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Concrete Fly In

The time between me doing something and its appearance on the blog can vary wildly. Sometimes, I will aim to get something squeezed in here soon after it happens but that is the exception. Usually, I have stuff posted out quite far in advance. As I come up with new topics, they get added to the schedule and, if a topic doesn’t get written about promptly, it can really disappear into the distance. Such is the case with the Concrete fly in of 2023.

There will be several posts that make it on here from that event in the coming weeks. I have started writing them up but some of the specific topics will take a while to appear. However, I shall start things off with a more general post about the fly in. Held at Mears Field in the interestingly names town of Concrete, it is a popular gathering of planes from around the region. There is a single runway running east/west in the valley and the planes park up on either side of it. You are able to walk across the runway at a couple of locations (or further away from them if you want to avoid the air cadets) so just keep you head on a swivel. The wind seems to change midway through the day, so arrivals were from the west in the morning and the east in the afternoon.

We set up at a spot near the threshold on the eastern end of the field and it provides a good location to watch the landings and the takeoff rolls. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that you can walk around, and you find you have stayed in one place for ages getting similar shots. I did try and mix it up from time to time but it was rather sunny and warm and the shade under the wing of a 170 was pretty appealing.

Since I was shooting a lot of light aircraft, I decided to try and make the shots more interesting by keeping the shutter speed low to emphasize speed. The downside the this is that you are very close to the runway so the parallax effect is quite pronounced. You can also just miss a ton of shots but why not have some fun. Few of them are ones you can’t afford to miss. It does mean a sharp nose is probably combined with a blurry fin. This will really annoy some viewers and others will never notice. Since I am shooting for me, I’m the only one that has to care!

More to come of some specific planes and events from the day out with a regular crew of aviation loons.

Almost Directly Under the Approach

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Photographing airliners can be a little “samey” since there are lots of very similar jets and getting a shot of them from the side looks much like any other shot unless the aircraft is specially painted or the lighting is particularly unusual. Consequently, every once in a while, it is fun to try and shoot from a different angle. The approach to SEA when the planes are on a southerly flow brings them in over a part of Burien where you can get yourself pretty much under the flightpath.

It won’t take too long before you are again getting a sequence of repetitive images, so it isn’t going to be useful for much time, but it is a chance to do something a little different. Head on shots from a distance are possible. Then you can get the shot looking up from the underside. This might be a tight shot of a part of the airframe, or a wide angle shot of the whole thing. An opportunity to do something a little different when you are photographing aircraft that are not ones where you care about missing the shot as you might when something special is coming in.

Air Canada Instead of Jetz

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It’s not unusual to see Canadian A320s in Boeing Field. They provide a lot of sports charters but, until recently, these were usually undertaken by Jetz aircraft. More recently, it seems that they have transitioned to jets in the Air Canada core colors. Since Air Canada has been taking delivery of lots of 737 Max aircraft recently, maybe they are cascading some of the older mainline jets to the charter operations. I don’t really know. I only know I have shot a few of their aircraft at Boeing Field recently.

What Makes One Dino Get Prime Spot Over Another?

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This is a perfect example of my ignorance regarding some of the things I see. The Italian Day at Exotics@RTC was on and this meant a bunch of Ferraris of varying vintages. In the prime spot at the center of the event was a Ferrari Dino. I may not know much about Ferraris, but I do know that the Dino was a famous car. There were actually a few of them scattered around. I don’t know whether prime spots were based on when they arrived or whether one of these is more important than another. Is one more authentic or was it just luck? Maybe some of you know.

Ault Field Morning Arrivals

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I had taken a day off to go to Coupeville earlier this year. Since I was heading to Whidbey Island for the day, I went to Ault Field at the beginning of the day to see if there was any traffic. I went to Moran Beach to see if anything was coming in when the light is still favorable in that location. I actually got pretty lucky. There were a bunch of Growlers already up and about and they were recovering before I had to move off. Some squadron jets including some in special schemes were coming in. Recovering overhead me while others were on the approach, it felt pretty busy. Here are some of the shots from that morning.

