Tag Archives: jet

Return of the Reds

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One of my days at RIAT was spent down towards the threshold of the runway. This meant I was able to get shots of the approaching planes and, hopefully, their touchdown. I say hopefully because a couple of things were working against me. First, there were some distance to go boards that could be in just the wrong spot depending on where the plane touched down. Second, because I was close in and there was a lot of distracting stuff in the background, I was going with a lower shutter speed to give the sense of motion and blur out some of the distractions.

I didn’t have a high success rate with some of these shots which was expected. When going through them, I can be pretty aggressive at culling anything that is not super sharp (at least on a part of the airframe that will be the first point of interest for a viewer) but I do have to bear in mind that I am looking at a high resolution version of the image zoomed in to 100%. When it is a 1600 pixel image on a screen, it will forgive a lot of the detail problems.

Anyway, I got some shots of the jets on approach and then as they touched down. Some of them came out pretty well. I did also use the location for take off shots where, since the planes were just beginning their take off rolls, they weren’t going that fast and getting the blur required was a bit trickier. Some of those will, at some point, show up on here too.

The Spanish Typhoon Gets Some Speed

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The weather for RIAT was variable over the course of the show. We did get some quite humid days. This did make for some spluffy performances from various fast jets. The Spanish Air Force brought a Typhoon for the show. The Luftwaffe had some on static and the Royal Air Force and Italian Air Force were displaying theirs so there was a chance to compare. Of the three displays, the Spanish jet was my favourite by a long way.

It is sometimes hard to justify what it is about a display that makes it better or worse than another. In the case of the Spanish Typhoon, I think the thing it achieved better than the others was to focus on what appeals to the casual viewer. As an aero guy with an interest in stability and control, I am more than willing to marvel at some of the cooler display manoeuvres that are really testing the technology of the planes. However, while some of those might be technically fascinating, they often do not make for a good “show”.

An example of this is high alpha rolling manoeuvres. The way a jet will roll around its velocity vector is great from an aero point of view but is rather dull to watch. Many displays include the same basic elements, and they all get a bit repetitive – particularly if you are spending several days at the show and see multiple performances. The Spanish display seemed to mix things up a bit. There was a lot of speed, a lot of tight turns, no messing around with the slower stuff and the sort of routine that has everyone watching. It didn’t hurt that it pulled a lot of moisture from the air too. Top marks to this pilot from me.

Arajet But Without the Paint

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Having Boeing on your doorstep means the chance to photograph airlines that you have a good chance of never seeing in their normal operations. Arajet, of the Dominican Republic, is one such airline. As they were taking delivery of some 737 Max jets, I was able to photograph them. On one occasion, I was out at Boeing Field when one of their jets was on test and I was looking forward to getting a shot. Unfortunately, I didn’t know it hadn’t yet been painted. Instead, I got a green plane with only the rudder and winglets giving away who the ultimate operator would be

I like the green of the unpainted jets and primer finishes on other planes also look good to me. I wasn’t so upset as a result, but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. Still, it looked pretty good on approach. I did get another airframe in the finished livery so I will stick that at the bottom to show what this one would ultimately look like. Not a dramatic livery but something different.

Gateway Airliners

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Mesa Gateway airport in Arizona does get some airline visitors. Allegiant was bringing some jets in while we were visiting early last year. GlobalX also had some coming in. Judging by how many of their jets I saw off to one side not looking too active, I assume they undertake some maintenance work there too. Not a ton of variety with these two but here are some shots of their planes. Makes a change to not show a GlobalX jet at Boeing Field!

U-2 Displays Take Me Back to the ‘80s

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In the late ‘80s, I got to go to my first serious air shows. The Air Fete at Mildenhall was the first one I did that was a specific trip and it became a regular feature for me. One of the regular displays at that time was the Lockheed TR-1 from USAFE. The designation was a bit of a feeble effort to pretend that they weren’t U-2R airframes and that they were a tactical asset. I don’t think anyone bought that. A few years later, they were re-designated as U-2R so I guess there wasn’t much to distinguish them. With later upgrades and a new engine, these then became U-2S airframes.

