Tag Archives: ATS

Putting Away the DC-8 Each Night

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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.

Landing a Southwest 737 in a Crosswind

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This Southwest 737-700 was completing a test flight at Paine Field.  The crosswind was pretty strong so the pilot used the wing down approach to handling the crosswind.  They touched down on the starboard gear and bounced a bit before settling those wheels on the surface.  A short while later, they rolled wings level and the port gear made contact.  Aside from the bounce, a pretty good example of landing in a crosswind in a big jet.

Omni 767 Visits ATS

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The Omni Air International 767s are a regular feature at Boeing Field.  I have even blogged about them recently when I caught one actually flying as opposed to the usual being parked up near the Kenmore ramp.  However, I have not seen one up at Paine Field before.  Having one arrive while up there at the weekend was a bit of a surprise.  I believe that it was heading to ATS for some maintenance work.  I guess it was a bit if an unusual thing for the crew too since, once they had run all the way to the far end of the runway, they seemed to struggle a bit with where they were supposed to go next.  They worked it out eventually, though.