Tag Archives: aircraft

New Bradley Midfield Terminal

When I was last at LAX, there was plenty of construction underway in the middle of the field. The Bradley International Terminal was being expanded to accommodate the growth that had taken place. This was all pre-pandemic of course. On this visit, it looked like everything was complete. The new midfield terminal area was looking finished and there were aircraft on the gates including a China Southern A380. With that fleet due for retirement, that might be my last chance to see one. Not sure whether I will get to use the terminal or not but it looked good.

Is This Airline Really British?

Leave a Reply

I got another new freighter while at LAX although not a great shot of it. Cargologic has a pair of 747-400Fs in service. The threshold for the south runways is a long way east of Imperial Hill so it is easy for freighters to stop and turn off before they get past all of he buildings that are in the way. Consequently, I didn’t get a clear shot of this jet. At the time I took this, a bunch of restrictions had been imposed on Russian operators as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Cargologic is a British registered airline so was not restricted. Its ownership traces back to Volga Dnepr which is restricted. Not sure the distinction is a real one but, at the time, it was enough to allow them to keep operating. I suspect the UK government is not going to look too hard.

Alaska Max Jets On Test

Leave a Reply

I got a couple of Alaska Max jets on test on the same day recently. One was still unpainted but the colors were on the rudder and winglets so it was easy to see where it was going. The other jet was already fully painted and probably close to delivery. With me now traveling a little bit more and that travel being with Alaska, maybe I shall get to travel on one before too long. We shall see…

Night Touchdown

Leave a Reply

I posted about some night photography I tried on jets approaching SeaTac. After finishing that up I was heading to the terminal to pick up my colleague and I decided to go for a shot of touchdown in the dark. This was not going to be an easy one to get since it is really pretty dark at the north end of the airport so little ambient light. I was relying on the lights of the jet and pushing the ISO to a really high level. It is true that the noise gets really tough in those conditions but when looking at the image at a normal size, it really is not a big deal. Besides, it is a shot we would never have done in pre-digital days.

Shooting From On The Field At SEA

Leave a Reply

Some of the best shots are taken when you have access to the airfield. Sadly, that is not a simple thing to arrange. However, if the flight you arrive on has to hold prior to crossing the runway, you have a better chance of getting some shots of aircraft departing off the runway you are waiting to cross. This does involve shooting through the windows of the aircraft which are not great at the best of times and on the recent Alaska flights I have taken, have been pretty crappy. Still, it was fun to try and get some shots, even with the limitations of my older M6.

Finnair Before Sunset

Leave a Reply

The light was getting low in the sky and I was needing to drop my rental car back at the lot to get my flight home but a Finnair A350 was on approach. I could see it was coming in to the south complex so the Proud Bird parking lot would be the spot for me. The nice evening light was going to work out well. I had shot a Finnair A350 once before when one came to SFO but this would be only my second encounter. No point in missing it. The sky was warming up nicely so it was hard to miss getting the shot.

Spot the Shed

Leave a Reply

Sometimes, when in Nevada for Red Flag, I will head down to McCarran in the morning to shoot some of the airliners prior to heading back to Nellis. This time, I barely went down that way. However, I did see a movement that caught my attention. There is a daily rotation of a Shorts 360 freighter from Phoenix up to Las Vegas. I haven’t shot a Shed for a while and figured this was worth a look.

There is a viewing area along the south runway at McCarran but it was closed for COVID and hasn’t been reopened yet. Short staffing means it is low on the airport’s priorities which kind of makes sense. Consequently, I ended up scoping out a parking lot that would give me an alternative. It was pretty hot and heat haze is always a concern plus I didn’t know whether to use the long lens or the zoom. I used a couple of jets coming in before to decide what to do and also stuck the polarizer on to cut the light down to get better shutter speeds for the props. Then the box on wings came on to the approach and I grabbed some shots. If you had told me 30 years ago I would make an excursion to photograph a 360, I would have laughed. Now they are rare enough that is exactly what I do!

Is This The End For The S-76?

Leave a Reply

I was rather sad to read that Sikorsky is shuttering production of the S-76 helicopter. The design first flew over 40 years ago but it has gone through a number of upgrades over the years. It is a sleek looking machine and quite a bit larger than it might initially appear. My first encounter with one was on the school fields of my high school when it was parked after bringing some people in for Cowes Week. I got to chat with the pilot for a while. No camera in those days, though.

When I worked in London, they had replaced the Queens Flight Wessex airframes with a pair of S-76s in a maroon color and they would often fly past our building as they landed at the palace. I have had various other times when I have seen them since but not a huge number. The most recent version is the S-76D which replaced the S-76C++ (catchy name, huh?). It has not sold particularly well and the development program was rather protracted. Without many customers, Sikorsky has called time for now. Whether it gets resurrected in the future – perhaps with production at their facility in Poland – we shall see.

Strangely The First AA A321neo Encounters

Leave a Reply

The launch of the 737 Max was heavily influenced by American Airlines agreeing to buy a bunch of A320neo family jets from Airbus. American had inherited a bunch of Airbus aircraft from the combination with USAirways but buying the neos really caused Boeing to take note. The order also included a bunch of the ceo versions of the jets and I have seen loads of them over the years. However, for some reason, I had never shot an American neo until I got to LAX.

Los Angeles seems to be a popular destination for American’s neo fleet. While I was there, I saw a load of them arriving and departing. The larger engines are quite conspicuous on the neo although the A321neo seems better proportioned for that size of engine so they are less obvious than the smaller jets. I think they do occasionally make it to Seattle but whether I shall catch one up here, I don’t know.

JetRed

Leave a Reply

Early morning at Washington National and I was waiting for my flight home after a work trip to DC. As I sat at the gate, a JetBlue aircraft was coming up from the south end of the field. It was painted in a red scheme representative of the fire department of NY. They have a few different special liveries on their jets but a bright red one is quite the opposite of their normal look. Sadly, the light was a bit dull but I wasn’t passing up the opportunity to get a shot, even if it was through the terminal windows.