Tag Archives: civil

I Guess It Is Farewell for UPS MD-11s

The crash of the UPS MD-11 when one of the engines separated at rotation resulted in a grounding of the entire fleet of DC-10s and MD-11s. The process for returning the fleets to service continues as I write this, but I recently heard that UPS has decided that they won’t bother to return their fleet and will accelerate a retirement process that was already being planned.

Since Boeing Field was somewhere I got to spend a lot of time and was a location that got regular visits from UPS MD-11s, I got to see them on a regular basis. I left before they did but now no one there will get to see this beefy jet in UPS colours again. Here are some of the shots I have got of them over the years. I do hope that other operators will still have a need for their examples and this won’t be the end of the road for this type.

Turning in on the Approach

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I have posted some previous shots looking up the approach at Heathrow as the jets are lined up for landing. The reason I have chosen to post this is that there is a bit more of a dynamic element to it. I like the jet crossing in the background before it turns back in to align with the approach path. The combination of the spaced out planes and the view of the turn in seemed pretty cool to me.

BEA Gets a Reprieve

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The British European Airways liveried Airbus that British Airways has been operating for a number of years was due to be disposed of. As new jets come into the fleet, the older jets are headed for parting out. However, the delivery rate from Airbus has apparently not been enough to meet the requirements of BA and they are having to send some older jets for major checks when they become due rather than park them. This will give them an extended life until the new jets can make it. This one was scheduled to go but has now been sent for a check. What I don’t know is whether it is due a repaint or not so we might or might not get to see it again.

Concorde Fifty Years On

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I recently saw something that announced it was fifty years since the first commercial services operated by Concorde. Air France and British Airways operated simultaneous flights to commence operations (although to different destinations – I am pretty sure I recall from my childhood them both landing at Washington Dulles at the same time and parking nose to nose). I didn’t take a lot of photos of Concorde over the years, but I did get some. Here are a few old film scans of BA Concorde flying. Sadly, despite having seen it fly by my flat many times when a student, I never spent the time taking any shots.

Only Slightly Better Prepared for the A340 This Time

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You might look at this image and ask, “why make a post about it?” That is a fair question I suppose. The first thing is it is an A340 so that might be enough for me. However, it is more about my luck with getting these European A340s as they operate in Bournemouth. This time I was walking with a longer lens. Last time I had one overfly me, I only had a short lens and so it was a bit distant. This was an improvement. However, this time it was a bit rainy and overcast so not great conditions. The specs of raindrops are clearly visible in the image. That might ruin it for me but, for some reason, this time I feel like it adds something that reflects my frustration with trying to get good shots of these jets. Whatever way I try and justify it, it doesn’t really matter. I just like it.

Qinetiq’s Attendees

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Some of my previous RIAT visits have included a selection of aircraft from the Qinetiq fleet. In 2025 I only saw a pair of aircraft from them. One was a King Air while the other was an AW139. The King Air didn’t look too special other than the raspberry ripple paint job. The AW139, on the other hand, is a helicopter that I think looks really good at any time. The livery suits it well and the crew made a pretty sporty arrival. It was nice to see both of them. Maybe some more airframes would be good next time.

Old Warden Visitor Departures

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While Old Warden’s shows provide a great selection of vintage aircraft, they are also available for visitors to fly in. As the show was wrapping up the afternoon session and waiting for the evening flying to commence, this was the opportunity for many of the light aircraft to head for home. They might not be as glamorous as some of the performers, but they were interesting in their own right and the conditions were great.

The converted Beech 18 was certainly something unusual, but a Grob motor glider is not something you see every day. However, the one I liked the most was possibly the most common airframe. A Piper PA-28 headed out. This is a type I used to fly many years ago. This one, though, was painted in British Caledonian colours and that really appealed to me having grown up with them flying out of Gatwick.

Not Sure the Laminar Flow is Surviving

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If you look at the most recent Boeing aircraft, they have adopted a far deeper inlet lip design. I don’t know whether it is connected but they have been doing work on having laminar flow around the engine cowlings. When the 787 first came along, airlines were not allowed to have them painted anything other than white. That has since been relaxed but there was a performance benefit to the design that was needed to meet promised goals. Consequently, I imagine that this area is quite sensitive to disturbance. That makes this Qantas 787-9 stand out to me. There was a load of patching on the inlet when I saw it taking off from Heathrow heading to Perth. That is a very long flight and tests the performance of the Dreamliner in its nominal configuration. I guess the impact can’t be that bad.

Metrea’s Appearance

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When I was still in Seattle, we would get periodic appearances from Metrea and their KC-135s. They would provide tanker support to the US Navy. That they operated from Boeing Field rather than going to a Navy base was always welcome. I didn’t know much about Metrea other than that they provided tanking services. However, they showed up at RIAT with a couple of their other types.

They brought a pair of turboprops. The King Air was in a low-key grey paint scheme and didn’t have many conspicuous external additions. There were some antennae that suggested extra comms capabilities and some ventral fins that imply something else might get added that reduces directional stability.

The Dash 8 had a bit more of a colourful paint job. A grey base livery but some red and yellow stripes brightened things up a bit. It similarly didn’t have anything too conspicuous added while it was flying but, when it was on static display, there was a turret under the front fuselage. There was another Dash 8 which did have some sensors which will get a post at some point.

Well, They Didn’t Survive

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I wasn’t terribly shocked when I recently heard that New Pacific ceased trading. The model seemed a bit suspect when it was first announced and they rapidly transitioned to charter work and away from schedule flying. I still liked seeing their 757s when they showed up in Seattle but I never thought they would survive long. Sadly, that proved to be the case. Here are some other shots of their operations which we won’t see again.