With so many stored 787s at Everett in recent years, I have seen a bunch of Vistara jets on the ground. However, I hadn’t really done very well in catching them moving. Not very well is generous – I hadn’t got anything worthwhile. Then I was up at Paine Field earlier in the day for something else and a Vistara jet taxied out for a test flight. Thankfully it ran reasonably long on its takeoff roll and I was able to get some good shots of it.
A trip to Whidbey Island at the end of last year resulted in some encounters with the local P-8 Poseidons. The disappointment was that they weren’t exactly showing off loads of unit markings. With one exception, they were rather anonymous. I’m not sure whether they had been recently received and were later to get squadron emblems or not. I hope so. Fortunately, the light was nice at that time of year so I got some images I was pleased with.
During the trip with Mark, we made the excursion to El Centro to catch the Harriers. As I wrote in the post about those airframes, I thought it might be the last time I got to photograph Harriers. Turns out, I was a bit premature. With an exercise planned up in Alaska, the Marines were planning on taking ten jets to participate. Their routing staged through Boeing Field. The plan was for two sets of five jets to come across.
The moves were not entirely smooth. Bad weather in our area was not ideal, tanker support was not working to plan and then you get the occasional jet that breaks. However, we did get most of the jets showing up. The first bunch showed up at Boeing Field from the north. They were strung out on the approach but, from certain angles, you could see all of them stretched out over Seattle. One by one they came in and reminded us how loud a Harrier is in STOVL mode.
There was due to be the second wave later in the day, but they ended up showing up on another day. We had departures of the initial jets as well. When they called up for departure, they asked the tower to line up on both runways. This would have put them up at the north and away from where I was. This was a bad development. Fortunately, the tower informed them that they were too heavy for the short runway’s surface rating.
Instead, they lined up on the main runway spread out in a line. They powered up simultaneously and released brakes at the same time. The northern jet had no problem getting airborne in such a short space because of the STOVL capabilities of the Harrier. The jets further back were also airborne quickly and accelerating rapidly while still over the field. They climbed out in a loose line which meant assembling the formation would be a simple process. What a great thing to see one more time. Is that it for me and Harriers????
While Alaska Air Cargo has been struggling to add its new 737-800BCFs to the fleet, the -7000 freighters have continued to provide service to them. I have shot these a few different times, but I got some more recent shots of one of the jets at a time when the sun angle was such that the surface of the fuselage was illuminated in such a way to show up the textures of the construction. The conversion to freighter involves a lot of reinforcement around the aperture for the freight door. The light really highlighted this reinforcement well.
A simple post today of a plane taking off. Nothing too special about this one. Just a regular Max 8 heading to Malaysia. Since it was a delivery flight, I knew the jet would be a bit heavier and would have a longer takeoff run. I was hopeful of rotation in a good place for me to get some shots. It didn’t disappoint. I do like the livery on these latest jets for Malaysian Airlines.
A while back I posted some shots of New Pacific and commented on whether they would survive. They are not alone in starting up an airline and operating tenuous routes. Avelo is another airline that has been created and runs between secondary destinations. I guess all of these new starts undertake charter work as well to keep utilization up and cash coming in. Avelo did a run to Boeing Field, and I figured that, unless I get to one of their destinations at any point soon, this might be my only chance to photograph one of their planes.
The arrival was not in the best of light, but conditions weren’t too bad, and I was happy to get some reasonable shots. When it came to departure, they were due out later in the day and the one thing you know about charter flights is that they won’t go even close to he planned time unless you are running late. Then they will be off early! Sure enough, they were dragging it out. I was wondering whether there would even be any light left when they went but, having spent a bunch of time waiting, I was not giving up.
One of my friends had been waiting too but finally decided enough was enough and headed home. I was not so sensible and stuck around. Finally, they closed up the jet and got the engines going. They taxied across the runway in a location that was quite convenient for me, so I got a bunch of shots. Then they got to the hold point and waited. I was thinking that they were toying with me, but it wasn’t too long and then they rolled. Overall, I was quite happy with the results. If I don’t end up seeing them again, these will have been worth it. If they become a major success and are all over the country, this will have seemed a touch futile!!
Icelandair painted a couple of its 757s in special liveries a few years ago. One of them, called Vatnajökull, has never been where I was or, if it was, the conditions were bad, or I couldn’t take any images. Finally, I saw that it was coming in one weekend and would be departing when there was a northerly flow, and the sun was likely to be out. I finally had a good chance to get it. Icelandair is adding plenty of Max 8s to the fleet and they are becoming more common into SEA and they will be getting some A321neos soon so the 757s might not be a reliable visitor here before too long. Consequently, I was glad to finally get some good shots of this lovely looking jet.
While Mark and I were in Arizona, we were talking about the sighting of Harriers down at El Centro. Harriers are getting pretty rare these days and the Marines only operate them on the east coast at this point. A detachment to this side of the country is of interest! We debated the merits of a drive across to El Centro and decided to go for it. We left Tucson mid morning and got to El Centro in early afternoon. A quick drive around the south of the base saw one Harrier out in the open. We could hear it too but, before too long, all had gone quiet – at least as far as Harriers are concerned.
As the day wore on, we were beginning to wonder whether we had been mistaken or just unlucky when a call came up on the radio of what sounded like a Harrier call sign. A flight of four. The daylight was beginning to get a little thin, so it was quite late to be going out but, since they have night attack avionics, no reason for them to be limited to daylight only. Sure enough, we soon see a four ship of Harriers taxiing to the departure end.
The four of them launch in stream and, while they didn’t turn towards us when we would have liked them to, they did keep it low enough to get some nice shots. One of the jets even had some color. With them off, we decided to head around to the other side of the base to hopefully get their return. Not long after we got there, one appeared overhead and alone venting fuel. Clearly something was amiss, and it was making an early return. A long straight in approach was best for them if not us! Then we waited. Unfortunately, it became clear that they would not be back before it got dark, so we eventually gave up and started our return journey.
Boeing flew the EcoDemonstrator 777 from Paine Field for a while last year. I managed to be up there for the return late in the day, but the conditions were not that great. Having shot the plane at other times, I decided that the stills option was probably not the right one to take. They would not look that interesting. Instead, I decided to shoot some video of its return. Since going mirrorless, video shooting is so much easier because I can continue to hold the camera up to my eye as I would if shooting stills. It makes for a (slightly) more stable platform so a little less camera shake.
Given that National Airlines has a better than average livery, I will always be happy to get a shot of their planes. The 747s are a favorite given that they are less common post the pandemic. I was therefore really pleased that one was due into Paine Field one weekend. Of course, this is the Pacific Northwest and that means no guarantee of good weather. Sure enough, it was a bit overcast, and the air was damp. I wasn’t going to get gleaming illumination of the airframe, but I might get some vapor.
Things weren’t that great but there were some vortices streaming from the flaps as they came across the threshold at the north end of the airport. The grey of the livery was blending a bit with the clouds behind it, but the blues did still have a bit of punch to them. It could have been better, but it was still something I was pleased to get.
