The General Airplane Thread
- Thread starter Crash
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- 6,425
- KCCO
Main gear on that second C17 shot isn't even pointed straight...
Carlos
Premium
- 6,453
- Netherlands
It's retracting, takeoff..
We were lucky because it was taking off with downwind, otherwise I wouldn't have that photo.
- 6,425
- KCCO
- 6,425
- KCCO
Hong Kong is just frickin awesome...
Too bad that's all but a wasteland now..
Too bad that's all but a wasteland now..
- 6,425
- KCCO
- 6,425
- KCCO
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
Still planning on going to Pensacola tomorrow and Saturday. Tomorrow looks like a higher change of rain, but only briefly at specific times of the day, and even then only 51% chance at the highest. Sun breaking through broken clouds otherwise. Saturday looks like more cloud cover, high overcast hopefully, but less rain.
Thunderbirds are at Moody AFB in Valdosta Saturday and Sunday, if anybody just HAS to go to another air show.... Free admission and parking, looks like they'll have an A-10 demo, too, along with several warbirds. Saturday looks great for weather, Sunday looks dismal.
EDIT: Reading back..... "Sun breaking through broken clouds" Really???? Did I seriously put that down???
Thunderbirds are at Moody AFB in Valdosta Saturday and Sunday, if anybody just HAS to go to another air show.... Free admission and parking, looks like they'll have an A-10 demo, too, along with several warbirds. Saturday looks great for weather, Sunday looks dismal.
EDIT: Reading back..... "Sun breaking through broken clouds" Really???? Did I seriously put that down???
- 2,436
- Atlanta
- atomicjellyfish
They've finally done it... there is now a 360-degree cockpit tour of the XB-70 Valkyrie. From the pilot seat, copilot seat, and equipment compartment.
BobK
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- 7,020
- Massachusetts, USA
Outstanding!They've finally done it... there is now a 360-degree cockpit tour of the XB-70 Valkyrie. From the pilot seat, copilot seat, and equipment compartment.
Dan
Premium
- 15,396
- United States
They've finally done it... there is now a 360-degree cockpit tour of the XB-70 Valkyrie. From the pilot seat, copilot seat, and equipment compartment.
Wow. That's amazing. I never knew the pilots sat side-by-side. I'm so glad they've made these 360 cockpit tour things. The first one I saw was the SR-71 Blackbird, but I want to know how many more they created.
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
The mouse moves backwards!!!! Very annoying!
And now for my actual contribution, some teasers from today:
Prop corkscrews on Fat Albert, even in the climb
#5 takeoff, hard pull right from the ground. (With vapor, thanks to Florida coastal humidity!)
And vapor in the photo pass!!!!
And now for my actual contribution, some teasers from today:
Prop corkscrews on Fat Albert, even in the climb
#5 takeoff, hard pull right from the ground. (With vapor, thanks to Florida coastal humidity!)
And vapor in the photo pass!!!!
Last edited:
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
The night show at Pensacola last night was interrupted to recover an EA-18 Growler which had declared an in-flight emergency. They didn't say where it was from, but its emergency was gear stuck down, so apparently it took off from fairly close by and could not retract the gear.
Team Aerodynamix was in the air and their show was interrupted, they were called in and they taxied to the runway in front of the show line. Emergency vehicles took to the runway that crosses the show line runways, and set up an arrested recovery for the Growler. The announcer described what we would see, said to not be alarmed at sparks as the tail hook would be deployed, and it would be scraping the runway. No problems were anticipated, it was not going to be a crash.
When the Growler was recovered, it took the crews about 20 minutes to clear it from the field and tow it to parking, and the air show resumed.
It was quite dark at the time, with sunset almost completely faded. these shot are WAY boosted in PS, at least 3 stops. I haven't done anything with them except noise filtering. I was at 1/125, wide open at ISO 6400 (max on my camera) so there wasn't much else I could do to get pictures!
