Tag Archives: civil

Dream Machines Article

While it isn’t actually an airshow, Dream Machines at Half Moon Bay was my first aircraft event of the year. Hayman and I headed over there to see what would show up. I was also planning on writing it up for GAR again this year. That piece has now gone live at http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/05/05/aviation-event-review-dream-machines-half-moon-bay/ so you can head over the GAR to see the finished version.

The piece focuses more on the aviation side of things than the cars since it is an aviation site. However, the cars were really cool. Here are a couple of cars along with a plane to give you a hint. I might add some more at a later stage!

Orbital TriStar

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Another opportunity that Richard organized for us while at Mojave was the chance to shoot Orbital Science’s Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. This is an airframe that was modified to provide the launch platform for their Pegasus orbital launch vehicle. The underside of the fuselage is modified to mount the Pegasus which is then taken to altitude and dropped before the booster ignites. The TriStar is a type that disappeared from service far faster than its rival, the DC-10, so seeing one in great condition was pretty cool.

DH Dove

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A few years ago, my friend, Richard, had arranged a visit for a number of us to Mojave Airport. This airport does not have a reputation for being photographer friendly but Richard had made the necessary contacts to get us some time out on the field near the taxiways and runways. One of the operators at Mojave is the National Test Pilot School. NTPS operate a wide variety of types on various flight test training activities and some of them were up and about early on this particular morning.

One type that really caught our eye was the deHavilland Dove. An old piston small transport type, the Dove is not something you see around very often these days. This one is kept in excellent condition and appears to have some modifications for flight test purposes and to assist the training of test pilots and flight test engineers. It took off on a runway that brought it towards us nicely. When it returned, it used another runway so we got to see it from several angles.

Big Boys at LAX

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I was in Los Angeles a little while back and managed to get a few shots of things at LAX between other activities. This is a quick picture post. The new international terminal has been opened and the big jets are often arrayed along it at the right time of day. The thing that I find funny about this shot is that the small fin in the middle is a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8. This is not a small plane but the Airbus A380 fins make it look tiny!

DHS Citation with Radar

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A buddy of mine recently photographed a Cessna Citation in Texas which, at the time, he didn’t pay too much attention to. Later, when he looked at the pictures he realized it had an unusual fairing mounted on it which we thought might be a radar of some sort. This triggered a memory for me of a Citation that I saw at Andrews AFB. This was operated by Homeland Security and included a modified nose with an air intercept radar. I don’t know which types it was but I seem to recall it might be a variant of the F-16s radar. Anyway, thinking of that made me dig out the original shot and here is the aircraft in question.

Northrop Grumman Testbeds

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Every once in a while I am looking for things to include in the blog from previous photographic outings. I was discussing an aircraft with an unusual radar installation which will now show up in an upcoming blog post as well. However, it triggered another thought about some radar testbed aircraft that I used to see quite regularly. For a number of years I was working in Washington DC on a regular basis and I would fly in to BWI airport. Aside from being a popular hub for Southwest, it is also the home of a Northrop Grumman radar plant.

They have a hangar on site which not only deals with their corporate aircraft but also their testbeds for the airborne radar programs. This hangar is located along a tree lined taxiway so everything is pretty obscured from view (unless you are airborne when you can see in a lot more clearly). The two testbeds that I saw quite frequently were a Sabreliner business jet and a BAC 1-11 airliner. The 1-11 was a regular sight when I was a lot younger but now they are almost all gone. Therefore, this was the one I was always pleased to see.

Sadly, I often saw them when I was without a camera or the camera was away. No electronics below 10,000’ in those days. However, I did catch them occasionally so these shots are a reminder of what was there. I suspect that the 1-11 is no longer in use. I imagine it was becoming a pain to maintain but I don’t know for sure whether it still is around. If you know, please do tell me.

Two New 737s

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Boeing Field not only is the home of development flight test activities for the commercial aircraft business but it is also where the production flight testing for the 737s is done. After the first flight from Renton, the jets come to Boeing Field for acceptance testing and delivery to the customers. Therefore, you can see 737s that you are unlikely to see again once they get into service. I had three customer aircraft on test flights at various times while I was there on one trip.

One of them is not such a surprise for anyone in Europe. A Ryanair 737 landed just as the sun was setting. That is a sight that many European travelers will have seen although we don’t get to see them over here. However, the other two were slightly more interesting to me. One was an Aeroflot jet and the other was from Iraqi Airways. I got the Aeroflot jet twice as it happened. It departed when I was passing through on my way to a meeting and it happened to come back late that day when I was coming back.

The Iraqi jet was one I had seen parked up as I drove by but I didn’t see it leave. However, it was due to return at the end of the day and actually came in not long before the Aeroflot jet. It was clearly going to be in before the sun went down. Aeroflot was a bit of a closer call. We knew it was coming but were watching the shadows stretch across the field and some clouds drift in. Fortunately, the cloud passed just in time and the sun was still just above the horizon so we ended up with some lovely light.

Scimitar Tips

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Aviation Partners Boeing has been very effective over the years in getting their technology into mainline airline service. The winglets they developed for the Boeing 737 have been very widely adopted with installations on 300 Series, 700 Series, 800 Series and 900 Series jets around the world. The BBJs have also had them extensively. I don’t think any new 737s are delivered without them. The programs for the 757 and 767 have also been well adopted.

The 737 Max is going to have a new winglet design that Boeing have created. However, it is a way from flying. Meanwhile, APB has not stood still and they have created a new winglet design that has a downward portion mated to an updated winglet under the name scimitar. This is now making an appearance on a lot of jets as a retrofit. Southwest, United and Alaska have all started rolling the installation out.

I like the look of the new design. The tip seems to be a bit of a styling effort. The downward facing portion is well aligned to avoid creating a drag inducing choke area at the root. The configuration is actually quite reminiscent of the original winglet designs in the paper Richard Whitcomb wrote when first proposing the concept. I suspect we shall be seeing a lot more of them in the future.

NASA T-38

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As the visit to McCarran was getting towards the time we needed to leave for the Red Flag launch, we checked Flightaware and saw that a NASA T-38 was inbound. This was worthy of some attention. The question was, which runway would it land on? We hopped in the car and headed off to a spot near the 25 threshold. This was the direction it was coming from. If it made a straight in approach, we would catch it here. If it was directed to the 01 approach, it would need time to reposition and we would be able to move to a more suitable location.

We tracked the plane online and a look at the line of airliners up the approach told us it was going to 01. A hasty change of locations followed and we got to a suitable spot. An Aero Commander landed first which gave us an idea of the approach path. Then, the T-38 came into view. As is the case with the Talon, it was motoring down the approach. A quick adjustment and a few shots and then it was gone. All rather brief but a nice way to wrap up the visit.

McCarran Morning

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I have never actually shot at McCarran International Airport at Las Vegas. My only time shooting nearby was the hunt for the Janet jet last time I went to Red Flag but I had never tried the many spots the airport has to offer. With a quiet morning and Chris Wood as my guide, we went to the airport to shoot the morning arrivals and departures.

There are, apparently, many good places to shoot at McCarran. As the day progresses, the useful locations change but there is always somewhere that can work and Chris has checked them all out at various times. This time we were at the parking garage watching the traffic on the 01 runways. This gives the classic Las Vegas shots with the casinos in the background.

Nothing special to talk about for this shoot. Just a chance to try out a new place for me. I was surprised that, despite the strong sun and reasonable distance to the aircraft, the heat haze was really not a problem. The traffic was pretty predictable stuff but a new place always means it is a bit more interesting. Then something more special did show up but that will get its own post.