Tag Archives: washington

Frontier’s A321neo Special

Frontier Airlines has been adding a bunch of A321neos to its fleet. They are not a regular feature at SEA but they do come in periodically. The airline has at least one that is painted in a special green livery incorporating Pratt and Whitney imagery including a bald eagle. This is to signify the environmental benefits of the latest generation of jets. I actually saw one when I was elsewhere in the country. It was parked on a pier I could see but I didn’t have my camera available to get a shot in the nice evening light there was at the time.

Fortunately, it showed up as coming to Seattle one weekend. I figured I would get another chance at it. However, the weather wasn’t looking great. There was a hint that things might improve so I made my way there to see if I would get lucky. Sadly, the forecast was a little optimistic and it was still rather gloomy when the jet made an appearance. I made the best of it that I could but it was not great. Amazingly, I have had a long time since taking this shot and have yet to have another chance to shoot this jet. I think it may have visited but there was no way for me to be there. Hopefully I’ll catch it in good light one day!

The Frogs Always Justify My Attention

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While sitting on the deck one evening, a frog was climbing up a post. I didn’t know how long it would hang around, so I grabbed a few quick pictures with my phone before going inside to get the camera with the macro lens. It hadn’t gone too far when I got back but I was glad I had taken the phone shots when I did. The frog was now climbing up the post and it jumped in to one of the hanging baskets. This made getting shots a touch trickier. There were also bits of plant getting in the way. I ended up using the focus stack function to get a sequence of shots which I then processed in Photoshop later. I just love close up shots of wildlife like this.

Someone Forgot to Close the Gas Cap

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Talon Air’s Hawker 4000 came to Boeing Field and my shots of its arrival have already had their own post. However, while I was reviewing the shots when I got home, something seemed a little odd between the shots. Something seemed to be flapping around on the lower rear fuselage. I zoomed in to the shots and there was an access panel that was unsecured. Its angle was changing between shots, so it was clearly moving around in the airflow. From what I can gather, this is probably where the fueling port is located. These doors are tough, so it was probably fine, but I wonder whether any damage was done on a long flight.

Inside An Airport Fire Truck

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I was chatting with one of the King County Sheriff team that looks after King County Airport (Boeing Field). We were standing by one of their fire trucks for airport operations and he suggested I take a look around the cab. We didn’t have a load of time but it was very cool to see the configuration of the vehicle. There is a central seat with controls on one side for the vehicle and on the other for the firefighting equipment. There are seats either side of the cab for additional crew. They have facilities for their breathing equipment so the crew can be strapped into the tanks while in their seats and ready to deploy as soon as they reach a fire. It would have been fun to chat further with the guy about their operations but the event we were both there for started up so we both had somewhere else to be.

SAAB 340 With an Interesting Pod

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I promise that this is the last of the unusual types that headed to Alaska for a large military exercise. This one I caught as it came through Paine Field. I like the SAAB 340 anyway but stick a pod under the fuselage and I will be doubly interested. The company that operates this jet is based in San Diego from what I can tell. Their product naming might be coincidental, but I suspect I know the favorite author of someone high in the company.

Dogs in Goggles Ready to Save You

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I was a bit far away from the action to get a good shot of this but, during the aviation exercise recently conducted between multiple agencies at Arlington, there were support teams for emergency requirements which included some dog teams. I saw the dog teams head to the helicopters to head out to one of the exercise locations and then return later. The dogs were wearing goggles to protect them while around the helicopters and airborne. I would love to have been a bit closer to get some better shots but sadly that wasn’t the case.

Drag Racing

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I have had the chance to photograph a variety of motorsports over the years but I recently got a chance to try something new. I went to see some drag racing at Pacific Raceways in Kent, south of where we live. I have seen drag racing on TV in the past but have not ever been in person. I was covering this for Speed and Sport Journal, a website run by my friend Joel in Chicago. I won’t rewrite the piece I put together for him but will, instead, include the link here to that work.

https://www.speedandsportjournal.com/flav-r-pac-nhra-northwest-nationals/

The focus on that article was not on the results and individual performances but instead what the experience was like going to my first drag racing. It was a very intense thing to be so close to. Incredibly loud and physically imposing stuff and quite unlike anything I had done before and that includes standing beside fast jets as they take off. Joel used a number of my images for the article so here I shall include some that didn’t make it in but that I liked for whatever reasons my brain may have.

Another 727 Chance Before Sunset for Departure

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The arrival just before sunset of a Kalitta 727 was the subject of a recent post. It departed later that evening, but it was very dark by then and I didn’t hang around. It wasn’t long before the jet was back again and this time it arrived a little earlier in the day. That meant that there was a chance that they would depart before sunset. That was something I was willing to take a chance on. In the later evening, it is a quick jaunt to Paine Field from home. Sure enough, they obliged by being prompt. I had barely got there when the jet taxied. The light was very nice, and they were flowing to the north so I was able to get a few shots, hop in the car and be home so fast that Nancy thought I must have blown off the idea altogether!

Woohoo! – Another Hawker 4000

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A few times a year, Boeing Field is treated to the arrival of a Hawker 4000. This was not a successful jet for Hawker and so they are far from common. I have shot them on occasions, and they have probably got blog posts when I did. I saw this one coming in one weekend so headed over to see it. When I looked up the operator, Talon Air, I was interested to see on their website that they have quite the collection of 4000s. I guess owning a bunch of them makes supporting them a little easier. Annoyingly, another one was at BFI while I was there and got towed near me before I realized what it was. It didn’t fly while I was there unfortunately.

A Dornier Is Worth an Excursion

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The Dornier 328Jet is not a total rarity but it is unusual enough to get attention. Earlier this year, one showed up as coming through BFI. Since I was able to be there, I decided it had to be worth the trip. Sure, it is just another landing shot of a small airliner but I spend too much time thinking back to things I never bothered about at the time that are now gone so I’d rather not add to that list.