I've actually seen an arrested recovery once before. At last year's show, #3 had some issue very soon after takeoff. He completed the initial looping maneuver with the diamond and then left the formation, which resulted in some odd passes for part of the show. He taxied off on his own after the recovery, and rejoined after just a few minutes. He still had a #3 aircraft, but I doubt that it was the same aircraft.
Remember, these are from last year.
#4 took left wing...
Double farvel, or farvel-and-a-half?
1-10-100 (in binary....)
Team Aerodynamix was in the air and their show was interrupted, they were called in and they taxied to the runway in front of the show line. Emergency vehicles took to the runway that crosses the show line runways, and set up an arrested recovery for the Growler. The announcer described what we would see, said to not be alarmed at sparks as the tail hook would be deployed, and it would be scraping the runway. No problems were anticipated, it was not going to be a crash.
When the Growler was recovered, it took the crews about 20 minutes to clear it from the field and tow it to parking, and the air show resumed.
It was quite dark at the time, with sunset almost completely faded. these shot are WAY boosted in PS, at least 3 stops. I haven't done anything with them except noise filtering. I was at 1/125, wide open at ISO 6400 (max on my camera) so there wasn't much else I could do to get pictures!
I've actually seen an arrested recovery once before. At last year's show, #3 had some issue very soon after takeoff. He completed the initial looping maneuver with the diamond and then left the formation, which resulted in some odd passes for part of the show. He taxied off on his own after the recovery, and rejoined after just a few minutes. He still had a #3 aircraft, but I doubt that it was the same aircraft.
Remember, these are from last year.
#4 took left wing...
Double farvel, or farvel-and-a-half?
1-10-100 (in binary....)
- 6,041
- Puget Sound
- Crash852
For essentially all commercial service quad jets in the Western world, a full length double decker is an Airbus A380, a single decker is an Airbus A340, and a hump in the front is a Boeing 747.
For commercial twin aisle twin jets, the Boeing 777 has 6 wheel main landing gears and a tail that is more a wedge than a cone, as @Swagger897 mentioned. Then you'll have to look at where the vertical fin meets the fuselage crown in the tail. The Airbus A330 fuselage profile back there is more or less completely horizontal while the Boeing 767, 777 and 787s all taper down. You can also look at winglets. The Boeing 777 and 787 have never been offered with winglets, while the A330 and A350 will all have winglets.
For commercial single aisle mid sized twin jets, the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 typically have different styles of winglets and wing fences respectively if they are on the wing at all. The 737 also has a sizable hump in front of the vertical fin while the A320 doesn't.
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- KCCO
Dan
Premium
- 15,396
- United States
Thanks for the replies. 👍
Maybe this is just a video game thing, but I've noticed that the liveries on some fighter planes have a general body color, but have a highly contrasting color on one wing compared to the rest of the plane. I saw this on an old plane in War Thunder videos and on modern fighters like the PAK FA/T-50 in Ace Combat Infinity. Is this a tribute to something, or just for aesthetic purposes? In real life, that bright color would severely disadvantage you, since the opposing pilots would spot you more easily.
Maybe this is just a video game thing, but I've noticed that the liveries on some fighter planes have a general body color, but have a highly contrasting color on one wing compared to the rest of the plane. I saw this on an old plane in War Thunder videos and on modern fighters like the PAK FA/T-50 in Ace Combat Infinity. Is this a tribute to something, or just for aesthetic purposes? In real life, that bright color would severely disadvantage you, since the opposing pilots would spot you more easily.
- 6,425
- KCCO
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
Done!!! Like Swagger897, I shot way the #%@* too many images, and then had to go through them! Most of it was because I was bursting frames 3, 4, or 5 at a time. A lot of them were simply excessively redundant. How many exciting shots can you get of an Extra 300 doing hammerheads? The tumbling maneuvers they make are tremendously exciting to watch, but they make uninteresting still shots..... So lots of trash! Shot 1400 frames, kept 250, which is still rather redundant. Here's a few I really like, and a couple I'm quite pleased with for technical reasons, like sharpness with a slow shutter speed, or pulling usefulness out of darkness.
