Tag Archives: washington

Marine Corps Hornets Leave Boeing Field

It’s been a while since I posted some images of Marine Corps Hornets having issues starting up to depart from Boeing Field after a weekend visiting for training. I didn’t include any images in there of them actually taking off. I got a reasonable spot to try and see them take offs even though the weather was not really great. I was surprised at just how quickly the jets got airborne. They were already quite high by the time that they came by me. I was still able to get some reasonable shots of them. Fast jets are always a nice change to the usual Boeing Field traffic.

Old and the New in the Pattern Over Whidbey

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I was down at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island one sunny afternoon. I had been to Ault Field first thing in the morning and some of the shots from then will make it on here at some point. I was down near Coupeville awaiting some FCLP training but, since I had time on my hands, I was wandering down near the shore. The wind must have changed because some planes from Ault Field were coming down our way as part of their patterns. One was a P-8 – the latest that the Navy has for maritime patrol – while the other was a P-3 – the type that the P-8 has almost completely replaced in service. It seemed quite appropriate to have both of them working overhead at the same time.

American 777 On the Nose

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Widebody jets coming into SEA are hard to predict. If possible, all arriving traffic is sent to the outer runway to allow departures to proceed from the inner runway with little disruption. However, if there is a lot of arriving traffic, the wake turbulence requirements for spacing behind a heavy jet can slow the arrivals flow. In this case, sending the jets the inner runway is more efficient. You never know what it will be until the plane is lined up on approach and you can see whether it is offset from the normal paths or not.

I wasn’t terribly bothered by this American Airlines 777-200ER when it came in as it is a daily arrival from London, and I have shot it on previous occasions. However, since I was in a location almost on the centerline of its approach, I decided to go for more of a head on shot and then an underside shot. If this was something I hadn’t shot before, I would be aiming to get the side of the plane in shot to show whatever it was but, in this case, no harm in playing around with different angles.

Bloody Great Bee!

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The plants in our backyard attract a lot of insects and we get plenty of bees hanging out on sunny days. One of our hanging baskets gets a reasonable amount of attention but not a lot. However, one bee showed up on a Sunday afternoon and got our attention. First, it stayed on the basket for ages climbing over the same flowers repeatedly unlike the usual bee behavior or constantly moving from flower to flower. The other reason for our attention was the size of the thing. It was huge compared to our average bees. I wonder if it got so large by removing every morsel of nutrient from each flower!

Might As Well Wait For the Singapore 350

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I made a mourning trek to SEA one weekend to catch the Salmon Thirty Salmon jet before it got repainted. I shot a bunch of planes before it departed and one thing of interest after it left and was getting ready to head home. A quick check of what else was due out showed me that the Singapore Airlines A350-900 was due out shortly. It’s a nice-looking jet and the morning light was still good, so I figured there was no harm in waiting a short while longer to catch it.

Regular readers know I am partial to the A350 and some of my earliest shots of the type were operated by Singapore in to SFO when we lived in California. Their livery has a classic style to it in my mind. Besides, the trip to Singapore is a long one making full use of the A350’s range capabilities so it was likely to be heavy and would use a good chunk of the runway so would still be quite low as it passed me by. All good reasons to get the shot.

Spencer Spit State Park

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Come a short distance from the ferry terminal on Lopez Island and head left and you will soon be near the turning for Spencer Spit State Park. There are camping sites throughout the park, but we were just interested in wandering down to the shoreline. It isn’t a long descent from the parking lot to be down by the water. It appears that the high tide can drive water into the area alongside the spit but that this then gets cut off as the tide retreats. There seemed to be some algae on the surface of the water which didn’t look great close up but, step back a bit and it seemed more appealing.

Friday Night at the Velodrome

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I persuaded Nancy that a fun Friday evening could be had in Marymoor Park if we went to watch some track cycle racing. Not sure how I managed that, but the food trucks and beer garden might have swung it for me. Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome is located in the park and is the last velodrome available in the Pacific Northwest of the US. It attracts lots of riders as a result. It is ages since I last went to a velodrome to watch racing, so I was looking forward to it. The Nationals were on in California, so some of the regular racers were away but there were still plenty of competitors out.

I shall share some examples of the wider view of the arena, the competitors and the spectators for now. Some more racing specific shots will come in a separate post. It was a great evening with lovely weather (and great food and beer), and I think we both enjoyed it. The racing was well structured to keep it entertaining, and they even had races for the kids. The star of that show was a kid with a big wheel! It was all I could do not to reference respecting my “authoritie”.

Western Global is Back With the MD-11F

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I posted about the visit of Western Global and their 747-400F a little while back. They did not wait long for their next return and, this time, they went for a rarer type by bringing in the MD-11F. I know FedEx and UPS still have loads of these (although they are starting to retire them) but other operators are thin on the ground. This was worth catching. (I have since heard that Western Global is in liquidity difficulties so who knows if they will still be around soon.)

It arrived at Paine Field when I wasn’t able to be there, but it did depart in the morning when I was able to get to see it. The weather was not ideal, and I would have appreciated a little sun on it but I’ll take it in any conditions given that I don’t know when I might get another opportunity. What a cool looking jet the MD-11 is from the front quarters. When they are gone, we shall have lost something special.

Cross Kirkland Connector’s New Bridge

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The disused railway lines along the eastern side of Lake Washington are progressively becoming trails for the local community. One section of track that runs through the middle of Kirkland is know as the Cross Kirkland Connector. This will run up towards Woodinville in due course. The northern end of the trail for a long time was Totem Lake when the trail came to 124^th St. This is a busy road and crossing it was not a simple process. As part of the development of the trails, a bridge has been under construction for a while now and it recently was opened to the public.

This bridge is a short distance from my office, and it would provide a useful potential connection if I was to start cycling to work again. I walked down to the bridge one lunchtime to see how it looked. The styling of the structure over the road is quite flowing and I had driven underneath at various times in construction, so I was familiar with the general shape. To get down to the street level, a circular ramp is on the north side, and this loops around near the lake and marshlands.

There are some overlook areas built out from the ramp to encourage people to linger a little. A few bikes and pedestrians passed over in the short time I was there so I hope there will be a good amount of traffic to justify the investment. When all of the trails are complete, it will be possible to ride from Renton to the Skagit County line without needing to use the road.

Crabs Getting Feisty

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Nancy and I were walking along the shore on Lopez Island one Sunday on a trail alongside some marshy areas. We were discussing whether the water was connected to the sea all of the time or only at high tide when I noticed something moving in the shallow water. When I looked closer, I realized that, not only was it a crab, but that there were tons of them. The water was full of them, and they were pretty aggravated.

It didn’t seem to matter what size they were; they were all picking fights with each other. Some of these were brief hit and run type efforts but others seemed to be engaged in battles that were going on for a while. Most were in the water but occasionally they would come out onto the land. One walked right up to my shoe. Spaces under rocks or wood seemed like prime spots with smaller crabs trying to get under there while the larger inhabitants fended them off. It was hilarious to watch once you could see that they were there. I could have spent ages watching them but that wasn’t the purpose of visiting the island, so I left them to their battles.