As some previous posts may have indicated, I have not had the best of luck with Ameristar DC-9s in the past. They never seem to move when I am around. I heard that some were coming in to Paine Field and, again, I wasn’t going to be around when they got there. However, I was up there a little while afterwards and, after getting the shots I came for, the evening light was looking nice so I figured I would head around to see if there was a good shot of them on the ramp.
When I got there, I was disappointed to see some vehicles parked up inside the fence and in the way of any shots of the jets. Rather than give up, I headed in to the FBO to see if they would let us outside and they were very helpful. Turns out one of their team is a keen photographer himself and he was happy to escort us out. The two DC-9s were sitting on the ramp in lovely light. What more could you ask for? There was a medical helicopter crew getting ready to depart and we had to stay well out of their way but this did not impact what we were after. A great opportunity to get the jets in nice conditions.
A few days later, one of the jets was heading out. It was a northerly flow and, given the ability of the original short body DC-9s to get out of shorter fields, it was going to be pretty high when it came by me. That wasn’t going to stop me getting a shot, though. Got to make the most of it when the opportunity presents itself. When DC-9s were everywhere with operators like Northwest, it was easy to ignore them. Now they have rarity value, it is a different story!