Tag Archives: Illinois

Michael Jordan’s Gulfstream

Waukegan Airport is the home for a number of corporate aircraft. One of the regular visitors is a Gulfstream belonging to a man who has a home in the area and who is associated with Chicago area sports in a big way. However, the aircraft is wearing colors that are more associated with his college playing days in North Carolina. The result is possibly not the most attractive paint job you have ever seen. It does include the logo of the man in question in his trademark (literally) pose of Air Jordan. I once spent a portion of a day driving around the airfield with the Airport Manager. As we went through one of the electronic gates, he spotted the remnants of a cigar on the ground outside the gate. Apparently, this is one of Michael’s cigars. He is not allowed to smoke them when on the ramp so he drops them just before entering the area.

Adam A500 – Rare But Still Out There

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I was talking with a longtime friend of mine about some stuff recently and it got me thinking about a project he had worked on a few years ago. He was heavily involved in Adam Aircraft based out of Centennial Airport south of Denver. The company had two projects; the A500 twin piston and the A700 twin jet. The company ultimately folded with only about half a dozen of the A500s delivered to customers and the A700 still in flight test. I was wondering whether I had any shots of either type.

I did make a visit to the company while he worked there and got to walk around the flight test hangars. Sadly, no cameras were allowed so I don’t have any images of the work the company was doing. That is a big shame. However, I did come across A500s twice. One time was at Oshkosh where a couple of the planes were on display together. Later I also saw one parked up at Palwauckee (now called Chicago Executive) where it had a cover over the fuselage. I believe some are still flying but, without manufacturer support, I imagine they are not cheap to keep.

Black Hawk Welcoming Committee

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A work trip recently took me through Chicago Midway. I wasn’t there long before getting on my next flight. We were taxiing out to depart and were coming past the National Guard air unit based on the field. They operate a bunch of Black Hawks. A couple of them were parked up on the apron and one was on approach. My plane conveniently had to hold for a while so I got to see the Black Hawk fly its approach and land. I only had my phone with me but here is some footage of the arrival.

Dog Sled Demonstration

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Unless you live in the mountains, California winters are not a time for much thought about snow. However, I did find myself thinking back to an event we went to a couple of time when we lived in Chicago. Morton Arboretum is located in Lisle, west of the city, and was a favorite place for us to visit. In any season it was a pretty place to walk. During the winter, they would put on a demonstration of dog sledding and this could be fun to watch.

A course would be set up through the trees so there were plenty of places in which you could set yourself up to watch the action. The runs would take place at various times throughout the day and between them you could go and talk to the people and meet the dogs. They were certainly energetic creatures and, I imagine, they would be a real handful to have in a house. Let the buyer beware!

The snow was not too deep on this occasion so it was relatively straightforward to head out around the course and get set for the teams when they came through. Most of them had things well under control but sometimes a single dog sled would appear and the dog might get a little distracted by all of the cool smelling stuff around them. At this point, the person would appear to be doing more of the pushing and the dog less of the pulling.

Shooting in the snow is always a little interesting. The brightness of the snow itself contrasts a lot with the shadows in the surrounding trees. This is when shooting RAW really helps as you can get a lot more out of the shots.

Rochelle Rail Park

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Rochelle IL is about half way between Chicago and the Mississippi River. For those with an interest in railroading, it is known as a location where the Union Pacific and the BNSF railroads cross. The town has taken this crossing to heart and created a park where the two lines intersect. There is a place to sit under cover and watch the trains come through while there are areas for kids to play. There is even a gift shop that stocks railroad related gifts.

I was in Rochelle for work and my colleagues were interested in seeing where the crossing was located so, during a lunch break, we headed to see it. It was a rather hot day so hanging around in the sun did not seem like a good idea to me. I went straight to the covered area to stay in the shade while they took a look around. Of course, I wasn’t going to go somewhere without taking my camera along.

