Tag Archives: corporate

Executive MD-80

As airliners reach the end of their natural lifespan, you suddenly become aware of them disappearing. However, some have a second life converted for corporate charter use. One type I haven’t seen a lot of in private use is the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. However, one was in Boeing Field on a job recently and I was pleased to see it in use. It was parked up at the FBO when I arrived and so I assumed I would not see it move. However, I was wrong.

They taxied out and, as is the case for the larger jets, had to cross over to our side and come alongside where I was. A good close up view of the jet before it headed down to the threshold for departure. I don’t know how far it was going but it did not seem to be too heavily loaded as it got airborne quite quickly and climbed away. I don’t know how many of these jets will find a new role after retirement from airline service but hopefully there will be a few more.

Dornier 328Jet

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When someone tells you something with absolute certainty, you might be justified in doubting whether they know exactly what they are talking about. At some point in the late 1990s I was in the Pilatus factory in Switzerland talking to an engineer that had previously worked for Dornier. He was telling us that the idea of re-engining the Dornier 328 turboprop with jet engines had been reviewed and the wing was not strong enough to take the loads. There was no way the program would ever happen.

Turns out he was not entirely accurate with his projection. Dornier did build a jet version of the plane and they show up now and again. I have seen one on the ground at Midway a few times when flying through but have never got a decent shot of it. Meanwhile, a recent visit there caught me out when another example of the type showed up on approach. I think it is quite a nice looking plane. Certainly a bit different to other aircraft of the size and something of a novelty as the regional jet market moves to larger sizes. Ironically, it was developing a 70 seat jet that took Dornier into bankruptcy.

It now looks like the 328 family might have a new lease on life. The owners of the design rights have signed an agreement with a Turkish organization to start production of an updated version for various Turkish government requirements prior to developing a new type. Maybe there is life in the jet yet!

Falcon Go Around

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The smoothness with which air traffic is usually managed means that, whenever something doesn’t go to plan, it is quite a surprise. A go around on approach is a relatively rare occurrence. I have only been on three commercial flights that spring to mind when a go around was executed. I saw a couple at SFO last year on one day but that was when two of the runways were shut and they were squeezing as much as they could in making the chance of a conflict higher.

I was watching arrivals to Chicago Midway when I saw a Falcon 2000 on approach. As they got closer, they obviously got the call and the aircraft pitched up and applied power to climb away. It made for an unusual angle at which to see the plane as it banked away on to the missed approach procedure. It obviously was not a complicated procedure because they showed up again shortly afterwards. They were then followed by a similar Falcon 2000 and it was only later, when I was going through the pictures, that I worked out which one was the jet that had made the go around.

Globals at King County

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While I am not ever going to have my own business jet, I know the various types that would be high on my wishlist if I happened to go shopping for one. The Global Express jets from bombardier are right up there. They are big, comfortable, can go anywhere and they look pretty cool. They are also getting more common as sales have been very strong recently (although they are going to cut production a bit – I guess because the line is in need of a bit of a refresh). NetJets have also started operating the type which boosts the number you are likely to see around.

A visit to Boeing Field included the appearance of some Globals and this was a nice surprise. I got them on approach and departing which was nice. They also tend to taxi directly past where I was so you can have a good close up look at the jet. It was a busy day for business jets with a Falcon coming down the approach while one of the Globals was holding for departure. Bombardier did a nice job with this plane. The new Global jets are currently in development. I look forward to seeing what they look like when they start flying.

RAF Sentinel

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I really do appreciate an aircraft that looks elegant. One such type is the Bombardier Global Express. Built to take on the Gulfstream family, it is a great looking plane with a graceful front fuselage, cracking looking wing and even the empennage is stylishly done. Therefore, you might be forgiven for thinking that I was not impressed when Raytheon took a great looking plane and grafted on some enormous lumps and bumps to create the Sentinel.

Built for Britain’s Royal Air Force, the Sentinel is a battlefield surveillance aircraft in the mold of the USAF JSTARS program but a generation on a bit more compact. It also makes use of a more modern airframe as its starting point. While the changes have not done anything to make the plane look pretty, I do have a soft spot for unusual aircraft configurations and large radomes and sitcom covers fit with this idea. Consequently, I rather like the Sentinel. Seeing them in action at Red Flag was a nice opportunity.

Having spent a lot of money on the Sentinel, the UK government announced that, with the reduction in involvement in Afghanistan, the Sentinels would be retired. Retirement sounds inappropriate for something so new but that was the story. Fortunately, it appears that the plan has been adjusted and they have been reprieved for now. We shall see how that develops.

The aircraft are operated by 5 (AC) Squadron of the RAF. 5 Sqn was one of the early Tornado ADV squadrons when it converted to Lightnings. I liked their colors with the maple leaf on a red background. When I worked at Warton, one side project I got involved with was the repainting of a restored Lightning in 5 Sqn colors before it was put on display. Having the Sentinels showing up from 5 Sqn was nice, not least because one of the two jets had the squadron colors displayed over the usual dull grey finish. Both aircraft flew while I was there both day and night. They are an unusual sight to see so it was good to catch them at work.

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.

San Jose Biz Jets

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San Jose is not an airport I had even shot at before. Paul and I decided to try it out on our way back to Dublin. There appeared to be a parking area near the threshold so we figured that was worth a shot and put it in to the GPS. As we drove there, Paul checked out Flightaware to see whether there was much due in. A few airliners and a couple of corporate jets were on the system but nothing too dramatic.

We got to the location and, sure enough, there was a good parking area with a pretty clear view of the approach if you avoided some trees. As we pulled in and sat in the car, a Global Express flew by. I was a touch bummed by this since, if we had missed a cool movement, would there be anything else. As it turned out, I was wrong to worry. San Jose seems to have a steady flow of corporate jet movements. Many of them are blocked on Flightaware, hence us not knowing they were coming. We didn’t have long before we had to be somewhere else but, in that time, we got a lot of biz jet traffic.

San Jose is convenient for a lot of high tech companies so they base their aircraft there. We got the Apple G650 in the short time we spent. I have to say, I thought Apple would have made it look a bit cooler but there you go. Maybe they want to be inconspicuous. One of the local guys told us which ones were regulars based on the field. He was less bothered by them but we were interested as first timers.

Monterey Regional Airport

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My buddy Paul was in town for a day so we headed off to see what we could find. It was a Sunday and the less than ideal transportation options of San Francisco on a Sunday meant we had a slightly later start than planned. We decided to check out Monterey since the airport there has quite a lot of corporate movements as well as some military at the weekends. It also has a viewing area on top of the terminal and a spot for lunch if nothing much is happening.

As it turned out, there was not too much going on. We did get a few interesting jet and turboprop movements but not too much. It really was a quiet day so we took the lunch option and wandered around the displays in the terminal before deciding to head on somewhere else.

Yet More Head On

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I had another trip to SFO to go shooting with my friend Hayman. We shot at a couple of locations and ended up at the spot I have tried shooting head on before. Not a huge amount of traffic and they varied which runway was used. Heat haze was a bit of a problem but still got some variations on what I had been seen before.

I was shooting with a zoom rather than a prime which meant I tried some vertical format stuff as the planes climbed away from the runway. There were also a few shots of paired departures off the cross runways to go with as well. A helicopter even got into the mix!