Tag Archives: scheme

Veterans’ Alaska 737 – Finally!

Alaska Airlines has a number of jets in special colors.  My efforts to finally get the merger jet were covered in this post.  One of the other jets that I never managed to catch in California was their Tribute to Service aircraft that is honoring veterans.  My friend Roger caught it a number of times but I was always in the wrong place.

Alaska is, despite the name, headquartered in Seattle so their jets are regularly rotating through SeaTac.  Shortly after arriving here, I saw that this jet was coming in and, since I was nearby, I decided to see if it could finally catch it.  Sure enough, I got it. I would also like to point out the sun and blue skies in this shot for those of you that think I have moved to somewhere where it only rains.  It’s true that it does rain but not as much as you think so far!

Sensor De-mosaicing and Southwest Colors

I have been pondering the way in which the method by which digital images are captured is affected by what is being photographed.  As part of my workflow, I render 1:1 versions of the images and then quickly weed out the ones that are not sharp.  This needs you to be able to see some detail in the shot that shows whether the sharpness is there.  I have found that, if a Southwest Airlines 737 is in the new color scheme, something odd happens.

Digital image sensors actually capture one of three colors.  Each pixel is sensitive to a certain color – either red, green or blue – courtesy of a filter.  They colors are arranged on the sensor in a pattern called a Bayer pattern.  The camera then carries out calculations based on what the pixels around each location see to calculate what the actual color should be for each location.  This process is known as de-mosaicing.  It can be a simple averaging but more complex calculations have been developed to avoid strange artifacts.

When I photograph the new Southwest scheme, something strange occurs around the N number on the rear fuselage.  It looks very blotchy, even when every other part of the airframe looks sharp and clear.  I am wondering whether the color of the airframe and the color of the registration digits are in some way confusing the de-mosaicing algorithm and resulting in some odd elements to the processed image that weren’t there in real life.  If any of you have photographed this color scheme, can you see whether you had something similar and, if you did or didn’t, let me know what camera you were shooting with so we can see if it is manufacturer specific or not.

American’s 737s in the Old Scheme

AU0E7717.jpgWhen American introduced their new colors, there was uproar.  The criticism was plentiful.  I seemed to be in a very small group of people that actually quite liked the look that they had gone for.  Having been a regular customer over a number of years, I had grown tired of what I thought was a dated look.  Over time I think people have calmed down about the change and now I don’t hear too much mention of it.

QB5Y7098.jpgAs more of the fleet gets repainted, I now notice more when I see a jet still in the old scheme (except MD-80s which obviously are not going to be repainted given their imminent demise).  I have come across a few of the 737-800 jets recently in the metal finish.  Here are some of them before they finally disappear for good.

AU0E6056.jpg CRW_1500.jpg

Air China A330

Boring paint schemes are far too common these days on airliners.  The all white plane with just a hint of color is a little too much of a feature of things these days.  A few airlines break the mold but not enough.  One of the boring ones is Air China.  They are not at all interesting for most of their fleet.  However, some of their Airbus A330s are painted in a livery that is a bit more interesting.  Sadly, I had never seen one.  They fly in to San Jose but almost always they bring a jet in plain white.  However, they changed it on a day when we were going to San Jose for some shopping so I added a small diversion.

This scheme is not the most dramatic and shooting it in the middle of the day is not going to emphasize it in the best way but I wasn’t going to miss the chance.  San Jose provides a great location for getting close to the jets.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one interested in it coming.  A few people showed up just before arrival and left straight afterwards.  I just wish more airlines would adopt interesting colors.  The planes are not very varied so the liveries are all that is left to mix it up.

The Merger Jet (At Last)

West Coast airline flying includes a lot of Virgin America.  Headquartered in Redwood City, just down the peninsula from SFO, Virgin America has been struggling to establish itself as a carrier with a different level of service.  It must have done well enough because Alaska got worried enough to buy it.  They call it a merger but Alaska bought Virgin.  Everyone wonder what will happen next since the fleets are totally dissimilar as is the customer service.  Alaska repainted one of their jets in a new livery to celebrate the completion of the acquisition.

It is one of their 737-900s and the colors migrate from red to blue to symbolize the joining of the two.  I have missed the jet on numerous occasions.  I thought I was never going to catch it but finally saw it at San Jose.  You are a lot closer to the flight path at San Jose which is good.  What is even better is being there on the pouring rain when the clouds part five minutes before the jet arrives.  Sadly, the weather closed in just as it took off again but the light was okay over the airport, even if it wasn’t where I was.  Still, I finally got it!

Old Spirit Colors and the Brief Livery

AU0E1115.jpgChanging the colors of an airline is usually something that happens infrequently.  It always gets a lot of comment when it happens but brand continuity is often a big deal.  This is where Spirit is different.  They flew for a long time in their gray scheme that had a digital block pattern going on.  They changed to have something that was far brighter with a white fuselage and a blue fin with some color accents.  When I saw a yellow jet at Oakland, I thought it must be some special livery.  It turns out that it wasn’t and that this was their new “new” scheme.  I’m not sure what the problem was with the previous one but obviously it didn’t last.  I wonder whether they even had time to repaint the fleet?

QB5Y3787.jpg QB5Y0782.jpg

Qantas Team Australia

AE7I4766.jpgQantas 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.

AE7I4667.jpg AE7I4696.jpg

WestJet and the House of Mouse

AE7I0543.jpgPromotional paint schemes are not uncommon – particularly with certain airlines.  Alaska has a bunch of them.  This one was a new one for me.  WestJet, a Canadian airline, seems to have a marketing tie up with Disney too.  They have painted a 737 up in an all-over shame that certainly gets your attention, if only to wonder what on earth it is.  I was pleasantly surprised to catch it having had no idea it was on its way.

AE7I0547.jpg

Texas One Retires (for now)

AE7I0650.jpgI saw online this weekend that Southwest Airlines had retired Texas One, a jet painted up in Texas colors.  Texas One is a 737-300 and Southwest is accelerating the withdrawal of the 300 Series jets.  It flew out of Dallas to a facility that will break the jet for parts.  By coincidence, I happened to shoot this very jet the day before when it arrived at SFO.  I had no idea that it would be at the end of its career.  Nice surprise.  For those that like the colors, fear not.  I hear that Southwest will be painting another jet in this scheme before too long.

AE7I0659.jpg

Special Liveries

AU0E4912.jpgOn the whole, airline liveries are getting less and less interesting. Whether it is the branding style, the minimizing of cost or the need to return jets to lessors without too much repainting being necessary, they are ending up a bit dull. However, periodically, an airline will paint one or more of its jets in special color schemes. These may celebrate some event, recall a previous airline that was merged in at some point or be part of an alliance. Whatever the reason, it makes for some variety which is welcome.

C59F1772.jpgI figured I would see which special liveries I have managed to photograph over some time. All of this was prompted by a recent China Eastern A330 that came in to SFO. My friend Roger told me it was coming in which came as a nice addition to the morning. As I was looking at the shots, I started flicking back through the catalog.

QB5Y8897.jpgI decided not to include the alliance aircraft here. OneWorld, Star Alliance and Skyteam jets tend to be rather similar so I didn’t think they added something special. However, plenty of other jets have been more distinctive looks. It turns out that I have more of them than I realized and I didn’t want to just food this page so maybe I will have another batch of these at some point.