This United 747 was flying over the Bay during the Fleet Week display as I posted about in this post. One thing that was very obvious as the aircraft was put through its paces by the crew was that the number two engine seemed to be burning a lot cleaner than the other three. You wouldn’t pay much attention to the exhaust of a jet except when there is a clear discrepancy and, in this case, the number two was so obviously less smoky, I noticed. Maybe it was fresh from overhaul.
Getting an unusual visitor to SFO is worth a look. In June 2017, Finnair are going to be starting regular service to SFO from Helsinki. Ahead of that, though, there was a tech event taking place in Helsinki that meant a bunch of Silicon Valley types would be heading over. Finnair ran two charter flights to SFO, one ahead of the event and one after. More interestingly for me, while the service next year will be operated with an A330, the charter used one of their A350s. Since they won’t be coming back for the foreseeable future, this was a limited chance to catch them.
I only found out after the first flight so the second was my only chance. Fortunately, the weather was more cooperative. It was clear and sunny. However, the wind was over 20mph steadily and gusting stronger than that a lot of the time which made holding a long lens just a little tricky. The timing of the arrival was just late enough to make it a reasonable time to get some shots. Winter in SFO means that morning arrivals don’t have the problems of backlighting in the same way that there is in the summer but early arrivals are still not great. However, it arrived just late enough to have a chance of some reasonable light.
The conditions were clear and you could see the jet as it came over the top and then as it came onto final near Coyote Point. Another aircraft was lining up for approach out behind it and showed up clearly as a result of the clear air. The wind had subsided a little when they made the approach but not much. Consequently, I was fighting with the sail (as the lens became known that day) to keep a steady panning motion on the jet. Plenty of light certainly helped by keeping the shutter speed up.
I wanted to get some departure shots. I waited around when the plane was due to taxi out. However, I did have an appointment to get to and it was clear that the plane was not going to head out in time. In the end, I accepted the timing was against me and headed off. I actually drove by the airport on the way to the city and the taxiing jet came past me as I drove off. No way that I would ever have been around in time for departure. Oh well, at least I got it flying when it came in.
The Airbus A350 has been in service for a while. The first examples entered service in late 2015 and, indeed, I saw one at Heathrow in my last visit there. However, I hadn’t had a chance to shoot one until recently. Singapore Airlines introduced a direct flight to SFO using the A350 and the first flight used their aircraft that had been recently delivered from Airbus as the 10,000th aircraft that Airbus delivered. I wrote a piece about it for Global Aviation Resource which you can see here. It was early arrival for the jet but it was good to finally shoot one, even if the light was not ideal.
The casino business is obviously a bit of a money-spinner (well, for almost everyone who owns a casino!). In Las Vegas, the casinos put a lot of effort in to keeping their big money players happy. Sands has a fleet of aircraft that they use for moving these clients to and from their operations. Big jets are a part of this. They seem to focus on jets that can be customized nicely but aren’t terribly high on the acquisition cost scale. The two that I was most interested in were the Boeing 747SP and the Airbus A340-500. Both of these are cool looking jets as far as I am concerned and the Sands livery suits them well. Sadly, I have not been around when either of them flew but I have seen some great shots of them airborne.
Qantas started flying to SFO again this year. They used to have a regularly scheduled flight but dropped it for a while. Obviously the demand had increased enough to justify starting it again. I did a post when they started up. However, I hadn’t had much luck getting any reasonable shots of the arrival. When they are running to schedule, they are due in before 9am. This is not great timing for shooting at SFO in the winter but in the summer the plane will be backlit.
Fortunately, Qantas have a habit of running late on this service. I don’t know whether this is accidental or whether they will slip this flight deliberately if they have an issue. The plane has a long layover in SFO and doesn’t depart until near midnight so any delay is not going to have a knock on effect. Either way, later arrivals are not unknown. One of them coincided with one of my visits so I was able to get some better light on the jet. It was summer though. The middle of the day means high and harsh lighting. It seems like it is hard to win. Maybe in the winter I will get a day when they are late and the sun is lower and finally get a good shot.
