I was clearing out some old shots to try and clean up some hard drive space. As I ran through some of them, I found some shots I took at Seattle Tacoma International during a visit. We were heading out to a part of the airfield to look at where some future work may be undertaken. As we drove across the ramp, I did grab a few shots of the aircraft as they taxied around and also as some were departing. It is fun to shoot from a ramp as you get a very different perspective on things.
During Seafair, the USN Growlers from Whidbey Island did a display earlier in the schedule. Once they were done, the jets headed home in midafternoon. They didn’t have a long trip home so getting back to base was probably a simple call. What made it better was that they undertook a section departure and the view from the tower was really cool. The tricky thing about a section departure from a photographic point of view is which plane to track. Which one looks dominant in the shot early on and which is dominant later in the pass? It changes but tracking is harder to switch. Small problem, I know, but a little tricky.
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.
Since we have lived in the Northwest, we have had a visit from a B-29. That was Doc with Fifi’s previous visits having predated my arrival. I had seen Fifi elsewhere in the US but, when I heard that the CAF was bringing her up, I was looking forward to seeing her. She was due to arrive early in the week and then sit around until undertaking some rides at the end of the week. She was coming up from California and arriving at the end of the day, which meant I had a chance to be there.
A B-29 is not speedy so you can track her progress and know you have enough time. When they arrived, they did request an overhead break by ATC was unable to comply. When we saw her out on the approach, she seemed to be doing something odd. Apparently, they had got too close to the preceding aircraft (although it was a bizjet and she is a lot slower, so I am not sure how that happened). The result was that they broke off the approach and made an orbit before resuming the approach.
After that, things were pretty normal. She came down the approach with some nice evening light. The rumble of those engines as she came by was impressive and then she was flaring for landing. I was optimistic about trying a variety of angles the following weekend when she was due to undertake the rides. Directly under the approach path was one I had in mind. Sadly, one of the crew had to return home and they didn’t have enough for the rides to be carried out, so she sat on the ground for almost the entire visit.
Regular followers of the blog will know of my aerodynamics background and the fascination I have with fluid flows. Anything that shows it off will pique my interest. The damp conditions that the Pacific Northwest offers can, if the light is nice, provide a good show on a plane that is configured for landing. Plenty of flap angle and low speeds will drop the pressure and condense the moisture. This Qatar Airways 777-300ER was coming over SODO on its was into SEA when I shot it. Plenty of moisture over the flap system and some conspicuous trailing vortices. Just the sort of thing this guy loves.
This part of the world is not known for its great weather. Actually, we can have some really nice conditions, but it is true that it will rain here from time to time. That might be a disincentive to going out to photograph planes but, when it is an Avanti and I don’t have something else on, I might well sneak out.
This one is the one that does live in the area, but Boeing Field is not its regular spot, and BFI does allow some good locations to get shots, so I headed off. Sure, it was damp and dismal, but I wanted to get something of this plane again. It was on the Modern ramp which was a possible shot without the heat haze. Then it taxied out and took off to the south, so I got a distant rotation shot and then a closer look on the climb. What a great plane.
Being up the tower at BFI during Seafair was a fantastic opportunity. I have photographed a bunch of F-35A departures at Boeing Field in recent years, but an elevated location was hard to beat. The A and B jets were parked together on the far side of the field so a little distant for a clean shot but, as they taxied out, it was still worth a go. Passing the Golden Knights jumpship and all of the people watching from the ramp was also rather cool to see.
The takeoff is a brutal affair. The power of that engine is impressive and, as they got airborne and held it low, you knew that anyone at the north end of the field was in for a treat as they blasted across the airfield perimeter. Looking down on the jet was epic. I was taking a chance with some lower shutter speeds but letting the camera make up for my lack of skill by letting me have a lot of shots to choose from. What a moment of sensory overload!
Embraer developed a new generation of their E190/E195 family to take advantage of the latest generation of engines. The E2 versions of the jets have been quite successful (while the smaller version hasn’t sold, and I think the program is on pause). Embraer has liked to market the jet as the Profit Hunter and has taken to painting their demonstrators up in dramatic liveries to reflect hunting. There was a lion, and the current version incorporates an eagle’s head around the cockpit.
They were taking the jet to Asia for some customer demos, and it routed through Seattle. Initially it came up from Mexico to Boeing Field before continuing on to Anchorage and then across the Pacific. The return came back through Boeing Field and on to Florida before heading home to Brazil. I managed to catch it a little but not always how I would have liked. Still, it was interesting to see it as a different livery always make an airliner look better and this type has not sold in the US, so it is a bit of a novelty for now.
The USAF has started using flares more in some of their displays recently. I have seen shots of the F-22 Raptor demo pumping out flares at the top of a loop to great effect. The willingness to use flares is dependent on where you are – no point starting a wildfire for a display. Seafair is over water so no risk at all there. Consequently, The F-35A demo this year incorporated flares too.
I was pleased to get some shots with the flares being dispensed. They were not thrown out in quick succession, which was a shame as a closer spacing would have made for a better shot. Even so, having some flare shots was a nice addition. Seafair’s display axis is a long way from the shoreline, so things were a bit distant, but they were still not too bad.
During the visit Mark and I made to Mesa Gateway Airport, we got a couple of rotary visitors to the field as the day was winding down. The first to show up was a Bell 412. The Huey is a very different beast when it is equipped with the modern rotor and this one also sported a nice paint scheme. It looked pretty slick. A bunch of guys were dropped off and then the 412 was back on its way. No idea what they were doing and probably shouldn’t know either.
A short while later, it was an Astar that came in. Maybe not as impressive a livery (although it did look nice) but the evening light was getting better and better, so it did make for a nice image. Looking through the images, one of the passengers seems to be super excited. If I was running around in an Astar all the time, I guess I would be pretty pleased too. A nice way to wrap up a fun day.
