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The Tutor is Going

It seems that equipping display teams is becoming rather difficult for some countries. The RAF has taken the Red Arrows down to seven jets because of engine issues and a replacement has not yet been selected. Meanwhile, the RCAF has selected the PC-21 to replace the Tutor with the Snowbirds, but they won’t arrive for a while. In the interim, the Tutor is being retired so there will be a hiatus for the team.

The Tutor was a strange little jet. Looking a bit like a Jet Provost but with a bit more oomph, the RCAF retired it from training duties a long time ago but kept a bunch of them running just to support the Snowbirds. I have seen them display on multiple occasions and really enjoy the display. The team also were a lot of fun when I got to spend time with them in Waukegan for the show there. Moose Milk is dangerous stuff.

This year is the last year that they have displayed with the Tutor and, since we have been gone for a while now, I didn’t get to see their last shows. My last year of seeing them display was filled with difficulties either with aircrew that had been injured or with unserviceability. In one show a jet went down and the pilot ran to a backup jet but couldn’t get that one to work either. I guess that was a sign of just how much the fleet was aging. Oh well, farewell Tutor. I hope I get to see the display with the PC-21 at some point.

Let’s Try the Sun at a Different Time

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After the solar eclipse was over and I had spent a couple of days reflecting on the experience, I had a thought that really should have occurred to me at any point in the last few years. A solar filter is just as handy when wanting to photograph the sun without an eclipse as with. I therefore decided to have a go at taking some sun shots. Of course, as soon as I thought of this, it got cloudy. That didn’t last too long, though, so I was able to experiment with varying exposure to get some images.

The first thing I liked was the clarity of the sunspots. They really had some definition to them. This was a nice quick win. Then I saw some texture in the other parts of the sun. Going with under and overexposure allowed me to see if this made a difference in how well things showed up. It might not be easy to see in these images but hopefully there is something you can make out.

One of These Planes is Not Like the Other

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After landing back at Heathrow from a work trip, we were taxiing back towards T5 and passing a variety of parked airlines. These two 787-9s caught my eye. Both are in Norse livery but one is labeled IndiGo. This Indian airline has been leasing jets from Norse. I guess only one got the change in titles. At the time of writing this, I understand the lease arrangements have ben terminated so maybe this was a lucky break to catch this before it wouldn’t be seen again.

Trying Not to Share Lunch with a Peacock

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We were out for a walk in some gardens one weekend. Having taken our lunch with us, we found a spot to sit and eat. It was an open sided barn structure with some benches under cover. Perfect for getting out of the sun on a hot day. Also, perfect if you are thinking that spare food might get dropped and that would be easier than foraging for food. At least that was the thinking of this peacock.

It was waiting when we got there and it certainly seemed very interested when we started opening bags to get out our lunch. While it did walk up close to see what was going on, it didn’t try pushing its luck to get our food from us. Thankfully, it also didn’t make any loud calls which, if you have been close to a peacock when it calls, you know can be quite startling. I’m afraid we didn’t spill anything that the peacock could have made use of. I’m not sure if hanging around really had the rate of return it was looking for but maybe others left more behind than us.

I Guess I’ll Post This Gazelle

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The Gazelle was very widely used in the UK armed forces when I was young. You would see the occasional civilian one as well, but I would see the military examples at air shows all the time. They have gone, now, but there are still examples to be found in use. That included a very pleasant surprise when I came across one at Boeing Field. The owner was doing some hover testing on the ramp at BFI, and I do love a Gazelle.

He was manoeuvring the airframe around a fair bit in the confines of the ramp, so I was able to get some different angles as well as a bit of variety in the background. Plenty of images were taken while I watched. After he landed, he came over to me and asked what I was doing. I was quite straight that I was taking photos of his helicopter. He did answer some questions about it but was not keen on the images being taken. Time has moved on quite a bit now, so I figure there is no harm in sharing them now.

Some Better Light on the Old Hospital Building

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When I leave the station at Waterloo and walk across Waterloo Bridge, I go past this old hospital building. It has now been converted to other uses, but the façade shows it origins, and I think the detailing is really cool. During the winter, the building seems to be in the shade whenever I am walking either to or from work. However, the summer means that the evening light catches the front of the building and the details are far more photogenic. Here is a look at this lovely design.

Looking Out of the Window When Waiting to Depart LHR

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Sometimes, when I get the window seat at the airport, there is really nothing much to see. I am on the wrong side, and everything is out of the other windows. However, on this recent flight, I did have a good view of the parallel taxiway as well as the runway for departing jets. Sure, it was backlit and sometimes taxiing jets could block the view of the runway. Also, windows looking into the sun are not great for clarity. Even so, an A380 from Singapore or a Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 is worth a look and whatever shots the phone can manage.

Motion Blur on a Fuel Truck

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I have posted many times about motion blur in images to provide the sensation of speed in shots. Sometimes you are sitting around waiting for something (in this case a plane home) and you decide to mess around with whatever you have to hand. Glasgow Airport has fuel trucks that periodically traverse the ramp and, when killing time, why not drop the shutter speed and try and get motion blur. Silly things you do when hanging around!

Won’t Forget the Blue Angels Crosses Too

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I posted a bunch of crossing shots of the USAF Thunderbirds and, since I was doing that, I thought it might look like favouritism if I didn’t do the same for the Blue Angels. I saw a lot more of the Blue Angels in the second half of my time living in the US because Fleet Week in San Francisco and Seafair in Seattle always had them in attendance. That meant I got to see them after the transition to the Super Bug but the majority of shows I saw over the years were with the legacy Hornets. Anyway, here are a bunch of crossing shots for the Blues to balance things up.

I Guess This Eclipse Didn’t Quite Go to Plan

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The partial solar eclipse was going to put our home under the path of significant sun cover. I was aware it wouldn’t be as dramatic as a total eclipse having experienced both, but I still was keen to see it. I had some ideas of shots that I wanted to take and where to take them from. I was hoping to get away from work a bit early to get home and set up for when it all started. Sadly, my plans went awry.

My afternoon meetings ran long, I got a train an hour later than planned, it left late, it got delayed for a medical emergency at an intermediate station so, but the time I got home, it was about ten minutes until maximum obscuration. All plans were scuppered so, instead, I just grabbed the longest lens and my solar filters and headed outside the house to some open ground. There were a bunch of neighbours there and this was the thing that saved it for me.

I was able to let them use my filters to see what was going on and they really appreciated it. I also just got to talk to them which was really good fun. I did take some images, though. Even these didn’t go so well. Initially I was seeing some internal reflections. I moved the filter closer to the end of the lens and that seemed to address that. However, this was partly caused by my second issue which was overexposure. Everything was washed out and, when I remembered to bring the exposure down, things got a lot better. We were already on the way out of the eclipse at this point. Having said that, a shot of a partial eclipse is a shot of a partial eclipse. It really doesn’t matter how much. Therefore, this shot is a bit meh!