We lived for a while in Huntingdon which was close to RAF Alconbury where they were based. If you want to see the widest HAS structures, Alconbury had them because the TR-1s lived in their own HAS. One would launch at 7am every morning to go and have a look at the neighbours to the east and you could use it as an alarm clock! Very regular. They were withdrawn to the US after the wall came down and so the only way to see them was with deployed aircraft operating from locations like Fairford.

Their presence there combined with the Eyes in the Skies theme of RIAT this year meant that there was the potential for a display of one of the aircraft. It wasn’t long after Beale AFB had held their show where a jet was also displayed so two displays in short order. A U-2 is not going to be ripping up the sky. However, it will climb rapidly – particularly as it won’t be fully fuelled – and you do get to see the approach and landing. We were also treated to a low pass along the runway followed by a steep climb away which was great because the original take of was a bit far off and didn’t result in any shots I was too happy with.

While one airframe was on display in the static lineup, the display aircraft was a bit more interesting because it was fitted with the Senior Span satellite communications mount on the spine of the aircraft. This is a big fairing and makes the plane look very different. There was also a shark mouth painted on the nose. All in all, a great addition to a show that already has a ton of cool performers.

Who Flies Over Our House?

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Our location in Winchester puts us close to the approach path to Southampton when traffic is on a southwesterly flow. I assume there must be some airspace constraints in the area because the standard arrival procedure involves overflying us at about 3,000’ and then entering a left descending turn to come back past us when established on the approach to Southampton. While things are a bit far away, I can still get shots from the front of our house.

There are a few airlines that are regular visitors along with a pretty steady flow of bizjets. Aer Lingus Express comes in with ATR72s, KLM Cityhopper brings in the Embraer E175s and E190-E2s, Loganair has some EMB145s and then there is an airline I had never heard of before – Blue Island Airways, which also operates ATR72s from the Channel Islands. After a little while, I have got used to them all and don’t spend a ton of time watching them, but I will still look up if I hear something – I haven’t changed that much.

After Sunset at SEA as Well

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The light at sunset can make for some of the most pleasing shots and I did used to take the time to go to Burien when SEA was on a northerly flow to get some of the heavies departing in the best light. Once the sun goes down, it is tempting to head home but I would hang around a bit longer. The blue hour could make for some pleasing shots too and even when it was getting pretty dark, the amazing low light performance of a modern camera meant you could get something different. Combine that with the super noise reduction capabilities of current processing software and you can achieve shots that would have been impossible a few years ago.

We Can See Where the Fuel Is

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I have an old post from SFO on a similar theme to this one, but I make the rules on this blog and this post isn’t violating any of them. (If you want to know what the rules are, let me know and I shall try and come up with some.) When I jet descends from altitude, the fuel the remains in the wing tanks will be very cold. The warmer and moister air lower down can result in the formation of ice on the underside of the wings where the remaining fuel is pooled. This Delta A330 shows that, as expected, there is fuel at the inboard end of the wings but also, less expected by me at least, there is a tank further outboard that still has fuel in it. I like the fact that fuel is kept further out since it alleviates bending loads. You can see the shape of the access panels where the ice is forming.

Video of TBAG’s Event

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I blew parts of this one. This video doesn’t have the best bit of what I saw but, if I hadn’t told you that, you’d probably not know. When the Buccaneer was being run up, they undertook a bunch of tests on various systems. The wings were folded and unfolded. The speedbrake was extended and retracted. The bomb bay was rotated. The bit I didn’t get for some reason was the blown flaps. To get the chunky Bucc on to the small decks of the UK carriers, they utilised flap blowing. Air was ducted from the compressors of the engines to the flaps and this improved the low speed lift. It had been raining when the demo was undertaken and the blowing of the flaps was really visible with the moisture getting blown around. Sadly, that is not in this video. Everything else is though.

A Pair of PC-24s Overhead

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I was out of position one time when at Boeing Field. Being down near the museum, departing aircraft tended to be quite high by the time they got to me. This didn’t stop me trying some shots since it was something a bit different. I was pretty happy when I got a Pilatus PC-24. They are quite popular and not a rarity at BFI but still pleasing. Then I was rather surprised to get a second not too much later. The PC-24 has great short field capability and can land on grass strips too. From the underside, you get a good look at the wing planform that delivers this performance.