AFW | October 2009 | Fort Worth Alliance Air Show | Mo' Blues.....

The diamond formation in echelon formation pass from behind the crowd over show center for their next maneuver.

I think this one is called the Delta Break where the diamond formation each break a different direction with the slot, Blue Angel 4, remaining level. If you look closely you can see forming vortex condensation clouds over the LERXs of the aircraft that are in the break.

Say hi to the Boss (Blue Angel 1) as he blasts over the crowd.......

Here the diamond while in echelon formation starts the Tuck Under Break- each team member starting with the Boss breaks right into a 360 degree roll that brings them under the flightpath of the aircraft next in the sequence.

The entire team in the delta formation performing the Delta Roll. This maneuver is the most difficult for the outermost members of the team who are having to make the most adjustments in thrust, roll, and pitch to maintain the tight formation during the roll. 

Not the best shot of what I got that day but for some reason the way this one came out really catches my eye. This is Delta Loop Break- the whole team starts out in delta formation, passes across the show center into a loop. As they pass the top of the loop and are vertically pointed straight down, the entire team breaks simultaneously in different directions. When the Boss calls the break, the Slot (Blue Angel 4) has to execute a quick 180 degree roll before making its break. You can tell from the picture which plane is the Slot from the twist in its smoke trail.

Last of the Blues before I move onto the other aircraft:

One of my sharpest shots of the Blues, here's the Slot (Blue Angel 4) rocketing over the crowd to reposition with the diamond behind the crowd line.

Last one of the Blues in the air, this is the final Break-to-Land. Blue Angels 6 is out of the field of view to the left flying next to Blue Angel 5 (they're the two solos) and Blue Angel 4 (the Slot) has made it's break to hand. Interestingly they all landed with a tail wind- they took off from 34R at the start of the show but landing on 16L and I didn't appreciate that big of a change in the winds during the show.

DAL | April 2009 | Frontiers of Flight | Collings Foundation warbirds....

Some artistic type shots I took back in April at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at KDAL when the Collings Foundation's warbirds were in town. The weather that morning was horrendous and I didn't get the shots I wanted to get originally but found the ambient lighting and mood was ideal for a style of shot I wasn't planning on when I left the house for Love Field:

The B-17 and P-51 are part of the Collings Foundation's collection of warbirds.

AFW | October 2009 | Fort Worth Alliance Air Show

Diamond 360 pass, here they are only 18 inches apart while in diamond formation. It was tough to get a good shot with the bright sky and sun in the background without losing the details of the F/A-18 Hornets in the shade.

I think this maneuver is called the Echelon Parade. Again, bright sky and sun behind them...arrrrghhhhh......

 This time Blue Angel 5 joins the diamond for the Line Abreast Loop. This is the group as they pull out of the loop. This is supposed to be one of the more difficult maneuvers to do as they all have to maintain precise formation together while in a loop but in a strict line abreast position.

2009 Blue Angels Frequencies

I used these on my scanner yesterday at the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show, so I know they work:

237.8000 - Solos
250.9750 - Diamond
275.3500 - Diamond
255.2000 - Circle / arrivals
284.2500 - Show Box
305.5000 - Fat Albert (pri)
302.1000 - Fat Albert (sec)
143.0000 - Tower Obs. (AM)
142.6125 - Maint A (NFM)
139.8125 - Maint B (NFM)
141.5625 - Maint C (NFM)
346.5000 - Pre show checkout / Ground start

AFW | October 2009 | Fort Worth Alliance Air Show

Just a small preview, I shot about a gig worth of pics at Alliance today and have some serious sorting to do:

Downside, the sun in the afternoon by the time the Blues have the airspace is in your face. Damns if that doesn't make you try every damn shutter and aperture setting on your camera. This was the first time I shot full manual all day and I promised myself this AM I'd do it instead of shutter or aperture priority. And it was good, some shots I wished had come out better but now at least I have a better idea of some of the tweaks I have to make to adjust for certain lighting conditions.

We got to AFW about 1230pm and holy shit, this is the biggest turnout I've seen yet at this show. Damn near walked a mile to get from the family truckster to the show vantage point.

