Tag Archives: test

Boeing 787-10 on Test

I wrapped up some work in Seattle and was about to head back home when a quick check on FlightRadar24 showed me that the Boeing 787-10 test aircraft was en route back to Boeing Field.  It would be rude to ignore that.  The weather had been pretty crummy and there was plenty of heavy cloud in the area but it looked like it might brighten up a bit and, as the sun went down, there was a chance of it lighting up beneath the clouds.  I sat in the car dealing with some emails and waiting for the arrival.

Sure enough, as the time approached, the sun did start to peep out from beneath the clouds.  It was intermittent at first but it became more consistent as Boeing 01 Heavy called up on approach.  Meanwhile, a nice black cloud was still lurking in the background.  What a great combination that type of light makes.  The plane glided down the approach, its trailing static cone hanging from the top of the fin and then it was down.  A nice result.

New Locomotives 

The acquisition of new locomotives for the state of California is something I have been working on for a while. A little time back I posted about some testing from the cab that we did in Colorado. Since then the first locos for the state have been delivered to Oakland. We had to do a bunch of testing with local equipment and to carry out trials out on the corridors that the trains operate. I managed to get a few shots of the locos during these tests (as well as some in Colorado that used locos that will go to Illinois).

Now that the testing is wrapped up and the locos belong to the state and, if they haven’t already, will shortly be showing up in regular service, it is okay to post some shots of the vehicles. They are Charger diesel locos built by Siemens in Sacramento California. These locos are powerful and fast. They are designed for 125mph although they won’t be used at high speeds in California due to track limitations. However, hopefully they will provide modern, efficient and cleaner traction for the state. I am proud to have been involved in the program and enjoyed working with the team.

Talon Hate

B11I1989.jpgTalon Hate is a program that the Air Force is running involving an infrared sensor mounted in the front of a centerline fuel tank.  It is mounted on an F-15 from the operational test unit at Nellis AFB.  The first time I saw it, I was walking along the flight line at Nellis.  We were shooting with the California ANG unit that was the next space along the line.  As we walked past the Talon Hate jet, we were under strict instructions not to photograph it.  I was right there but nothing I could do.

B11I6120.jpgDuring my visit to Red Flag 16-4, the Talon Hate jet flew a couple of times.  It flew with a second F-15 each time and sometimes with other jets.  The pod is clearly visible on the jet but the other modifications are less conspicuous.  There is a satellite communications antenna mounted on the back on the jet.  When it turns for final, you can see the antenna mount.  I don’t know what the outcome of the program will be but it is cool to see the venerable F-15 still trying out new stuff.

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Enfuse for HDR

I am a little late to discovering the Enfuse plugin for working with HDR images.  I started out many years ago using Photomatix.  At the time, it was the go to software for creating HDR images.  Then Adobe got a lot better with their HDR software within Photoshop and I started to use that.  Even more recently, Adobe built HDR processing in to Lightroom and I didn’t need to go to Photoshop at all.  The HDR software worked reasonably well so I stuck with it.  I sometimes felt that it didn’t do as good a job of using the full range of the exposures but it was okay.

I wasn’t entirely satisfied though so have kept an eye on other options.  Someone mentioned Enfuse to me so I decided to give it a go.  It is a plugin for Lightroom and, in the free download, you can try it out but with a limitation on the output image size of 500 pixels.  Obviously this isn’t useful for anything other than testing but that is the point.

The first thing I tried it on was a shot I made at Half Moon Bay looking up at a P-51 Mustang prop and directly into the sun.  This is certainly as much of a range of exposures as you are likely to get.  The perfect thing for an HDR trial.  The results in the small scale file seemed pretty impressive so I decided to buy the package.  There is no fixed price.  You make a donation via PayPal and get a registration code.  I am impressed by the quality of some of the work people put out so I am happy to donate for what they do.  With the software activated, I reran the P-51 shots.  Below is the version I got from Lightroom’s own HDR and following it the version from Enfuse.

C59F8003enfuseHDR.jpg C59F8003-HDR.jpgI did have some issues initially.  Lightroom was not reimporting the image after it was created.  This turned out to be an issue with the way I named the file in the dialog and a tweak to that seemed to fix things.  Strangely, it had been fine on the trial so I have no idea why it became an issue but it is done.  I also played with a slightly less extreme case with an F-22 and, as above, the Lightroom version is first and the Enfuse version is second.  I was really pleased with the result on this one with a very natural look to things.  So far, I see Enfuse being a useful tool for my HDR going forward.

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New Zoomify Trial

I previously added a Zoomify image to a blog post.  It was pointed out that, as a Flash based format, it didn’t work on some mobile devices.  That was using the default Photoshop installation.  I have now found a way of generating an HTML5 version of the Zoomify output.  This is a trial to see whether it works.  Let me know in the comments.  Click here to see the file.

Windows 10 Upgrade Experience

The upgrade to Windows 10 was one I have been thinking about for a while. I wasn’t interested in upgrading straightaway since I figured there would be a bit of debugging of the OS by the early adopters. I also didn’t want to compromise any of the important stuff I have. Therefore, I decided to use my laptop as the prototype for the upgrade to see how it went before upgrading anything else.

The upgrade went surprisingly easily. It downloaded all of the new files when it started which took a fair bit of time but then it went off through the upgrade process with little involvement from me. When everything was done, I went through the options rather than accept the recommended selections an unchecked a bunch of the items that appear to share more information than may be preferable. I shall wait to see whether any of those selections limit any functionality.

