Tag Archives: airplane

Private KC-135s Look Best Without Barbed Wire

When the Singaporean Air Force wanted to add tanker capabilities a few years ago, they bought some surplus KC-135Rs from the US to operate. More recently, they acquired some A330 tankers from Airbus and the KC-135s were, again, surplus. This time they were picked up by a company called Meta Aerospace that bid on refueling work for the US Navy. I think Meta has changed its name to Metrea – presumably to avoid being confused with the Facebook parent.

Whatever the name, they brought one of the aircraft to Seattle for a little over a week for work that was being undertaken over the Pacific off the coast of Washington. They have their tankers painted in a rather nice livery with the company logos and I was hoping to catch one. As it happened, one was up one afternoon and there was a chance of getting there after work to get it. I headed down thinking I had some time in hand. I was wrong. They came back a little earlier than expected, the airport changed runways which meant I had to go further and traffic on that extra section was backed up. I got to the fence just as it was coming over the threshold and I managed a few weak shots with sections of barbed wire cutting through the airframe in most.

I wondered whether I had missed my only good opportunity but, thankfully, they were around for longer than expected and one of the flights again gave me a chance to get there after work. This time I was there with a bit more time in hand and was able to get some shots without the added benefit of wire foregrounds! The plane was on the ground at other times but, at this time of year, the heat haze at Boeing Field is pretty bad. Only on a crummy Saturday when my friend Chris was in town, was it possible to get a reasonably clear shot of it parked up. I wonder if we will see it back here at some point in the future.

Skydive Snohomish’s Jump Ship

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I was heading home from Arlington and passing Snohomish when it occurred to me that there might be an opportunity to shoot the Skydive Snohomish jump ship. They operate a Blackhawk conversion of the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. The conversion adds a more powerful engine which is useful for a jump ship that is focused on getting loads to altitude fast and then returning to do it all again. I turned off to the airport and saw that operations where on a southerly flow which means towards the road.

As I drove around, the plane took off directly over me, but I had no time to stop and get a shop. I parked up and watched it climbing above me and then disgorging its load of what my friend Bob calls meat bombs. The descent was pretty rapid, and the plane was landing as the jumpers were making their approaches. It pulled off the runway and then held on a taxiway for a while. It appeared that they waited until the next lift was ready to board at which point, they pulled up to the skydive facility and got everyone on board.

It was a short taxi to the hold point and then they were lined up and powering towards me. It is a short runway at Harvey Field, but they were rapidly airborne and climbing above me and on their way to the drop point. Once they were gone, I packed up my stuff and headed home.

The T-38 is Back Out Again

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It has been a long time since I last saw one of the Boeing T-38 chase jets. I don’t know whether they hadn’t flown for a long time or whether it is just I didn’t know anything about it. However, one of them started showing up a while back making a series of flights. The question was whether I would be able to be around on one of those occasions? Fortunately, the answer proved to be yes. I have not always been lucky with the light on the T-38s but, on this occasion, things were pretty good. When will I catch one or other of them next?

Ameristar DC-9 But It Doesn’t Move

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This plane was teasing me. Ameristar has DC-9s in its fleet and they are clearly not young airframes, but it is nice when they get a fresh paint job. One was at Boeing Field in a shiny new looking livery. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going anywhere while I was near it. I got shots of it on the ramp and near the terminal building. I also got an overhead shot of it from up on the hill. None of these involved it doing anything other than sitting there though. Let’s hope I get lucky with it before too long.

Lots of Approach Vapor for Video

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Seattle is a place where you can get a fair bit of humidity at certain times of day. Earlier in the day, there might be a lot of cloud but it will burn off as the day goes on and you have some sunny afternoons and evenings. Watching the planes on approach to SEA on days like this can make for some rapidly changing conditions. I was watching a bunch of jets heading towards SEA as they came through the clouds and into clear air. They would be leaving trails in the cloud base behind them as they went but would be trailing their own little vapor fields behind them.

The conditions didn’t last long and soon the clouds were almost gone and the amount of vapor that they were pulling was minimizing. The vapor was clearly aligned with the flaps on the wings so you could see where the air was being worked the hardest. I did get some shots of them for this which I shall share later but the way in which the vapor puffs and dissipates is best seen in video, so I shot a bunch of that. Most planes were coming directly over me but a couple of the wide-bodies were going to the inner runway so were offset from my location.

