Tag Archives: california

Southwest Evasive Maneuvers

This was not an aircraft photography trip. I was taking a walk along the shore at Hayward Regional Park. It is a place with lots of wildlife and views across the bay. It is also near the approach to Oakland so I did have the chance to take aircraft pictures if I wanted. That wasn’t the goal though. It didn’t stay that way though. The approach to Oakland involves flying right by Hayward Airport. Hayward has a lot of general aviation traffic. The spam cans are intermixed with some corporate jets.

What caught my eye was the incoming Southwest 737 and a departing Cessna CJ M2. The CJ took off and entered a climbing left turn. This put it into the path of the Southwest 737. I don’t know who was at fault in this. Was the Southwest jet too close, did the CJ pilot break his cleared departure profile or should Hayward tower never let him go? I don’t know. Whatever the reason, they were heading towards each other.

I also don’t know whether the Southwest crew saw the CJ first or if the TCAS gave them a resolution notice. Whatever happened, they took some pretty dramatic avoiding action. I imagine it felt pretty interesting from inside the cabin. They gained good separation and everything was fine. At first I thought they were going to try and get reestablished on the approach but cooler heads prevailed and they cleaned up the jet and went around. After some time to let the heart rate fall, they appeared back on the approach for a more conventional approach. All ended well. I wonder how the conversations went after landing.

Breaking up the Wreck

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A little while ago I posted a picture of a sailing boat that had wrecked on the breakwater at the marina on Coyote Point. The next time I was back there, I guess I had timed things well. The boat had been pulled ashore and a guy was busy breaking it up. He used the front scoop of a backhoe to break the hull up. Obviously it was beyond rescue. He would pull sections off and then drop them in a dumpster. As he broke it up, more of the interior would be visible. The fiberglass is quite flexible so he had to work to actually break it sometimes. However, there was only going to be one winner in this contest.

Gardens at Filoli

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Having described the house at Filoli in a previous post, this time it is the turn of the gardens. I mentioned before that they were not aligned with the house so were not easy to see from there. However, putting that aside, they are certainly very nice. They are divided up into a number of areas. Some are very formal while others are left in a more natural state. The grounds around the pool are very structured. There are orchards that are laid out in lines but then there are gardens that look as if they had never been touched. Plenty of beds with plants of similar types and then some meadow areas. All in all, it is a pretty eclectic mix that works well. Put aside that it seems detached from the house, it is a lovely place to check out. It spreads up the hill until at the top you find a temple like semi circle. This is nice and quiet since I guess a lot of people can’t be bothered to walk that far. Good for us!

Molting Elephant Seals

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It had been a few months since we had last visited Ano Nuevo State Park so Nancy suggested we take a trip there. On a hot day inland, a run to the coast is certainly a good idea. Besides, the elephant seals were in their molting season so were lying up on the beaches as they shed their winter skins. Things were a lot quieter than is the case in the mating season. A few immature males were practicing their fighting techniques in the shallows but nothing too serious.

The molting process takes a while. As the seals lie on the beach, you can see them going through the process with significant chunks of the old skin gone but a lot still left. Over time they shed the whole thing and then can head back out to sea to resume their normal plan of eating, eating and more eating.

The 777-300ER is King

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The gradual demise of the 747 is a topic that I have brought up on here before. The plane that has been the replacement on a number of services is the Boeing 777-300ER. I was hanging out at Coyote Point recently and, while the majority of arrivals were short haul jets and regional jets, there were a lot of long haul arrivals mixed in there. I was surprised to see just how many 777-330ERs were in the mix now. The A380s were also making an appearance but it seems the 300ER really is a dominant force in the long haul market. This is going to change soon with the arrival of its in house replacement as well as the A350 but, for now, it seems the 300ER rules the roost.

Filoli Mansion

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Growing up in the UK, there is no shortage of big houses and gardens to visit. Over the years, countless old families have had to give up their estates, often as a result of death duties, with the result that they end up in the hands of the National Trust or English Heritage. I was surprised to see that there was a similar organization in the US. Filoli is one of their properties. It is on the peninsula south of San Francisco.

The estate was in the hands of two families prior to its current status. It is a classic old house with plenty of rooms, a ballroom, large kitchens and servant facilities, a library and enough space to deal with any number of social situations. Normally when we visit places, checking out the house is not a priority. We tend to prefer the gardens. However, this time we did take a look around.

The house was really quite pleasant inside. Because it was a 20^th century creation, it is a product of that time. No big efforts at replicating older times although it does pick from a variety of styles. The furnishings all seem suitable for the era and apparently that makes it a popular filming location. The exterior is not so great in my opinion. The brick finish is rather uninspired and I think it has a bit of the look of a government building. It is well taken care of though.

The strangest thing about it is the relationship between the house and the gardens. The gardens will get a post of their own. However, they are mainly offset from the house itself. When in the house, you are not looking out across the gardens. I thought the whole point was to be able to look out and observe the beauty of the gardens. Oh well, it’s not like I am living there so I guess I don’t have to worry about it too much.

Raccoon Family Outing

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Roger and I were on a wildlife roll. We had been visited by an osprey, we had seen a rat, what else could be lurking along the shoreline? Roger had mentioned that he had seen some raccoons along there at various times. I guess raccoons have good hearing. It was not long after he mentioned this that a face appeared in the rocks. Next thing you know, out pops a raccoon. Not just one though. This was a mom with a youngster in tow. They were heading from the rocks along the shore towards the brush on the other side of the trail. They scampered across the path in our direction and through the fencing. Our presence did not seem to bother them at all.

Cathay Pacific 747-8F Freighter

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I saw this Cathay Pacific 747-8F making an approach to the opposite side of the airport at LAX while I was waiting for a friend’s flight to arrive. The freighters tend to use the southerly runways since that is where the freight area is located and it cuts down on taxi requirements. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised that it went that way. Later in the day I was up on Imperial Hill when it made its departure. I was actually having something to eat and not really paying attention. It had rotated before I even realized so grabbed the camera quickly to get some shots. I’m glad the camera was close by or I would have been really annoyed.

Ratty and Tales of the Riverbank (Well, Bayshore)

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Rats have a bad reputation. It’s not tricky to work out why people don’t like them but I think they are rather cool. It’s hardly their fault that stuff has been built on top of their homes and they have had to adapt. The fact we waste so much crap that they can feed on is our fault, not theirs. They are, of course, a creature that likes living near water. While sitting alongside the bay near San Francisco, we got a visit from a local rat. He was busy gathering material for a nest I assume. He (or she) popped up from amongst the rocks by the water and headed into the brush. A little while later, back he came. He grabbed some material and dragged it off where he needed it. We were not making a lot of noise so he didn’t seem in the least bit bothered by our presence.

Seahawk on Display

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The visitor that came the longest distance for Heli Fest is probably the MH-60S that the US Navy sent from North Island NAS down on Coronado Island near San Diego. They had needed one fuel stop to get there with a transit of about four hours each way. As with all of the military assets on show, they got a lot of attention from the visitors. The aircraft was open for anyone to check out and the kids certainly seemed interested. Since they had come so far, they were not just having a day visit. They had arrived the day before and were not heading back until the following day. Consequently, while everyone else was departing, they were locking up the helicopter for an overnight stop.