The Slingsby T-67 was a design that was quite popular when I was younger. They were aerobatic and were used for training by a number of establishments. I didn’t think of it as a plane that got much traction outside the UK market but maybe they did okay. Seeing one in the US was a bit of a surprise. This example was taking off at Paine Field. I wondered whether it was an ex-military example that had been sold to the civil market. If anyone knows the background, do let me know.
The 737 Max 8 has been the best seller of the Max product line. The Max 7 has barely sold at all and Boeing even had to redesign it to be a shrink of the Max 8 rather than the rework of the -700 that it was originally intended to be. Southwest and WestJet have bought them but they are about the only ones. I guess production examples have started to come off the line during the grounding. When you go around the back of Renton, amongst the stored Southwest jets are a bunch of the Max 7s. I guess certification and delivery of these will be something intended to follow on closely from the return to service of the Max 8 and Max 9 jets.
Seeing logs on the shore is not unusual. Plenty of logs get washed ashore. However, when taking a walk along the beach at Shoreline over the holidays, there was a tree trunk that had become lodged on the water’s edge. It had become wedged in amongst some piles in the water with the roots of the log still out in the water. Usually the logs appear to have been cut but this was a tree that had got washed out into the sound. Everyone was taking a look at it or climbing out on to it. It was pretty big and finding a way to convey the size was something I pondered at length.
No lengthy story for this. I was waiting at SeaTac for an arrival and got distracted by the jets lining up for departure. It got quite busy at one point with a bunch of jets awaiting their slot. Occasionally the departing jets appeared nicely in the background. Unfortunately, there are some lot poles in the area which are rather distracting.
The collapse of Thomas Cook meant that the German subsidiary, Condor, has gone it alone. The fleet had a tail marking that reflected the parent company but, with their demise, they are now adopting a tail design that is back to their own branding. I saw one of the new tails on this 767 arriving at SeaTac shortly before a BA 777 that I was waiting for because I was picking up the skipper. Below is what it used to look like (albeit in nicer light).
With mum visiting from the UK, we took a walk along the Sammamish River Trail. The river was very high as a result of the heavy rains we had experienced in the preceding days. The river has otters living in it and I was hoping we might see one. As it turned out, we saw four. A group of four otters was moving up river diving for food as they went. I wished I had brought a longer lens with me but you go with what you have. Of course, they chose to stay on the other side of the river for much of the time but it was fun to watch them anyway. They got a lot of attention from the other people on the trail too.
The first 737 Max 10 sits on the flight line at Renton. First flight will be soon I imagine.
The 737 Max problems rumble on but this isn’t stopping development activities. The first of the 737 Max 10 jets was rolled out of the factory with little fanfare with only staff being invited. I was showing my relative, Pete, around the area and we stopped at Renton to have a look at what was on the line. It was a nice surprise to see the first Max 10 sitting on the line. I imagine it won’t be too long before first flight.
When airlines take delivery of new jets, they tend to try and space them out a bit. The ability to add a bunch of jets at once is limited so you don’t often see a lot of jets from the same airline on the flight line at the factory. However, there has been a cluster of Vistara 787s at Paine Field recently. I think they were originally assigned to another carrier that couldn’t take delivery of them – perhaps Hainan. Consequently, they have been reallocated at short notice and Vistara is the customer. Here they were sitting together in Everett going through the final phases of testing. I’m not sure whether some will be stored and delivered later or whether they will all go in a group.
During Wild Bites, mentioned in this post, we visited the rhino enclosure. There were two rhinos inside munching on their evening feed. The enclosure was not ideal for getting photos as they were indoors and there was a lot in the way. However, they did head outside a couple of times. I thought this might be my opportunity. There were two areas where you could view them while outside and, while they could move between them quickly, to get around the outside required a bit more speed. I looked at which way I thought the rhinos were heading. They decided to change their minds and go the other way. I was scurrying around like an idiot trying to get in position. I never did a good job of it sadly.
Boeing Field gets the occasional military visitors and you never know what might show up. I glanced up and saw a pair of T-38s downwind for arrival. They came in with about a minute of spacing between them. The tail codes showed them to be Beale jets. They headed to the FBO at Modern and were soon being refueled. The canopies stayed up so they may have been heading out again a while later but I had to move on so I didn’t get to see them depart.
