Tag Archives: jet

SFO From the Hill

Many of my recent posts have involved aircraft operating from SFO. One of the restrictions SFO has is that, being bounded by water means there are limited opportunities to vary your shooting angles. One thing I was ken to try was an overview of the field. Driving along I-380, you are up on the ridge looking down to the airport and you are almost directly in line with the east/west runways. I thought that there must be somewhere accessible where you could get a similar view.

I checked with a guy I know who lives locally to see if he had any ideas. He had already beaten me to it and had shot just what I was thinking about a couple of years before. He suggested an area that might be suitable so I headed out. I found a location with just the sort of view I was looking for. The air was relatively clear so the shots of the field were quite good with one exception. At this range, the heat haze is really difficult. You are a long way out and everything between you and the airport is developed and has a lot of warmth rising from it on a nice day. However, even knowing this, I still thought the difference the shot provided was worth the effort.

I was extra lucky in that I met a bunch of guys working on a car in the driveway of one of the houses on the street I chose. They were a good bunch and a lot of fun to hang out with so the infrequent nature of departures on that runway was compensated for by having people to pass the time with. The shots here are a few that I got. The aircraft continue on a pretty straight departure route so they end up passing almost directly over you.

I would like to try shooting here another time. Later in the day with softer light and – hopefully – less heat haze would be good. The location might also be good for the multiple exposure type shooting I have done at Coyote Point. After dark would also work well to generate some light trails. Lots to think about for future shoots.

Blue Angel

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A surprise visitor at Boeing Field timed his arrival perfectly. I had just pulled up at the field when I saw something running in on the approach at speed and not descending. This had the look of a military break. I didn’t have the camera out but, fortunately, given that it looked like they would break downwind to land, I had some time to grab the camera. Sure enough, it was an F/A-18 that broke overhead. More interestingly, it was a two seater from the Blue Angels.

I was ready by the time it was on the approach and managed to get a few shots as they landed. They then taxied over to Clay Lacy’s FBO and parked up. Not sure what they were in for but it could involve the planning for Seafair later in the year. Whatever the reason, a nice surprise.

Small Corporate Jets

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While the big jets were an interesting target for me at Boeing Field, there is a good trade in smaller corporate jets too. The regularity of Citations and their ilk makes them a little less exciting but they can still be interesting if painted up nicely. However, one that caught my eye was an older Learjet. This is operated by Boeing Flight Test as a support and chase aircraft for their programs. It taxied by before departing over my location.

Also we got a Dassault Falcon 10. Quite a vintage type of jet these days so that was a nice surprise.

Big Business Jets

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I was back in Seattle recently and, while the reason for being there took up the majority of my time, I did have a couple of opportunities at the end of the days to pay a visit to Boeing Field. I had been there last year and made the best of the nice light later in the day then. This time, the light looked good but proved to be a bit fickle and the day was not as long given the time of year. However, I did get an interesting selection of aircraft to shoot. Boeing Field is a popular location for business aviation given its close proximity to Seattle city center. There were some very nice large jets visiting. An Airbus ACJ from Germany was parked up the entire time I was there but I never saw it move. However, I did get to see some Globals and Gulfstreams stretch their legs.

The Global Express is a great looking business jet. One arrived shortly after I did and I managed to get it as it came in. I was at a spot I hadn’t tried before. It gives a better angle on the aircraft as they approach and touch down but it does suffer from a more cluttered background which is a shame. The Global looked like it was heading out again as I got ready to leave for the evening so I decided to go to the departure end of the runway and try and get it head on. By now the light was really going but I ramped up the ISO and decided to go for it anyway. Having Mount Rainier in the background certainly doesn’t harm a shot but it was really a bit too dark.

The other nice visitor was a G650. The newest of the big Gulfstreams is a significant improvement from an aesthetic point of view as far as I am concerned. This one had a great paint scheme too so I was very happy to see it. The runway direction was changed just before it left so I got to see it as it was airborne rather than on the takeoff roll which was nice.