The static was good, some stuff I hadn't seen yet and some perennial favorites. Only a few aircraft were roped off, nearly all of them you could go up to and fondle, caress and grope. And oh did I. Some of the stuff there that I can recall:

T-39 Sabreliner (USN)
2 MV-22 Ospreys (I'd seen the USAF SOCOM ones up close, this was the first time go inside a USMC machine)
T-45 Goshawk (USN)
T-44 Pegasus (USN)
T-38 Talon (USAF)
T-1A Jayhawk (USAF)
E-3C Block 30/35 Sentry (very cool to a Block 30/35 for the first time)
B-52H (Barksdale bird)
KC-135R (Altus bird)
C-130H (Texas ANG)
KC-130 (USMC)
F/A-18E/F ("Pukin Dogs")
RC-12D Guardrail (my first time get to fondle one up close)
A-10 Warthogs
2 F-16s from the 144th FW California ANG, one of them was the new boss bird with the black tail. Very cool.
1 F-16 from the AFRC at Carswell
1 F-16 with the Royal Netherlands AF (very cool to have that on static)
Lots of helos- Bell Helicopter's customer flight instruction center is at AFW, so they had all of their stuff out for display. There were SH-60 Seahawk as well as the UH-60 Blackhawk and the CH-47 Chinook as well. They even had the engine and transmission covers open on the Blackhawk.
American Eagle ERJ-145
American 777-200ER
American DC-3 Flagship Detroit (parked next to the 777, what a contrast)
There was a privately owned T-38 in 1970s USAF Thunderbird colors, that was cool to see!
3 CAP birds to tickle Chuck's fancy (2 172s and the Gippsland)
Diamond DA20
Cessna 421
ATP had one of the Seminoles there
Ted Smith Aerostar
C-7A Caribou
P-3 Orion

The flying demos that I saw included the A-10, F/A-18E Super Hornet, F-16, F4F Wildcat, T-28 Trojan, OV-1 Mohawk (super cool to see that one flying as a warbird), A-1 Skyraider, C-17 (The way they hauled this fat bitch around was impressive). Sean D Tucker flew, that was neat to see him throw that biplane all over the sky. There were some other demos to, I think it was a Bonanza doing aerobatics. And that damn jet truck, Shockwave. Ugh.

I had my Pro-43 programmed to the Blues frequencies and it was damn sweet to hear all that stuff. It quite literally does sound like singing as the Boss (Blue Angel 1) cues the team "Uuuuup....weeeee......goooooo, more powerrrrrr...........and smoke........"

When one is to geek out, one should geek out 100%. Scanner with the Blues, telephoto lens, check. It was funny hearing Alliance Tower say stuff like "Negative Charlie Bravo Niner-Two, the Blue Angels have the airspace and you'll either have to hold outside the airspace or divert."

Then you'd hear "Blue Angels, Alliance Tower, the airspace is yours" followed by "Alliance Tower, the Blue Angels have the airspace!"

Stay tuned, more pics to appear in this blog as I get through them. As well as more shots from September and October from DFW and DAL!

Google Earth + Aeronautical Charts + 3D Airspace = Uber Coolness

Link: Overlay Sectional Aeronautical Charts in Google-Earth

This is awesome. The nice part is that this also includes terminal area charts and flyways. And though the presentation is a bit rough, they also used Google SketchUp to do 3D representations of Class B airspace which really helps visualize that whole upside down wedding cake layout:

This is Las Vegas' Class B airspace looking northwest. The green areas are the restricted airspace areas of the Nellis ranges that are from the surface to "unlimited", hence their height compared to the LAS Class B airspace.

Not all of the restricted airspace is present, but the major ones are from a quick review. It only covers the US so far.

DFW | October 2009 | Overheard

I was out at Founders' Plaza this afternoon just as the clouds started clearing out and the much-missed sun made its appearance. The winds were blowing from the north so landings were using the 35s and 36s at DFW and I heard the following exchange on the West Tower frequency:

DFW West Tower: American 1844, cleared to land, Runway three-six left, caution wake turbulence heavy Boeing 757 just departed on the parallel and a heavy Boeing 757 arrived just before you. Caution bird activity reported one-thousand five-hundred one mile from final.

American 1844: Well you're just full of good news for us, aren't you? Cleared to land three-six left, 1844.

DFW | September 2009 | Founders' Plaza | Mo' sunset spotting...

Obligatory shot of a UPS MD-11F parked adjacent to Founders' Plaza- this is N290UP, built and delivered in passenger configuration in March 1992 to Swissair as HB-IWL. She continued to fly for the downsized Swissair which became Swiss International Air Lines. In 2004 she then went to VARIG Brasil as PP-VTI. In 2007 she was sold to UPS who had the aircraft converted to freighter configuration by SASCO in Singapore in October 2007.

