Nothing too special about this post. I was out at Boeing Field for the flights of Sentimental Journey but the traffic to SEA was passing overhead. Most traffic is domestic but you do get the international movements too. In this case, I got three 787s in very short order. They came from British Airways, JAL and ANA. I figured they could have their own post so here you go.
The C-12 Huron is the military version of the King Air. While it has been successful as a transport, it has also been the basis for a ton of derivatives. I am not an expert on this type and all of its subtypes so, when I see one, I can’t say for sure what it is. The most recent versions have been the MC-12W but I am not sure that they all look alike. When I saw this plane taxiing out at Boeing Field, I wondered if it was an MC-12W and asked a couple of friends that know more than me. They weren’t sure either. It might be or it could be something else. Whatever it is, it was an unusual visitor.
The day after I went to the Edwards show, I was hanging around the area and headed up to Mojave to see whether Stratolaunch was going to move. It didn’t, which was disappointing but the time up there was not wasted. I got to shoot some stuff around the airport that I hadn’t previously and I went to the north end to look down the runway in case anything was moving. I saw that a Western Global 747 was coming in and decided to head to the south end to get it arriving. As I left, an L39 took off to the north. I should have paid more attention to it.
I short while later – once I was well away, it was followed by a more interesting plane that it was acting as chase for. A Scaled Composite 401 known by a variety of names including Son of Ares. To miss that climbing out past me was bad. It got worse when I realized the 747 had approached from the north so I missed it anyway. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake when the 401 returned.
I did have to wait for quite a while. They were undertaking flights at altitude and running racetrack patterns. I could get the occasional distant shot as they went overhead. Eventually the L39 returned and I figured it wound’s be too long before the 401 was back. I had picked a spot on Google Maps that looked promising for the approach. As I waited, I realized some other photographers were on the other side of the road and closer to the centerline. I wondered about moving but also didn’t want to miss it while I did so. I stayed where I was. A bit distant but still worth it for an unusual type. It has been seen at Boeing Field but not by me!
One of the highlights of the show at Edwards Air Force Base was the appearance of NASA and DLR’s SOFIA airframe. A Boeing 747SP that has been converted for infra-red astronomy, this was my first time seeing SOFIA. It has a large telescope mounted in the rear fuselage with a huge rotating door that opens up when at cruising altitude – above the majority of the atmospheric blockage to IR – to allow the telescope to make observations.
SOFIA is being retired. There is a debate about whether this is purely budget related or whether the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (which also observes in the infra red spectrum), means that it is no longer needed. Whatever the reasons, it is being retired and this show was a bit of a swan song. As part of this, they actually opened up the door for the telescope which, apparently, is a first since it was first commissioned other than while it was observing.
The plane made a run in from show left making a cool pass but this was the side without the telescope visible. They then turned around and made a banked pass along the crowd line with the telescope visible. At first I thought that they had blown it because they had a nice bank angle on but were lining up too soon. However, they straightened up for a while before bringing the bank back on and giving the crowd a good view.
They landed after this and taxied in to where I was waiting but that will be a separate post.
My visit to Myrtle Avenue proved to be a success, even if it had been a lot shorter than intended. As I headed back to the Tube, I was ready to call it a day. The arrivals had moved to the northerly runway and I figured that was not going to be practical to shoot. However, I could see the arrivals in the distance and decided to try one of the overpasses to see if I could get any shots. This location was not great but I decided to walk a little along the road to see whether there was anything better.
What I had not thought about was that, since I was on foot and didn’t have to worry about parking, I could really try anywhere. This worked out very well and I progressively made my way up the perimeter road trying out different locations that either had good angles or were closer to the approach path. The good news was that there was plenty of traffic and, while British Airways A320s were extremely prevalent, there was a lot of variety.
I am not sure the next time I will get to shoot an Iran Air A330 for example. I was also getting lots of arrivals of Middle East carriers as well as African airlines. All of this is a nice change from the regular traffic I see on the west coast of the US. I was also getting a few jets from airlines I meet see at home but not the types that I would normally see. All of this combined with the sun being particularly cooperative and I was quite happy with the conditions. I was mainly shooting stills but I did occasionally try a bit of video as you can see below.
I saw this jet on the flight line at Renton a while back. It is a 737-10 and is the first one to be in the colors of United Airlines. It will probably be their first jet in service (assuming the 737-10 ever gets certificated) but, in truth, the development jets are also going to United (again assuming that ever happens) so they are really United’s first jets. However, you get the gist of what I am saying.
If you were to ask people what characteristic Seattle would be known for, I suspect a fair few people would tell you it is rain. It is true that we have damp winters here but summers (while a little late in starting) are actually rather dry. However, we can still have some humid conditions which can be good for forming vapor and, if you watch the jets heading in to SEA, you will often see vortices streaming off the flaps and the occasional puffs of moisture above the wings.
Occasionally, the conditions are just right and you get a lot more vapor. Better still, if this happens in sunny conditions and the planes are slightly backlit, you can get some lovely rainbow effects showing up. I got lucky with one such day. Asiana had an A350 coming in at this time so I was treated to some interesting effects. A Lufthansa 747 and CargoLogic 777F also arrived but I decided to go with video on those to show off the fleeting nature of the vapor is it formed and dissipated.
There are a few operators of large warbirds that take their planes on tours around the country providing people with an opportunity to check out the planes or, if they are willing to splash some cash, take a flight in them. Sentimental Journey is a B-17 that undertakes such flights and it came to the Pacific Northwest during the summer. I was at Boeing Field for a week before moving on to Arlington (of which more another time).
Because it does much of its business at the weekends, it is relatively easy to find time to come and see it fly. It did also do some flying later in the day so I was able to see it a few times. It certainly helped that the weather was really nice. I got some shots of it as it came to Boeing Field and then made some trips around the Puget Sound area. Here are some of the shots from that time. I did spend a little more time trying out shots from different places and those will get another post soon.
One weekend, I saw an early arrival of an Icelandair 757 was scheduled for Boeing Field. The weather was not looking great but it was an unusual arrival and I didn’t have any competing things top do so I went across. Icelandair has some charter aircraft and this one turned out to be one of those. I have shot the Abercrombie and Kent jet before. This is a high end tourist operation that takes people from exotic location to exotic location. On this occasion, it was something similar. This time the operation was National Geographic. When I saw the plane, I was quite surprised but not so much that I could grab a few shots!
I was at Boeing Field for the arrival of the Blue Angels for Seafair. It was a work day so I was sitting in the car and actually presenting to some colleagues via a Teams call. My presentation was underway as they were getting close but it was almost done. I was hoping that it would all wrap up before they got there. Sadly, I was wrong. I was on the final section of the presentation when they flew overhead in Delta formation. I was shut in the car but still had to explain why it had suddenly got so loud at my end.
Fortunately, that was the end of the meeting and I was able to get out of the car in time for the arrival of the individual jets for landing. I did get to see the Delta arrival again later in the weekend but I am not sure whether it is my imagination or not but it seemed lower and closer on that first occasion when I was sitting in the car with no camera.