Full Flickr album here, if interested....
When I give the zoom used, keep in mind that the images are generally cropped. I try to shoot loose and then crop for framing. Sometimes the subject is far enough away that a 1280-pixel image is actually a 1-to-1 crop, and sometimes it's close enough I have to pull back to 100mm or so. Anyway, the zoom info does not imply the image is the full frame shot.
This is at 1/200 second, for prop blur. I almost never shoot props faster than 1/250, and I've got a lot of these at 1/160. (For some reason 1/125 seems to be unobtainable somehow....) I lower ISO to 100 for shooting with the slow-speed shutter. Zoomed at 300mm.
Kevin Coleman
1.
Red Line, flying a pait of RV-8 homebuilts flown by Ken Rieder and John Thocker
1/160 second, 300mm
2.
The Screaming Sasquatch, a WACO biplane with a very powerful radial engine, which ought to be enough, but they've strengthened the airframe and strapped a jet engine underneath it. At one point in his show, he hovers the plane vertically for a few seconds, then adds jet power and climbs straight up to 8,000 feet!
Jeff Boerboon
1/200 second 280mm
3.
Team Aerodynamix
Homebuilt RV-8 aircraft.
I must say I was bored by their show. Last year they separated into two groups and part of the show was alternating passes by each smaller group, including some intercepts and opposing passes. This year's show had a section with just four ships, then the other four eventually joined. The eight-ship did NOTHING but fly circles in front of the crowd, with each pass a variation in the formation. ****Yawn****
Again, 1/200 shutter and pulled back to 125mm
4.
Gene Soucy is the pilot, Theresa Stokes is the wingwalker. She does not wear a parachute, and for a good part of the act she is not belted in. That's her in the wing wires, and the image is upright!
1/200 second, 300mm
5.
We were visited by a pair of Navy F-35s. They are based at Eglin AFB, which I passed on the way to the show from my house. All three branches using the F-35 are developing it and training for it at Eglin, so they have Navy and Marine pilots hanging around over there.
They did this last year, but it was just a couple of almost touch-and-goes, flying an approach and pulling up without landing. This time they actually did one afterburner climb for the circle around to the next approach. Certainly not a demo, but we got to hear it get loud!
Jet, so 1/1000, ISO 400.
6.
Geico Skytypers opposing cross by their solo pilots.
I love the sound of those Texans!!!!!
1/160, back to ISO 100 and 300mm
7.
Blue Angels solos
1/1000, ISO 400, 220mm
8.
Afterburner turn, looking through the jet wash.
9.
Did I mention that it was humid? This is a photo pass, not a hard turn-and-burn!
10.
#5 sneak from the left
11.
Immediately followed by #6 from behind
12.
A couple of opposing passes....
13.
14.
And some vapor. Because Florida!
15.
16.
17.
The jet casts its own shadow into its vapor! (This one was way down the show line, and is one of those 1-to-1 crops.)
18.
Backlit vapor! If I tilted down I would be looking right at the sun. Earlier in the show I caught one of the jets like this with my eye, not the camera, so I spent the rest of the show watching for someone to head that way. This was after the LAST break of the show, the next thing was the pitch-up for landing pass, so I barely got it. But I got it!
19.
Starting the night show, just before sunset.
1/160, stayed at ISO 400 for the dimmer light. 300mm
20.
See? Sunset!
Geico Skytypers coming in. They were cut short when a thin cloud layer came over from the gulf, which of course dissipated the moment they landed.....
21.
Team Aerodynamix.
They were cut short by the EA-18 Growler incident I posted earlier, which suited me fine. Nothing different about their dusk show except lights on the aircraft....