A bank of clouds rolled in front of the setting sun and took me a bit to figure out the best settings on the camera to compensate. N724SK is a CRJ-700 built and delivered in January 2005 to SkyWest Airlines who operates this regional jet in United Express colors.

This is one of many American 737-800s that come in during the evening hours at DFW. N919AN was built and delivered to American in August 1999.

Here's an increasingly rare sight at DFW, an American Eagle ERJ-135, there are only about 29 or so left in service with Eagle. I'm sure if oil prices climb back up, we'll see more of these -135s go into desert storage in Kingman where there are already quite a few. This is N713AE, built and delivered to American Eagle in April 2000.

N363AA is a Boeing 767-300 built and delivered to American back in September 1988.

Hooray, the setting sun is back out, the clouds have moved out of the way...yet *another* arriving 737-800, this is N950AN, built and delivered to American in November 2000.

More American 738 goodness, this is N912AN, an -800 built and delivered to American back in May 1999. That's quite the flock of Eagle ERJs parked at Terminal B!

N645RW is a Republic Airways ERJ-170 built and delivered to Chautauqua in February 2005, now operated by Shuttle America- both companies used in United Express colors and both companies are subsidiaries of Republic Airways.

Nose-tight shot of N622AA, a Boeing 757-200 built and delivered to American in May 1990.

DFW | September 2009 | Founders' Plaza | Ubiquitous-80s...

Gonna throw in some Ubiquitous-80s with this gorgeous evening light! This in N493AA, and MD-82 built and delivered originally to American Airlines in January 1989.

Hey, who's taking pictures of all these Ubiquitous-80s? Oh, me, that's who. I can't help it. But non-standard American MD-80 tail numbers get my attention. This is N7530, an MD-82 built and delivered to American in September 1990.

And *another* Ubiquitous-80, only this time nose-tight. This is N424AA, and MD-82 built and delivered to American in October 1986.

DFW | September 2009 | Founders' Plaza | Sunset and the blue tails...

Earlier in September I had a chance to spot at Founders' Plaza much later in the day than I usually do. Sunset at Founders' Plaza doesn't have the variety that comes in earlier in the day, but the lighting sure is nice, the temps are cooler and there were plenty of families about just enjoying the milder temperatures this particular evening. Even though the posted signs say that the park closes at 7pm, there were plenty of people present well after 8pm.

 One of the three American Eagle blue tails ERJ-145s that arrived that evening, this is N605KS, originally built and delivered in May 1998 to Trans States as N818HK and flew as Trans World Express. When American bought out TWA, she was rebranded as American Connection and got the blue eagle tail logo in contrast to the red and blue eagle logo used on the American Eagle ERJs. Now flying as American Eagle, the blue tail logo remains. Note also that the engine nacelles are blank, lacking the "RJ RegionalJet" titles.

The second of the three Eagle blue tails for that evening, this is N601DW, built and delivered originally to Trans States in March 1998 as N601GH and N814HK with American Connection before getting its current tail number with American Eagle. This one, however, *does* have the nacelle titles.

And the last of the three Eagle blue tails for some great sunset spotting, this is N608LM, built and delivered originally to Trans States in July 1998, flew as American Connection post-TWA buyout with the blue tail logo, now in American Eagle colors with the blue tail logo sans nacelle titles.

DAL | August 2009 | Arrivals on 31R | Gettin' some LUV and more.....

Arriving from its home base in Shreveport, LA, is N8KU, a Socata TBM 700 built in 2004 and owned by the Aeolus Group.

Getting ready to turn onto Runway 31R for departure, this Dassault Falcon 900EX, tail number N909SB, belongs to AT&T (and before that SBC Communications before they bought AT&T) and was previously registered as N404A with Bell South.

N12934 is an Embraer ERJ-145EP that was built and delivered in July 1997 to ExpressJet and operated under the Continental Express banner. This flight was departing for Houston Intercontinental (KIAH).

Starting its takeoff run down 31R, N637SW is a Boeing 737-300 that has yet to modified with blended winglets. This aircraft was built and delivered to Southwest in September 1996.

N380SW is another Southwest Boeing 737-300, this time with winglets. Here she is rocketing down 31R with the Love Field tower in the background. She was built and delivered to Southwest in April 1994.

