Getting repetitive here. My never ending quest to capture and demonstrate the unusual gear articulation of the Boeing 777-300ER gets another outing. Similar animation of some stills as before. This time the light was good and the distortion was limited so here we go again. I won’t bother with the technique aspects this time. Instead, here is the animation with the rotation about the rear axle pretty easy to see.
Qantas comes into SFO most days. They bring a 747-400ER in and, while most of the, are on the standard colors, I happened to see one that has special colors. I assume it is related to some sporting association but I don’t know what team it is. However, they have Team Australia markings on the side along with some graphics of a boxing kangaroo. It arrived early so the light was harsh but it was cool to see. Interestingly, when it was further out on the approach, the sun was reflecting off the graphics so they were impossible to see.
Alaska Airlines makes a big deal about being an “All Boeing” airline (which I assume does not count the Horizon Q400s and the Skywest Embraers). With Boeing celebrating their 100th anniversary, Alaska put some special markings on one of their jets. I was wondering where this jet was operating so I could shoot it but I lost track of it for a while. Then, imagine my surprise when it happened to be at SFO when I was there for something else. It lined up for departure early in the day when the light was best. Thanks Alaska!
This United 747 was flying over the Bay during the Fleet Week display as I posted about in this post. One thing that was very obvious as the aircraft was put through its paces by the crew was that the number two engine seemed to be burning a lot cleaner than the other three. You wouldn’t pay much attention to the exhaust of a jet except when there is a clear discrepancy and, in this case, the number two was so obviously less smoky, I noticed. Maybe it was fresh from overhaul.
Sometimes I find myself wondering what is happening in the minds of little creatures. I was out shooting when I looked to my left and saw some earth move. It was probably only a couple of meters away from where I was standing so I looked to see if it would happen again. Sure enough, some more earth came flying out of the ground. Shortly afterwards, a little head popped out. It looked at me for a moment and then went back underground. This repeated several times. I would move the camera in its direction and it would instantly dive underground. However, since I knew where to look, I just kept the camera pointed in that direction and, when it came up again, because I didn’t move, it didn’t seem bothered. I have no idea whether it didn’t see me without moving or whether it didn’t perceive me as a threat and so carried on.
The Airbus A350 has been in service for a while. The first examples entered service in late 2015 and, indeed, I saw one at Heathrow in my last visit there. However, I hadn’t had a chance to shoot one until recently. Singapore Airlines introduced a direct flight to SFO using the A350 and the first flight used their aircraft that had been recently delivered from Airbus as the 10,000th aircraft that Airbus delivered. I wrote a piece about it for Global Aviation Resource which you can see here. It was early arrival for the jet but it was good to finally shoot one, even if the light was not ideal.
Qantas started flying to SFO again this year. They used to have a regularly scheduled flight but dropped it for a while. Obviously the demand had increased enough to justify starting it again. I did a post when they started up. However, I hadn’t had much luck getting any reasonable shots of the arrival. When they are running to schedule, they are due in before 9am. This is not great timing for shooting at SFO in the winter but in the summer the plane will be backlit.
Fortunately, Qantas have a habit of running late on this service. I don’t know whether this is accidental or whether they will slip this flight deliberately if they have an issue. The plane has a long layover in SFO and doesn’t depart until near midnight so any delay is not going to have a knock on effect. Either way, later arrivals are not unknown. One of them coincided with one of my visits so I was able to get some better light on the jet. It was summer though. The middle of the day means high and harsh lighting. It seems like it is hard to win. Maybe in the winter I will get a day when they are late and the sun is lower and finally get a good shot.
The college football season included a special game at the beginning of the season. The game was scheduled to take place in Sydney Australia rather than the US. Apparently, the NCAA is trying to increase interest in the sport in other countries and hosting a game in Australia was part of the plan. One of the teams was the Cal Bears. To get to Australia and back they chartered a jet for the team and support personnel. Given the number of people involved, it was cheaper than flying commercially.
They chartered a jet from Virgin Australia in each direction. The outbound leg was a jet that had made the LAX flight. Instead of flying the return, it positioned to SFO for the outbound flight. They then repeated the process in reverse after the game. I missed the departure rotation but I was there for the return journey. I may have shot Virgin Australia jets before but this was a bit different since they don’t normally appear at SFO. (Cal also has a sponsorship deal with Oakland so this was out of the way for them too!)
San Francisco Bay is hugely popular with birds. One place that they like a lot is the area near to the airport. Birds and planes do not normally mix well but, despite the large numbers of each, they seem to coexist here okay. As the tide goes out, the mudflats that are exposed are a great feeding ground for the birds. They cover all sizes too.
At the top end of the size range are the pelicans. They like to feed in the shallows when the fish are relatively easy pickings. They do stay away from the runways so don’t seem to be a problem (although a pelican would certainly not be a good thing for an airliner). The smaller birds are less of a threat individually but they tend to flock in huge numbers.
I saw a bunch of them flying not too far from the 01 runways. Again, they stay over the mudflats so don’t present a problem. In the opposite direction, there were some rather large flocks circling over the water. While not as large as murmurations of starlings, they were some pretty big groups. They also would move in a similar way with the whole thing looking very fluid from a distance.
The arrival of the Boeing 787-8 on the scene got a lot of attention. It was a new generation of aircraft with a lot of new technologies. It also was a major disaster for Boeing. Years late, massively over budget and with a grounding, it did not go according to plan. The next version was the 787-9 and, with this one, Boeing really got it right. The -8 was not a bad plane but the -9 is so much better. It carries more and goes further. They also fixed a lot of production issues. The result is a jet that Boeing is happy to sell and airlines want to buy. Boeing does not like building the -8 anymore and you will notice that not many have been sold recently. The -9 is going to be the core product and the -10 stretch will be the second option.
Airlines have been adding the -9 to their fleets in good numbers. Entry of airlines that didn’t order the -8 did pick the -9 and KLM is one of them. They have started spreading them out on services across the world. The demise of the MD-11 in their fleet meant that the 777-300ER and the A330 were their staples. Now the 787 is becoming a big deal and the SFO run is one that they have started using the jet on. I was pleased to see it show up. They still send 747-400s to SFO but the 787 is part of the future. The 747 will be gone before too long. Meanwhile, I enjoy the novelty of the new jet. Soon I shall be glad to see the 747 before it disappears.