I was in Los Angeles a little while back and managed to get a few shots of things at LAX between other activities. This is a quick picture post. The new international terminal has been opened and the big jets are often arrayed along it at the right time of day. The thing that I find funny about this shot is that the small fin in the middle is a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8. This is not a small plane but the Airbus A380 fins make it look tiny!
If you aren’t already bored with my quest for something definitive on the takeoff characteristics of the Boeing 777-300ER, here is something more on the topic. Rather than animation, this time it is a couple of still shots. The first is a 777-300ER rotating. The second is a 777F. You can clearly see that the truck is rigidly rotating on the 300ER while the freighter has all wheels firmly planted on the ground up into it gets airborne. Maybe I will call that it for now. I promise no more posts on this for a while!
I was in the vicinity of SeaTac when I saw on Flightaware that a freighter operated by Centurion Cargo was inbound. This was not an operator I had seen much of and, since I had a few minutes before I was heading to my next appointment, i thought I would try to catch it. Getting arrivals at SeaTac in the afternoon when they are coming from the north restricts the options for shooting. however, there was a place I had been before for departures that I thought I would try.
I got there with a few minutes to spare so was able to get an idea of what was possible with some other arrivals. The location was not ideal with a lot of trees in the vicinity which, even though it was winter, tended to obscure things a bit. There was a view through the trees up the approach and then along a road as they passed by. Neither was very good. I got a British Airways 777 which gave me a clue as to where the Centurion jet would appear and how much free space there would be. Not much as it turned out. However, I did get a brief view which will have to do for now.
Hyper lapse is not something I have tried a lot of but I have done a little experimentation. For those who are expert at it, my description might be a bit simplistic but it is basically a time lapse when the camera doesn’t stay still and the movement through a scene is accelerated. I had a go at this out of a window of a Southwest flight that was approaching Phoenix. Keeping the camera still and in the same reference to the aircraft is a little tricky but the nice thing about time lapse shooting is that small movements get blurred out quite quickly.
I liked the idea of the rapid passing of the scenery, the rapidity of the maneuvers and the speedy deployment of the flaps showing up. I decided to let it run until we were back at the gate. As my friend Paul said, “Don’t all Southwest flights taxi at that speed?”
Boeing Field not only is the home of development flight test activities for the commercial aircraft business but it is also where the production flight testing for the 737s is done. After the first flight from Renton, the jets come to Boeing Field for acceptance testing and delivery to the customers. Therefore, you can see 737s that you are unlikely to see again once they get into service. I had three customer aircraft on test flights at various times while I was there on one trip.
One of them is not such a surprise for anyone in Europe. A Ryanair 737 landed just as the sun was setting. That is a sight that many European travelers will have seen although we don’t get to see them over here. However, the other two were slightly more interesting to me. One was an Aeroflot jet and the other was from Iraqi Airways. I got the Aeroflot jet twice as it happened. It departed when I was passing through on my way to a meeting and it happened to come back late that day when I was coming back.
The Iraqi jet was one I had seen parked up as I drove by but I didn’t see it leave. However, it was due to return at the end of the day and actually came in not long before the Aeroflot jet. It was clearly going to be in before the sun went down. Aeroflot was a bit of a closer call. We knew it was coming but were watching the shadows stretch across the field and some clouds drift in. Fortunately, the cloud passed just in time and the sun was still just above the horizon so we ended up with some lovely light.
The President was visiting the Bay Area for a couple of days recently. This meant the arrival of Air Force One, the VH-3D helicopters, the C-17s to transport them and the V-22s that support the VH-3Ds. What more could an aviation guy want? I took a look at the temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) listed online to see when the airspace was going to be shut down. When the president flies, the airspace around him is shut down for security purposes. These closures are published (otherwise, how would the other pilots know not to fly) so it means we know when to expect things to happen.
Sadly, the arrival was on a day I was at work and was timed to come in to SFO around sunset so, even if I could be there, there was a chance that the light would have gone. (As it was, the arrival was just before the light went completely and a friend of mine did get some good shots.) The departure, on the other hand, was scheduled for Saturday morning. That I could manage. I figured that getting there early would be wise since I would not be the only one trying this so getting somewhere to park might be tricky. Plus, if they went early in the slot, I wanted to be ready.
