Tag Archives: Santa Ana

A Little SoCal Shoot As I Head Home

Half an hour of spare time on my way back to John Wayne Airport so I figured a quick shoot of approaches was worth a shot.  It wasn’t going to be the most productive of shoots but why waste an opportunity.  There were some regional jets and some airliners while I was there but also a few biz jets showed up.  The sun was getting lower so the light was a bit more appealing.  Even so, just a few stock shots for possible future use.  Two Alaska Embraers came in but they were from different operators, Skywest and Horizon.  I know someone who has a preference there (David).

Combat Air Takes Up Some Customers

I got a little distracted while I was at Lyons Air Museum.  Out on the ramp were some SF-260s belonging to a company called Combat Air.  The company shared space with the museum and, while I was walking around, a couple of customers rolled up for their flights.  They were going off in a two ship sortie.  I don’t know what they had planned.  They may have been heading out to do some aeros or maybe they were going to try and see which one was the dogfighting star.

The 260 is a cracking little plane.  From a young age, this was a plane I wanted – something that has some serious performance that is enough for some militaries but is also available for anyone to buy (provided you have a fair bit of spare cash).  In piston form it is pretty good stuff but I also believe that you can get them with a turboprop which I imagine goes like stink.  Anyhow, the two customers were suited up, strapped in and they taxied out together.  We were advised that they would probably come our way on departure so I hung around for a while.  They had a fair taxi to the departure end and then needed to hold for a while but eventually they came into view and turned in formation over the top of the hangar.  I went back to looking around the museum so I hope they had a fun flight.

A Pair of Douglas’s Finest

The Lyons Museum included a few larger types in the hangar.  At one end they had both a DC-3 and a C-47.  While notionally different types, they are in principle the same aircraft and one that Douglas churned out in huge numbers.  The DC-3 was configured in a slightly more comfortable way than the C-47 though.  Troop transport was not a luxury business.  Get as many people and bits to where you are going as you can.  The paying passengers were a more demanding crowd and the interior is designed to make them feel like they were being treated accordingly.  Either way, they are both great looking aircraft.