Tag Archives: aircraft

Back to Coupeville for a Day Off

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NOLF Coupeville was scheduled for FCLP training and strong winds from the Southeast were forecast which suggested the right runway would be in use.  I also had a day off scheduled.  While the rest of the weather was potentially not ideal, I figured I would make the trip.  Why. Not?  They were due to be flying from late morning but, as seems to be usual, it was just after noon by the time things started to look active.

I was worried about the low cloud base but it was actually not a problem.  The wind was really strong gusting 20-30 kts.  This was giving them some interesting flying.  Early on, there was a hint of sun sometimes which really helped the photos.  As they climbed out after each touchdown, the skies behind made from interesting backgrounds and showed off the heat haze from the exhausts as well as the streaming tip vortices courtesy of the damp conditions.

After a while, I got a visit from the Navy Police.  The young lad informed me I wasn’t allowed to photograph the jets. I pointed out I could be he was most insistent that I couldn’t.  Rather than have trouble I decided the stop shooting.  As it happened, the conditions got a bit worse anyway so I had got the best of what was on offer.  I just watched the rest of the flying which included quite a few bolsters and some sketchy touchdowns as the wind got stronger.

747s Over Kenmore

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A sunny but cool Sunday afternoon with a bit of spare time on my hands meant I headed over to Kenmore to see whether there was any floatplane activity.  The answer was not much.  However, I did get something a little larger overhead.  Traffic in to Paine Field was running on a northerly flow.  A Dreamlifter made an approach and was followed a little later by a 747-8F destined for UPS once test flying is complete.  They both turned on to approach overhead the north end of Lake Washington so I got shots of them both.

Hot Air Balloon in Woodinville

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Heading home on Sunday afternoon, I saw a hot air balloon overhead Woodinville.  Passenger flights are a regular feature here but I was interested to see if I could work out where they were routing.  I decided to follow them.  I managed to get a couple of places where I could stop and get some shots as they flew above.  One of these was not far from home.  At this point, they seemed to be descending quickly.  As they dropped below the trees, it was clear that they were landing.  I wasn’t sure where this could be but jumped in the car again to see. Where they ended up.  More to come…

Turbine Bonanza

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Any airport in North America on any given day will have a reasonable chance of a Bonanza showing up.  Them come in all vintages, shapes and sizes but they usually come!  I’ve therefore shot tons of them over the years.  However, I think I may have had a first in that I recently shot a turbine Bonanza.  It was on the approach at Paine Field and it was obvious that there was something different about it.  The noise was clearly a turbine and the tip tanks had been fitted with winglets.  Given the location, I assume they are for drag reduction since they wouldn’t add much to directional stability.  Tip tanks are probably a must given the rate at which turbines burn fuel compared to pistons.  It was a smart looking thing with the revised nose shape looking quite graceful.  Sadly the landing wasn’t as graceful but floating is fine when you have 10,000’ ahead of you!

More of the RAF’s Poseidon Test Flying

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In this recent post, I had an RAF Poseidon flying over the house.  A little while later, I was at Boeing Field when the same jet came back from a test flight.  Here are some shots of it as it rolled out after landing.  It wasn’t long after this that the jet was delivered to the RAF and made the trip to its new home in Lossiemouth.

Coast Guard MH-60

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While at Boeing Field on a sunny day, I was pleased to see a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk flying along the runway.  MH-65s are the local Coast Guard helicopters so a Jayhawk is a nice change.  Having seen the MH-65s doing a fly through before, I was hoping that we would get the same but they actually pulled up and turned in the the FBO.  However, once on the ramp, the kept rotors running so I knew they would be out again soon.

When they did come out, they actually back taxied to the far end of the field.  I would have been a lot happier with them making an intersection departure closer to me but that wasn’t to be for some reason.  Consequently, they had gained a fair bit of altitude by the time they came level with me.  A belly shot was not what I was after but never mind.  The underside view gives a good view on the three external tanks that the Jayhawk can carry.  That gives some serious range when heading far offshore to rescue someone in need.

Blue Angels Legacy Hornet Retirement

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Recently, the Blue Angels made their last formation flight with the F/A-18 Hornet.  The team is transitioning to the Super Hornet ahead of 2021 and they have started working up with the new jets.  It has been a while since I last saw the Blue Angels demonstration so I thought a few shots with their aging legacy Hornets was in order.   They always got the oldest jets in the fleet so I hope they are happy to have some slightly newer airframes to work with.

More To Love A321 Shot for Work!

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I had a brief visit to Seattle Tacoma International to get some images for work.  These images were not of the aircraft but the configuration of the roadways in to the airport.  Not a great opportunity for photographing an aircraft.  However, you could just see some of the ramp area and, as the sun came out, the Alaska Airlines A321neo in the More To Love markings taxied in.  It was just visible above the terminal buildings so it would have been rude not to get a shot!

Royal Air Force P-8

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The RAF has been taking delivery of its new maritime patrol aircraft.  The retirement of the Nimrods left the RAF without a maritime aircraft for about a decade which is a strange choice to make.  Finally, the P-8 Poseidon was ordered to reinstate that capability.  They started coming off the line here in Seattle a while back.  The fourth aircraft has been undergoing testing ahead of its delivery.  It was returning from a test flight and was coming straight for our house.  It is not unusual for planes heading to Boeing Field to come our way so I grabbed the camera and got a couple of shots as it flew by.  It even turned slightly giving a slightly wing down view in one shot.

Under the American Max

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Production of 737 Max jets is underway again and that means some flight testing of new jets.  I was heading back from Boeing Field but stopped at the approach end to get a shot from the underside.  I almost didn’t get there in time so was not exactly where I wanted to be to take the shot but it still worked out reasonably well.  I do like a different angle every once in a while and underneath is certainly worth a go every once in a while.