Tag Archives: jet

Pan Am

Summer of 88 meant I had probably the coolest job someone like me could ever have. My summer break was spent working for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the UK. I was involved in noise measuring work around airports in London and the vicinity. I spent a few days inside the fence at Heathrow recording all sorts of things taking off.

I did get some photos while there when it didn’t interfere with making recordings of sound levels. In those days, Pan Am 747s were a regular at Heathrow and here are a couple of their planes heading back across the water. They also had 727s at Heathrow supporting routes to Germany. That was a hangover from the post war split of responsibilities and probably seems anachronistic now.

DM’s Museum Jets

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Many airbases have a selection of historic aircraft on display to show something of what has gone before on the base. Sadly, they are often unavailable to shoot when you visit. Davis Monthan AFB has quite a few different planes on display and, fortunately, the location of the Fallen Hawg ceremony during Hawgsmoke was in front of the display A-10. While everything was being set up, we had some time to kill and I was allowed to wander around the other planes.

The selection included some obvious DM aircraft like the A-10 and A-7 (even if it was actually a Navy A-7E that they had repainted). A U-2 was a slightly more surprising one to see. I’m not sure how that qualifies but I wasn’t complaining. The F-105, F-100 and F-4 all looked good too. Not only was it nice to be able to shoot them but it gave us something to do since we had got in place pretty early!

Breaking the Old Jets

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Boneyards can be interesting place to explore. Old stuff and things from odd locations abound. On one side of Tucson International Airport is a place filled with old airliners. Some are being worked on and will fly again. Others are being stripped for the useful parts that they have. I didn’t get to go inside but instead wandered along the fence line seeing what was going on. Interestingly, having seen one of the last flights of the Texas 737 for Southwest, I was surprised to find it here a few days later. It was being broken down already. Other 737s were looking short of key parts and a few MD-80s were looking unlikely to move any time soon. A couple of A320s were there and they did look like they might be on the move at some point. One was being repainted which I imagine means it has a future.

Vampires Out in Daylight

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Tucson International is a place I was expecting to shoot F-16s of various nations. I had not expected to see any Super Hornets. However, the Navy had other plans. A couple of VX-9 Vampires jets were detached and carrying out missions with some of the based test aircraft. One of them was the color jet too! This was a very pleasant surprise. They took off in the morning for a mission and we got to see them head off. They returned ahead of my expectations and I wasn’t in the right place to get them on approach. Even so, a great addition to the day. I was flying home later that day and, while looking out of the window at the gate, they taxied by again so I guess they were getting a lot of flying in.

Marineflieger Tornado

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Tornado was a tri-national program. The UK, Germany and Italy were the partners that developed and produced the aircraft. There was only one export customer which was Saudi Arabia. All of the users continue to operate the aircraft although all of the ADVs have now been withdrawn. Germany took a substantial number of the jets but, while the Luftwaffe remains a major user, it is easy to forget that they were not alone.

The German Navy had a fast jet fleet. The Marineflieger operated the F-104 in large numbers and these were replaced by the Tornado. Originally, they were in the Blue/gray upper fuselage with white undersides colors which looked very neat. Later on (including the time this photo was taken), they had migrated to a camouflage scheme. Then, a consolidation exercise took place and the Navy jets were transferred to the Luftwaffe which took over their responsibilities.

What Does 40 Years of Design Get You?

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The Boeing 747-8 has not been a terribly successful program. Boeing decided to update the 747 family with new engines and revisions to the wing along with a stretch to the fuselage. The resulting jet was delayed by its own and other program issues and it came around at a time when there were few passenger airlines interested and the freighter market was taking a kicking. The result has been anemic sales and a production rate that has steadily reduced as a result of the low demand. However, from a technical point of view, it is a nice upgrade.

The wing came in for a lot of attention and was significantly redesigned. The most conspicuous change is the introduction of the swept tips common to many Boeing designs these days. Less obvious is that the flap system was completely redesigned. The original 747 flaps, carried through on the 747-400 are very complex. Sections are triple slotted. The Boeing aerodynamicists came up with a single slot design to replace this which apparently has good performance but I imagine is a lot simpler to make and maintain. Only from the rear on approach can you see the difference. These shots compare a 747-400 from Air New Zealand with a Korean Air 747-8 and you can see for yourself how much simpler the new design is.

Rafale A Demonstrator

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The Dassault Rafale is a fantastic looking aircraft. Gradually being built in reasonable numbers, it has broken into the export market and has customers in Egypt and Qatar and probably India although exports to India are always hard to pin down! The French air force and navy will no longer be the sole operators. The Rafale B is a two seat version and the C is the Air Force’s single seat version. However, there was the Rafale A. One of them was built in the mid 1980s as a demonstrator. It looks almost identical to the production version but was actually slightly larger. Painted in Dassault’s house colors, it made a number of air show appearances. At the time, it was competing for attention with BAe’s EAP demonstrator. I didn’t get to see EAP until I got to Warton where I wasn’t able to photograph it!

Here are some shots of the Rafale A. It was originally powered by GE F404 engines although later one was swapped for the M88 that would power the production Rafale. The first Rafale C was rolled out in an all black paint scheme which made it look very cool. The size difference is not immediately obvious but a number of detail design changes were incorporated too including lots of sensors required for an operational type rather than the demonstrator. The wing planform was also altered slightly based on the experience gained with the demonstrator. I understand that, when the aircraft was retired, it went to the Museum at le Bourget in Paris.

A Different Angle on the Parallel Approaches

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The parallel approaches to SFO are well known and have been the subject of previous posts here. This time I was looking for something different on this theme. I was at a favorite location of mine, Coyote Point. This is further out on the approach and a lovely park area. If nothing is happening, this is still a very relaxing place to be. It sticks out in to the bay with the result that you are much closer to the approach flightpaths. This makes for good opportunities to get shots of the aircraft and, in the warmer months, it reduces any problems with heat haze. However, it does change your alignment with the planes and the possibilities for parallel approach shots since the places appear to be stepped down from your angle.

This is not necessarily a problem so you can go vertical if you want. Also, it does make you well aligned for shots when the approaches are not happening in sync. You can find the second aircraft turning in further out is actually quite well lined up with the first since it is offset vertically as well as horizontally. The shots are not the classic parallel approach shots but they are still something a little unusual.

Add an Ilyushin to the Recent Visitors

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There have been a bunch of AN124s popping in to Moffett Field recently, one of which I saw while at the Solar Impulse arrival event. When I went back for the departure (which I covered for Global Aviation Resource in this article), I was surprised to see another freighter from the old Eastern Bloc. At his one was a more recent version though. It was an Ilyushin IL-76 but one that is fitted with the PS90 engine. It had been brought in to transport the ground crew and their gear for Solar Impulse. They were heading to Phoenix next and, since it was a short flight, everything needed to move quickly.

I didn’t get a great chance to photograph the plane. It was a long way up the ramp and there were too many lights between us to make for a great shot. However, I got what I could. My friend Hayman works nearby and he was able to get the departure later in the morning. I’m not jealous…

WestJet and the House of Mouse

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Promotional paint schemes are not uncommon – particularly with certain airlines. Alaska has a bunch of them. This one was a new one for me. WestJet, a Canadian airline, seems to have a marketing tie up with Disney too. They have painted a 737 up in an all-over shame that certainly gets your attention, if only to wonder what on earth it is. I was pleasantly surprised to catch it having had no idea it was on its way.