Leaking Fuel and Engines That Won’t Start

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The Memorial Day weekend included the visit to Boeing Field of four F/A-18 Hornets from the US Marine Corps. I had heard that they were in the area but wasn’t able to get out to see them until the Monday of the holiday weekend when they were due to head home. Weather was a bit overcast so not great for shooting a grey jet! Still, I wasn’t going to ignore them. When I got there, the crews were just beginning to look like they would be ready to go.

However, things were not going to be smooth. One of the jets was the color jet and I had heard that it had been leaking fuel during the stay. Sure enough, when they fueled it up for departure, it must have leaked again because a bunch of ground crew – presumably from the FBO – were suddenly out with absorbent pads and brooms to clean up whatever had spilled. This took quite a while to get done so the four pilots were hanging around the jets waiting to be clear to go.

Finally, everything was tidied up and they crewed in for departure. The sound of engines starting was a positive one but, as one jet fired up one of the engines, it definitely didn’t sound like it was spooling up at the same rate as the others. Sure enough, one jet shut down and the pilot hopped out of the cockpit, walked back down the fuselage and slid to the ground. I’m not sure what he did to the jet but he then retraced his steps, back up on the jet and strapped back in. This time, the start sequence went okay and they were all ready to taxi.

Log Boom with Mark

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My buddy, Mark, was heading through the region on his way south but he had a little time to kill. We agreed to meet up late in the afternoon to see what the traffic was like at Kenmore. He comes from Vancouver, so floatplanes are not a novelty for him, but a different operator is some variety I guess. I am always happy to watch floatplanes. I got there a little before him and got a couple of extra movements but there was still enough happening once he showed up. Log Boom Park provides a good spot to watch the planes from, but the summer can be trickier as it becomes a popular spot for the local kids to hang out and swim. Fortunately, the day was cooler, so we weren’t surrounded by kids.

Most of the planes approached from down the lake and came straight in but there was one Cessna that decided the southerly wind necessitated the approach over Kenmore. I would like more of those to be honest as they provide some interesting angles, but it was just the one this time.

A Few of the Recent Vision Jets in the Area

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The Cirrus SF50 Vision is a strange little jet. It might be jet powered, but it isn’t a particularly high performer. Sure, it is quicker than a piston aircraft, but it doesn’t compete with the jets that are a little larger than it and it certainly isn’t huge. However, it does fill a niche. There have been quite a few of them around her recently and, with its bulbous fuselage, V-tail and dorsal engine, it sure looks different. It also helps that they often get painted in interesting schemes so I’ll get shots whenever I can. Here are some I have seen recently.

Taking A Chance on Late Evening Light on the 727

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I had been disappointed by a Kalitta 727 that had come into Boeing Field during the day when I was unable to see it. I was heading home from meetings south of the city and stopped by to see if it was leaving that evening and they almost did and then had a technical issue. I had to get home so missed it. I was, therefore, rather pleased when I saw it was coming to Paine Field a little while later. It was due to arrive early in the evening.

The 727s are rare beasts these days but Kalitta has been picking up more and more 737s so you have to wonder how long the 727s will be around. My enthusiasm was tempered a bit when I saw that the previous leg had been a few hours late so the planned arrival time was not realistic. Instead, once it got airborne, it was due in around 9pm. Sunset was 9:12 so this would be tight for time and would require the weather to cooperate.

I had dinner with Nancy, and we hung out for a while at which point I had to make the call. Would I go up to Everett or not. The weather looked okay where we are, but you never know what it will be like further up towards the coast. At that time of the evening, it is a quick run so I figured I would just see how things looked. As it turned out, the weather was pretty clear, and they made good time and a pretty direct approach. As the three-holed beast came down the approach, there was low sun illuminating it.

I then headed around to the terminal to see if I could get a shot of them unloading. The sun was now setting so the sky was glowing behind the jet as the crew worked to offload the cargo. The fuselage was in deep shadow, but I used some HDR bracketing to give me options to work with. Overall, it couldn’t have gone better. They were looking for a quick turnaround and return to Michigan, but I knew it would be dark by then so headed home. I actually heard it climb out over us just after I had got into bed!

How Many Jets in One Approach Shot?

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I was waiting for one specific jet at SEA (which has long ago made an appearance on this blog) but, while I was hanging around, I was shooting different angles up the approach. In a few shots I could see a number of aircraft lined up on the approach or turning on to it. I played around with seeing how many I might get in one shot. It needed relatively clear air to get the more distant planes visible. A hazy day would not do the trick.