1/160, and up to ISO 1600, yet still bumped just a bit in post.
22.
Not an airplane, but uses aircraft engines.....
Shockwave Jet Truck lighting up the night!!!!
In 2005 this truck set a speed record for a jet dragster that still stands, 375 mph! It happened at an air show at Tyndall AFB that I attended!!!! (Yay, me!)
How to exceed your camera's dynamic range without really trying......
Neal Darnell
1/800, ISO 3200
23.
On the speed run, with afterburners thrusting rather than just dumping fire.
24.
Team Redline flew in the night
1/250, ISO 3200
25.
as did Gene Soucy, with pyro instead of a wingwalker
1/250, ISO 3200
26.
Full Flickr album here, if interested....
When I give the zoom used, keep in mind that the images are generally cropped. I try to shoot loose and then crop for framing. Sometimes the subject is far enough away that a 1280-pixel image is actually a 1-to-1 crop, and sometimes it's close enough I have to pull back to 100mm or so. Anyway, the zoom info does not imply the image is the full frame shot.
This is at 1/200 second, for prop blur. I almost never shoot props faster than 1/250, and I've got a lot of these at 1/160. (For some reason 1/125 seems to be unobtainable somehow....) I lower ISO to 100 for shooting with the slow-speed shutter. Zoomed at 300mm.
Kevin Coleman
1.
Red Line, flying a pait of RV-8 homebuilts flown by Ken Rieder and John Thocker
1/160 second, 300mm
2.
The Screaming Sasquatch, a WACO biplane with a very powerful radial engine, which ought to be enough, but they've strengthened the airframe and strapped a jet engine underneath it. At one point in his show, he hovers the plane vertically for a few seconds, then adds jet power and climbs straight up to 8,000 feet!
Jeff Boerboon
1/200 second 280mm
3.
Team Aerodynamix
Homebuilt RV-8 aircraft.
I must say I was bored by their show. Last year they separated into two groups and part of the show was alternating passes by each smaller group, including some intercepts and opposing passes. This year's show had a section with just four ships, then the other four eventually joined. The eight-ship did NOTHING but fly circles in front of the crowd, with each pass a variation in the formation. ****Yawn****
Again, 1/200 shutter and pulled back to 125mm
4.
Gene Soucy is the pilot, Theresa Stokes is the wingwalker. She does not wear a parachute, and for a good part of the act she is not belted in. That's her in the wing wires, and the image is upright!
1/200 second, 300mm
5.
We were visited by a pair of Navy F-35s. They are based at Eglin AFB, which I passed on the way to the show from my house. All three branches using the F-35 are developing it and training for it at Eglin, so they have Navy and Marine pilots hanging around over there.
They did this last year, but it was just a couple of almost touch-and-goes, flying an approach and pulling up without landing. This time they actually did one afterburner climb for the circle around to the next approach. Certainly not a demo, but we got to hear it get loud!
Jet, so 1/1000, ISO 400.
6.
Geico Skytypers opposing cross by their solo pilots.
I love the sound of those Texans!!!!!
1/160, back to ISO 100 and 300mm
7.
Blue Angels solos
1/1000, ISO 400, 220mm
8.
Afterburner turn, looking through the jet wash.
9.
Did I mention that it was humid? This is a photo pass, not a hard turn-and-burn!
10.
#5 sneak from the left
11.
Immediately followed by #6 from behind
12.
A couple of opposing passes....
13.
14.
And some vapor. Because Florida!
15.
16.
17.
The jet casts its own shadow into its vapor! (This one was way down the show line, and is one of those 1-to-1 crops.)
18.
Backlit vapor! If I tilted down I would be looking right at the sun. Earlier in the show I caught one of the jets like this with my eye, not the camera, so I spent the rest of the show watching for someone to head that way. This was after the LAST break of the show, the next thing was the pitch-up for landing pass, so I barely got it. But I got it!
19.
Starting the night show, just before sunset.
