Tag Archives: airliner

El Al 777 Overwing Vortex on Takeoff

Engine nacelles are optimized for cruise performance. At high angles of attack, their shape results in some rather awkward flow properties which can influence the wing performance above and behind them. In order to control things, you will see small vanes attached to one or both sides of the nacelle that generate a vortex that stabilizes the flow somewhat. As an aircraft rotates at takeoff, the strength of this vortex increases and it will often become visible as moisture in the air condenses within in. This vortex will stream back up and over the leading edge of the wing.

When you are inside the aircraft, this is pretty easy to see provided the conditions are right. From head on or aft they are also quite conspicuous. It isn’t often that you get a good view from above. When I was flying over LAX in the helicopter, the aircraft departing from the north complex had better light on them. However, the runways are offset so the rotation point is further west and beyond the area in which we are allowed to fly. However, you can get a view from above and behind as the jets get airborne. An El Al 777 took off while I was up and I managed to get some shots of it as it rotated and climbed away and the vortices were clear to see as the angle of attack increased.

NASA’s DC-8 Is Watching Me

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While hanging out at Rainbow Canyon awaiting the next jet, someone was flying high above. They were pulling a contrail at their altitude so you had a really good idea of their flightpath. They were flying regular extended orbits above us. The racetracks they left in the sky made it all pretty simple. A look at an ADS-B tracker told me that this wasn’t a tanker waiting for trade. It was NASA’s DC-8. This is a rare beast indeed and, while still a long way off, I was glad to get a shot of some sort of it.

The First 737

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The Museum of Flight has a number of prototypes of Boeing airliners. They have the first Boeing 737. This is a 737-100. Very few of these were built with the 200 series being introduced soon and then taking over completely until the introduction of the 300 series many years later. (For those of us of a certain age, the 200 series was known as the Classic once the 300/400/500s came into service. Today they are often called Classic when compared to the NG models which are, themselves, now being superseded by the Max.)

The first airframe ended up with NASA being used for testing duties of all types. At the end of its testing career with NASA, it made its way back to Boeing Field and to the Museum of Flight’s outside collection. These are now under cover with a roof having been built over the many aircraft. The 200 series is a pretty short jet but the 100 is even more so. It is quite something to see this aircraft and compare it to the big aircraft that are now the staple of Boeing’s output. The Max 10 will be nearly 50% longer than the original.

The aircraft is displayed in its NASA colors rather than the original in-house colors when it was first built. Also, since NASA used it for a variety of odd tests, it has a bunch of additions from those test activities. Since it is parked in amongst the 787 and 747 test aircraft and is kept at the far end of the space, it is a little lost I feel. However, when you contemplate its place in the history of airliner development, it really is a very significant plane. There was a time when Boeing contemplated selling the whole program. How different things could have been!

PDX Evening Arrivals

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Back in the summer of 2017, we made a trip to Oregon for the solar eclipse. You can read all about that in previous posts here and here. The night before the eclipse, we stayed in Portland and the most convenient place to stay was at a hotel near the airport. The location turned out to be between the two runways at PDX and that evening the approach paths brought the planes in from our direction to the runways.

I figured I could pop out for a few minutes and photograph some of the arrivals. The evening light was coming in and we were a little on the wrong side of the closer runway but this was an impromptu shoot so I didn’t mind. A little biz jet traffic came in on the other runway while I got a selection of Q400s, FedEx freighters and the usual narrowbodies.

Since I was close to the centerline of the approach, it provided a slightly different perspective to that which I would normally go for. Looking up and almost straight down the nose is interesting. Not something to do all the time but certainly some variety (particularly if it only requires you to walk out to the parking lot). It’s good to try different angles on a regular basis and avoid getting repetitive.

Lufthansa A340 and His Buddy

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Heading back to Hawthorne after my flight over LAX, another plane was coming in to the southern complex. I had forgotten it was due and, after moving to the south of the field, we could have got a good shot of it landing. Never mind. This Lufthansa A340-600 beat me but I was able to get a shot of him from a distance as we headed in and, since there was a parallel approach on the northside, I got his little cousin in the shot too.

One of My Better Encounters with the Dreamlifter

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I have had some mixed luck with the Dreamlifter. Light failing at the wrong moment or the sun setting just before departure are two examples. On this occasion, though, things worked out pretty well for me. I was visiting Future of Flight so I was on their viewing deck when the jet departed. I watched them start up (including some nice puffs of smoke as fuel and oil burned off at ignition) but they were partly obscured by a hangar.

Pushback made everything easier and they then taxied right towards me. It is true that you are looking into the sun at this point but it was still not a problem to get shots of the plane without a problem. They taxied out past the parked IL-76 and then held in front of us for a moment. The wind was good for northerly departures so they taxied across the threshold and then down Alpha to the other end of Paine Field.

Take off had to wait for a couple of Cessnas and then they lined up and headed our way. I was definitely not alone on the viewing terrace at this point! Little areas of snow alongside the runway were apparent when the outboard engines disturbed them. Then they were rotating and climbing towards us. Finally I got some decent conditions for some shots. Now, I guess, this will happen a lot and I will wonder why I ever was bothered about not shooting the jet in nice light.

LAX is Attracting the Neos

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The A320neo (and more recently the A321neo) has been a big seller for Airbus. However, introduction has not been smooth with both of the engine suppliers struggling to meet their commitments for powerplants (Pratt and Whitney definitely having the worse time of it). Despite this, the neos are turning up in service in a lot of places but I had not seen a lot of them. My trip to LAX changed that a bit.

Here I got to see a few operators with the neos in service. The far larger fan diameter of the new generation engines makes the neos reasonably easy to spot and I like a big high bypass engine so I appreciate the change. It won’t be too long before they are around in huge numbers and won’t be worthy of comment but, on this trip, I was pleased to see so many.

Qantas Celebrates Aborigine Art Again

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Qantas has decorated previous aircraft with liveries that encompass aborigine art. Their Wunala Dreaming aircraft was well known around the world and, in an age when airline liveries tend to be rather bland, these colorful jets are a welcome change. They have taken a similar route with one of their new Boeing 787-9s and I saw it at Paine Field during test flying. It came in from the south and executed a go around from relatively low level.

Then they caught me out by heading north to turn and make an approach from the opposite direction. This required some rather swift repositioning by me. In fact, I got to the parking lot as they were on final approach and, rather than park, I just pulled to the side, ran up the bank, grabbed the shot and then got back in the car to park properly. It was tight but it worked out okay.

Most West Coast??

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The merger of the Virgin America operations into Alaska Airlines means combining the Airbus fleet with the Boeings. Virgin America had ordered some A321neos and these are in the process of delivery just as things are being merged. Alaska chose to change the livery on the next one off the line and adopted a scheme designed to reflect the number of flights they now operate on the west coast. The Most West Coast jet has not been popular since it seems to lack branding of either airline. It was at the gate when I landed in LA and I saw it taxiing out later that morning. I wonder how long it will last in this form?

Wamos – A New Airline for Me

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There are many airlines around the world so plenty that you probably haven’t heard of and may never see. Finding one in your backyard is a surprise though. There I was hovering over LAX in a Robinson shooting pictures of the arriving and departing jets and a 747-400 appears on the approach. Since they are becoming fewer and further between these days, this was a good thing. When I saw the name on it, I had no idea what it was.

Wamos is apparently a Spanish airline. They have been operating some flights to LA but, up until this point (and the subsequent research I did), I had never heard of them. I guess we just never crossed paths. A new airline and a 747 was a pretty sweet combination. I was definitely on a roll on this flight as I got a number of treats.