Tag Archives: civil

Video of Overflying A380

I happened to be out in the parking lot at work when I noticed the approaching contrail of a large jet. Being next to the car, I grabbed the camera with my longest lens and focused on what turned out to be an Emirates A380 heading to California. I grabbed a few shots as it approached but the view through the viewfinder was more interesting as I watched the contrails curl up in the trailing vortices from the wing. The motion of the ice crystals made me think that video was a more appropriate idea. The stabilization of my lens is so good that handholding this video at 800mm was not a problem and the video below is the result.

When the TFR is Suspended, Everyone Moves!

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During Seafair on the Sunday, I was up the tower watching the departing and returning performers. For much of the time, a Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR was in effect which meant that no one was flying in the area other than the performers. There was a part of the schedule in the middle of the afternoon that did not involve the high-performance aircraft and, during this time, the TFR was suspended so aircraft could get in or out of Boeing Field.

It was rush-hour at the airport. The first arrivals showed up and seemed to be diving for the runway. Others had been waiting to get out, so they were firing up and taxiing for departure. We had a steady stream of smaller planes and corporate jets making their moves. I don’t know whether the arriving planes had been holding somewhere or had just timed their arrivals well. Whatever it was, it seemed that everything got moved in or out smoothly before the next fast jet display was on the schedule and the TFR was reintroduced.

Boeing’s Contribution to Sunday at Seafair

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The fast jet displays were the stars of the Seafair performances but the home manufacturer, Boeing, also provided a contribution on each day. On Sunday, that contribution was in the form of the 777X development aircraft, a 777-9. I was at Boeing Field on this day so got to see the aircraft launch and recover. An elevated view of an aircraft as large as the 777-9 is most impressive.

Since the plane is so large, I wasn’t going to use a longer lens to shoot it because I would have had way too much lens for the jet as it came by. Consequently, I was a bit short of lens when the aircraft was on the take off roll and rotating. Not enough time to change bodies so the compromise was okay. I still had a decent view of the jet even at 105mm.

The display was a long way away from where we were, but we did get to see the jet as it periodically popped up above the hills. It looked like they were really throwing the jet around. I imagine it looked pretty impressive for the crowd down on Lake Washington. I did stick with a longer lens for the recovery of the aircraft to get a good look at approach and touchdown. There is something really fun about getting to photograph a large jet like this from close proximity.

Let’s Experiment with Silly Shutter Speeds

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I have mentioned this in previous posts but the frame rate capabilities of my R3s have encouraged me to play around with some more aggressive settings. When something is a more important subject and not something I want to risk failing to get, I will be more cautious but there are plenty of other planes that I wouldn’t otherwise care about that provide a good subject to be a bit more ridiculous with. I was going down to 1/50^th of a second shutter speed. With this, I would go to the 30fps setting on the frame rate or even, occasionally, the 194fps setting just to see what might yield a sharp shot. The parallax issues are going to be an issue at this shutter speed but when you are directly abeam, you can get a good outcome. Here are some of the results from experimenting.

Heavy Departures from SEA

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I have had plenty of chances to shoot the departures from SEA when they are on a northerly flow and the afternoon light provides a good option for the jets. Previously, I have used the 500mm since it gives good reach but, for the larger jets, as you get the jet abeam your position, it will be too large for 500mm. The arrival of my 200-800 provided a great new option. 800mm provided a tighter view on the jets after rotation (provided the heat haze is not negating any focal length benefit) and the ability to zoom out means that you can keep the aircraft fully framed throughout the climb out. I took the lens down when I first had an open afternoon and the right conditions and here are some of the results. As fall moves towards winter and the heat haze and high sun become less of an issue, this combo should get even better.

Conair Q400 Water Drop Testing

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I went to Abbotsford for the day to see the arrivals of the planes for an event on the airport that weekend. Abbotsford is also home to Conair with them undertaking conversion of aircraft for firefighting duties as well as maintaining their in service fleet. They have a fleet of de Havilland Canada DHC8-400s that have been converted to waterbombing duties for fighting wildfires. One of them was undertaking some test flying while I was there.

It took off while I was waiting for some other arrivals and then started undertaking a series of water drops at the far end of the field. I did try getting some shots of it, but it was far away, and the heat haze was brutal, so this was not going to be a good result. After eight drops, they landed and taxied back to the ramp. Fortunately, later in the afternoon, they came back out for some more runs. This time, since I was about to leave anyway, I headed to the other end of the field to get some shots of the test drops.

