheye can either help of ruin them so some careful framing was required.  I combined that with a 70-200 to crop in close and avoid the surrounding clutter.  It was a fun experiment to see what you could achieve in a constrained environment.

Lyon Air Museum

A weekend in Southern California for work was not my idea of fun but I did have a few hours free on the Sunday morning so I headed down to Santa Anna to the Lyon Air Museum.  It is located on the opposite side of John Wayne Airport from the main terminal building and is not terribly obvious unless you look hard.  Even the entrance road is a bit obscure and could be easily missed.  However, once there, it was definitely worth the time.

The museum is in a modern structure and has an impressive collection.  Supposedly the planes are all airworthy and they have some interesting ones there.  Some of the collection will get their own posts.  For now, here is an overlook of the museum and a few of the side exhibits that don’t get their own story.

Frontiers of Flight Museum

A work trip to Dallas wrapped up a few hours prior to my flight home.  I was flying out of Love Field so figured a quick detour to the Frontiers of Flight Museum just across the field from the terminal was in order.  What I hadn’t appreciated was that tons of school parties had the same idea.  The place was heaving with kids and being kids, they were doing everything at high speed and high volume.  The inside of the 737 exhibit was not a great place to be!

Southwest has a big influence on the museum including a whole 737 and the front fuselage from another.  They don’t dominate things though and there are plenty of other airframes both inside and out.  I shall pick on a few favorites in due course but here is a sample of what was there.  It was a brief visit but a fun one.

Etihad 777-200LR in its Last Days

When Boeing developed its updates to the base versions of the 777, it came up with the higher capacity long range 300ER and a lower capacity but ultra long range version, the 200LR.  The 300ER sold very well but the 200LR was more of a niche product and, while it sold, it never went in the same numbers as its larger sibling.  Etihad was one of the customers but they have now decided they have no further use for the type and it is being retired.  I was glad to catch one at LAX in the days running up to their retirement.

Little Nosewheel Tug

A post a while back talked about nosewheel tugs that lift the whole nosewheel and move it around.  That post can be seen here.  I commented then about how large the tug was.  I hadn’t then seen that there are far smaller versions of the same concept.  This one is in operation at SeaTac.  It is suitable for narrow body jets and regional jets.  I don’t know whether it is being trialed or whether these will gradually replace the traditional tugs.  I guess we shall see in due course.

Eyebrow Windows Still Exist?

The 737 fuselage is closely tied to the previous generations of Boeing jets like the 707 and 727.  It inherited the eyebrow windows above the main cockpit windows.  These days, the controlled airspace has made the need for these while maneuvering a lot less.  Current jets are built without them and many airlines have reduced maintenance costs by plugging them.  I had assumed that they had gone away for most operators.  Apparently not for Alaska!  Walking through the terminal, I saw one jet with the eyebrows and was surprised.  However, then I saw a bunch more so clearly this is still something Alaska see as valuable.

Japanese Government Comes to Town

I was sitting at the gate waiting to board a flight when the sound of a heavy jet reversing thrust outside caught my attention.  It was a Japanese 747-400.  JAL retired their 747s a few years ago and that made an appearance on the blog here.  That meant this was a Japanese Government 747.  I was really annoyed to have only seen it at the last minute.  However, I was on the right side of the plane on takeoff to try and get a look.  I did get a shot but looking through the camera made me lose the wider view.  The Japanese 747s tend to travel as a pair.  Sure enough, a second jet was parked up and I didn’t spot it was there until too late.

Aer Lingus 757 at Newark

In the UK, I have seen plenty of Aer Lingus A320 family jets.  In the Midwest and on the west coast I have seen their A330s a lot too.  One type of theirs that I have not seen before is the 757.  These seem to be used for the shorter transatlantic runs.  While taxiing out at Newark for a flight back to Seattle, a Shamrock 757 taxied out too and departed ahead of us.  I have to admit I was quite surprised.  I guess I knew they had 757s but this was the first one I had seen.

Ice Emphasis to Structure of the A330

An Aeroflot Airbus A330 landed at LAX while I was shooting there.  On plenty of occasions, I have seen ice on the underside of the wings of landing aircraft where the cold fuel remaining in the tanks has caused condensation and freezing in the warmer damp air lower down.  However, I haven’t ever noticed it on the fuselage structure.  On this jet, though, I could see ice on the surface and the patterns of ice reflected the underlying fuselage structure.  Maybe this is there more often and it was just the paint finish that made it show up this time.