Tag Archives: airplane

Development Epic E1000

The Epic E1000 is a development of a kit built turboprop aircraft called the Epic LT. It has been around for a while and the development from kit built to certificated production aircraft has been very drawn out. While many similar projects falter, this one seems to have hung in there. I think there are a only one or two of the production E1000 aircraft at the moment and one came to BFI. I caught it rolling out after landing and then taxiing to the Modern ramp. It is a curious looking airframe.

It later departed but it was hard to get a good shot. It got airborne early and there was quite a crosswind so they nosed in to that and towards my position. I effectively got head on and underside shots only so barely identifiable. Still, it was good to see it. I have seen some of the earlier airframes in California and at Oshkosh but not for a while!

Not Only a G-III But A Cool One

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If I see a GIV these days, it barely gets any attention from me. Sure, I’ll take a shot, but I am not getting excited. Go back a generation, though, to the G-III and suddenly I am definitely paying attention. One came to BFI recently and, while I was at the wrong end for an arrival airborne shot, I did see in the distance on final (no heat haze thankfully) and then as it rolled out and headed to the ramp at Modern. It was also in a nice dark paint job and it looked pretty cool.

It didn’t hang around too long. I watched it taxi across the field and up to the departure end. Then it was time for the long lens. The old Spey engines don’t have as much grunt as the later Tays so I anticipated a longer takeoff run and was not disappointed. I then watched it climb out with the Speys belching smoke. The engines are hushkitted but are still noisy beasts. As it climbed away, I got a clear view through the hush kits including the lobes of the exhaust diffusers. What a fun thing to see.

Gliding At Arlington

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Arlington has a gliding club and they were active on a Sunday visit. They had two gliders in action while I was there. Both are Let gliders, one a Super Blanik and the other a Solo. The tug was their Pawnee and it was busy getting them up. Neither glider was spending long airborne. They towed up to the north and were released and seemed to be straight back in to downwind and then landing. Sometimes, they beat the Pawnee back in.

They were a long way from me on the other side of the field but, with cool winter conditions, the heat haze was only an issue close to the ground and, as they climbed away, you had a pretty clear shot against the mountains.

Floatplane 185

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This Cessna 185 looked in great condition and any plane on floats is going to get my attention anyway. The buzz saw sound of a 185 as it takes off will definitely get your attention but it is not so intrusive when it returns. Having some nice winter light on it was a good thing and floats just make any place look better.

Korean Air BBJ Is Back

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Korean Air’s fleet of bizjets come through Seattle quite frequently. Their BBJs are not uncommon. They use the airfield as the departure point for the trans-Pacific route to Korea. Unfortunately, they often arrive in the middle of the night and head straight back out again. I timed it well when they were making a daytime stop. I got the arrival and the departure this time.

Conditions were not great but, last time I shot one of their BBJs, the high sun made the livery glare a bit. Flat lighting avoided that this time. The departure was a good one for me. The route across the Pacific is a long one so the plane was pretty heavy. This meant it rotated a long way down the runway and closer to me and was still only just climbing when it was level with me. I went with a long lens which meant things got large quickly. It did give me some shots I was pretty happy with, though.

Super Bugs At BFI

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Stopping for lunch at BFI, I was happy to be informed by someone already there that there were a couple of Super Hornets from the US Navy that had departed earlier and were due back shortly. I was able to munch on my sandwiches and do a little work while I waited but it wasn’t too long before they arrived. Initially, they appeared to be making a section approach but, as they got closer to the field, the separated and came in with about a 30 second spacing. One of the jets had some squadron colors which is always welcome these days. Not a dynamic approach but still a nice surprise.

Is This Pitts Special?

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But of course it is! This Pitts lives at Arlington and I got to get some time watching its owner doing some pattern work. He ran it up near where I was prior to getting airborne and then proceeded to fly around the circuit for a while. Generally the approaches were a continuous turning descent which made for some top side views. Of course, the Pitts is not a large plane so, even with a long lens, it was still a bit small in the viewfinder but enough to get some reasonable shots.

National A330 Drops Off The Troops

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National Airlines has a single A330 and, with their livery being far from dull, it is a neat looking aircraft. It was coming to Boeing Field to drop off a bunch of troops. Why it didn’t go to McChord, I don’t know and I don’t care. I was able to get it on approach and then move down the field to see it parked up on Modern’s ramp. A bunch of coaches arrived to collect the troops and you could see them lining up to grab their kit from the hold.

With everyone on their way, the A330 headed off to its next destination. They had to cross the runway to get to the taxiway on the southwest side of he field since it is the only one able to accommodate widebodies. Then they were heading my way for departure. I stuck with the long lens to get a better rotation shot and then went for a close up of the gear retracting and the National logo on the underside of the plane. Shame the conditions were a bit dull for such a nicely painted plane but still a nice catch.

My Only A330-800

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The A330 has been a huge seller for Airbus. The A330neo has not sold as well. As an upgrade of the basic jet, it didn’t get a huge amount of interest from customers. It has started to seek a bit better and it is basically a good jet. It comes in two version and the A330-900 is the larger of the two and by far the more popular. The A330-800 has not sold well at all with a few going to operators, one of which is Uganda Airlines.

For some reason, they brought one of their jets to Seattle. It arrived on a cloudy day and didn’t leave for quite a while. It’s departure was late at night and I didn’t even bother trying to be there but I did catch it arriving. It certainly got a lot of attention from local photographers. It has a bit of nice color in the livery but isn’t the most distinctive of planes. However, I don’t know when I shall next catch an 800 so this could be it for a while for me!

Tufting The Wing

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I didn’t notice this at the time but, while working my way through some shots of the Alice taxi trials, I realized that the port wing is tufted. Tufting is a simple but effective way to see how the flow is behaving on a surface. It does need to be recorded, though, so I then looked for the camera and saw the blister up on the side of the fuselage that must contain the camera. I don’t know whether they have been paying attention to the flow visualization while doing taxi trials or not. They have had flaps down as well as up but, without the nose off the ground, maybe there has not been anything significant to see. They sure aren’t saying and have other things to address after some of the testing issues.