Tag Archives: jet

The Second Freighter Conversion Finally Arrives

Alaska Air Cargo has been having a tricky time with its new freighters. These are conversions of some of its older 737-800s and will provide more capacity than the current 737-300BDSF fleet. I got the first of the jets not long after it arrived, but it then was out of service for ages. They have finally got it in regular use now but the delivery of the second aircraft was delayed while they sorted things out. It is now delivered and operating regularly, and I caught it climbing out of SEA one weekend. The second shot is the same airframe back when it was in passenger service a few years ago.

A Westwind Is as Rare as Rocking Horse Poo!

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The older and less common that planes get, the more interesting they become. The IAI Westwind is definitely in that category for me now. I have only seen a few over the years and I have even less that I have photographed. One was coming to SEA one weekend and that was too good to miss. It was going to be landing at a time of day which meant I needed a new location to try and get reasonable shots of it. Being close was also a good thing since heat haze was going to be a problem.

I found a spot I thought might work along with some backup options. I was able to experiment on the other arrivals to see whether things would work out before the Westwind showed up. Fortunately, the location proved to be adequate to the task and this low-slung little rocket was soon in my viewfinder and then gone. This one looked in great condition.

Marks of a Mixer Nozzle

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I was running through some images of a Dornier 328Jet that I had shot at Boeing Field. I was zoomed in close to check for image sharpness when my eye caught the inside of the nozzle of the engine nacelle. There was an interesting pattern on the inside. Judging by the layout of the staining, I think the mixer in the exhaust results in varying deposition of material on the walls. This is the sort of thing that really appeals to me and probably no one else but it is my blog!

Welcome Back the Lufthansa 600s

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Just when I think I have seen the last of something, I get proved wrong. The Lufthansa service to Seattle was being provided by A340-300s over the winter but they then switched to A350s. I thought that might be the last I would see of the A340s but lo and behold, Lufthansa has switched again and this time to the A340-600s. That was a really pleasant surprise. At first, I thought it was a short-term change, but they have been in use for some time now.

I went down shortly after they returned to catch some shots. I didn’t realize that there would be plenty of chances at that point, so I figured I should try and catch them quickly. With it being midsummer, the heat haze is a significant problem – particularly at the time of day that they depart. I decided to try and slightly different location that might provide a nicer angle, would be closer but was more problematic with trees getting in the way.

The results are okay, but the conditions are just not conducive to getting the cleanest shots. Even closer in, the haze issues are apparent. A while later, I did go back to another favorite spot and shot from there with similar issues regarding the conditions. I don’t know how long they will remain on this route and whether I will have a chance to try in slightly better times – a nice delay to later in the day would help – but at least they are in the old Lufthansa colors for the most part, so we get a bit more color than is the case for most of the fleet at this point.

Chinese Air Ambulance Quick Visit

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You see a fair few air ambulance operators through Boeing Field. There are often flights moving people to and from the city from Alaska and other parts of the state. The ones I am used to, though, tend to be older Learjets and US or Canadian registered. We do get the occasional one from overseas, but I was quite surprised to get a G550 from China showing up as an air ambulance. It seemed worthy of a look. It was a pretty brief stop for the jet before it headed across the Pacific. The naming seemed quite amusing – Happy Air!

Sadly, the AMXs Are Gone

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The Italian Air Force recently retired their AMX fleet. I remember seeing early AMX demonstration flights at Farnborough, so this is another one of those moments when you realize you are old enough to have seen the entire life cycle of an aircraft. The “joys” of aging, I guess. Anyway, I figured that, while I hadn’t seen a lot of AMXs over their time, I would reflect the few encounters that I had with them.

HondaJet Shapes Are Fascinating

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This HondaJet had come from outside the US, so it had to clear customs at BFI after landing. That put it right in front of me while I was waiting for something else (although I can’t remember what it was). I find the jet very interesting although I am frustrated by the way in which all the ones I see have the same paint scheme with only a change in what color is used. Since this one parked up near me, I got to look at it from a variety of angles and that is a good way to appreciate the unusual shapes the airframe has.

The pylons are cambered and the way in which the nacelles sit on the wing is more easily appreciated from behind. It is great to have something different. I look forward to seeing the big brother when it makes it into service. A shame that Honda seems to have given up on their own engines but not a massive surprise.

Indian Rafales Testing PNW Weather

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I may have worked on the Typhoon/EF2000 in my younger days and have a strong affinity for that plane, but I have always appreciated its competitor from next door, the Dassault Rafale. The Rafale is a very elegant-looking airframe, and it has recently started to sell very well on the export market. One of those customers is India and the Indian Air Force brought some of its jets to Alaska for an exercise. They routed across the US with an overnight stop at McChord AFB (JBLM) before continuing on to Alaska.

I went out with a bunch of friends to see them arrive. They came in two waves and the first arrived in some quite poor conditions. This resulted in them making straight in approaches to the field. This was a bit of grey jets and a grey sky, but it was still worthwhile. There was a fair time between them showing up and the second wave and, by that time, the weather had improved considerably. This allowed them to do a run in and break to landing. Four jets came in but one was clearly offset – presumably getting some shots of the others. They tightened up before the break, though.

The final turns varied in how tight they were but, since the earlier jets had allowed me to get some more standard side-on shots, I decided to get closer to their approach path. I moved in a way for the first jet and then proceeded to sprint closer between each arrival in order to try and vary the angles a bit. If there had been more jets or time, I might have gone for directly on the centerline to get a head on shot but that wasn’t possible. What fun catching something very different to the norm for this area.

Allegiant’s Fleet Evolution

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Allegiant currently flies a bunch of A319 and A320 jets, but its most recent order was for some 737 Max8-200s. The first of these have been flying at Boeing Field. Unfortunately, my first encounter was with an unpainted jet, but I have since caught them looking a lot more like the finished article. It got me thinking of what I have seen of their jets over the years so I thought I would scan the archive. Plenty of the A320 family jets but I have also got their 757s and MD-80s so here are a few shots.

T-38s Including Some Color

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Mesa Gateway Airport is a popular spot for cross country flights by various military aircraft. T-38 training jets are particularly common apparently so, while it was my first time visiting the airport, catching some arriving Talons was not a surprise. What was unusual was that one of them was in a retro paint scheme in a green camouflage design. It was looking very well finished as it taxied in and parked. The various student trainees parked their jets and walked into the FBO. Many of them appeared to be overseas students training in the US.