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…
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Coming across a new airline for the first time is still a buzz for me. With so many airlines around the world and most of them never showing up at an airport convenient for me, there is always a good chance of something new when I visit somewhere I haven’t been for a while. LAX is a popular freight destination so getting new freighters there is a good chance. I was actually at SoFi stadium having a look around when a 747-400F made the approach just south of me.
I had the camera with me at that time so was able to turn around and get some shots. With the aircraft being south of me, it was a bit backlit but I bumped the exposure compensation up a bit to get good shadow detail so I could play with it in post. Later in the day, I was at Imperial Hill waiting for my flight home when it departed. Getting two cracks at a new airline was a pretty good deal. More importantly, the airline actually has a livery that is of interest – not a white jet with a few markings. I count this as a result!
Delta was the official airline of the US Olympic team during the Winter Olympics in China. They painted one of their A330s with Team USA colors. I knew it had been in and out of Seattle a few times but I had either not had a chance to go and see it or it was in crummy conditions. Finally it was due in early one weekend morning so I headed down to SeaTac to catch it. The forecast was not great but I had a feeling that the early sun might hang around and, for once, I wasn’t wrong. The light was generous and the plane came in on the right runway to get a good shot.
Korean Air’s fleet of bizjets come through Seattle quite frequently. Their BBJs are not uncommon. They use the airfield as the departure point for the trans-Pacific route to Korea. Unfortunately, they often arrive in the middle of the night and head straight back out again. I timed it well when they were making a daytime stop. I got the arrival and the departure this time.
Conditions were not great but, last time I shot one of their BBJs, the high sun made the livery glare a bit. Flat lighting avoided that this time. The departure was a good one for me. The route across the Pacific is a long one so the plane was pretty heavy. This meant it rotated a long way down the runway and closer to me and was still only just climbing when it was level with me. I went with a long lens which meant things got large quickly. It did give me some shots I was pretty happy with, though.
