Tag Archives: Boeing

Dreamliner Storage

Leave a Reply

A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest recently included a free afternoon in which I had a chance to do some exploring.  When I first new I was going to be in the area for a couple of hours, I wondered what to do.  I was thinking about shooting at Boeing Field or Everett.  Everett can have some interesting moves but can also have absolutely nothing happening.  Boeing Field can be the same of course.  I was still pondering this when on the flight across and then it occurred to me that Everett had some other things I had been meaning to do for a while other than hope for wide-body moves from the Boeing plant.

Paine Field (to give it its proper name) is home to a number of vintage aircraft collections.  I shall describe more exploration of them in upcoming posts.  However, as an appetizer, I shall mention something that does involve Boeing wide-bodies.  The 787 parking lot!  I knew that Boeing had produced a bunch of 787 airframes while they were still dealing with the design and production issues and that these were stored awaiting rework for delivery.  I had even seem some pictures.  However, I guess I had not really thought about it until I got there.

Paine Field is covered in Dreamliners!  They are everywhere.  Every time you go to a different part of the field, you come across 787s parked up.  Some are in areas being worked on prior to delivery.  Others are sitting on spare ramp space awaiting their turn in the rework process.  Some can be identified either because they are fully painted or parts of them are that allow you to work out where they will go.  Others are just white and who knows what awaits them.  They have large weights attached to the engine pylons to keep them balanced without forking out huge amounts of cash for the engines.  If you are of an accounting bent, you will still marvel at the amount of cash tied up in these airframes that will not be cleared out for at least 18 months.  No engines reduces this a bit but they are still expensive things to have lying around.  Boeing ran out of their own space so they are renting space from the airport for all of this parking.  I guess the airport is happy to have a bunch of cash coming in without having to suffer too much inconvenience!

If you are anywhere near Everett in the coming months, do at least pass by to see just how much is there.  Of course there are plenty of new jets being readied for delivery too but that just makes it look even more amazing!

Hello Fifi

Leave a Reply

As part of her tour of the country, Fifi, the B-29 operated by the Commemorative Air Force was coming to the Chicago region.  She was scheduled to appear at DuPage Airport, west of Chicago.  I had been in contact with the team about covering the visit for GAR.  This is something to be published soon so I won’t spoil everything just yet!  However, it is safe to say that I did head along and meet up with the team and see Fifi flying.

She was scheduled to fly three times during the day with the first trip being in the morning.  The layout of the main part of the airport meant that the light wold be bad in the morning but better later in the day.  I found an alternative spot to catch her as she took off and got myself ready.  Unfortunately, my brain was not totally in gear and I had one camera on the wrong settings.  I did get lucky though and did not end up with frozen props in the shots, even if they are a little less blurry than I would like!

I then headed around to the approach lights to get her heading back in.  It was very impressive to have a B-29 coming right over your head.  I got the shots but did peak out the side to enjoy the experience – something that is a little lost some times when focusing too much on getting the shots.  I was about to head back when I noticed a P-51 on approach too.  A nice bonus.  Then it was back to the airport to get the interview and some ground shots.  A great bunch of people and a very interesting day.

NAS Oceana

Leave a Reply

The recent ISAP symposium took me to Norfolk VA.  It is a short drive to Virginia Beach and NAS Oceana – the home of the east coast fighter squadrons for the US Navy.  The field trip for the symposium was going to include a visit to Oceana but, since I was there ahead of the event, I decided to pay a quick visit after my arrival.  A slight delay due to travel complications and then the passing through of a pretty significant storm meant I was a little later than planned but no great problems resulted.

The weather was not great so the light was a bit sparse.  Combined with a cloudy sky, photographing grey jets is always a challenge but I was meeting up with a friend from FenceCheck.com who lives locally so there was always time to chat even if nothing was happening.  However, after a pretty quiet period, a few more jets got up and started flying.  I was supposed to be leaving to go and pick up a friend from the airport but the storm that I had come through was not alone and his inbound flight was significantly delayed.  Therefore, I had the time to see what else would fly.

The activity kept going for a bit was the light was fading fast and my ISO settings were getting higher and higher.  Since the time to pick up my friend was now approaching, I decided to pack up my stuff.  Another jet arrived as I did so.  This didn’t bother me until I realized it was one of the CONA painted aircraft so the kit was rapidly extracted again and a few shots taken.  Then it really was time to go.

Thanks for the advice on the spot to those concerned and also for the chance to catch up.  Maybe not the most ideal conditions but still a fun way to kill an hour or two.

Goodbye Another 747 Fleet

1 Reply

A while back I wrote a post about the retirement by JAL of their Boeing 747 fleet.  At one time they had been the largest operator of the type.  Well, it has happened again.  Another large operator of the 747 is retiring its final passenger example.  Singapore Airlines is saying goodbye to the Queen of the Skies.

Unlike JAL that is in financial difficulties and is rationalizing its fleet, Singapore is doing very well.  It is just moving on.  It has a growing fleet of A380s and a substantial fleet of 777s so the 747 is no longer suitable for its needs.  Sad to say but it is actually just a bit old these days.  The freighter version is going to live on with Singapore so it won’t be impossible to see the type in Singapore colors but it will only be the Mega Ark aircraft from now on.

All of this makes me feel a bit old.  I was studying aeronautics when the 747-400 was going through its certification program.  My college days are a long time ago so the fact the 747-400 is now considered pretty old is hardly surprising.  That doesn’t make me feel any better about it.  The unique shape of the 747 is very appealing to me even now.  With the never ending stream of 767s, 777s and A330s, a 747 showing up is always a welcome surprise.  I guess it is going to become a rarer one in the coming years!  Enjoy them while you can.  At least the 747-8 will be around for a while but they don’t appear to be selling in quite the same number so we shall have to see how easy they will be to see.

