Catch-up Time

Seems time flies when you're working hard! I've had some nice sightings the past few days but don't think I've had two hours together for spotting at all! From the 27th a little Eagle landing action from the 'Heath.

Now for something a bit unusual. I heard a familiar noise near my home, the sound of a small helicopter hovering about and maneuvering but the notion of such happening in close proximity to where I lay my head down at night made me very curious. We don't often get the like hovering about the farm with any great fequency. A little peeking around farm buildings revealed a EuroCopter Squirrel in National Grid livery (a large UK utility company) obviously inspecting the high-rension power lines that run to the north of us. The helo had a nifty nose-mounted camera assembly not unlike that seen dangling from police units. Odd how it often ended up pointed at me even though I was located opposite of the power line.

And believe it or not, the day would end even better than imagined: the B-1B Lancer mentioned by my buddy Nigel on his blog caught in the dark of night departing RAF Mildenhall. It was dark, it was cold and I don't mind telling you that I struggled like crazy to get a couple the images you see. The blur of lights in the top image is an Air Force vehicle clearing the runway of vermin that might affect the departure by getting sucked into one of the Bone's four massive engines. Takeoff was full afterburner the entire length of the runway and more than a minute after liftoff and parts of my body physically ached during such. I can wait until it returns!

My First 06 Departures

(Originally posted to American Yank in England on 11 February 2008)

A rather eventful day today. We started with a fog delay, visibility was down to less than a quarter mile and so school and work started 2 hours later then usual. Kids slept in, I got to work a little more than usual before heading the kids off to school. The day got MUCH better when I passed by RAF Lakenheath and saw that the jets were departing runway 06 which the very seldom do. Quick run to do the errands and quick back to the favored muddy patch (as my daughter calls it) and viola'... fantastic F-15 images.

I like this one the best, he's straight above my head with the back seater looking down at me as he screams over.

Bad Day? Try a Little Perspective...

(Originally posted at American Yank in England on 25 January 2008.)

Some days just aren't worth getting out of bed for. I work quite a bit on my computers (more than I wish, really) so I run them pretty hard. Three days ago I came down to start the day and when the computer powered up I heard a POP followed by that all-to-familiar smell of fried electronics.

"Oh, what the..."

A quick inspection found that I had blown out the power supply. Well, poo. Unlike some previous assignments it was relatively easy to trek the 25 miles to the base and pick up a new CPU. Well, since I have a large backlog of images on my working drive I now have to transfer all of them over. Oh, updates for the new computer as well. And re-installing a program or two(million) and all of their updates. So to say the past few hours have been not only non-productive but taxing is pretty accurate from my point of view. A bad day at the office.

Now, how about having a bad day at the office when your "office" is moving. Really, a moving office. Well today we saw one of these flying offices zipping by and HE was having a MAJOR BAD DAY. You see, his office is an F-15E Strike Eagle and his bad day was happening while trying to land.

Aircraft mission (called sorties) are best when they involved an even number of takeoffs and landings. As this bird was coming home something went wrong and the nose landing gear was down all by its lonesome. Not good. I'm guessing that when he extended his gear to land he didn't get the proper indicator light saying everything was OK in the landing gear department, so he would cycle the system to try for the green light. Yet something else went wrong and as the main gear retracted, there's that pesky nose gear hanging out again.** About this time the pucker factor starts to crank up I imagine (beware of some strong language in the link to the explanation of pucker factor).

As me and my two spotting cohorts were trekking through a stand of trees to reach our desired field I only got a couple of frames when we realized there was something wrong with the jet as it shot past for a fly-by of the tower. Eventually everything went according to plan (we're assuming) and there was no major incident response to indicate anything other than a regular conclusion to a day at the office of a Strike Eagle crew. The jet remained intact, no violent ejections occured, no destruction of life and property to the public. All of these are possible outcomes when things go wrong in a fighter jet.

In retrospect, my day wasn't so bad after all.

**This is all conjecture on my part, if you can comment on the actual incident feel free to contact me so I can set the record straight!**

Be Prepared!

(Originally posted to American Yank in England on 20 January 2008)

Just like a Boy Scout, a photographer should always be prepared for who-knows-what to come around the corner. Now you don't have to lug all your gear around 24/7 (although it might pay off) but the state of smaller, pocket-sized digital cameras is growing in sophistication on an almost daily basis.

Luckily I DID happen to have the right equipment when I saw this NATO E-3 AWACS jet in the pattern around RAF Lakenheath on Friday. NATO E-3As are based out of Geilenkirchen, Germany which is really just a hop, skip and jump away from the UK when flying at 500mph. I was able to time my arrival at my favorite spotting location knowing the "normal" circuit time when doing touch-and-go's and with just a couple of minutes to spare I was set.

One pass, 12 images, and they were off for home. Good thing I was prepared, eh?

Endangered Eagles are Back!

(Originally posted to American Yank in England on 15 January 2008)

Finally... after the resolution of the Air Force-wide no-fly order for urgent in-depth inspections after an in-flight airframe failure in the USA, the F-15C/D air superiority birds are back in the air and shattering the silence around RAF Lakenheath! After spending part of my morning talking to my accountant** about my first-ever UK tax return (ugh... taxes in TWO nations!) I needed a little relaxation and there's not much more relaxing to me than stalking an "eagle" for a quick couple of photos. (**I must say that Keith is the nicest guy, but really, it's taxes.)

Imagine my happiness when the flagship for the 493rd Fighter Squadron "Grim Reapers" taxied past my spot before blowing down the runway. Glad to have you guys back in the air!

Birds in the Sky

No, not THOSE kind of birds... big, loud, death-from-above kind of birds! The helicopter flew over the farm on their way to "work" after leaving RAF Lakenheath, I always love it when you hear them coming and I have just enough time to grab the camera gear for 4 or 5 shots before they're gone. When they're REALLY low I usually don't even get that many frames in before they're gone behind the barns.

Today after my daughter's speech therapy appointment and getting a van-load of groceries I had, oh... 5 or 6 minutes to do a little aircraft spotting before me ice cream bars melted and my frozen pizza became unfrozen. Luckily the Strike Eagles didn't disappoint and were ripping it up right as I got to the pullout. Good news is that I hear the flying halt for the older F-15C/D models is lifted and we should see those Eagles in the sky very soon. Every bird in the sky is a better chance of getting a great photo.