Tag Archives: airliner

SEA Saturday Afternoon Departures

Earlier in the year, I was down at SEA for a reason that now escapes me. However, I had some time to kill, and the traffic was on a northerly flow which means it is easier to get reasonable afternoon light on the departing jets. Consequently, I hung out for a while to photograph some of the jets heading out. The majority of traffic is going to be the regular Alaska and Delta narrowbody traffic and that gets pretty repetitive. However, mid to late afternoon is when a lot of the departures for Europe and the Middle East take place. This means widebodies. Here are a bunch of shots of departing aircraft as they climb out and head on their way.

Everts MD-83 Freighter While I Am Waiting

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My buddy Chris was visiting Seattle but was stuck in the arrivals line at the airport. I was waiting to pick him up but, since it was taking longer than expected, I was checking out some other movements. An Everts MD-83 was scheduled out of Boeing Field. The weather was not great, and I didn’t know when Chris would finally get through immigration, but I figured I would give it a go. Sadly for Chris, the MD-83 got moving faster than him. It was on its way long before he finally got out. I had plenty of time to get back to SEA to pick him up.

Frontier’s A321neo Special

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Frontier Airlines has been adding a bunch of A321neos to its fleet. They are not a regular feature at SEA but they do come in periodically. The airline has at least one that is painted in a special green livery incorporating Pratt and Whitney imagery including a bald eagle. This is to signify the environmental benefits of the latest generation of jets. I actually saw one when I was elsewhere in the country. It was parked on a pier I could see but I didn’t have my camera available to get a shot in the nice evening light there was at the time.

Fortunately, it showed up as coming to Seattle one weekend. I figured I would get another chance at it. However, the weather wasn’t looking great. There was a hint that things might improve so I made my way there to see if I would get lucky. Sadly, the forecast was a little optimistic and it was still rather gloomy when the jet made an appearance. I made the best of it that I could but it was not great. Amazingly, I have had a long time since taking this shot and have yet to have another chance to shoot this jet. I think it may have visited but there was no way for me to be there. Hopefully I’ll catch it in good light one day!

Another 727 Chance Before Sunset for Departure

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The arrival just before sunset of a Kalitta 727 was the subject of a recent post. It departed later that evening, but it was very dark by then and I didn’t hang around. It wasn’t long before the jet was back again and this time it arrived a little earlier in the day. That meant that there was a chance that they would depart before sunset. That was something I was willing to take a chance on. In the later evening, it is a quick jaunt to Paine Field from home. Sure enough, they obliged by being prompt. I had barely got there when the jet taxied. The light was very nice, and they were flowing to the north so I was able to get a few shots, hop in the car and be home so fast that Nancy thought I must have blown off the idea altogether!

A Dornier Is Worth an Excursion

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The Dornier 328Jet is not a total rarity but it is unusual enough to get attention. Earlier this year, one showed up as coming through BFI. Since I was able to be there, I decided it had to be worth the trip. Sure, it is just another landing shot of a small airliner but I spend too much time thinking back to things I never bothered about at the time that are now gone so I’d rather not add to that list.

Looping Around the T5 Piers Waiting for a Gate

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In February, we headed to the UK for a family wedding that we had really been looking forward to. The overnight flight to Heathrow got us across the Atlantic. When we landed, we headed for Terminal 5 to unload. However, our gate was not yet clear. We had made good time across the water, so we were a little early and the late departures of BA were not designed to accommodate that! Instead, we started doing laps of the concourses while they waited for us to have a gate open. We ended up parking on a taxiway for a while and then doing another half lap. While this was not ideal, I did end up taking a few photos of the BA jets around the airport.

End of the Line for These Jets

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I have posted a few shots of preserved aircraft at Kemble, but Cotswold Airport is the end of the line for a lot of planes in a far less graceful way. It is the base for disassembly of airframes that have reached the end of their operational lives. A jet doesn’t have to be that old to have greater value in its parts than as an operational aircraft. If a major check is coming up and it isn’t worth that much post check, it might be worth it to the owner to have it broken down for spares. As airframes get older, this decision is more obvious.

Kemble is the location where a lot of this happens. From the airfield or from the road that passes by, you can see a line up of aircraft that are unlikely to ever fly again. They will be progressively stripped of their most valuable parts. They may hang around like this for a long time with bits being gradually taken off as they are demanded by other operators. Eventually, there will be little left of value and the scrap metal will become the most valuable thing that they have to offer. Then they will be cut up. It is a safe process for an aviation enthusiast but a normal part of the life cycle of an aircraft. If you are in the area, head by to see what is there.

Northern Air Cargo or StratAir

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I was at SEA early one Sunday morning to try and catch a shot of Salmon Thirty Salmon before it was repainted. Northern Air Cargo also departs at a similar time of day as part of its loop between Hawaii, Seattle, Los Angeles and back to Hawaii. I assume one of the regular jets was in maintenance because they had chartered in some capacity from StratAir. I was not familiar with this operator but I was happy to catch a 767 in new colors for me.

American 777 On the Nose

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Widebody jets coming into SEA are hard to predict. If possible, all arriving traffic is sent to the outer runway to allow departures to proceed from the inner runway with little disruption. However, if there is a lot of arriving traffic, the wake turbulence requirements for spacing behind a heavy jet can slow the arrivals flow. In this case, sending the jets the inner runway is more efficient. You never know what it will be until the plane is lined up on approach and you can see whether it is offset from the normal paths or not.

I wasn’t terribly bothered by this American Airlines 777-200ER when it came in as it is a daily arrival from London, and I have shot it on previous occasions. However, since I was in a location almost on the centerline of its approach, I decided to go for more of a head on shot and then an underside shot. If this was something I hadn’t shot before, I would be aiming to get the side of the plane in shot to show whatever it was but, in this case, no harm in playing around with different angles.

Might As Well Wait For the Singapore 350

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I made a mourning trek to SEA one weekend to catch the Salmon Thirty Salmon jet before it got repainted. I shot a bunch of planes before it departed and one thing of interest after it left and was getting ready to head home. A quick check of what else was due out showed me that the Singapore Airlines A350-900 was due out shortly. It’s a nice-looking jet and the morning light was still good, so I figured there was no harm in waiting a short while longer to catch it.

Regular readers know I am partial to the A350 and some of my earliest shots of the type were operated by Singapore in to SFO when we lived in California. Their livery has a classic style to it in my mind. Besides, the trip to Singapore is a long one making full use of the A350’s range capabilities so it was likely to be heavy and would use a good chunk of the runway so would still be quite low as it passed me by. All good reasons to get the shot.