A simple post today of a plane taking off. Nothing too special about this one. Just a regular Max 8 heading to Malaysia. Since it was a delivery flight, I knew the jet would be a bit heavier and would have a longer takeoff run. I was hopeful of rotation in a good place for me to get some shots. It didn’t disappoint. I do like the livery on these latest jets for Malaysian Airlines.
I may have a soft spot for testbeds, but development airframes are also something that will interest me. While driving around Tucson International Airport, we were looking at the various airframes at one of the schools based on the field. There was a Dash 8 sitting in the yard. It had Series 200 markings on it and seemed to be a development airframe. With Mark being a Canadian, he was definitely pleased to catch this but I was too. It looks in surprisingly good shape.
My Arizona trip with mark started out in Phoenix. I got there earlier than he did and shot a little at Sky Harbor but, once we had met up, we decided to try what the evening shooting might offer there. I was particularly interested in getting the British Airways A350 when it arrived. Phoenix is a busy airport but does not have a huge amount of variety so this would be one of the more “exotic” arrivals. It was due to make it in just before sunset, but the flight was running a touch late, and I wasn’t sure if it would make it.
Keeping an eye on the track of the flight was one thing, but we were also keeping an eye on the horizon. There was low cloud in the distance which suggested that the sun might disappear from view before it actually set. Sadly, this proved to be the case. Things got gloomy rather quickly once the sun went behind the cloud bank and then, as it got low in the sky (out of sight) the light was fading fast. That’s when the jet arrived. Still, it wasn’t a total loss. Sometimes low light can be interesting. It wasn’t as good as the last light of the day glowing on the nose, but it was alright. We watched the jet taxi in and then decided to see what low light shots we could make work.
A while back I posted some shots of New Pacific and commented on whether they would survive. They are not alone in starting up an airline and operating tenuous routes. Avelo is another airline that has been created and runs between secondary destinations. I guess all of these new starts undertake charter work as well to keep utilization up and cash coming in. Avelo did a run to Boeing Field, and I figured that, unless I get to one of their destinations at any point soon, this might be my only chance to photograph one of their planes.
The arrival was not in the best of light, but conditions weren’t too bad, and I was happy to get some reasonable shots. When it came to departure, they were due out later in the day and the one thing you know about charter flights is that they won’t go even close to he planned time unless you are running late. Then they will be off early! Sure enough, they were dragging it out. I was wondering whether there would even be any light left when they went but, having spent a bunch of time waiting, I was not giving up.
One of my friends had been waiting too but finally decided enough was enough and headed home. I was not so sensible and stuck around. Finally, they closed up the jet and got the engines going. They taxied across the runway in a location that was quite convenient for me, so I got a bunch of shots. Then they got to the hold point and waited. I was thinking that they were toying with me, but it wasn’t too long and then they rolled. Overall, I was quite happy with the results. If I don’t end up seeing them again, these will have been worth it. If they become a major success and are all over the country, this will have seemed a touch futile!!
GlobalX charter flights are pretty common in our area these days. The company is expanding aggressively, and any charter work seems to be on the cards. This one flight was a bit unusual – at least compared to what else I have seen then do. The buses pulled up with the “passengers”. However, instead of all walking up the steps, they went one at a time. A closer look showed that their hands were in front of them – presumably in cuffs. I’m not sure whether this was a criminal transfer or a deportation flight, but I suspect the latter. I have seen plenty of DOJ flights into BFI but this was a first for me to see.
Icelandair painted a couple of its 757s in special liveries a few years ago. One of them, called Vatnajökull, has never been where I was or, if it was, the conditions were bad, or I couldn’t take any images. Finally, I saw that it was coming in one weekend and would be departing when there was a northerly flow, and the sun was likely to be out. I finally had a good chance to get it. Icelandair is adding plenty of Max 8s to the fleet and they are becoming more common into SEA and they will be getting some A321neos soon so the 757s might not be a reliable visitor here before too long. Consequently, I was glad to finally get some good shots of this lovely looking jet.
NASA chose to operate its DC-8 from the ATS facilities at Paine Field while they were deployed there for the trials program with the Max 10. They would start up from there and then taxi past the fire station for departure. I was more interested in getting the landing shots so I didn’t wait for their return there but, once the plane was on the ground, I did make a rapid move to get back where they might either be shutting down or would be disembarking. Quite a few people were onboard for each mission.
Closing everything down took quite a while and, once everyone was off, the steps were removed, and the ground power disconnected. They then towed the jet in to one of the open-ended structures so that the nose was under cover while the back end of the jet was in the open. This was the process each time, so I was able to take photos from different angles each time I was there. I never happened to be there when they reversed the process. The jet was already out by the time I showed up.
Boeing flew the EcoDemonstrator 777 from Paine Field for a while last year. I managed to be up there for the return late in the day, but the conditions were not that great. Having shot the plane at other times, I decided that the stills option was probably not the right one to take. They would not look that interesting. Instead, I decided to shoot some video of its return. Since going mirrorless, video shooting is so much easier because I can continue to hold the camera up to my eye as I would if shooting stills. It makes for a (slightly) more stable platform so a little less camera shake.
Given that National Airlines has a better than average livery, I will always be happy to get a shot of their planes. The 747s are a favorite given that they are less common post the pandemic. I was therefore really pleased that one was due into Paine Field one weekend. Of course, this is the Pacific Northwest and that means no guarantee of good weather. Sure enough, it was a bit overcast, and the air was damp. I wasn’t going to get gleaming illumination of the airframe, but I might get some vapor.
Things weren’t that great but there were some vortices streaming from the flaps as they came across the threshold at the north end of the airport. The grey of the livery was blending a bit with the clouds behind it, but the blues did still have a bit of punch to them. It could have been better, but it was still something I was pleased to get.
We took three internal flights while we were in Kenya and Tanzania and all three were interesting aircraft. Better still, they were all different types. One was a new one for me to fly on, but you might be surprised as to which that was. Our first trip was on a Let 410. It took us from the Serengeti to a short strip just short of the border with Kenya. This wasn’t my first ride in a 410 but it was my first landing. Previously I jumped out of one as part of a tandem skydive. This one had far more comfortable seating.
Once we crossed the border, we took another flight into the Maasai Mara. This was on a type that is ubiquitous in the area – the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. I have never been on one of these. They were very densely configured and getting through the cabin to a seat was quite an effort. I don’t care to think what getting out in a hurry might be like! We saw so many of these with different operators over the course of our visit.
The last type we flew was a Dash 8 100 Series. A far larger type than the others, this flies some heavier routes, and these might involve multiple stops along the way picking up and dropping off customers. Ours picked us up in the Mara and took us direct to Nairobi. No intermediate stops for us. It has been a long time since I flew in an early generation Dash 8, and I hadn’t thought of them as doing rough field ops. However, supporting remote communities is part of their history so of course they are fine on these strips. Unfortunately, heavy rains at the strip 90 seconds from our camp meant we had to drive for forty minutes to another strip to make this flight. It was a good trip, though. This part of the world was great for people like me that like close up encounters with aviation!
