Tag Archives: floatplane

Murphy Moose On Floats At Olympia

I’ve posted shots of Murphy Mooses (or however that should be as a plural) in other posts including one with a turbine engine.  This one showed up at Olympia during one of the Olympic Air Shows.  It’s an average looking plane but stick it on floats and it immediately looks more interesting.  It landed and taxied in and then didn’t move again while I was there but at least I got some shots of it.

Floatplanes Since I’m In Vancouver Anyway!

Our November visit to Vancouver was about us doing some fun stuff with friends and enjoying what a great city has to offer.  However, when staying so close to the waterfront, it was improbable that I wouldn’t spend a little time watching the floatplane operations.  Even non-enthusiasts find the floatplanes enjoyable to watch so I am not standing out too much here.  The weather wasn’t ideal and the early evenings meant flying would be curtailed before it got too dark but I was happy to get a little bit of flying to watch as part of my weekend away!

Catching An Italian Floatplane Going To And From Oshkosh

While driving around the back of Renton, I saw this nice floatplane.  It is a SIAI Marchetti 1019 – a utility aircraft with a turboprop powerplant.  Based on the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, it had a decent military career and now plenty of them have found their way into civilian hands.  A short while later, I saw pictures of this airframe at Oshkosh for the annual EAA gathering.  Our paths were to cross again, though, when it showed up at Boeing Field, making an approach to the short runway.  A bit further away than ideal but definitely cool to catch it again.

Kodiak Floatplane Returning To Renton

A sunny Sunday afternoon had me driving past Renton so I figured I would stop off to see a few things.  I swung by the floatplane base after I had done whatI came for and things were quite quiet.  I had just missed a few planes and wondered whether I would bother hanging around.  Then a Cessna made an approach, as covered in another post, and, while it was taxiing back to the dock, I saw a Kodiak heading towards us down the lake.  Initially I thought it was going to make a straight in approach but, since the main Renton traffic was operating to the north, I guess it had to fit with that.

Consequently, it made a path that took it towards the eastern shore of Lake Washington before carving a sweeping, descending turn towards the lake.  With the hills of that shoreline behind it, things looked pretty impressive.  There were plenty of people out on the lake in boats, kayaks and paddle boards and they would have got a really good view as it came in to the lake to touch down.

They taxied back towards the base and I hadn’t appreciated what their plan was.  I figured they were tying up at the dock and I had moved away slightly but they had dropped the wheels and were coming up the slipway.  A good dose of power was needed to come up the ramp.  I wish I had shot that or, better yet, got some video.  I will have to go back to the seaplane base there.  The new fencing is not great but there are still some good photo opportunities to be had.

Beaver Beats Us To Friday Harbor

We took the ferry to Friday Harbor for a day out on San Juan Island while mum was visiting.  As the ferry approached the harbor, we were standing up at the front of the car deck watching what was going on.  Of course, I had the camera with me – fortunately with the longer lens fitted.  A buzz came from our right as a DHC-2 Beaver came into sight on final approach for the harbor.  I didn’t have everything set up exactly as would have been ideal but sometimes you just have to get the shot.

The plane touched down and taxied to the jetty to drop off and pick up its passengers.  I didn’t recognize the colors but a look at the shots back at home shows the name Friday Harbor Seaplanes.  I have seen a few of their planes show up on tracking since so I guess they have a good operation running.  They operate to Kenmore so I should really check back to see whether I have shot them in the past and didn’t realize it.

Floatplane 185

This Cessna 185 looked in great condition and any plane on floats is going to get my attention anyway.  The buzz saw sound of a 185 as it takes off will definitely get your attention but it is not so intrusive when it returns.  Having some nice winter light on it was a good thing and floats just make any place look better.

Down in the Slough at Kenmore

It has taken a while for this post from the 75th anniversary celebrations at Kenmore Air.  They operated one of the planes from the slough that runs alongside the base.  They had back taxied one of the Otters to start its takeoff run from earlier to mean it was taking off close to the spectators.  Then, when landing, they brought it down in the slough again.  It made for a great view of the plane compared to the normal departures and arrivals way out in Lake Washington.

Wind And Rain Have A Benefit Sometimes

I may have complained a little about the weather being damp and windy during our trip to Victoria but there was one upside to this.  Unfortunately, it took one missed opportunity before I realized.  The wind was strong and from the west.  The normal approach for Harbour Air is to come in through the opening to the harbor and then touch down in the outer area before taxiing into the Inner Harbour.  With the wind coming from the opposite direction, they reversed the flow.

I had seen this once before on a previous visit to Victoria many years ago and had forgotten it could happen.  Our hotel was located right on the corner of the shoreline around which the planes would approach and we had a view out of our (not huge) window as they came around to touch down.  The first time I realized I could get the shot, I had to make so with shooting through the window.  This does not do much for image quality but it was still okay and I got an Otter coming in.

The next time something was due, I planned ahead.  The window of our room did open but it only opened a very small amount.  Not enough to get a camera out of except when looking off to one side.  However, the restriction on opening was the result of a small screw that was in the track for the window and it was not very securely fastened.  With my fingertip, I was able to remove the screw and with that out of the way, the window could fully open.  A Twin Otter was on the way so this time I was ready to get a clearer shot.  There is plenty of warning of their arrival because the sound of the props reaches you long before the plane does.  Besides, they are on final approach so hardly going too fast.  The only downside to this shot is that the touchdown location is further around and out of sight of where we were.  Bad weather can have its benefits.

Harbour Air Movements In The Rain

I had a bit of time one morning during our Victoria stay to walk along the shoreline.  The hotel that we were staying in was right on the shore so I only had to step outside and then I could walk around to the more open are of the harbor.  This also meant I could get some shots of the Harbour Air operations.  Their floatplane base is in the Inner Harbour area but the planes taxi out to the outer areas for departure.

I was able to get some shots of arrivals and departures as well as taxiing planes.  Some of those I could shoot from our hotel window when I wanted to stay dry!  I was happy to shoot the Otter movements but I was more interested in the Twin Otters.  We have plenty of Otters around here with Kenmore but Twin Otters are not common down here so some variety was welcome.  Besides, it is a bigger plane so a little easier to shoot at a distance!