Tag Archives: travel

End of the Line for these Dash 7s?

I have been on a bit of a streak on Dash 7 posts recently. A couple of years ago, I was visiting the Pima museum in Arizona with some friends. The museum is very interesting but there are often some airframes just across the fence that are even more interesting. There were a bunch of Dash 7s there. I think they had been used by the US military for assorted purposes and there were signs of fairings added that hinted at modification made.

Civil registrations had been applied to the planes, but they didn’t seem to look like they had an immediate future. The Dash 7 isn’t something in high demand so, while someone might have a specialised need for them, I do wonder whether this will be where they end their days.

My First Experience of the Pods

Leave a Reply

I had a flight to take from Heathrow that had an early start. It wasn’t practical for me to use my normal route to the airport and get there in time, so I was going to have to drive. I decided to have my first go with the Pod Parking connected to Terminal 5. I had seen plenty about this over the years and had watched the pods on their tracks while driving around the perimeter road towards the rental car lot when collecting or returning vehicles.

The whole thing was booked in advance, so the number plate recognition system identified me when I got there and let me in. The car park was pretty full, but I got a spot not far from the station B. A short stroll and I was at the station. There were two pods in the station, but both were charging so I had to wait for a minute or so. Amusingly, the screens told me that demand was high and that there might need to be a requirement to share a pod. Since I couldn’t see anyone anywhere near me, I am not sure what congestion that they were thinking of. After a short wait, both pods showed ready and I pressed the screen to get going.

The doors of the station and the pod opened and I climbed in. I had to press one button to close the doors and a second to start on my way. Given I only had one destination to go too, the chances I was in the wrong pod were limited but, once I knew what was needed, we were ready to go. The pod reversed slightly out of the bay and then we were off. There are two stations in the car park, A and B, and they merge in an elevated section of track which then crosses the road and runs inside the airport fencing.

The route brings you around the end of the northerly runway at Heathrow and I had a flight come in over my head as we transited across. The ride was fine if a touch bumpy. It really was a quick run to be approaching the terminal and then we were inside. We loop around the station before approaching the bays where the doors open and I was done. A quick trip up in the lift and I was at the departure level of Terminal 5.

It really was a very simple process and felt like it was a very efficient way of dealing with parking offsite. The same can be said for my return. I collected my bag from the reclaim and headed back to Level 2 of the parking structure. There were two pods waiting and, this time, there was no delay while they charged.

I did have to select which station I wanted in advance. Then, I got in, closed the doors and pressed start – I have learned quickly. Then a quick run back the way I had come before. I was back at the car park in no time and in my car. Since everything was pre-paid, I drove to the gate, and it opened as I approached and I was on my way. If the timing requires it, I will be happy to use the service again.

Visualise That Trailing Vortex

Leave a Reply

I was working through some images that I had taken on my one and only visit to Rainbow Canyon when the military was still flying through that part of region. One of the shots that caught my eye was this one of a Super Hornet. It had passed me and was heading down towards the valley. This involved a few tight pulls around the curves in the canyon. A strong trailing vortex changes the density of the air which affects the refractive index. This distortion of the light makes the vortex visible if only by impacting the view of whatever is behind it. A good view of that effect can be seen in this shot.

The Ramp Action at Barcelona

Leave a Reply

When I made a trip to Spain for work, my route took me through Barcelona. Not a city I have visited before, but I do plan to return. I hadn’t brought a main camera with me since it was a brief work trip, and I was travelling light but I did take my old M6 along with me. Going to a new location can mean some different airlines. However, these days the airlines across Europe are usually the same ones. Ryanair is everywhere of course. There were some converted freighters sitting on the opposite side of the airfield from my terminal. I grabbed a few shots in the brief time I had which wasn’t long given that the schedule was pretty tight.

The Canal Cutting in the Dark

Leave a Reply

If you saw the previous post about the locks on the canal in Chester, you will know I was in the dark along the water. While it was very dark down there, this was a pretty busy place with people out walking their dogs or pushing their pushchairs and purchases along after some shopping in the city. I decided to walk along the canal back in the direction of the centre of town. For quite a stretch of this part of the canal, there was no lighting. A sign warned about this as you entered the darkest spot.

