Tag Archives: photo

Tactical Air F-5

The provision of aggressor services continues to expand across air forces. Some have come and gone and it is a developing situation with various old or retired military aircraft being picked up by the contractor market to provide services. Some of these seem to have a short life span as the demands of the customers increase beyond the point that older jets can be effective. One operator is called Tactical Air. They are operating a bunch of F-5s and have some based ay Klamath Falls.

One of their aircraft was on display in a hangar at Sentry Eagle 2022. It wasn’t the ideal conditions to try and get a shot of it but it was there and I was hardly going to pass it up. Earlier in the day, one of their jets had been towed to the north end of the field. I grabbed a shot as it passed, wrongly assuming it was a visiting T-38 and only realizing it wasn’t later. They had other jets parked at the alert facility but it was the sort of place that showing up with a camera seemed like it might be counterproductive so I didn’t get any shots of them.

As Close As I Have Got To Cormorants

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There are no prizes if you know that one of my favorite birds is the cormorant. They are just so cool in my eyes. I am constantly struggling to get good shots of them as they are pretty reticent about being close to humans. Who would have thought any wildlife would view us suspiciously? One place that they do like to hang out is the structure around ferry terminals. They are isolated from the land so have a measure of protection. They can also go straight in to the water whenever they need to fish.

I got the camera ready when we boarded the ferry in case they were close to where we were. Sometimes the light angle is bad, sometimes they happen to be on another structure. Fortunately, on this trip, I got lucky. I was really close to them. The light angles were not ideal but it was still pretty good compared to anything I have ever got before. The sides of the ferry are open so there is the risk that you can spook them. However, there is something about the boat that seems to be less concerned about your presence. It is a bit like seeing deer when you are in a car and looking out of the window.

Beaver Beats Us To Friday Harbor

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We took the ferry to Friday Harbor for a day out on San Juan Island while mum was visiting. As the ferry approached the harbor, we were standing up at the front of the car deck watching what was going on. Of course, I had the camera with me – fortunately with the longer lens fitted. A buzz came from our right as a DHC-2 Beaver came into sight on final approach for the harbor. I didn’t have everything set up exactly as would have been ideal but sometimes you just have to get the shot.

The plane touched down and taxied to the jetty to drop off and pick up its passengers. I didn’t recognize the colors but a look at the shots back at home shows the name Friday Harbor Seaplanes. I have seen a few of their planes show up on tracking since so I guess they have a good operation running. They operate to Kenmore so I should really check back to see whether I have shot them in the past and didn’t realize it.

A Tree Trunk Supporting Sea Life

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The Pacific Northwest shorelines are strewn with tree trunk. Whether they have been washed in to the see or are strays from the logging business, doesn’t matter. There are tons of them everywhere. This one was on Cannon Beach. I have no idea where it originally came from but it had washed up here at some point and got quite established in the sand. The surface of the wood had become the home of a multitude of sea creatures. It was festooned with them. I wonder how much they depend on it staying there or, if it gets washed out again in the next storm, they would be in trouble.

A Singaporean DHL 777F

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The only 777s coming out of Everett at the moment are freighters. This can mean unusual airlines but not usually and I don’t head up there terribly often at the moment. However, one of the jets on test recently was destined for DHL’s operations in Singapore. Consequently, it is a hybrid of the DHL and Singapore markings. It seemed worth a look and it helped that they had taken off mid afternoon and were due back after work.

A few photographers had showed up for this arrival as was expected. At this time of year, even early evening is not the best of the light, but it was pretty good. They could be seen out as they set up for approach with Mount Rainier in the background. They touched down with the sound of the RAT buzzing in the background. I was ready to go and headed for the car, but I heard a shout from Royal and Nick that it was coming back. Sure enough, they had taxied back to do one further acceleration and abort on the runway, so we got a second chance at some shots.

How Green Is Diablo Lake?

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The water running out of the mountains along the North Cascade Highway brings a lot of sediment with it. The result of this is that the rivers and lakes that form along the route of the pass have a distinct green color to them. The Skagit River in Newhalem has a clear green color to it. However, the more dramatic demonstration of this coloration is visible at Diablo Lake. This lake that is formed behind Diablo Dam has a very green appearance. It looks like it must have been created artificially but it is just the result of carrying the minerals down from the mountains above. Of course, a polarizer does a good job of highlighting the color when the reflections are removed.

Inside the JetStars

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I have posted about the JetStars that were stored at Klamath Falls. There were three airframes that we got a chance to check out. We were given a great opportunity because they also opened up the jets so we could look around inside. It was fun poking around inside what was once the premier form of executive transport. It was also interesting to see the difference in the configurations with things like the throttle quadrants looking very different between the jets.

They are being broken down for the key parts that still have value so most of this stuff will either be sold or scrapped but here are some views of the interiors of these three elegant jets.

Italian Day At Exotics Again

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The schedule for Exotics@RTC has been erratic this year. They have had to scrub a bunch of events as a result of the poor weather. However, with summer finally arriving in the Pacific Northwest, they have had a run of successful gatherings. One of these was their Italian Day. I have been to this before and it is always a fun event with a lot of interesting vehicles. It was going to worth going again.

The center of the venue was packed as usual. Plenty of Ferraris and Lamborghinis to look at. Not as much variety in the Ferraris as in some previous events but still a lot of good looking cars. These are nice to see but it is perhaps more fun to spot the oddities that show up. I was interested in how many Alfa Romeo Spiders were in attendance and just have different they could be. I guess the Spider stayed in production for a long time and the design evolved a lot over that time. Annoyingly, I didn’t seem to get any good shots of them. There were plenty of other Alfas, though as well as some older Ferraris. These shots are a sample of what was on display.

The First Korean P-8

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The US Navy continues to take deliveries of the P-8 Poseidon jets but they are getting close to the end of their production run. Meanwhile, export customers continue to be receiving their jets. The latest customer to have an aircraft show up on the flight line is the Republic of Korea’s navy. Their first jet flew from Renton to Boeing Field a while back and then went in to the fit out process for a while. It is now out on the flight line and undergoing test.

I have managed to get a few shots of it so far. It is marked up quite colorfully so it looks better than the average jet coming off the line. We shall see how long it stays around here before it gets delivered to Korea. There will be others following it down the line too. New Zealand is the next customer to get its first jet so we shall see how long it is before that jet makes to move to BFI and then is fitted out.

Fields Of Lavender

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Nothing like making a mistake and having it work out better than your original plan. We were driving across San Juan Island after visiting Roche Harbor heading to Lime Kiln State Park. We had been discussing the lavender festival taking place at Sequim during the day but it was not close enough that we were seriously considering a visit. I thought I knew the route to the park but I managed to miss the turning and, after going for a while, realized the mistake.

I put the destination in to the GPS and it told me that my turning was coming up. As we headed back in the right direction, we came around a corner to see a purple field in front of us. A rapid turn off and we checked out this lavender farm. It was not on a road we would otherwise have used that day so we really were lucky to see it.

They have two main types of lavender that they farm but there was a pick your own field in which there were dozens of varieties. I had never thought about different types of lavender before visiting this place! There were pathways throughout the fields so it was easy to wander through looking at the patterns that the plants made as they were grown. Too close and you could see too much of the orderliness and the raised beds and irrigation system. However, stay back a little and it all blended together nicely.