A day in the life....

0300- Awake.... cold and allergies... ugh

0445- Please see 0300 entry.

0600- Awake... make coffee... lay on couch.

0630- Awake again... coffee made... kids to school... cold and allergy medication with coffee... couch looks good... again.

0645- Realize the only flying B-29 Superfortress is just up the road and supposed to fly at noon yet my butt is on the couch... sigh..... FINE!

0715- Cameras loaded, ladder loaded, on-the-go breakfast of string cheese and protein bars loaded, GPS (a.k.a. British Betty because of her accent) pointed towards destination, coffee in hand and thermos close-by.

0730- Leaving Sahuarita and headed through Tucson and then on to Deer Valley Airport on the north end of Phoenix.

0800- I dislike traffic.

0810- Dislike is not a strong enough word. Contemplate alternatives.

0815- Alternative term HATE arrived at.

0820- Receive text message that National Science Foundation EC-130Q Hercules will be at Williams Gateway Airport (a.k.a. Willie), an ex-Air Force Base now small airport on the east side of Phoenix at 10-ish. Poke British Betty to find said airport.

0900- Breakfast burritos x2 from the dollar menu.

0945- British Betty wants me to turn down a railroad track but having been through this before I decide not to.

1005- Arrive at said airport, hear aircraft has dropped off of tracking website and may still be in Colorado. sigh Poke British Betty to get my to Deer Valley again, should work well as B-29 will fly at noon.

1020- EC-130Q lands at Willie. sigh Perhaps on the way back.

1045- Phoenix is just too damn big!

1049- Arrive at Deer Valley just in time to see large vintage 4-engined prop-driven silver bomber-esque aircraft coming perpendicular to runways. sigh

1049:30- Notice traffic pattern, gamble on finding an approach end location to photograph from at an airport I've never been to.

1054- B-29 Fifi comes into view: flaps down, gear down, sun on the "good" side for where I'm standing. Guy driving truck full of cinder blocks I'm next to gives me the WTH look then is distracted by large vintage 4-engined prop-driven silver bomber-esque aircraft going right over his head. Big smile. Both of us.

1115- Conclude every person in Deer Valley is at the airport and occupying all available parking spaces just to spite me. Reminiscent of a mall the morning of Black Friday with people driving around, fangs out, ready to pounce on an open space. I see a spot coming open and in a horrible act of self-preservation stick my hand into the sky as if pointing at something (to distract my opposition). It worked, I win a parking space!

Once through the Cutter Aviation complex (big thanks for hosting by the way) treated to three CAF aircraft: B-25 Maid in the Shade, B-17 Sentimental Journey and B-29 Fifi. I am suddenly in my happy place despite the resonating effects of hay fever and my cold every time I take a step. Meet three other Arizona Aviation Photographers members (Chris K., Bill and Walt) on the ramp. You can see us reflected in the prop spinner, I'm wearing the blue shirt making sniffling noises.

1205- Find out no flights that day, decide to try and catch the Herc back at Williams one last time.

1235- Phoenix is just too damn big! I'd be totally hosed if I ever lived someplace insanely huge like Los Angeles or Tokyo.

1255- Phone call- chocks pulled! *&#@!$%^%*^#$@

1305- Arrive at Willie. As I exit the van the #3 prop starts to spin. I win again!

1314- Wheels up. After two "you look like hell" comments I decide to pack it in and head home.

1345- Gas and McDonald's. Notice the gas price and think Phoenix is too damn expensive!


1500- Even at mid-afternoon I hate traffic. Perhaps its poor drivers but nonetheless....


1530- Driveway at my home sweet home. Download images, start blog entry. Medication and coffee. Yum. Pick images for blog, edit and compile for upload. Thank the good Lord for keeping me safe as it was a 400 mile day.




1835- Done and dusted. Enjoy.

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Good friends, good fun and a jet or two.

While still living in England I began to make connections with spotters living in Arizona. Through them I became a member of the Arizona Aviation Photographers organization which had humble beginnings as a Flickr group. Today AzAP has 40 or so members and hosts its own aviation forum with monthly photo challenges and gobs of info if you are looking for "the planes" in Arizona. I have to add that there is an amazing amount of talent represented within this group from hobbyists to professionals, all with a genuine love of aircraft.

Recently there was a meeting held at Williams Gateway airport KIWA near Phoenix and about a dozen of us gathered to have your usual club-type meeting under the shade-throwing gazeebo of the dedicated aircraft spotting area (yes, they have their OWN spotting area at KIWA). Willie, as it's know, has an FBO that also fuels government aircraft on the weekends so its a pretty busy spot on a Saturday for government and military planes and I wasn't disappointed on my first visit. On arrival we saw a beautifully sexy gloss-black Northrop T-38A with the red letters of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, CA and a gaggle of white and orange Navy T-45s on the ramp in various stages of coming and going. I was able to have a quick conversation with a couple of pilots on how to visually distinguish the A and C models of the T-45 Goshawk and then the big happy moment of the day for me: inbound was a NASA T-38A(N).

To say I was a happy camper when the white Talon parked right next to the black one would be somewhat of an understatement. Not only was there a visual contrast I could explore but there's just enough of a difference in the two models to make a great image showing what makes the NASA bird deserving of the (N) designation. The T-38A(N) underwent the PMP upgrade changing the GE J85-5A afterburning turbojets in for the GE J85-5R which explains the difference in the exhaust nozzles (intakes were also changed but couldn't get the angle to show that) resulting in a significant increase in power. They also have a sleek aircraft-specific travel pod.

I enjoy this group. The guys are all nice and very willing to share information, there seems to be a go-to guy about most areas of aviation. I can't wait until the next meeting.

 

Who said civies are boring?

As in most areas of life, for whatever reason, lines can be drawn. We're all familiar with the arguments:

Ford vs. Chevy

Gibson vs. Fender

Puffed vs. Crunchy (Cheetos I'm referring to, of course).

Sadly the aviation spotter community isn't immune from this. I've spoken in the past with photographers who "only" track military aircraft as well as an equal number who look at the "drab colored pointy nose" aircraft with an equal amount of disdain.

Personally, I don't understand it. For me, the sight of anything weighing anywhere from a few hundred pounds (think of a 1,000 pound Super Cub) to several hundred thousand pounds (think of a C-5 Galaxy at max. ramp weight of 840,000 lbs.) banking and soaring like some mighty mechanical bird is utterly mesmerizing. I have stood in the approach lights at Anchorage's Ted Stevens Airport with MD-11s and 747s skimming above me and thinking there was no better place in the world to be. At that moment. I've stood in the Welsh hills with front line RAF fighters screaming past below my position at the speed of heat and thinking there was no better place in the world to be. At that moment.

Wednesday I was able to gather with some of the other members of the Arizona Aviation Photographers group in Tucson for a day of spotting aircraft. For some reason the AZ ANG / UAEAF folks weren't flying but there were some interesting Civilian jets come in: a Mexico registered Raytheon Hawker 800XP that's not been documented much (apparently), a Canadair Regional Jet that has been pulled from storage to fly with Mesa Airlines with a plain-Jane white paint scheme and (perhaps because of all the whining we do about seeing only Sheldon the turtle) a Frontier Airbus A318 with Benny the grizzly on the tail. There was no better place in the world to be. At that moment.