There was some ambient light coming down from the streets above. However, the canal course was cut into the rock so the light from above was quite a way off and things were really dark down along the path. What was slightly more concerning was that the water level was almost the same as the bank and, in the low light, it was hard to see where one ended and the other started. I was pretty cautious as I walked along.

As before at the locks, the camera was able to pick up way more detail than my eyes were seeing. There was an old bridge across the canal. According to a sign I saw further up the path, this was to connect the old prison with the chapel on the opposite side. It has since been joined by a larger bridge that carries traffic and this bridge now seems to be out of use. I was soon back out into the (relatively) lighter area and back towards the middle of Chester. As with the locks, this is somewhere I wouldn’t mind exploring in the day so I can see what it actually looks like!

Revisiting Boneyard Tour Shots With Reflection Removal

Leave a Reply

I have been a bit critical of the reflection removal tool in Lightroom but, while it seems to have become less effective on some shots, it still can do the job on others. This got me thinking back to my visit to Davis Monthan AFB’s storage facilities in the days when the Pima Museum was still able to operate a bus tour of the rows of stored aircraft.

I tried my best to get clear shots through the windows of the bus and often did okay. However, when something of interest was on the opposite side, I was taking a lot more chances when trying to get a shot without any reflections in it. A friend of mine, Karl, regularly posts images from the day and month many years before and he recently had some DM shots, and this was what triggered this idea. I worked my way through some of the original shots that I wouldn’t have previously used because of the reflections. I managed to rework some of them to make something far more usable.

Chester in the Evening

Leave a Reply

A work trip meant an overnight in Chester. I got there late in the afternoon as the light was already fading. By the time I had checked in and changed, it was dark. However, Chester is a picturesque place day or night. The many half-timbered buildings that still survive in the city centre are very attractive. Add to that the cathedral and the sculptures and you have plenty to see. I wander around taking a bunch of shots. I do think a visit again when I am free to explore will be worthwhile. In the meantime, here are some photos of the Chester by night.

Thinking Back to LAX and Old Favourites

Leave a Reply

I’m not sure what it was that got me to these pictures. I was working on something other project and then found myself looking at some shots from a visit to LAX a long time ago. Two planes jumped out at me from that day. One was a Lufthansa A340-300 and the other was a British Airways 747-400. Both were taking off later in the day and the light was very nice. I decided both deserved a re-edit.

The backgrounds for both jets were a little busy and so I decided to try something similar to my processing for airborne shots but that I hadn’t done much on the ground. I used the smart masking tools to select the aircraft. Then I inverted the mask to select the background. This allowed me to take the lighting down for the background and also make things a little cooler with the white balance. Then I could warm up the plane a little more and brighten it up. This helps to separate the aircraft from the background and make it more the focus of the shots.

The BA fleet of 747s are long gone now and passenger 747s are definitely a rarity. The Lufthansa A340s are still operating but only because of the delays to new aircraft deliveries. It won’t be too long before they are heading to the desert. This will be a nice reminder of the fun stuff I used to be able to photograph.

A Surviving Shot Tower

Leave a Reply

I had an overnight in Chester as part of a work trip to the region. The hotel I was staying in was just outside the centre of the city and alongside the canal. A short distance away was a shot tower and I figured I had to take a look. Shot towers were used to make shot – who’d have thought? In order to get “perfect” spheres for the shot, the molten metal was pushed through fine mesh at the top of the tower, and the drops of metal would fall. They would form a sphere as they free fell and would also cool as they fell through the air. They would have solidified by the time they reached the bottom, and you would have your shot.

Production techniques evolved over time and towers like this became redundant. Fortunately, this one has not been demolished and now it looks over the new apartment developments along the canal. The inside is illuminated and, while there is a window looking in, there is not much to be seen. I hope it is well looked after and will remain for many years to come.

Flow Viz on a Hornet

Leave a Reply

A long time ago (but not in a galaxy far, far away), I had a visit to the naval air station at Fallon. The weather was not ideal for the visit, and we had a bit of a disappointing result when it came to flying jets. I did spend some time on the ramp, though. A Super Hornet was marked up in squadron colours, and this was what initially caught my attention. However, as I looked at the jet more closely, I was fascinated by the dirt streaks emanating from the fasteners on the rear fuselage panels. These marks clearly showed the path the flow takes across this part of the airframe.