Tag Archives: civil

The Fun of Finding Old Shots

I was recently searching for a shot for a project and was having a hard time finding it.  I knew roughly when it should have been as it was when shooting at SFO during a visit.  I scrolled through to the day and found the shoot and realized that I hadn’t keyworded the photos from that trip.  Consequently, the search had failed to run them up.  I therefore spent a little while running through everything and adding keywords.

This proved to be way more fun than key wording usually is.  I hadn’t looked through these shots after taking them and, while it was a pretty standard sort of collection that a day at SFO would provide, it was all new stuff.  I was enjoying looking st stuff I had forgotten I had taken.  These shots are just a few from that day out.

Lufthansa A350 at Haneda

Lufthansa A350s are something I seem to struggle to get a good look at.  They operate to a number of places where I have been but I either time it wrong or they are on the opposite runway from me so a distant shot is all that results.  The closest I have got to them is at Haneda.  There an example landed and taxied in to the terminal across from me.  The light was at the right angle but the excessive heat meant that haze was a problem and I wasn’t going to get a good shot.  It is the closest I have managed so far but I shall continue to wait for the opportunity to get something better.  The fleet will grow and the route structure will expand so the time will come at some point.

Down By the Lake at Love Field

Bachman Lake sits at one end of Dallas Love Field.  Early one morning, I decided to see whether the trail alongside the lake made for a good spot to get some shots.  The traffic at Love Field is heavily skewed towards Southwest 737s so I wasn’t expecting a lot of variety but instead wanted to see what angles I could get.  It also would be nice to have a stroll along the lake in the morning light.

There are two runways at Love Field so you have a bit of a guess as to which one will be used at any one time but that is fine.  The view across the lake as the jets come to the northerly runway provides a nice wider view of things.  The near runway allows getting together front quarter shots or to go right underneath for a different perspective.  While most arrivals were Southwest jets, I did see a couple of corporate jets while I was there so there was a bit of variety.

United Retro Jet

I once got to shoot the United retro colors on the A320 while I was at SFO up the tower but I had not got a decent shot of it actually flying.  When it showed up on approach to SFO, I was pretty pleased.  Sadly, the cloud cover was not cooperating terribly well.  Only when it had got past me did it pop into better conditions.  It was okay when further out on final but neither of these were too helpful.  One day!

A330 CEO Versus NEO Courtesy of Delta

While I had headed to SeaTac to see the 21Air 767 arrive, I hung around for a couple of other arrivals.  Delta operates a variety of long haul types into the airport and this includes A330s of the older and newer generations.  First to arrive was an A330-300.  A little while later, it was followed by an A330-900, the A330neo version.  I thought I would try and get identical shots of both jets to see how much the engine and winglet changes showed up when looking at them in flight.  Here are shots to compare the two types for you to make your own comparisons.  I think the differences are there but they are not drastic.

Rush Hour at Founders’ Plaza for Qantas

During my weekend in Texas, I headed to Founders’ Plaza to shoot some arrivals.  I timed my time there to start around the time when the Qantas A380 was due to arrive.  I got there with a few minutes to spare and struggled to find a parking spot.  The place was packed.  I found a space in the overflow area and got the camera out just in time to get a shot of the arriving jet.

As soon as it landed, everyone started to go.  A short while later, there was a backup of traffic as the cars filed out of the parking lot and away.  Within ten minutes, it wasn’t deserted but it was significantly quieter.  The thing is, shooting in the middle of the day was not great from a light perspective and things got progressively better as the afternoon wore on.  However, most people were interested in the A380 and after that they were done.

What to Do With A Big Tow Bar

One of the regular Volga-Dnepr AN124 flights to Everett was departing.  The jet was towed out of the Boeing ramp and on to the taxiway for start up and departure.  The Antonov is a big jet and its four wheel nose gear needs a special tow bar.  When you are one of the largest freighters in the world, why not just take it with you.  Once he plane was in place, the crew rolled the tow bar around to the rear cargo ramp.  There, they hooked it to two lifting hoists and the tow bard was hoisted into the aircraft and the rear doors closed.

If someone knows whether they leave it on the hoists in flight or whether it is stowed and secured in some other location when inside, please let me know in the comments.  I do like the self sufficiency of the whole approach.  Given how often they come to Everett, having a tow bar on site would seem plausible but I guess they will need it at any of their other, less frequented, stops so they have to carry it all of the time.  You never know where you are going next.

Never Heard of 21Air Before

One Saturday morning, I was scanning what was moving around the Seattle area and saw a Boeing 767-200 coming to SeaTac, operated by 21Air.  I had never heard of this operator before and the picture online made the jet look like it was painted more interestingly than the average freighter.  I figured I would pop down to get some shots, even though the conditions were not great.  The light actually perked up a bit when the jet arrived so the results were better than I hoped.  I asked a buddy about the operator and he, having never seen them before, was actually looking at two of their jets in LA.  I wonder why they are suddenly on the west coast.

Founders’ Plaza at DFW

I had heard about Founder’s Plaza at DFW before but I had never been there.  I took a couple of trips there during my free weekend in Texas.  It is a nice place to watch the planes and had a steady stream of visitors while I was there.  Not only are there seats with sunshades, but there is plenty of grass on which to hang out and kids can run around without parents being too worried.  You are close to the approach path for the western runways at DFW and there is a lot of traffic to watch.

You also see the planes taxiing out for departure on this side but the shots of those planes are sketchy as heat haze is a bit tricky for most of the day.  It does appear that you are able to walk around towards the centerline of the outer runway but I didn’t try heading over there on this occasion.  As the evening light settled in, the conditions got better and better.  I imagine it gets a bit repetitive if you are a regular but, as a visitor, it was great to try somewhere new.  I did end up with a lot of American Airlines jets, of course.

Dreamlifter in the Early Mist

My buddy Paul was visiting so we had a day out looking for some interesting shot opportunities.  We started off the day at Paine Field before the sun was really up.  A Dreamlifter was due in and we figured we would give it a try.  However, as we drove towards Everett, the fog was pretty thick.  The field is on the top of the hill so we thought it might be clear, but things did not look promising as we got closer.  The low cloud was also blocking off the sun that was just above the horizon which, given that it would have been backlighting the jet, might have been a bonus.

The Dreamlifter came out of the cloud very late on the approach and I was able to grab a few shots of it as it emerged.  It was a rather ethereal look as it came into view.  The dampness of the air meant that the plane was pulling vortices as it floated across the threshold and in to the touchdown zone.  Conditions might not have been the sort of thing that sounded good, but the result was a really cool shot opportunity.  As the plane taxied in to park, we got more shots of it although there was one that would have been fantastic, but Paul only spotted it when it was too late and I didn’t see it at all.  I won’t say what it was but maybe there will be another chance in which case you will see it here!