This 777 pulled onto the gate in front of my while I was at Haneda. The radome seems to have taken a bit of punishment. It looks a bit like some of those shots you see of jets that have gone through a hail storm. I don’t know whether that is the case for this one and it has, no doubt, been checked and found to be airworthy but it certainly looked out of keeping.
I nearly missed this one. A JAL 737 was taxiing in at Haneda and the guy next to me seemed very interested in it. He was shooting it when it was still a long way off and I didn’t know why. As it got closer, I could see two Japanese flags flying from the cockpit windows. I figured it must be something so grabbed a few shots. As soon as it was gone, he packed up and left. Talking to someone the following day, he told me that JAL currently has the royal transportation contract and that includes some flights on the narrow body fleet. I guess someone royal was on this flight.
ANA painted three jets in special schemes in association with Star Wars. They have an R2-D2 scheme on a 787-9 and a BB-8 scheme on a 777-300ER and I have shot both of them in the US. They have appeared on the blog here and here. The third jet was a C-3PO scheme that was on a jet that was used in the Asia regional flights so I did not anticipate seeing it. However, it showed up at Haneda while I was there. Consequently, I got to shoot it at last. Sadly, it departed off the other runway so I only got a distant backlit shot.
There was another 767 that also showed up with some Star Wars markings on it. It wasn’t a complex scheme like the first three but it was a Star Wars scheme. I guess I must have got all of them by now unless anyone knows of another one that is out there?
UPS is buying a bunch of 747 freighters at the moment. I have shot a few of them including examples here and here. The route back to Paine Field takes them across our area when the pattern being flown is a northerly. I grabbed the camera to see this primer example heading over. As the plane flew by, there was a lot more noise than would be normal for a jet on the approach and it had a vibrational element which made me think the RAT might be deployed. Sure enough, when I checked the shots, the RAT could be seen under the wing route. This is a normal flight test requirement so nothing to be concerned about but this was the first time I had heard a jet at speed with the RAT out and I was surprised how loud it was.
Watching a bunch of arrivals at Vancouver, I got a lot of shots of aircraft reversing thrust. Current jets fall into one of two categories. Cascade reversers or bucket reversers. The bucket reversers aren’t quite as obvious as those fitted to the old 737-200s where they clamped across the whole exhaust but the effect is much the same. Bucket reversers look like they are doing the job to me. They hang out and you can imagine the flow being turned around as they power up. Cascade reversers are far more subtly as the nacelle translates aft and the flow is redirected out of the based of fins that is now exposed. I imagine they are similarly effective but I have no data to back that up. If someone knows more, please let me know as I am genuinely interested to find out.
The Lyons Museum included a few larger types in the hangar. At one end they had both a DC-3 and a C-47. While notionally different types, they are in principle the same aircraft and one that Douglas churned out in huge numbers. The DC-3 was configured in a slightly more comfortable way than the C-47 though. Troop transport was not a luxury business. Get as many people and bits to where you are going as you can. The paying passengers were a more demanding crowd and the interior is designed to make them feel like they were being treated accordingly. Either way, they are both great looking aircraft.
Production of the 737s is rapidly transitioning from the NGs to the Max at this point. Still plenty of NGs being built but the Max is no longer a novelty and soon they will be the vast majority of what is coming out of Renton. I have seen a few Air Canada Max 8s and another one was heading out on a test flight while I stopped for lunch at BFI. I like the new Air Canada colors. As with any livery change, there are plenty that don’t appreciate it but I like the combination of retro and new and the fact it isn’t like everything else is good. The bandit eyes are a bit more of an acquired taste but they are fine I guess.
The failure of an engine on a Southwest 737 that sadly resulted in the death of a passenger caused a major review of the fleet of 737s. Inspections were identified for the engines in the affected range and everyone was scrambling to find facilities in which to carry out the checks. ATS at Paine Field is one of Southwest’s suppliers and they took in a number of the jets. Towards the end of the fly day that Paine Field was having, three Southwest jets emerged from ATS’s facility. They were towed to the north end of the field.
Here they were started up and they took it in turns to taxi down to where we were and then depart. One of the jets was an 800 series and may not have bee affected by the inspection but could have been at ATS for other work. The 700s were quite possibly part of the inspection process. After a day of light traffic and warbirds, the appearance of three Southwest 737s and their subsequent departures made for a change of pace.
One of the fun things about shooting at a different airport is the airlines you are not used to seeing. Interjet is a Mexican airline that I have seen occasionally at LAX and I believe now goes to SFO (too late for me though) but they do serve Vancouver. They are also an operator of the Sukhoi SSJ (although sadly not on this run). They arrive later in the evening so are timed well for the light to be good in the summer months. The A320 may not be as unusual as the SSJ but as a different operator to the norm for me, I was happy to get it arriving.
Aside from the USAF, FedEx is the main recipient of aircraft coming off the 767 line these days. They have just placed another order too so they will continue to take new 767 freighters for years to come. One of the jets was planning to have a first flight at Paine Field. Prior to first flight, Boeing tends to run a high speed taxi and braking profile. If this goes well, they will then take off for the first flight. Judging by the radio traffic this time, things were not going well. They did one run, braked and vacated. They taxied down to my end and repeated in the opposite direction. Then they called the tower to confirm that they were heading back to the ramp. I imagine they fixed the issue before too long but no first flight on this occasion.