The only issue I have had so far related to the trackpad on my laptop. Previously, the trackpad allowed scrolling by running my finger along the right side of the pad. This function has gone away and now I use two fingers to swipe up and down. This is taking me a while to get the hang of since other machines still operate the old way but I think this will be okay in due course. The other issue with the trackpad is that, periodically, it appears to freeze for a moment and the cursor doesn’t move. It then clears itself with no further issue so I suspect it is a minor driver issue that will, hopefully, be updated in due course.

I was also able to copy the old version of the Windows games from Windows 7 to the Windows 10 system. They have updated versions in Windows 10 but, if you like the previous versions, you can keep them. Otherwise, the changes seem pretty reasonable and I haven’t had any issues so I think I will be upgrading the rest of our machines. We shall see whether they also go smoothly. Getting Nancy’s laptop off Windows 8 will probably be a popular move!

Test 787s

AU0E6255.jpgThere was a bit of activity at Boeing Field for the fleet of test Dreamliners. Boeing has been in the process of moving the original test airframes around to their final resting places. One of them has been donated to the Museum of Flight so didn’t have to go very far. Others are finding home further afield. Meanwhile, there is still some work for the rest of the test fleet.

AU0E5083.jpgI managed to see them both on the ground and in the air. Obviously the flying shots are the ones I prefer but I will take any I can get. It is strange that, during the test program, the development aircraft are the only ones you see and you want to see more of them in airline colors. Once they get well established, the original test frames suddenly have more interest again.

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Edwards AFB 2010

QB5Y0401.jpgMy first trip to Edwards AFB was in 1990 as I wrote about in this blog post. My next trip was quite a bit later. This was a visit arranged by my friend Richard ahead of an ISAP symposium. It also allowed a lot more opportunity to see the aircraft. The visit was broken in to two main elements. The first was a walk along the flightline and the second was heading to the other side of the runway to shoot arrivals and departures.

QB5Y0316.jpgThe diversity of types on the flightline has dwindled since 1990. Now there are an awful lot of F-16s and not so many other types. However, test jets look cool in their non-operational colors. Shooting under the sun shades is good for protection from the elements but it does make for some wide ranges of lighting conditions and some odd color casts.

QB5Y0464.jpgOnce on the other side of the runway, we had some great options for shooting the jets in action. Heat haze is always a problem, particularly somewhere as warm as Edwards can be, but you can still get some interesting aircraft. We were hoping to see some F-35s but were disappointed this time. However, we did get one of the F-35 test support F-16s from Denmark which was nice to see. We also had aircraft from the Test Pilot School out doing their thing.

IMG_0776.jpgA couple of more unusual aircraft showed up while we were there. One off the NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was on a training sortie. With the program now curtailed, this was the last chance I had to see one of these 747s in the air although not with a shuttle mounted on it! NASA was also using one of their Global Hawks UAVs and it landed while we were there. An old Gulfstream also landed. It had unusual markings to simulate a missile for tracking systems. This used to be undertaken by a C-135 aircraft but it has been retired and replaced by the Gulfstream which, while not a new jet, is still probably a lot cheaper to operate.

QB5Y0346.jpgWe also got to see some of the museum aircraft including the twin seat A-10 I had shot in 1990! The trip was over far too soon but we had a great time and saw some cool stuff. Thanks to Richard for organizing. Now I need to get myself back there to see what the latest fleet is up to.

Edwards AFB 1990

0303.jpgMy first visit to the United States was in 1990. I had just graduated from university and was joining my Dad on a trip he was making at the time. I was to meet up with him in Los Angeles and travel around California before ending up in San Francisco for a week. Since I had a date to meet him but no previous constraints, I made the flight out a couple of days early so I could go and explore. Where did I want to go? How could I not come this far and not visit Edwards AFB.

0203.jpgA famous flight test center, seen of many records, home of some unusual aircraft, Edwards was a place I really wanted to see. In those days, there were two tours available. The Air Force had a tour in the morning and NASA had a tour in the afternoon. Make an early start and you could cover both with ease.

0902.jpgThe Air Force tour included a bus ride along the side of the flightline. You didn’t get to step outside near the active jets but they did take us out onto the lakebed and to see a few of the stored aircraft that would be part of the museum in years to come. The flightline was full of F-16s and F-4s with F-111s and other jets scattered amongst them. So much that is now gone was on show. This was also just after the YF-23 had been rolled out. We were told we couldn’t take any pictures of it if we happened to see it but sadly it was tucked away while we were there. It would be a long time before I finally saw one for real.

1301.jpgAfter lunch it was over to the NASA part of the base. This was paradise for someone like me. So many test aircraft either in maintenance or storage. There was an SR-71 in one hangar, plenty of F/A-18 Hornets (including the HARV demonstrator and another airframe that appeared to have been used for mocking up the engine paddles), F-104s, an F-15, the HiMAT and, out in the storage lot, the supercritical F-8 and the Sikorsky RSRA all stuck in a fenced off area. I missed some other things I would liked to have seen including the X-29, X-31 and the STOL/MTD F-15 but it was still an impressive lineup.

0403.jpgThe end of the 80s was a great time with so many programs funded. It might not have been as diverse as the 50s and 60s but it was still great to go there when so much was to be seen. These days, visits require a lot more planning and the number of types in use has dwindled. However, it is still worth a trip and another post shall cover that.

Submarines

AU0E4300.jpgThere weren’t just sailing ships along the harbor front. A couple of submarines were also there. One was an old Russian sub while the other was far smaller but was a research submarine. The Russian sub is a Foxtrot class diesel-electric sub and it is moored a further out on a pier away from the shore. The USS Dolphin was a test and research sub for the US Navy and was involved in much deep diving research and test programs to support the fleet subs. She has a very simple hull shape compared to operational subs. She was only retired in the last ten years and was the longest serving sub in the Navy.

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