Tag Archives: photo

The Sheriff Buzzes Juanita Bay

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I was down in Juanita Bay with mum during her visit when the sound of a helicopter came towards us.  I managed to switch a few of the settings to get things mostly write although not the exposure.  However, RAW is quite forgiving these days.  It was the King County Sheriff’s JetRanger that was making a tour of Juanita Bay for some reason.  They were pretty low as they buzzed by and then circled around to the north side of the bay and disappeared.  Not sure why they came that way – maybe they know someone there?

Dragonflies

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When I lived in the UK, I don’t remember seeing dragonflies at all.  They may well have been there but I didn’t notice them.  Moving to the US, there were dragonflies all of the place and I was immediately fascinated by them.  Of course, over time, I got used to them being everywhere so stopped paying attention.  However, when I have visitors from the UK, they are taken with them in the same way I originally was.

When mum was here, we went down to Juanita Bay to have a look around.  It was a lot hotter than it had been on any of my previous visits and it was also popular with bugs.  I got bitten a few times which has never happened there before.  I guess the bugs meant the dragonflies were happy and we saw plenty of them.  Here are a few shots I got of them when they landed.  I have yet to get anything useful of them while flying.  They are quite tricky to track!

Rippling The Wing Skin Of A 40 Year Old Jet

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The F-15 Eagle recently had the fiftieth anniversary of its first flight.  It is hard to come to terms with the fact that a jet that I still think as high up the pecking order is really over fifty years old.  Of course, the jets in service now are not the originals but the F-15Cs started production in fiscal year 78 which meant they were delivered from around 1980 onwards.  Therefore, they are over 40 years old which is quite something for a jet getting such heavy use today.

The 173FW put a four ship of F-15C/Ds up for the Sentry Eagle 2022 air show.  They tore up the field in an impressive way for the practice days and the main show itself. Having been a fan of the F-15 since my youth, this was a lot of fun to watch.  I got a series of shots of one of the jets as it pulled hard to the vertical in full burner and then turned towards the crowd direction.  Looking at the surface of the rear wing, there is definitely some deformation of the skins as the structure is loaded up.  This is not a problem.  It is quite common to get aircraft skin to ripple under varying load conditions but it is usually something that is more common on aging airframes.

Old School Power Provision

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Roche Harbor on San Juan Island is now a resort town with a marina, hotel, restaurants and accommodation.  However, it started out as a production facility for lime.  Some of the original elements of the town have been preserved and one part is the old power production site.  The original generator set was supplemented by a second as demands increased for power.  The images of them belching smoke as they worked didn’t make it look like a fun place to be back in those days.  Now, they are inactive and cleaned and painted but they are a reminder of how things used to be done.

Dark Gulfstream Day

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I do like shooting bizjets and they can provide a bit of variety amongst the regularity of the other aircraft around.  However, there is one thing that can disappoint and that is the unimaginative way in which they are usually painted.  Airlines have adopted the variations on white but the bizjets have been doing this for ages.  Consequently, when one shows up that is not basically white, I am really pleased.

Black painted bizjets look so much more interesting.  The engineer in my finds myself wondering how well they keep cool out in the sun on the ramp but, since I am not the customer, not a problem I need to worry about too much.  Instead, I can just be pleased to shoot a jet that looks a little out of the ordinary.

Flying With The Doors Open

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I had read quite a few articles about the Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter but I had not ever got close to one.  Then, when we were at Klamath Falls, I regularly saw two of them showing up on FlightRadar24.  Since they were not a focus for the visit, I didn’t think much of it.  However, at the end of one day, we were positioning for the return of a Huey that we knew was out on a flight.  While we were waiting, the two Cabris flew overhead.  One continued on southwards but the other turned to make an approach.  Their base was apparently close to where we were waiting and they taxied right by.  The person in the left seat was clearly feeling the heat as they had opened the door and were dangling their hand out of the gap while the right seater taxied them back to the ramp.

Spooky Tree Trunk

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The Pacific Northwest provides a lot of dark and damp environments within which things can grow.  The shady environment is not just good for them but it also provides a spooky setting for visiting humans.  As we walked down through the trees to get to Short Sand Beach in Oswald West State park, we passed a tree along the trail that looked like exactly the sort of thing a set designer would come up with for some supernatural movie.  It looked like it was designed to capture the unwary.  On a sunny day, it was interesting.  On a dark and cold evening, it might be a little less appealing.

Perfect Skycrane Timing

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One of the last legs of the trip Mark and I took was to Medford for an overnight before heading home.  Medford is also home to Erickson Aircrane’s operations and I had intended to swing by to see if there was anything to see there.  As we drove towards the airport, an S-64 was flying downwind.  It wasn’t apparent whether it was heading away or arriving.  However, I knew the route to their parking lot so we made a rapid move there just as the helo turned on to approach.

It made a stately descent and then taxied in.  We were able to shoot through the fence as it did so without any problem – if you ignore the fact that the temperature was 103F and getting out of an air conditioned car was quite a shock.  They taxied in and shut down and we rapidly retreated to the cool of the car.  We really couldn’t have timed the arrival any better!

Is Watching An Eagle Take A Bath Creepy?

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There is a log in the water in Juanita Bay that is just above the surface.  It provides a good spot for the eagles to land when they want a drink and need to clean themselves.  It is a bit far from the viewing platforms but you still get a good look at them as they rest and sort themselves out.  Watching wildlife do things like this seems perfectly normal but, I think law enforcement might be involved if it were humans!