Throw in some Dassault Falcons and I had a lucky run given how limited the time was that I had there. Hopefully I will be back again sometime soon.

Crummy Skies at SFO

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Sometimes you have an idea about something that will work out really well. Unfortunately, you are not always right in that assumption. I was up early one weekend morning and was over in San Francisco. My reason for being there didn’t quite work out – this day is turning out to have a theme – so decided to go down to SFO. The weather was not great with a lot of cloud about at low levels. However, I had in mind that it might be cool to try and get shots of the jets coming in with lots of moisture around them in a moody form.

I got the shore and the planes were easy enough to see as they landed but it was just grey so nothing special or dramatic. I decided to head a little further along the shore as I have previously seen the jets streaming vortices as they approached which then disappeared as they got closer to touchdown. I figured that the moisture content of the air must change along the shoreline. I was certainly right but not in a helpful way. My next spot gave me a good location to be when the planes were finally about to get visual with the runway. As they passed me they were still in the bottom of the clouds and only just breaking out. Consequently, they were heavily obscured and not easy to see let alone photograph.

My grand idea did not work out well at all. As they got further away down the approach, they may have been showing some moisture but there was so much between us, it was hard to tell. One United 747 did put on a good show with some serious cloud activity over the wings and flap system as it passed but that was as good as it gets. After a little while, I accepted defeat and headed home. It is true you won’t get something different if you don’t try something different but that doesn’t mean it will be worth it!

Another JetStar! Hurrah!

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If you go back a long time in this blog, you will see my tales to chasing a classic business jet, the Lockheed JetStar. Since leaving Chicago I have been frustrated to see a large number of movements of this fantastic looking machine showing up at Midway and Chicago Executive airports. They must have known I was gone and come out of the woodwork.

Fortunately, there is a local example. Hayward Executive is a short distance from me and I recently spotted that it was due to make an early departure for Mexico. With nothing to conflict with this, I headed across. Wanting a specific movement is often a frustrating thing since, while a flight plan will be filed for a given time, they often go at another time since it is all about when the person is ready to leave. You don’t have to stick to a schedule when you have your own jet!

In this case, I was lucky. They filed for an 8:42 departure and actually got airborne at 8:49. Not bad. The weather was overcast and not the greatest but, with the angle of the departure, more sun much actually have been a problem at this time of year. Anyway, I got a good view of the take off run and the turnout was towards me so a few quick shots to add to my JetStar collection and I was done. Back home for breakfast!

Chasing the MD-11

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I mentioned in a previous post that one of the few remaining passenger operators of MD-11s is KLM and they are currently bringing the jet into SFO on alternating days. I had previously missed it because the day I was there was the day that the A330 was running the service. I wanted to make an effort to see the jet since you never know how long it will be before the opportunity is gone. The draw-down of the fleet is underway but they can change routes with little warning. Therefore, I decided to make the trip.

This time it was a quick visit. We were heading over to the peninsula for other reasons so I persuaded Nancy to allow me to make the diversion. Since tracking flights is now so easy, there was little element of chance in this. We knew when the jet was coming so I didn’t need to make her wait long.

Sure enough, the MD-11 came into view overhead as it made the pass before coming onto the approach. There was some limited visibility out on the bay but the light was fine for the landing shot and I was happy with the result. I got a few other shots while I was waiting and then it was back to our previously arranged schedule. Glad to have shot this aircraft before the opportunity finally disappears. At least FedEx will keep using them for a while to come.

Night Shoot at SFO

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One idea that Paul had was for us to have a go at shooting some light trails at SFO after it got dark. This sounded like a good plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any tripods or cable releases with us. No matter. Target was around the corner so we popped in there and bought a couple of $15 specials. Hmm, these were quality items indeed. Given how much a good tripod costs, can you imagine what a $15 tripod is like?