Not long after the earlier SBC/AT&T Falcon 900EX departed, another one from the same company rolled out on 31R for takeoff- not sure if it was headed to the same destination as the previous departure. This 900EX, N900SB, was built in 1998. Unlike N909SB, this one has what I think is a satellite communications fairing atop the vertical fin.

Didn't get the tail number of this Continental ERJ-145 arriving from Houston. I'm surprised it came out decently considering a bank of clouds moved into the area briefly.

First time I've caught a Citation Mustang, this is N352AS, the 201st Citation Mustang built and owned by CNC Aircraft of Venice, Florida. By the time this one got into a good position, I had to shoot past the barbed wire atop the perimeter fence. Grrrr...next time I'm standing on the roof of my car. I somehow think trotting out a 10 foot ladder to shoot from may not go over well with the local authorities.

N797MX is a Boeing 737-700 built and delivered to Southwest in March 2001. I've never seen "MX" used in Southwest's tail numbers before. 

One of my favorites of the day, here's N797MX (Boeing 737-700) up tight and close as it turns onto 31R for departure.

Southwest's flights at Love Field leave in waves and N497WN was part of a pack of flights leaving in rapid succession off 31R. This particular Boeing 737-700 was built and delivered to Southwest in December 2004.

N925WN is a Boeing 737-700 built and delivered to Southwest in June 2008- probably the newest Southwest jet I've photographed so far.

Another one of my favorites of the day, here's N925WN accelerating down 31R with the Love Field terminal in the distance.

N403LM is a Gulfstream 200 owned by Lockheed Martin, built in 2003. The G200 was originally designed and built by Israeli Aircraft Industries as the IAI Galaxy and was the product of a joint development between Yakovlev (based on the Russian company's own Yak-48 design) and IAI (using the IAI Astra's wing). In 2001 Gulfstream acquired IAI's Galaxy division and renamed the Galaxy the G200.

DFW | September 2009 | Founders' Plaza | Spot-n'-roast....

Another set of photos from one hotter than scalded snake balls in a desert wagon rut afternoon. And they for some reason temporarily removed the sun canopies at Founders' Plaza a few weeks ago and man, you damn well better love dem planes to want to roast out there the last several weeks.......if anyone knows what happened to the sun canopies at Founders' Plaza, email me!

But I digress.

A little nose to nose action here...okay, not really, but I thought it might look interesting. A UPS 767-300F rolls out for departure while the MD-11F in the background is readied for pushback.

N307UP is a Boeing 767-300F(ER) built and delivered to UPS in August 1996. Here she is heading out for an intersection takeoff on 18R.

Pushing back right after the UPS 767-300F left the ramp was this UPS MD-11F. This particular aircraft, N294UP, was built and delivered orginally in November 1991 as N801DE in passenger configuration to Delta Air Lines. If I'm not mistaken, N801DE was Delta's first MD-11 and it was also the last Delta MD-11 to wear the Interim colors (Ron Allen colors).

Here's N294UP getting ready to head out while in the distance you can see the previous UPS 767-300F climbing out from 18R.

From my information it appears that N294UP, when it was with Delta as N801DE, was withdrawn from Delta service in 2004 and stored for a while at Montreal Mirabel (of all places instead the desert) before flying for charter operator World Airways (and at one point had a short term lease to Ethiopian Airlines) before being sold to UPS and converted in Singapore to freighter configuration just last year.

Couldn't resist this one. There was contractor crew doing some sort of work between the UPS ramp and Founders' Plaza and this one worker stepped inside the porta-crapper just as the MD-11F spooled up its engines. Alas, there was no fun to be had as I was in a very twisted way wanting to see if the jet blast would provide some sort of entertainment for the afternoon. Must be why there are those heavy duty straps holding the porta-crapper down and it was hitched to a truck.

Still makes for a bit of a humorous shot, though.

Finally caught this one on the west side! Too bad it was so hazy and that heat haze was cranked up to ludicrous speed that day. C-FEKI is an Embraer ERJ-175 built and delivered to Air Canada in November 2005. On a hazy day like this day the color scheme doesn't exactly stand out as well as it does on a sunny clear day. It actually looks best to me when in full sunlight against some dark clouds in the background.

C-FEKI sailing in over the numbers with Terminal B in the background (although some us still refer to it as Terminal 2W ;-)) with a North American 767-300 and United A319 at their gates.