Tag Archives: Boeing Field

R44 With a Camera Boom?

There is no shortage of Robinson R22s and R44s at Boeing Field.  Plenty of flight training takes place there and these types will be on the move on a regular basis.  This R44 was coming in one evening when I was over there waiting for a later arrival.  What caught my eye was that it was fitted with a boom of some sort.  It looked like the sort of thing from which a camera might be mounted.  An extension would be needed to bring to camera forward far enough but maybe this was the base of the mount?  It was certainly not normal.  Anyone know details about this installation?

Alaska and Southwest on Test

The return to airworthiness of the 737 Max was first given in the US so there was a focus on getting airlines deliveries if they were under FAA jurisdiction.  I guess we didn’t realize at that point that there would be some follow on issues that resulted in these jets getting grounded but such is the life of the Max watcher.  Southwest started taking jets very soon after it was possible and Alaska soon followed with their first delivery – the grounding having come into effect before they had a chance to take their first jet.

On one day when I was watching the activity at Boeing Field, both airlines had aircraft out on test.  They were operating under Boeing flight numbers but it wasn’t possible to tell whether they were production flight tests for Boeing or customer acceptance flights.  No doubt I shall see a lot more of both operators with these jets in due course – once Boeing sorts out the latest issues and they become a more reliable part of service!

Long Time Since I Shot an MD-11 Touchdown

MD-11 freighters are still a big part of the UPS fleet.  In visits to Boeing Field before I lived up here, I got to see them quite often.  For some reason, my more recent visits have not included many MD-11s.  However, one nice evening with pleasant light, a UPS MD-11 was due in.  They were on a northerly flow so a touchdown shot was not a problem.  The bigger issue is that the 100-400 is fine for most of the sequence but, at the closest point, it is a bit too much lens.  Still, nice to get one of these again.  No idea what the long term plan is for UPS and the MD-11 but I hope they hang around for a bit.

Life Flight Bell 429

Life Flight Network operate a lot of movements at Boeing Field.  They have a Bell 429 that is there regularly.  The thing I like about this airframe is that it has a metallic looking paint finish which looks great on a sunny day and can really catch the light.  Here it is heading out on a mission from a while back.

T-34 Low Departure From BFI

A civilian owned Mentor lives in the Pacific Northwest.  I don’t know which airport is its base as I have seen it flying from a bunch of locations but it is always interesting to catch.  One morning I was up overlooking Boeing Field when it taxied out to depart from the short runway.  It is a small plane for that distance but unusual enough to justify some attention.  They took off quickly but kept it nice and low as they built up speed before climbing away for whatever they had planned.

Life Flight PC-12

PC-12s are a common aircraft in the North American aviation scene so this one is nothing special.  Seeing one on approach, albeit in nice light, is not cause for much celebration.  However, it does mean that, with the light on the nose and a prop spinning up front, it is worth dropping the shutter speed and getting some prop blur.  If I try and fail, I haven’t lost a shot of something that I wanted desperately to get and, if it works, it’s a bonus.

Aspen Sounds Familiar

There was a call sign of an inbound flight at Boeing Field that caught my attention.  It was Aspen.  This is a call sign that the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB has used since the days of the SR-71.  I have seen their T-38s show up at Boeing Field before so thought there was a good chance it could be another one.  Sure enough, when they called up on approach, I could see a T-38 inbound.  However, it was coming in at the same time as something else and it was actually aligned with the short runway.

They put the power on when crossing the airfield boundary and pulled up into the downwind for a second approach.  The first approach had made the jet look pretty small in the viewfinder – I hadn’t realized that they were further away than the main runway – so I went with the 500mm when they came back.  This made for a tighter shot than expected.  However, I managed to get a few shots of the jet as it turned final – a long way away – and then as it was on short final.  A nice treat.

Shooting Slower Landing Shots

One evening, I was shooting at Boeing Field.  The light was lower in the sky but it was still pretty bright.  The thing with corporate jets is that they are often predominantly white and the brightness of the jet with a darker background can make for more contrast than a camera sensor can adequately deal with.  You can sort out things in post but it is often too bright.  I figured I wanted to try and reduce the glare on the jet and that the polarizer was a good way to do it.

This has a second outcome.  Taking out that might light allows the use of slower shutter speeds without having ridiculously small apertures – a sure fire way to find every bit of dust on the sensor.  Since I was shooting bizjets at Boeing Field, things weren’t terribly special so I was happy to play around with going down to lower shutter speeds.  A boring side on landing shot is a bit more interesting when the background is blurred and the sense of motion is enhanced.  I need to practice this a bit to use it more often since it makes for a more interesting shot which I want to be able to use on something a bit more special.  Definitely need to lower the shutter speed further.

Belavia

Another new airline for me with this post.  Belavia is not an airline I am familiar with but I understand that they are from Belarus.  One of their Max jets was on test while I was at Boeing Field and it came in late in the day.  I was glad to add another unusual carrier to my library of shots.  Nothing special about it otherwise but nice to get something new.

Under the Biz Jets

While the 777X was the reason for being out at the end of Boeing Field, it wasn’t the only plane to come in while I was there.  I also got a couple of bizjets arriving at that time.  They are an easier target to deal with than a wide body airliner but they still show up quickly when they come in to view.  In this case, though, I stuck with the longer lens and just shot until they got too big.