However, we made the best of it. Getting perfect alignment was tricky so some post processing cropping to level stuff up would be required. The camera wobbled a lot on the tripod when touched so I chose to trigger it with the shutter button on a 2 second delay. This allowed some wobbling to stop and, on a long exposure, any lingering wobble would be lost.

We got some stuff but it wasn’t brilliant. However, a short while later, I had to go to SFO to pick up some family members arriving on an evening flight so I decided to go a little earlier and try again, this time with some more appropriate kit in the form of a decent tripod and a cable release. This time, I was able to control things a bit better and get a few shots of interest. There wasn’t a huge amount of traffic so I didn’t get too many trails but I did get a slowly taxiing British Airways 747 which left an interesting smear across the frame.

The alignment with the moving planes is not fantastic from where I was but it was okay. Coyote Point looks like it might be better but I think it closes at sunset so I’m not sure whether that will be possible or not. We shall see.

Another SFO Day Out

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My friend Paul was in the area for work and we had a day to go out and shoot some aviation. We had a couple of options that we considered and one that we tried but that was not looking too productive so we ended up having a trip to SFO. With plenty of time to play with, we shot from a couple of locations. We started out at Coyote Point which is great early in the day when the light is good and also provides good light looking down the approach towards the runways.

Later we moved across to the bayshore area near the airport where you can get better views of the traffic on the airfield including the landings. The problem here can be that the distance, even on a coolish winter day, can result in some heat haze issues. These can be exacerbated by aircraft holding for departure when their exhaust plumes are in front of what you want to shoot.

There were a few things that we wanted to catch and then plenty of time between to take it easy, go and get something to eat or just chat about what we had been up to. The Air New Zealand 747 is now a rare beast so catching that was worthwhile. Cathay are also bringing theirs in which I can’t imagine will be the case for too much longer. We had hoped for the KLM MD-11 which is a rarer beast yet but, unfortunately, it alternates between an MD-11 and an A330 and that day was the A330 day.

The other thing to try and get at SFO is the parallel approaches. The two closely spaced runways can be used simultaneously and you can have two large aircraft coming down the approach in formation. Usually there is a bit of an offset but every once in a while, they are right alongside each other. Trying to get this is one of the goals. There were a few when I got them further out which made them appear closer than they were. Sadly, one approach was the Emirates 777 with a Gulfstream right next to it. I didn’t realize in time and was shooting with too long a lens. The 777 is fine but the Gulfstream was cut off so I blew it. At least Paul got the shot so we do have a record.

SFO Quick Visit

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On my way home I wanted to stop into SFO to get something specific. JAL operates their new 787s into SFO and the daily arrival is around 4pm. I had seen a few shots from people catching it coming in and had been planning to try and get it for a while. This was a good opportunity since the weather was looking nice. I got there slightly ahead of time and just in time to catch an EVA 777 coming in.

It was a quiet time at SFO so I was able to relax and watch the activity along the shoreline between arrivals. A few departures looked interesting but the light was too far round to get a decent shot of anything that wasn’t departing from the 28s. A few heavies did go from there and I made sure to shoot them for practice.

The JAL 787 showed up as planned and so I got my shots. I was a little unsure about lens choice. SFO is a place where the 500mm can be very useful but it is too much for the longest aircraft when they are abeam you. The 787 is a deceptive aircraft that looks smaller than it really is so I was a little unsure as to whether to risk the long lens and miss the shot. I started out with the 100-400 which was fine for the part where it crossed the threshold and the aircraft holding for departure. Things looked about right so I quickly swapped back to the 500 and it was not too much. Good to know in future.

I was about to head home after the arrival when I looked up and saw a four engine jet passing over heading to the approach. A quick check on Flightradar24 confirmed it was a Swiss A340 so I figured I could manage ten more minutes. Once it was on the ground, a Virgin and BA 747 pairing were taxiing out. The Virgin jet went off 01 so was not well lit from my side and the BA jet spent so long taxiing it was clear the sun would be below the hills before it got going so I called it a day.