Tag Archives: washington

Falcon 50s Are Getting Rarer

Dassault’s Falcon family has been getting larger both in the number of types and physically. Now there are long range and wide bodied corporate jets available in their catalog. Before the jets got wider, their first effort at a longer range version was the Falcon 50. It introduced the three engine configuration which made it well suited to longer range missions in the days before twin operations over long distances were widespread.

The 50 is now rather long in the tooth so you don’t see them around so often. That makes it all the better when one shows up. I was heading home one evening from an event south of the city and the lovely evening light made me stop off at Boeing Field to see if I could get any shots. Sadly, a cloud bank rolled in just before this Falcon 50 showed up. Still, it was great to see one in action. I was back the next day having taken a day off work and it happened to depart while I was there. Certainly more light but a bit harsh in the middle of the day.

Dead Railcar

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A short distance from our house is an old railcar that is sitting on spare land gradually decaying. It has been here as long as we have and I suspect a lot longer than that. I’m not sure what it is resting on but it does seem to be listing a bit more these days than it was the first time I saw it. I have driven past it on many occasions and often thought that I should take a picture of it. I recently happened to be walking along the road rather than driving so figured I should stop and get a shot. Since it is summer, the plants are grown up around the side of the road so it is a bit harder to get a clear shot of it. I used the longer lens on the phone and stitched together some shots. It would be better to shoot this later in the day when the light is nicer but we shall see if I make the effort to go back – and maybe take a better camera?

JetStar Prototype

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I’ve seen the JetStar prototype a few times in various visits to the Museum of Flight restoration facility up at Paine Field. The JetStar is a favorite of mine as might be determined by several of my posts over the years. The prototype is a bit different, though. It was built with two engines – Bristol Orpheus turbojets. After the first two aircraft, the rest were four engined. After it finished testing, it was used by Lockheed for transport duties. It ended up in Vancouver before coming into the museum’s collection. These shots are of it in the restoration shop.

Riding Up the Centennial Trail

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I have been doing a lot of riding my bike this year and have been gradually expanding how far I go. I decided I wanted to do a longer ride but figured I should not combine that with lots of hills in case I overextended myself a touch. I figured it might be a good time to try out the Centennial Trail. This is a trail that starts in Snohomish and runs 30 miles up past Marysville and Arlington to the county line with Skagit.

An out and back seemed like it could be fun and it is a converted disused rail line so it wouldn’t have hills. (That isn’t true of course. It does have hills but the grades are gentle. I wondered why I was slow for a while and then found myself zipping along so clearly the grades were noticeable.). I started early one morning which meant I avoided some of the busier traffic that comes later in the day.

It was a fun ride. Once out of Snohomish, the trail only occasionally crosses any roads so you can trundle along without much interruption. Since it is an old rail line, there are some old rail bridges to cross occasionally when you get to rivers. There are mile posts to let you know how you are doing and even areas where horse riders can cross when hoof marks have been set into the surface. Aside from a brief stretch through Arlington’s more industrial areas, it is a pleasant ride. A nice park in Arlington itself provides a stop off if you need it and the end of the trail is at a barn seemingly in the middle of nowhere. A good ride to get 60 miles under your belt!

Stop By The Floatplane Base

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I was riding around Lake Washington on my bike and Renton is approximately halfway around. I wasn’t in any particular hurry so figured a few minutes down at the float plane base were justified and that I can get a bit of a break before continuing the ride. The phone was the only camera I had with me but it would do to get a photo of this Beaver on floats that was moored there. There wasn’t a huge amount of activity during my visit but it was still a good place to pause and have a drink.

The Littlest Campervan

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America is the home of the RV. The size of vehicles which people live in while out on the road is enormous. Exotics@RTC attracts the more unusual vehicles, though, and this little thing showed up. It was in excellent condition and the interior was fitted out for picnics although whether it would be okay for more than day trips is a trickier question. Quite a cute little vehicle, though.

Boeing 737 Max 10 in Flight

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I missed out on the first flight of the first Max 10 version of the Boeing 737 family. I got to Boeing Field as it was landing on its initial flight which I watched from the freeway as I got close to the airfield. However, a flight test airframe is going to get a lot of use so I knew I would have more opportunities. The Max 10 rolled out a long time ago so the start of flight test was heavily delayed, presumably as a result of the overall Max grounding and the more intense scrutiny being given to Boeing as a result.

I have now seen it flying a few times. It is still flying around with a trailing static cone so they either haven’t completed calibration of the air data system or just haven’t got around to removing the cone yet. It is in Boeing house colors with the large 10 on the fin being the main giveaway. It is longer than the Max 9 but not noticeably so. I’ll need to put them side by side to see where to identify the differences.

Back to Cascade Falls

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On our previous trip to Orcas, we took in Cascades Falls as part of a hike. We repeated the hike this time but, since we started a little earlier in the day and the days were longer, we didn’t have quite the same pressure to make sure we got back before things got dark. Consequently, when we got to Cascade Falls, I was able to spend a bit more time taking the diversion down to the river to see the falls from lower angles and get some images and video that I hadn’t had a go at on the previous visit. While everything was a lot warmer than last time, there had been a fair bit of rain recently which meant the falls still had a good flow coming over them. As is the way with waterfalls, they look more impressive when you are at the bottom than when you are above them.

RV Thomas G. Thompson

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Quite a while back, now, I was down on the shore at Mukilteo when this research ship transited passed the lighthouse. It was clearly a vessel designed for studying something marine related (unless it was a spy ship) so I decided to check it out. There is a small fleet of these vessels operated by the Office of Naval Research. They put operation of the ships out to tender and this one was won by the University of Washington.

The ship is named after the guy that founded UW’s Oceanographic lab in the 30s. it spends over 300 days a year at sea, so I guess they get plenty of use out of it. Originally, she would have been scheduled out of service by this year but a big refit was carried out in a local Seattle shipyard, Vigor, a few years back so she should be good until the late 2030s.

More Steilacoom Train Activity

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Some previous rail photos from Steilacoom where the result of seeing trains while I was visiting for another purpose. More recently (well, not that recent, but I am catching up on some stuff), I made a trip specifically to get a train shot. I didn’t go all the way just for this but I was already down in Tacoma so a short extra leg was easy to do. I actually planned on getting this shot so that we might use it for a future proposal.

I was going to head back to the same place I had been before but I came upon a parking lot for the beach which had a nice curve to the track and a crossing. The view from above the crossing looked better so I went with that. Fortunately, a freight service came through before the Talgo set I was after so I had a chance to get an idea of the angles and sighting time. That meant I was better prepared when the train came in to view. A couple of shots for those of your train fans that read this blog.