Not all old airliners end up being broken down for parts. Some get a reprieve, at least for a while. A frequent secondary use for airliners is freighters and FedEx have an extensive fleet of old DC-10s that they use. These have gone through a cockpit upgrade program and have been renamed MD-10. However, even that is not enough to keep them going indefinitely and the fleet is gradually being reduced. One of them has got a new lease on life though.
Orbis is a charity that carries out eye surgery around the world in places where the medical facilities are limited. Cataract surgery is a simple procedure in some countries but a rarity in others yet it is a simple solution to a problem that affects thousands of people. Over the years they have had a number of airliners that are fitted out with an operating theater and they can fly into locations and carry out surgery on people who would otherwise have little hope of regaining normal sight. The current aircraft (see at the bottom) was a DC10-10 that had originally been with United. That aircraft is now being replaced with the MD-10 from FedEx.
I first saw the aircraft at LAX during its press roll out. I was landing and looked out of the window and there it was on the ramp. No camera to hand so just a memory. More recently, it spent some time at Moffett Field and I was able to grab a few shots. It was hot so, while I chose the better side for the light, it meant being a distance away and getting a fair bit of heat haze. I did also see the shady side through the fence. I imagine the jet is now off doing good work around the world. A great cause.
Air shows include a lot of planes that are regular performers. However, some shows manage to include something a little different and having a big airline with a local hub will help. The Chicago Air and Water Show would feature American Airlines jets when I lived there. San Francisco Fleet Week gets United to bring a jet. This year they brought a 747-400 to the flying display. Seeing a big jet like this thrown around the bay is really cool. Whether it is flying low over the bay or turning in near the Golden Gate Bridge, this is something you don’t get to see too often.
The college football season included a special game at the beginning of the season. The game was scheduled to take place in Sydney Australia rather than the US. Apparently, the NCAA is trying to increase interest in the sport in other countries and hosting a game in Australia was part of the plan. One of the teams was the Cal Bears. To get to Australia and back they chartered a jet for the team and support personnel. Given the number of people involved, it was cheaper than flying commercially.
They chartered a jet from Virgin Australia in each direction. The outbound leg was a jet that had made the LAX flight. Instead of flying the return, it positioned to SFO for the outbound flight. They then repeated the process in reverse after the game. I missed the departure rotation but I was there for the return journey. I may have shot Virgin Australia jets before but this was a bit different since they don’t normally appear at SFO. (Cal also has a sponsorship deal with Oakland so this was out of the way for them too!)
Sometimes you take a shot when you know it is pointless. However, something inside you says take it anyway and delete it later. One such shot was a 737 I saw heading to SFO while I was over in Hayward. I don’t know why I bothered with the shot, maybe the colors looked unusual, but when I looked at it later, it appeared to be in Boeing house colors. It looked like one of the 737-8Max development aircraft. A quick check on Flightaware and indeed it was. This shot is useless for most purposes but it is my first shot of a 737Max!
I have mentioned A340s and their gradual demise a few times in the blog. Sometimes it has been that I have got ahead of myself. However, I recently was genuinely surprised. Apparently, during the summer, an A340 makes a single flight a week into Oakland from the Azores. I had no idea about this until I read something about it online. A direct flight from Oakland to an island in the middle of the Atlantic? Who would have thought it?
I managed to be in place for the arrival one time. The airline is HyFly. I am guessing you have never heard of them. The jet is chartered from another operator but the whole operation is Portuguese controlled. (The Azores are Portuguese if you didn’t know.). The aircraft is totally unbranded. An all white A340-300 sounds really dull. I guess it really is. However, the novelty certainly caught my attention and I am both pleased and annoyed that I had no idea it was a regular visitor so close to home.