I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair. I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface. From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing. I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine. Interesting effect, whatever the reason.
GlobalX (also known as Global Crossing Airlines) seems to have a variety of ways in which it paints its airliners. Not sure what the strategy is with the liveries. Maybe they are used for different roles or clients or maybe they just can’t make up their minds. Whatever it is, there are some interesting ways to brand the airline. Here are the ones that I have seen so far.
My aviation interests are varied but my favorites are modern and recent jet fighters if I am pushed. However, vintage aircraft and warbirds are still pretty cool even if they are not something I know a huge amount about. There will be occasions when such a type might be enough to get me out and about. I was on the fence about going to the Bremerton Air Show but, when I heard that Erickson was bringing its Grumman J2F Duck to fly at the show, my interest was piqued.
I have seen a few of these amphibious planes in museum collections but I have never seen one airborne. It is such a quirky looking airframe; I was really interested in getting some shot of it flying so that tipped me over the edge with regard to heading down to Bremerton National Airport for the show. This is the sort of thing that then results in the plane going tech and me being disappointed. However, that was not to be the case this time.
Mike Oliver flew the display in the Duck. We were seated in a location close to where it was parked so got to watch it from start up to shut down. No great aerobatic performances for a plane like this but the nice thing was that they got their whole collection airborne together and then everything else went off to hold while the Duck took center stage. A few nice passes and then it came back into land. The light could have been better, but it was still pretty good. I finally have ticked it off. I guess now I’ll see them everywhere!
A while back, I was wandering around the Kenmore Air base at the top of Lake Washington. I saw a camouflage painted Otter on the parking area and grabbed some quick shots. More recently, it was operating on the lake with a new registration and Kenmore’s own markings. I guess they have taken it on charge. Not sure where it came from, why it is painted in this scheme and whether it was always the plan for it to be added to the Kenmore fleet but here it is!
The “at last” in this title is not that I haven’t seen an F-22 demo in the evening. I saw one once at Chino and it was very cool. This is more about the fact that the Raptor demos in recent years have not strayed far west very often. They did a demo in Australia but only had one demo west of the Mississippi for one season. However, Canada did attract the team, and Abbotsford provided a chance to see them for me.
The pilot for the demo for the last two years is a guy that was a regular attendee of air shows in the Midwest when I lived there. I know some of his friends, but he was quite young then and I can’t claim to know him. Even so, it is rather cool to see him have made it to his chosen airframe of the F-22 and then to become the demo pilot. Only near the end of his second year did I finally see his routine and it was a good show. I know he has used flares at a number of events, but warm dry weather probably has meant that the fire risk precluded that. Even so, the evening light made for a great show.
Nicely done, Sam. Excellent performance. Hope you have enjoyed it for the last two years.
Each year, there is an event held at Abbotsford International Airport to encourage the involvement of young women in the aviation business. You get quite a few military aircraft arriving for the event, and they focus on female crews from the units to bring the planes in. While this is in Canada, the US supports the event well. I headed up to see what the arrivals would include.
Weather was a bit overcast so not ideal given that plenty of the planes coming in will be grey. However, there were hints of sun periodically although it did end up throwing down more rain around the time I was leaving. Aside from the A-10s and a Cyclone, the arrivals I saw were dominated by transport and tanking types. The KC-135s had come quite a long way but the one I was probably happiest to get was the C-5 Galaxy. No TF-39 whine, these days, but still a cool jet to see flying.
The increase in air traffic post the pandemic has been significant and international travel has been boosted. Seattle Tacoma International Airport has been adding to its international destinations with new operators on a pretty regular basis and the most recent new addition has been Starlux. Starlux is a Taiwanese airline operating services to Taipei with its fleet of new Airbus A350-900s. I had seen that they were operating to San Francisco and was a little jealous of not getting to see this new fleet but, now they are coming here, I can see them too. Here is one of their jets on approach to SEA to inaugurate the service.
After posting about the possible last encounter I would have with Harriers, I have since posted more shots of them coming through Seattle on their way to Alaska. Of course, they had to come back at some point and Boeing Field was the stopping off point again. Consequently, I have even more shots of them. The arrivals were pretty straightforward, and I was pleased with the results. When it came to departing, they were going early in the day and so I had to try something different for a location. As it turned out, they weren’t going home when I took these shots. They recovered back to BFI after I had left. They did eventually head east, though. Maybe that is it at this point?
The Marine Corps F-35Bs have been in service for plenty of time now and I have had the opportunity to photograph them on quite a few occasions. However, I had not, until this year, seen their air show demo. I have seen the RAF F-35B at RIAT on an occasion, but it was not a full demo but a brief flyby and hover. Consequently, when the jet was slated for the Seafair schedule this year, I was interested to see the performance. It turned out to be an interesting combination of things although maybe not intentionally.
The displays at Seafair are a bit tricky. The alignment of the lake and the populated areas means the show box is a bit distant from the shire. Consequently, the flying takes place quite a way from the crowd. This is not ideal for photos. However, the Marine demo did seem to approach the box from some interesting angles that included coming almost along the shoreline at one point. Not sure if this was intentional but it did make for some closer shots.
Sadly, the hovering portion was quite a way offshore. I had hoped that this might be closer in given the lack of speed but that wasn’t to be. Even so, it was fun to watch the jet doing its thing and looking to see how much the surface of the lake was being disturbed by the efflux. Hopefully, I’ll get to see the demo again at a location that allows some closer passes.
The retirement of the Martin Mars firefighting aircraft of Coulson took place about eight years ago and the two remaining aircraft have been in storage at Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island ever since. I have previously swung by when en route to Tofino to take a look at them but I had never seen them in the water. Recently it was announced that they were both moving to their final resting places. Hawaii Mars was to go to the British Columbia Aviation Museum in Victoria with Philippine Mars heading to Pima. The flight of Hawaii Mars was to include a bunch of flybys at significant locations in the area before ending up at Victoria.
This got a ton of attention in the aviation world, but it was just as big a deal for the local population. It was interesting to discover just how important these planes were to the people in the area as everyone I met was interested in them and had something to say about them. A bunch of us decided to head up the weekend that the move was supposed to take place. The original plan was to go on the Saturday which had been suggested as the move date. As things got closer, it became clear the move would be on the Sunday instead.
In the week before, the plane had been out on the lake doing taxi trials and then getting some flying time in. It became apparent that another flight would probably occur on the Saturday for some photo work. We had settled on a plan to head to Sproat Lake and rent a boat to go and see it in the water. The potential for some flying was a nice bonus.
When we rented the boat, the guy at the rental facility suggested to us that we should check out the flying boat while we were there. We explained that was the only reason we were there at all! It wasn’t far from the dock to Hawaii Mars at its mooring buoy. We were not the only ones interested. The plane was surrounded by boats, kayaks, paddle boarders and even some people swimming up to it from whatever they had come up on. As we worked our way around the plane to get images, it was a constant effort to be aware of who else was nearby and coming in or out of the shot. Some boats were going under the wings which took them perilously close to the props but, thankfully, nothing went wrong. We were still hoping for a flight, of course, but more to come on that.
I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair. I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface. From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing. I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine. Interesting effect, whatever the reason.