I checked the TFR the night before and got up early the next morning. I had some breakfast and headed out. I arrived in plenty of time but did need to park quite a distance away. I got to the bayshore trail and found a few other guys with cameras. However, word quickly reached me that he had gone. I bumped into a friend of mine and he told me that he had checked the TFR earlier that morning and saw that it had been brought forward. He rushed out and got there just in time. I arrived about 20 minutes after they took off. Curiously, as I had been driving across the San Mateo bridge, I had seen a large jet airborne near the airport and wondered. Now I knew.
There was a silver lining to this disappointment. With Air Force One safely on its way, the V-22s were free to head out. The three of them took off in close succession and turned in our direction to head off down the peninsula. They didn’t come terribly close but I did get my first shots of them since they replaced the CH-46s that used to provide support. (Many moons ago I did see the CH-53Es that used to be undertake this role. They looked fantastic!)
The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is not a new plane. In fact, it first flew in 2009. Why is it, then, that I have never seen one in flight before? I have seen them on the ground at various times. This has included air shows and seeing them on the flightline at Boeing Field. I have come close a number of times there including some of the Indian Navy Ark variants that have been undergoing testing. Despite all of this, I had not seen one fly.
Fortunately, I have finally overcome this shortcoming, if only briefly. I found myself at Boeing Field on a recent trip to Seattle where I was eating my lunch between landing from a flight and heading off to a meeting. A pretty narrow window in which to hope to get anything interesting but, this time, I was lucky. The P-8 taxied out shortly after I got there and lined up. He wasn’t going for a takeoff at first. A surge of power and acceleration down the runway followed by an application of the brakes and the rejected takeoff test was done. This meant a trip back down the taxiway and right past me to get back to the threshold.
The second time was supposed to be the full takeoff and the lightly loaded jet was promptly airborne and heading off to carry out its tests. It would be gone for a few hours so I wasn’t going to catch its return but it was great to finally see one moving and flying.
I was back at Nellis AFB recently for another Red Flag exercise for Global Aviation Resource. Chris Wood and I were there to cover it and the piece we put together can be found at this link. After the last visit to Red Flag when a security issue resulted in all of the media being escorted off base just before the launch, I was hoping for better luck this time. Fortunately, we did pretty well. The launch went well and, while the light was a bit poor for the departures, it got better as the day went on.
Standing between the runways as the aircraft go off each side is pretty cool. We had a lot of USAF assets this time but also some Navy Growlers and RAF Typhoons. An RAF Sentinel was a nice addition – particularly as it was the aircraft with the squadron markings. One unfortunate element was that the launch was earlier than had been scheduled for our visit and the early aircraft off included the B-2s. We were still on the bus when they launched. I managed to get a shot with my phone out of the window but that was it. I do actually quite like the shot so all is not lost.
The feature has many more shots but here are a few to give you an idea of what was there.
Boeing is building 787s at something like ten a month these days. Consequently, seeing a Dreamliner is not such an unusual event any more as they are getting to the airlines at a rapid pace. However, it does mean that more airlines are getting the type. I have not seen a whole lot of different carriers using them yet although that will, no doubt, change. However, when a new one shows up, it does get my interest. China Southern started flying them to SFO and I saw my friend Roger had caught one. It has a pretty interesting color scheme so I wanted to get one too but they only fly three times a week and I hadn’t been there on one of those days.
Then I did end up in place when one was coming in. I heard it call up on the approach so knew it was coming in. At this point, my brain shut down completely. Another Asian jet was taxiing out of the international terminal area and came straight across the runway to taxi up alongside the bay. This provides a good view and some nice shot possibilities so I starting shooting it. Meanwhile, guess what was landing. I only realized at the last moment. I did get some shots of it on the ground but not exactly what I had in mind. However, since they will be coming for a long time, I guess I needn’t beat myself up too much. There will be another chance. In the mean time, here are a selection of Dreamliners I have shot so far, even if some of them are not in pristine condition!
Just a quick one here. I was departing Oklahoma City for home and, as we taxied out to the departure runway, we passed the Arinc facility on the side of the field. They had a selection of KC-10s and KC-135s on their ramp for work and a KC-10 was actually taxiing in after landing as we lined up. I grabbed a couple of shots of the ramp before we turned around for departure.