1/160, stayed at ISO 400 for the dimmer light. 300mm
20.
See? Sunset!
Geico Skytypers coming in. They were cut short when a thin cloud layer came over from the gulf, which of course dissipated the moment they landed.....
21.
Team Aerodynamix.
They were cut short by the EA-18 Growler incident I posted earlier, which suited me fine. Nothing different about their dusk show except lights on the aircraft....
1/160, and up to ISO 1600, yet still bumped just a bit in post.
22.
Not an airplane, but uses aircraft engines.....
Shockwave Jet Truck lighting up the night!!!!
In 2005 this truck set a speed record for a jet dragster that still stands, 375 mph! It happened at an air show at Tyndall AFB that I attended!!!! (Yay, me!)
How to exceed your camera's dynamic range without really trying......
Neal Darnell
1/800, ISO 3200
23.
On the speed run, with afterburners thrusting rather than just dumping fire.
24.
Team Redline flew in the night
1/250, ISO 3200
25.
as did Gene Soucy, with pyro instead of a wingwalker
1/250, ISO 3200
26.
Last edited:
- 6,425
- KCCO
Dang looks good... I'll have to check Flickr later.
And seems about right for frames shot/frames kept. I did roughly 1,200 and kept near 200.
Edit:
Were you in full manual or Shutter priority?
And seems about right for frames shot/frames kept. I did roughly 1,200 and kept near 200.
Edit:
Were you in full manual or Shutter priority?
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
Stayed in shutter priority most of the time.
In full daylight, I use ISO 100 and a slow shutter for prop planes, and ISO 400 and at least 1/1000 for jets. I used 1/1000 this day because it was occasionally cloudy in front of the sun, but I prefer 1/2000.
For the night shots I tried a careful spot meter and then set that into the camera. Ended up a bit dim, had to pull a stop or two out of them on the computer. And the nights shots, at higher ISO, are noise-filtered nearly to death! I don't even like to use 800 on my D7000, and some of those went up to 6400!!!
In full daylight, I use ISO 100 and a slow shutter for prop planes, and ISO 400 and at least 1/1000 for jets. I used 1/1000 this day because it was occasionally cloudy in front of the sun, but I prefer 1/2000.
For the night shots I tried a careful spot meter and then set that into the camera. Ended up a bit dim, had to pull a stop or two out of them on the computer. And the nights shots, at higher ISO, are noise-filtered nearly to death! I don't even like to use 800 on my D7000, and some of those went up to 6400!!!
- 6,425
- KCCO
Yeah, I could tell they were locked a lot after going on Flickr... You got a lot of the shots I wanted to get, such as the afterburners or jet exhaust... Never could get those.
One thing is, you really don't need that high of an ISO and shutter to do the shots you did. I had much worse lighting conditions than you too.
I learned how to pan real fast and as far as it goes by me, I thought I did a good job of it. Maybe not 200 mph race car fast, but still good enough to get a lot of my shots sharp without having to worry about noise or grain in the photos.
One thing is, you really don't need that high of an ISO and shutter to do the shots you did. I had much worse lighting conditions than you too.
I learned how to pan real fast and as far as it goes by me, I thought I did a good job of it. Maybe not 200 mph race car fast, but still good enough to get a lot of my shots sharp without having to worry about noise or grain in the photos.
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
Main reason I stayed at 400 when using 1/1000 for the jets was that I didn't like where the aperture was going when the sun went behind the occasional cloud. I didn't want to go larger than f:8, I can't go past f:5.6, and I was hitting f:11 once in a while.
- 16,495
- Melbourne
- ScottPuss20
- CheetahsMeow
Random photo dump:
Dan
Premium
- 15,396
- United States
Just to be clear, is this a Piper PA-46R-350T? I can see the "Piper" logo on the rudder and "Matrix" on the engine cowling. Most of my aircraft knowledge is centered around military planes, not civilian ones.
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