Unfortunately, the weather became rather damp, and I was standing out trying to get some shots without getting drenched. Seeing something like this without being in a dangerous spot where real fires are raging was a nice bonus. I did also try a little video while I was at it so that is lower down too.

Later Than Planned, But Hawaii Mars Gets Airborne

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In a previous post, I shared images of Hawaii Mars as it was moored up on Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island. Our plan had been to get it while it was taxiing out and taking off. Our understanding of previous flights was that they had gone a long way up the lake before turning around and taking off back towards their starting point. We had limitations on how far we were allowed to take the boat and also the time we had to get back to our drop off point.

The understanding was that they would fire up just after 5pm and be airborne at 5:30. With our rental ending at 6:00, this gave us a bit of a narrow margin for racing back. However, it should be able to work. However, that relied on them hitting those times. That wasn’t happening. We got a message that they were going to start just after 6:00. Now what to do. With no sign of movement, we headed back to the drop off to see if anyone else was renting the boat after us. No, they were shutting down for the day. We begged with the guy who told us he was due to end shift. However, he had a couple of things to close out so told us we could have half an hour tops.

We thanked him profusely and headed back out. We wouldn’t have the time for the original plan so, instead, we headed down towards the narrows that we anticipated they would have to come through and waited. We finally saw engines start cranking. With all running, they taxied away from us to the end of the lake. Then they turned and started back our way. As we watched, the spray on the fuselage grew larger and it became apparent that they weren’t going to be taxing past us but were actually taking off.

As they motored towards us and got larger and larger in the viewfinder, the question was how low a shutter speed was acceptable when shooting a moving plane from a boat bobbing around on a lake. Caution was appropriate plus a high frame rate. They roared past with gorgeous light on the airframe. A helicopter was filming them and also came in to frame which was a nice addition. A little beyond our location and they were airborne. What a result. We then high tailed it back to the dock where our excellent person was waiting for us. It could hardly have gone better.

My First Encounter with a Kodiak 900

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We get a lot of Kodiak 100s in the Seattle area. Both Boeing Field and Renton have them based or passing through. With the factory across the mountains in Idaho, we aren’t that far from their origin. Recently, Daher announced the creation of the Kodiak 900. This is a larger airframe that has been cleaned up to improve performance. I don’t know whether it retains the short and rough field capabilities of the 100 or not but it is still a rugged looking type.

I had not seen one until we got a visit from one at Boeing Field. Others have been through but I had not caught them. When I saw this one was on its way, I was looking forward to comparing it to the original aircraft. I saw a picture of the airframe online which suggested it was plane white which was not great but you can’t have everything can you? Well, I guess I was lucky as they had painted the aircraft up in a type of faded camo look. They seem to be aiming it at some sort of surveillance role judging by the markings on it. They will probably become very common before too long as have the 100s but, for now, it was a nice thing to get a chance to shoot.

A Hot Day at Concrete

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The Concrete Fly In this year was a little different. Our friend Bob couldn’t make the trip because he was not in good shape. Little did we know it at the time, but Bob was going downhill and would not pull out. Knowing this now makes the visit to Concrete without him feel very different. However, on the day, it was a lot of fun. Plenty of interesting planes, some rather hot weather, finding spots in the shade to take it easy, watching the usual bunch of slightly awkward approaches and landings alongside plenty of perfectly normal ones. There is nothing quite like being able to be so close to a runway while planes come and go with everyone happy to be there. If you haven’t gone, do try and get there at some point.

A Better Perspective at BFI

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Oh how good it is to know people that know people. My friend, Annie, called to ask a favor. In return, she would be able to get me on the tower at Boeing Field on the Sunday of Seafair. Her friend, Reed, was king enough to allow me to tag along and the lift Annie needed hardly seemed that much of an effort when compared with getting to spend an afternoon on the tower walkways! I have photographed at many locations around and on Boeing Field over the years but the tower just provides a better view of things.

The arrivals and departures of the performers are obviously the high points of being there but it is also great to get a different perspective on the airfield as a whole. The stockpile of Boeing jets either in production flight test or stored awaiting a customer delivery is great to see from there. Looking across the various ramps and hangar areas is also cool. Even looking at the locations I might otherwise be occupying was fun. Was I looking down on the other photographers? Literally, yes. Metaphorically, well probably yes too!!

I will post a variety of shots of specific performers in future entries but, in the meantime, here are some shots of a more general nature. The team from the tower were very welcoming. I spent quite a while chatting with the boss and hearing about the various things that they do. I would love to go back and see the operations rather than just to photograph (although let’s not kid ourselves, photography from there is definitely welcome!).