Tag Archives: jet

Been a While Since I Saw a BOAC Jet

When I was very young, BOAC still existed but it was soon merged in to British Airways. I remember model kits being for BOAC jets and I have seen some preserved aircraft in BOAC colors. As part of British Airways’ 100^th year celebrations, they have painted up four airframes in legacy colors. The first to appear was a 747-400 in the BOAC scheme. I saw a bunch of shots of it online and was keen to see it for myself. It appeared on the schedule for an evening arrival at SeaTac so I made sure to be down there.

They were making a southerly flow that day and the evening is not a good time for that approach path as there are few locations to get good shots. However, I was “lucky” in that it was a crummy day for weather. The water tower location would normally have been horribly backlit but, since there was no sun, it might just do. I did get the shots and, by virtue of shooting quite heavily overexposed and then pulling back in post, I was able to get something I was reasonably pleased with.

I did really want the sun though and, not two weeks later, the jet was back on the SeaTac run. Again the evening arrival but this time it was sunny and the flow was northerly. This provides some opportunities for getting the iconic SeaTac arrival shot with Mt Rainier in the background. I was certainly not alone as she came down the approach nicely illuminated by the evening light. Thank goodness for time changes and being done with work by then!

Juggling the Pegasuses

Leave a Reply

While the UPS freighter had enticed me to Everett, I was interested to see that Boeing was busy moving KC-46s around. They have a hangar at the south end of the field where they work on the Pegasus aircraft and they were taking on out of the hangar. To do this, they needed to move a bunch of them out of the way so they had a juggling act underway putting different planes in odd locations while they all were moved. They stuck a row of them down by the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum.

The plane came out of the hangar and was rolled off to park. Then, one that had been sitting outside for a while was moved back inside. I wasn’t going to hang around to see if they moved them all back that evening but I did go across to the museum side to see them parked in this odd location before leaving. At this time the Air Force had halted deliveries due to loose items in the received airframes so I guess the chance of more airframes stacking up was back on the cards.

737 Max8 Heads Off For The First Time

Leave a Reply

I stopped off at Renton one Sunday morning to see what was on the flight line. (This was prior to the groundings after the Ethiopian Max 8 crash.) There was a first flight showing up on the flight plan so I kept an eye out for any sign of activity as I walked along the park trail. Sure enough, the sound of an engine start reached me when I was down near the bridge between the factory and the flight line. This is a bit far away from where I would want to be to photograph the take off but this is a first flight. There is plenty to check before they go flying unlike a regular flight, so time was on my side.

I made my way back along the river in plenty of time for the jet to move. Prior to flight they accelerate and brake to a stop. They did this along the runway the opposite direction to that in which they planned to take off so they actually taxied up past me, turned and accelerated before turning again to make the actual take off. This gave me plenty of views of the unpainted jet. They climbed away and then redeployed the gear, possibly to cool off the brakes a bit. They then turned off on their departure heading. Moses Lake will have been part of the test plan but the flight will have ended at Boeing Field.

Pretty Mountain Backdrop

Leave a Reply

My effort to shoot an arriving A350 at SeaTac provided a secondary benefit. The majority of arriving aircraft land on the outer runway. This is further away and also has a threshold further up the field. This means the aircraft are higher up on the approach. On a clear winter’s day, the planes have the backdrop of the snow covered Olympic mountain range. They were a bit far away but did provide a rather scenic view.

Farewell RAF Tornado

Leave a Reply

There will be much online about the retirement of the Tornado from RAF service. Global Aviation Resource has been putting together some great information on the history of the jet in service and I would recommend you take a look there if you are interested. I am not going to repeat the information about the history of its service. However, I do have a history with the jet. It was entering service just as I was getting very in to aviation. Then I ended up working on the program undertaking handling clearances for different configurations and clearing urgent changes that were implemented for the first Gulf War.

I figured I would share a few pictures of Tornados. These are all the IDS version of the jet be they GR1 or GR4. I haven’t included the ADV jets since they went away a while back. Some of these shots are scans of old negatives and aren’t the greatest quality but they are part of the early life of the jet. Some others are more recent.

I will always have a soft spot for the Tornado. It remains in service in Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia but for the RAF, the service that drove the aircraft to be a more complex jet than the other partners initially wanted, it is now history.

UPS Delivered from the Paintshop

Leave a Reply

A sunny and cold winter day provides nice light and an afternoon arrival of a jet at Paine Field from the paint facility in Portland was enough to tempt me out. UPS is the primary recipient of 747-8F jets these days and it was another of their getting close to delivery. It was approaching from the south so I was at the windsock with a few other locals. They flew a touch and go before making a full stop landing so I was able to try two different positions to get the landing. Conditions were really nice for getting a shot of a shiny new plane.

Still Seem to be Missing Some Engines Here!

Leave a Reply

My Renton visit also allowed me to have a look around the production aircraft out on the flight line or in the factory areas. The shortage of engines has been a concern which I wrote about last year and which was supposed to be fixed by the year end. Judging by how many of these planes are still carrying ballast rather than engines, I guess things are still a bit behind schedule. Then again, with what has happened since, maybe the cost of accepting some engines is not something Boeing wants…

Delta A350 In to SeaTac

Leave a Reply

Delta has replaced the 767 on the Narita run with the A350. It arrives in to SeaTac in the morning and SeaTac early arrivals from the south do not provide good opportunities for photography. I had an idea for a possible place to try so headed out on a sunny Sunday (very cold) morning. It turned out my chosen spot was a non-starter so now I was looking for an alternative and rapidly. I ended up a little further away than was ideal and with a slightly obscured view. The cold played to my advantage though. Heat haze is probably usually a big problem at this spot but, on this occasion, I could get away with it.

While obscured, I had some views of the approach path and also close to the touchdown zone. Only the heavy jets land on the inner runway so I didn’t have much chance to practice what would happen. Only one heavy came in beforehand – a Korean Air 777 – and this showed me I need to change my plan a little. Then I just had to hope things would work out for the A350. It wasn’t great but it worked out okay and I was pleased to come away with some shots.

COPA Max Touch and Go

Leave a Reply

The 737 flight tests involve a departure from Renton and arrival at Boeing Field from which all further flying takes place. However, on some flights, approaches are made to Paine Field. One COPA 737 Max made such an approach while I was there. I was at the departure end of the field and, while sometimes they will land and back taxi before taking off again, this time it was a go around. Consequently, they were quite high by the time they passed me. Still worthy of a few shots, though.

Green Jet Airways 737

Leave a Reply

If you drive passed Boeing Field at the moment, there are a few 737s parked across the street in the employee parking lot. One is a development Max 7 but the others a new jets awaiting delivery. They are marked up for Jet Airways. Apparently, the airline has cash issues and that might be the reason that delivery has not been taken on these jets.

I may well have seen one of them during its test flying activities. This jet was still unpainted when it made a stop at Everett. You often get jets passing through Everett en route back to BFI but this one was actually making a stop. I assume they completed the test flying and painting of the airframe in the hope that the financing would come to fruition. Apparently, that has not yet happened. Either Jet will come up with the money or these aircraft will be reconfigured for an alternate customer.