Tag Archives: jet

Goodbye Alitalia

Airlines come and go but there are some that seem immortal, despite the fact that they really should have died. Alitalia was one such airline. It had gone through financial crisis after financial crisis. All sorts of EU rules were broken with the government propping the airline up and then they got support from another airline which probably regretted it very quickly. It now seems that they have finally gone. The failure of an airline is obviously traumatic for the people that work for it and I am genuinely sorry for them. However, Alitalia really needed to go. There is a new airline in Italy and they have bought the rights to the name. They paid less than half of the minimum bid that the people selling the rights said they would take. It looks like it was just to stop someone else using the name but we shall see. Let’s hope ITA is a better run operation.

A First Global 6500 For Me (and Then Another)

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Bombardier’s Global 6000 has been a very successful jet for them. With the arrival of the Global 7500 at the top of their line, the next question was what to do with the 5000 and 6000. They got an upgrade put together which has moved them up a little. Some aero tweaks, an interior upgrade and the new Rolls Royce Pearl engines resulted in the new models. Visually, I wouldn’t know how to tell the old from the new but at least flight tracking information lets you know which is which.

My first encounter with one was at Boeing Field. A Spanish registered 6500 was parked over at Modern and it departed while I was there. Since it is a large jet, it has to cross over to our side of the runway to taxi for departure. The food news was that it went full length rather than departing from the intersection. This provided a good opportunity to shoot it close up. Then it headed off. Despite the range, I think it was only going to Arizona so it wasn’t taxing the capabilities of the jet.

It wasn’t long before I got a second 6500. Again, Boeing Field was the venue but, this time, it was arriving rather than departing so I was able to get it in the air. The conditions weren’t quite as nice as for the first encounter but it was still fine. I like the original Global Express, liked it when it became the Global 6000 and I still like it now. It might have been around in these various forms for a while but it is still an elegant looking jet. Where is my checkbook…

WH004 Back at Paine Field

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The 777X program is hardly zipping along. The four test aircraft have been in use for a while now but the certification is not due until the end of 2023. After being built at Everett, the test jets all headed to Boeing Field. However, the fourth test aircraft, WH004, recently went back to Everett. I’m not sure why but it did a bit of flying out of there. One evening, I popped up to get a photo or two when it was returning. Conditions were ideal but a white jet will always have a bit of light on the airframe.

Odd P-8 Fin at BFI

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While waiting for an arriving 777X, I looked back across Boeing Field at the Boeing military ramp. They had a bunch of P-8s on the ramp at that time but one seemed a bit odd. First, it didn’t have the fin cap attached. I am not sure what might be the reason for removing it. Also, something about the paint on the fin was odd. It looked like someone was in the process of repainting it. Since it was on their ramp and the rest of the airframe was obscured, I couldn’t see which airframe it was or which customer it was destined for so no idea what the story might be. Anyone with any suggestions?

The Bits That Are Allowed When On BFI’s Runway

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I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about walking along the runway at Boeing Field during the FOD walk that there were some limitations on what we were allowed to take photos of. Fortunately, I was at the end of the runway that didn’t have any limitations. Therefore, I could shoot anything that was on the Boeing civil ramp as well as the main terminal ramp for the airport.

There were 777Xs on the ramp, KC-46s and plenty of 737 Max jets. The bizjets near the terminal was also in abundance. Here are some of the planes I shot on that rather gloomy morning.

737 Rear Fuselage Design Evolution

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The 737 has gone through many design iterations. With the introduction of the Max, the rear fuselage got quite a redesign. The original 737 tailplane was redesigned for the NG family when it was widened. This affected the rear fuselage a small amount. However, there were clearly still issues with that part of the plane given the large number of vortex generators that were fitted. These are always there to fix things that aren’t quite as they should be.

The Max has a totally reconfigured rear fuselage. Boeing clearly decided to clean up the issues that they had been living with. Any opportunity to reduce drag is needed when you are competing with the newest version of your opponent. They have thinned the fuselage a lot and this is one of the easiest ways to spot that a jet is a Max rather than a previous version (the others being the engine size and the winglet type). The APU inlet has also been relocated.

S7 Max Both at Renton and BFI

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S7 is a Russian airline so not one that I normally get to see. Tokyo is the only place I have seen their planes in operation. They have a bunch of 737 Max jets on order. I saw one of them in a Boeing test bay on the west side of Renton one evening when passing by. The bright green colors are hard to miss. Fortunately, it was not long after this that I was at Boeing Field in the evening when the jet came in from a test flight. The light was pretty nice by that time of day but I don’t think it would have mattered with a color that vibrant!

French Global 7500

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Bombardier recently completed their 100^th Global 7500. It is an impressive machine with excellent capabilities. If I was minded to buy a bizjet, it would definitely be the one I got but I just don’t feel like it at the moment. I haven’t seen too many of them yet so catching one is a nice surprise. This one was departing Seattle. I’m not sure how far it was going but, given that it is registered in France, I assume they were actually making good use of its range unlike so many of the owners of such jets. It seemed to have a nice fade in the paint scheme too. Maybe I will put something like that on mine when I get it.

End of Lufthansa’s MD-11F Ops

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October brings the end of MD-11 operations for Lufthansa. When the MD-11 rapidly fell out of favor with the passenger operations, it became a bit of a favorite for freight operations. New build MD-11Fs were joined by conversions of displaced passenger jets. Lufthansa had bought some new jets and added more to their fleet. In recent years, the introduction of Boeing 777Fs had gradually displaced the MD-11s from operations. Now the last one is being retired. FedEx is still using a ton of them so no likelihood of the type going away soon. I only saw them a few times in Lufthansa colors and won’t any more!

Gulfstream’s GIII Is A Nice Surprise

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Vintage business jets are a nice thing to come across and, while the modern generation of Gulfstreams are a common sight around the US, the G-III is now something of a rare beast. Seeing one at Boeing Field parked on the Modern ramp was a nice surprise so I was just hoping for it to depart while I was there. Fortunately, I was in luck. It eventually powered up and taxied for departure. The hush kits on the old Spey engines are a bit of a giveaway but they aren’t that effective. The noise on takeoff was definitely a sign of something from a previous generation.