Tag Archives: airliner

Air France A350

Regular readers will know I am quite a fan of the Airbus A350. Getting a new operator of the jet in Seattle is nice for me and the Air France service has swapped from the 777 to the A350. It started a while ago but the conditions have been so bad for a while, I didn’t even bother trying to get out and shoot it. I was coming through the area when it was due in so made a diversion to get a few shots. Not too nice a sky but still okay and I will hopefully get better conditions at some point before too long. They arrive at lunchtime so the light is not ideal anyway at that time.

Will I See Another Lufthansa A340?

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The A340s are hard to find these days but Lufthansa is still using some A340-300s. This is my favorite of the type and, having had them all in Star Alliance colors for a while, it is nice to see them in Lufthansa colors again. With one coming to Seattle on a weekend as a substitute for the normal A330, I figured I should go out. The day was a dull one but you just don’t know when you might get another chance so I figured it was worth a trip.

JinAir In Primer

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The nice thing about having the factory for airliners nearby is seeing aircraft in the colors of an airline that you would not normally see. It is a little disappointing when they are not actually painted. I like the primer look (I know the protective film isn’t really primer, but I don’t have a better term for it) but it would have been nicer to have the livery. Only some marking on the composite parts that are already painted let you know what airline it is destined for.

Straight Up Shots

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I like unusual angles for shots. Most of what I get is pretty normal stuff. I am most interested in straight down shots but I have not managed those yet. However, straight up shots are possible and I have been getting a few of those when the opportunity presents itself. It is an angle we are familiar enough with, but the shot interests me because it isn’t the regular view we choose.

Robbed Dreamliner

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Dreamliner deliveries have been stalled for about a year now with a brief interlude of deliveries early last year. They are stored all over the place including this American Airlines jet up at Paine Field. I think it had a radome when it was built but, clearly someone needed one and the easiest one to hand was on this airframe. Now it sits awaiting a replacement and – hopefully – acceptance and delivery!

Who Will Get This 737?

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Plenty of 737 Max jets are changing their colors at the moment. The cancellation clauses of the purchase contracts have allowed a bunch of airlines to cancel their orders without penalty as a result of the extended delays in delivery – something that may have been welcome during the pandemic! Boeing has seen an uptick in demand for airframes recently and has been mostly successful in reselling these finished airframes.

This one showed up recently at Boeing Field. It is all white so may have been identified as problematic before it ever got painted in airline colors. The people I was chatting too had no idea where it was due to go and whether it could even be a BBJ. No doubt it will soon find a home if it hasn’t already.

Lufthansa A330

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I was out for something else, but I happened to be around when a Lufthansa A330 made approach to SeaTac. The weather was nice, the light was good and an A330 was coming by. I could hardly avoid shooting it, could I? I am no fan of Lufthansa’s current low-key colors but on a good day, even they look alright.

Silk Air But Not For Long

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Singapore Airlines has been rationalizing their operations and one of the changes that they are making is getting rid of their subsidiary Silk Air and integrating its operations in to the mainline airline. Silk Air has ordered a bunch of 737s from Boeing and these are in the process of being delivered. A number of the planes were already painted in the Silk Air colors and apparently the airline determined it was cheaper for them to repaint them than to have Boeing do it. Consequently, they are being test flown in the old colors.

I assume that later jets will be painted in Singapore colors as they come off the line (depending on how much Boeing charges for that change order) but I have yet to see one in the new colors. I hope to get one before too long since I don’t have any plans to be in Singapore for a while. We shall see. I have got some distant shots of one passing near the house as it returned to BFI as well as some shots from BFI itself.

The Fourth 787 Struggling to Fly

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Of the original 787 development airframes, three are now in museums and Boeing has one that it continues to use for test work. It was the fourth of the jets and, I assume, the closest to a production standard. It was recently out at Boeing Field for a flight. It taxied by me to the end of the taxiway where it then waited for a very long time. Some fire trucks were close by but not attending it – just watching as far as I could tell. They called up to say that they would be there for a long time so the tower was diverting things around them.

Eventually they taxied back before finally getting whatever was the issue sorted out at which point the runway in use had changed. They had to head to the other end of the field for departure. This time they did take off and headed off for whatever testing they had planned. Not sure of whatever it was that caused them so much trouble but I guess it got resolved.

Everts MD-80 Freighter

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Everts has based its operations on older airframes. They have recently added some MD-80s to their fleet which, I guess, is indicative of the fact that the MD-80 is rapidly disappearing from service. It is now available for freighter conversion. I shot one on the ramp at BFI quite a while back in nice light but one was due in to Paine Field just before the end of the day. There was always the question about whether the light would play ball or not but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance.