Tag Archives: california

Cars and Coffee

While hanging out at Livermore Airport to see the Collings Foundation, I ended up in conversation with another photographer and we started talking about cars as you do. We got onto the topic of the Blackhawk Automotive Museum and he asked if I had been to Cars and Coffee. I knew nothing about it so he explained a little. I was intrigued and decided I needed to go.

On the first Sunday of every month from 8am until 10am, the parking lot of the museum is a gathering spot for owners of cool cars and those who want to see cool cars. It is a case of whatever turns up so you never know what you will see. I got there a little after 8 and realized my error immediately. I did get a parking space but only by being on the opposite side of the lot. There were tons of cars there and plenty of interesting looking motors were just mixed in with the rest of the spectator cars.

I decided to head to the core of things to see what was around before starting to work my way back in the general direction of my car. This ended up working well. The mixture of cars was outstanding. There were more cars than you can probably imagine and the variety and quality was incredible. Some exotic machines from the latest product ranges were in with vintage cars that head been beautifully restored. If you have a ‘Vette, Mustang or Camaro, you were given space but we’re on the edge of things because of the more exotic types thrown in there. If you wanted to see a Ferrari, for example, you were going to be spoilt for choice. They were everywhere!

I was happy to see some Lotus models too. The more modern ones were nice but I was particularly happy to come across an old Esprit Turbo SE. This was a dream car for me when I was a teenager. Seeing one in such great condition was great. As with these type of gatherings, there was nothing between you and the cars and often the owner was around to show you their pride and joy. There were a few special things to add about the event so there will be a few other posts on specific things I saw coming up. Stay tuned!

Gorillas

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Go to any zoo and, if there is a gorilla enclosure, you will find a lot of people. I suspect there are many reasons why people like gorillas but the similarity they have to us is probably one of the big ones. The hierarchy of their groups is also interesting and so it proved to be while we were in San Diego. One male seemed to be testing how much of the enclosure he could control. He would sit quietly in one spot for a while and the other male would find a spot to hang out somewhere out of the way.

Then the prime would decide to move. Surprisingly enough, he would always go roughly where the other male was. He would make himself scarce. He might then sneak around the back in the diction of the spot the prime had previously been. I think you can guess what happened next. This game went on for quite a while – longer than I was prepared to watch it.

Needless to say, if you are looking for similarities between gorillas and humans, go for the intimidation and pettiness elements. You should see some close parallels. It is hard to see which one is more advanced in that case!

Pleasure Flight Robinsons

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If you wanted to get a bit of an aerial view of Half Moon Bay and the Dream Machines show, one option was a helicopter flight. Two Robinson R-44s were running flights all day. The flights were not long and not particularly cheap but that obviously was not a deterrent. The two seemed to be flying almost constantly all day. They barely had time to refuel and swap crews it seemed.

The two 44s were similar in appearance but my usual fascination with helicopters took over and I ended up taking way more pictures of them than was absolutely necessary. I even told Hayman to stop me if I kept shooting them! He obviously wasn’t too thorough on that one as I have a fair few shots. I even got some when we stuck in the traffic leaving as they were coming right over us for a while. When going through the shots, it is sometimes fun to see the passengers watching me watching them!

Baby Hippo

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Plenty of wildlife shots make their way on to this blog. However, the ones that get the most responses are those that involve baby animals. The cuteness factor usually does the trick. Today we shall combine a creature that is not usually known for being cute (although I do find them fascinating) with the baby element to see what results. Is a baby hippo cute?

If the responses of the visitors to San Diego Zoo are anything to go by, definitely. This baby was really very young. It was in the enclosure with its mum and the mother was teaching it to swim. They were hanging out in the water under some foliage to make the most of the shade. Periodically, they would take a swim with her pushing the baby ahead of her under water. If it popped up to the surface, she would push it back under to get it used to being under for long periods of time.

A couple of laps of the pool and then back under the foliage to take a break before repeating the process. Getting shots was not easy. First, mum was pretty protective and blocked the view of the baby a lot. It would pop up occasionally. Of course, shooting through thick glass doesn’t help. Once they were swimming there were better chances. However, the tank glass is thick and the distortion at angles is significant. Also, there were a ton of people also trying to get a view.

Despite all of this, we did get a chance to see the baby swimming around. It really was a very cute looking thing. The pictures will not be worthy of anything beyond the blog but they are a nice snapshot of the early days of a creature that will soon be a lot bigger. By the time this posts, I imagine it will have grown substantially.

New Standard and Travel Air Trips

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The Dream Machines show included the opportunity to take a step back in time and experience open cockpit flying the way it was a long time ago. Two vintage bi-planes were offering rides and were doing a roaring trade. The two planes in question were a New Standard and a Travel Air (that lives at Skypark and can be seen up there on a regular basis). The opportunity to sit in the front of these lovely looking machines resulted in a long line throughout the day and frequent opportunities to see them in the air.

The wind speed was actually quite high so, while their downwind legs were quite zippy, any movement upwind seemed considerably more labored. The approach and landing could be made from quite a high initial point with dropping down not needing much in the way of side slipping.

I have seen both these aircraft before but they are still a nice looking pair and, with the hills overlooking the airport providing a nice backdrop, we could get some nice shots.

Flamingos

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Time for something colorful. Our trip to San Diego included a visit to the San Diego Zoo. Recognized around the world, this is a high quality zoo with a wide variety of animals. They seemed to be investing heavily in new enclosures for the animals which is something I appreciate a lot. The more exotic creatures are not the subject today. It is a bird and a distinctive one at that. Flamingos are a curious looking bird. Their color comes from their food so I assume the zoo has to make sure they get the right stuff to keep them looking pink. No one is going to be excited by a dull looking flamingo!

As a kid, there was a Flamingo park not far from where I lived. Consequently, I have never thought of them as exotic – just interesting. I did spend some time watching them though. The shape of their head and beak is unusual and the way they balance, rest and feed makes them worthy of some time. One day I would like to see them in the wild because they must look even better in flight!

PC-12 Frenzy

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Nearly twenty years ago, I made a trip to Switzerland to visit the factory of the Pilatus aircraft company. We were working on their PC-9 turboprop trainer that we had supplied to an export customer. While we were walking through the factory, the fuselages of some early PC-12 utility turboprops were in the jigs. At the time I remember thinking that it was a big investment for a relatively small company and wondering how well the project would go.

Come forward to the present day and the foresight of the management team has been rewarded with an excellent sales record. The original PC-12 sold well and the NG version continued that story. They are currently going through another upgrade cycle. The combination of rugged utility, flexible interior configurations and turboprop efficiency has made the PC-12 a popular aircraft around the world. Strangely, it has been less successful in Europe where single engine IFR ops are more heavily regulated.

It is not unusual to see a PC-12 at an airport in the U.S. However, San Carlos proved to be slightly more PC-12 heavy than the average. A small airline called Surfair operates from there with a fleet of the Pilatus plane operating to a variety of destinations in California. While we were there, they had a number of movements (plus one that wasn’t a Surfair aircraft). This meant I could get a lot more PC-12 shots for the library and they aren’t all painted the same colors which is a benefit (although some aren’t painted anything other than white!). I could also take some chances with shutter speed to see what I could get. The PC-12 is not a plane you would call pretty but it is a very practical design and one I am always pleased to see. It takes me back to the hangars in the Swiss Alps a long time ago.

EAA Trimotor at San Carlos

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EAA take their Ford Trimotor on tour around the country giving pleasure flights to people at many stops en route. I have seen the plane quite a few times including at Oshkosh and Clow. When Hayman told me it was stopping at San Carlos, it seemed like a good idea to take a trip along to see. It was operating from the ramp at the Hiller Aviation Museum so that is where I started out. Actually, breakfast at the great airport café is where we started!

The early weather was a bit overcast. Gray skies and flat light are not ideal for a metal finish aircraft but we could still enjoy the flying and the start up and shut down as they turned the plane around. It gets off the ground with a very short roll so, given the length of the field and the runway in use, it was well up by the time it came past us. We did experiment shooting down the runway head on. This coincided with the sun coming out so the heat haze suddenly became an issue. Win some, lose some!

After a while, Hayman and I decided we were done for a while. He had other things to do and I wanted to try a couple of other things. However, it did decide to come back later on to get some shots from a different location as the plane was landing which also had the nicest light of the day. Good job to EAA for a great program that was very popular. They had a lot of customers, all of whom seemed to have had a good time.

Jackrabbit

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Photographing aircraft can often involve quiet times when you are waiting for something to show up. Sometimes, you can get so relaxed and still that you cease to be apparent to the local wildlife. I was sitting at the top of a hill on a bench doing nothing much at all. A jackrabbit came wandering along the trail towards me. He wasn’t terribly close and only seemed to notice me relatively late. He didn’t seem too alarmed but was a bit wary. Even so, I was able to raise my camera to get a shot or two of him.

This didn’t startle him either. However, he obviously had other things in mind and he turned and hopped off down the trail. I wonder which one of us was more surprised?

CL-215s

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Canadair were a company that put together some odd projects. Before they became part of the Bombardier family, they produced a business jet and a water bomber. The Challenger (which came from an earlier Bill Lear project) has gone on to spawn a large number of production aircraft of various types. The CL-215 is a different story.

Water bombers are a very useful tool in fighting fires. Within that sphere, the CL-215 has been a great success. That is not a huge world, though, so production has been modest. Even so, the original piston powered aircraft has gone through a turboprop conversion program and the current production model, the CL-415 has turboprop engines as well as airframe and systems enhancements. Production is at a low rate but they do still come out of the factory.

I was quite pleased to come across a couple of the planes that are still fitted with the original radial engines. The already chunky lines of the plane go quite well with the bluff profile of the piston engine – something the turboprop lacks a little. These planes weren’t flying. They were awaiting their next project. With the fire season approaching, I imagine it won’t have been too long after I saw them before they were back in action.