Sun on the MU-2

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Regular readers of the blog will know that there are certain types that I seem destined to struggle to shoot in decent light. It might be the nicest of days, but the sun will go behind a cloud just before the intended subject appears. I thought the Mitsubishi MU-2 was one of those types but, a few months back, I finally got lucky. One came into Boeing Field on a day with good sun. Not the perfect conditions but it was still a relief to finally get some shots when it wasn’t overcast!

The Craziest Abarth Cinquecento I’ve Ever Seen

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When I was a small kid, we owned a Fiat 126. My friend’s mum had a Fiat 500. It was the old car compared to our “newer” one. A tiny little vehicle but a cute one. Of course, as with everything these days, the 500 made a reappearance more recently as it got a makeover. It also spawned a range of derivatives taking it well away from the original concept. I had never considered the original car to be too sporty so was in for a surprise.

Exotics@RTC had this amazing vehicle on display. An Abarth Cinquecento, this thing is seriously souped up. Forget a back seat. Don’t expect much in the way of creature comforts. Probably come up with a plan of how to get yourself in and out of it for that matter. This thing is quite unlike any old Cinquecento I have ever seen. It looked amazing. The back end of it seemed unable to hold what was included so it was just open to let everything hang loose. What a contrast to everything else that was on display. That is what makes Exotics@RTC so cool. You get these really unusual vehicles showing up.

SEA Saturday Afternoon Departures

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Earlier in the year, I was down at SEA for a reason that now escapes me. However, I had some time to kill, and the traffic was on a northerly flow which means it is easier to get reasonable afternoon light on the departing jets. Consequently, I hung out for a while to photograph some of the jets heading out. The majority of traffic is going to be the regular Alaska and Delta narrowbody traffic and that gets pretty repetitive. However, mid to late afternoon is when a lot of the departures for Europe and the Middle East take place. This means widebodies. Here are a bunch of shots of departing aircraft as they climb out and head on their way.

The Racers Doing Their Thing

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In a recent post, I shared some shots of an evening at the Jerry Baker Velodrome in Marymoor Park, Redmond. We had a good time enjoying the racing, the food and the beer and, a couple of weeks later, they were holding a large meet with many international riders taking part. This seemed like it would be worth a follow up visit. That proved to be a good choice. The size of the field made for much interesting racing and some drama.

Getting there proved a touch more difficult because a concert was also on at Marymoor Park but we made it in before the events got underway, so all was good. The quality of some of the athletes was impressive. In one race, a breakaway was well established for a large part of the race and I thought there was no way that they would be pulled back. However, I was mistaken. With only a couple of laps to go, a few broke away from the pack and bridged the gap to overhaul the breakaway with what seemed like ridiculous ease. Most impressive.

There were some riders that were clearly in a league above. You could see them managing their performance through the races, coming to the front for a while, biding their time for much of the race and then turning on the power when it was required to come home with the win. Other riders went off on solo breaks which got them some time at the front but, by the end of the race, it was clear that they had burned themselves out. It made for a lot of fun to watch so I am grateful for the effort that they all made.

Another top evening out. The food truck may not have been quite so good, but the beer was still excellent, and the racing was a blast. We shall see when we can next get down there to watch some more.

Gliding at Arlington

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Arlington Municipal Airport has a steady stream of light aircraft activity, but it is also home to a gliding community. At weekends, it is not unusual to see some Piper Pawnees tugging gliders into the air. Depending on the suitability of the conditions, these might be some pretty short flights, or they might be up for quite a while. I have been up there at various times when the gliders are operating off the grass next to the main runway. Usually, I am there for something else, so the gliding photos are taken when the opportunity arises. Here are some shots of the Pawnee tug planes and the gliders themselves.