Dreamliner Introduction

Leave a Reply

The development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been a protracted story filled with technical and programmatic challenges which have led to financial challenges as well.  However, while the program is not yet out of the woods, production aircraft are now making their way to service with customers and Boeing is undertaking a promotional tour for those who have been involved in the program or are potential customer.

One of those events was at Rockford, not far from me.  I covered the event for Global Aviation Resource and you can see the full piece at this link.

Bye Bye El Centro

Leave a Reply

You might have thought that we had covered El Centro enough.  Nah!  The day after the photocall, I was planning to head across to San Diego.  However, I didn’t have to be there until lunchtime and it is only a couple of hours drive to get there.  Since I was going to be up early, why not finish of the time at El Centro with one more visit to the base to shoot from outside.

I wasn’t going to be there too long but there was the probability of an early launch wave and they would recover before I was going to depart.  I got there early enough for some of the first launches and was the first visitor.  I was going to be joined by some of the friends from the photocall and there was a second visit scheduled by another group for that day so the attendees for that were likely to show up before too long.

We did get a similar bunch of traffic to the previous day with waves of T-45s heading out as well as some F/A-18s doing their thing.  I got to cover the first wave without any trouble and then quietened down around the time I was planning on leaving.  However, leaving proved to be a bit more troublesome than I would have expected.

Some of the people that arrived for that day either hadn’t been before to the location and/or were not very thoughtful when it comes to accommodating those around them.  The location is alongside a drainage ditch with a drop off to a lower level which then has another ditch beside it.  There is space to park along the ridge and leave space for other vehicles to get past.

Sadly, some of the new arrivals hadn’t bothered with that concept.  When it came time for me to leave, the easier was out – since there were poorly parked vehicles both ahead and behind – was actually backwards.  Reversing around the parked cars on the top of the ridge was hardly fun and then reversing the remaining length of the ridge was also less than enjoyable.  It wasn’t difficult but the presence of water on one side and a drop on the other tends to increase the level of concentration.

Anyway, despite the thoughtlessness of a few, I did make it out and got a good start to the day.  Sadly, I should probably have hung around a bit longer since my next stop didn’t go quite according to plan – but that can wait for another post.

More El Centro Stills

Leave a Reply

The main purpose of the visit to El Centro was to shoot still images.  I have previously posted some of the shots from outside here and some video from inside here but the real purpose was the stills on base.

Michelle Dee and her team at El Centro are very progressive in their approach to allowing photography on base.  They organize regular visits for photographers where it is possible to shoot from right alongside the runway at the LSO shack.  This means the aircraft are touching down right beside you and launching past you in close proximity.  This provides a chance for some shots that are not the norm.

Such access is quite unusual but the success of these events is hopefully persuading other facilities that it can be done safely.  A big part of this is having people on the shoot who understand what is possible and what is not and following those rules.  Everyone is ready to self-police as well.  Besides, the location is so good, where could you possibly be that would be any better?

Anyway, enough of the description.  Thank you again Michelle and team and thanks to Kevin for setting things up from our side.  Great to see you again buddy.  Here are the pictures.

 

 

 

 

El Centro Video

Leave a Reply

We were kindly hosted by the team at NAF El Centro for a photocall.  I will post later with some of the shots from the visit to the base itself.  However, one of the things I wanted to do this time that I learned following my previous visit to El Centro was to shoot more video.

I was still going be predominantly shooting stills but the motion and proximity of the aircraft is hard to appreciate sometimes from a still image (a failing of mine as a photographer of course).  Video gives you more of a  sense of the activity.  Therefore, I took a GoPro with me to the day and mounted it on top of my camera on the hot shoe.

This had the advantage of allowing me to shoot video at the same time as stills.  It did have a couple of disadvantages.  One is that the sound of the shutter clicking is picked up by the camera on the soundtrack.  When the jets are close it isn’t too bad but when they are further away, it becomes more intrusive.  Second, the GoPro is fixed at quite a wide angle so it makes everything look a little further away than it is.  However, this is an add-on to my normal shooting so both compromises are worthwhile.

I did shoot a small bit of video with one of the SLRs and it probably won’t be hard to spot which bit of film that is when you watch.  I didn’t bother with any music since I think the sound of the jets does a pretty good job.  Here is the result.

El Centro Preamble

Leave a Reply

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was heading to NAF El Centro in California for a photo shoot.  The main part of the shoot was going to be on the base.  It was due to commence at noon.  That left a free morning.  El Centro has a couple of good locations off base where you can photograph the aircraft and one is better suited to morning shooting since the light is good for departing aircraft and those breaking into the pattern.

I was ready for an early start and got out as the early departures were underway.  Not only was this a good spot to shoot from, it was also a good gathering spot for some of us going on base later so it served multiple purposes.

There was a fair amount of morning activity.  The majority of traffic was from T-45 Goshawk from NAS Meridian who were deployed to El Centro for training.  The local ranges provide opportunities for basic weapons training but other missions as also flown including some field carrier landing practice (FCLP).

Hornets and Super Hornets from the west coast training squadron were also operating and provided a regular stream of departing and arriving traffic.  The Canadian forces were also operating Hornets from the base.  They tend to depart reasonably straight out and break into the pattern a little early but sometimes come into a good location for shooting.  When they are weapons training, though, they always come to the end of the runway to make all weapons safe so we get a good view.  They had also brought a C-130 tanker with them which was a nice addition.

A couple of C-2 Greyhounds were practicing their pattern work to mix it up.  Helicopter traffic included some AH-1 Cobras from the Marines transiting and a British Army Apache although they stayed well to the south so were not something I could get any shots of.

All of this gave us an idea of what was on base and provided some good shooting opportunities from a different position to that we would get later in the day.