We weren’t there terribly long but we did have a few trains come through. If I had thought about things, I might have come better prepared and had some hearing protection. The two tracks cross on the flat and then there are grade crossings for the local streets so they sound their horns as they come through. In such close proximity, this is a touch loud!

Last of the Good Light

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Getting some lovely evening light means the steady improvement in shooting conditions right up until the point when it all goes away. The light was on the nose of the departing jets so was good as they climbed out. Once they were passed our location, they were partially backlit but, since the sun was very low in the sky, the undersides of the jet were illuminated as it climbed. This provided some great options.

As the sun got even lower, the shade was beginning to be an issue for the front shots but the sky still provided a few nice options as the jets were heading away. The back of a plane might not always be the best side to shoot but, if the light is playing ball, it can be good. Of course, the transformation from great to gone is pretty quick so you make the best of it and then you can go home!

What is Happening on This 767?

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Every once in a while you see something and you have no idea what is going on. As a United 767 climbed out from O’Hare, it was streaming something from the fuselage. I saw it through the viewfinder at the time and figured it would be obvious what it was when I looked at the pictures. It turns out I still don’t know what was happening. Anyone reading this that has any ideas, please let me know what you think.

Let’s All Go To Europe

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The early evening period at O’Hare is the time when the departures to Europe get into full swing. The flights to the U.S. Tend to arrive from lunchtime into the mid afternoon so a regular turnaround means they are ready to head out later in the afternoon for the overnight trip back to Europe for a morning arrival. When the winds are from the west, this means you get the low sun angle on the nose of the aircraft which is pretty ideal.

It is a great time to shoot. Everything heads out in a pretty compressed timescale so you get a lot of interesting aircraft in a short period of time. The variety o types has taken a bit of a hit in recent years as things tend to get focused on similar aircraft for the similar missions. However, you still get a mix of A330s, 787s, some 777s and even the occasional 747.

There are a few flights that run a little earlier or a little later which meant I didn’t get a comprehensive collection of what is on offer but there was still plenty to make the time well spent. The fact I was hanging out with a good bunch of guys made the whole event far more enjoyable. If there was a quiet time, we could spend it talking as long as someone was paying attention to whatever was taxiing out. At the western end, there are large earth banks which restrict the view of the field. Instead, you predict where the planes will appear and make sure you are ready. The noise is usually a clue!

Down the Runway

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Getting an unusual perspective is one of those goals we set ourselves when out shooting. It is not tricky to get similar looking shots on a regular basis and this blog is often populated with such stuff. However, finding a new angle on something is cool. The view down the runway is one I like. It gives some context to what is going on when planes are operating. Usually a good viewing location is hard to find but a bit of elevation can be helpful.

In Rosemont, there is a road that goes over a bridge crossing some railroad tracks. It just happens to be pretty much in line with runway 22L. As the rebuilding of O’Hare’s runways continues, 22L will eventually disappear. However, it is currently used primarily for departures. While it is a bit far away, you do tend to get the chance to have one aircraft taxiing into position for departure while another is getting airborne at the far end. This emphasis on the busy nature of O’Hare is part of the strength of this location.

Locos Trying to Block My View

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There have been a lot of plane shots recently and that shouldn’t be too surprising given that this is primarily an aviation photography blog. However, I do mix it up and you probably deserve something different. How about some trains. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is still related to a plane shoot though. Two locations on a day out were alongside rail lines and we got some traffic while we were there.

One location was near a bridge over a small river. We got a loco running along the line so I got a few shots as it came by. That was the only thing we saw on that line. The tracks on the other side of the airport are a different story. They have a steady stream of traffic. We sometimes were frustrated by a train in line of sight while something cool was departing but other times the trains rumbled through while little was going on.

I figured I should grab some shots of the trains whatever the circumstances. While rail may be the day job for me, I am not much of a train photographer. Those that do this on a regular basis will, no doubt, identify the shortcomings of technique for capturing train images. If they want to let me know what I was doing wrong, feel free. I am always happy to learn. However, I won’t be taking a lot of train shots so the chances for practicing will be limited.