Its a winner!

Phoenix Sky Harbor Control Tower at Dusk, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

I submitted this picture to a Flickr Challenge - Air Traffic Control towers at airports that Alaska Airlines flies to, and it was chosen as the winner.

There was only one other picture submitted - and then only the two submitters voted for their own pictures. So the moderator broke the tie.

Too bad it didn't come with any free tickets. But it still a win.

Antonov AN-124 Heavy Lift Cargo aircraft

Last weekend (9/19) I spent most of Saturday out at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport (aka Williams) on the other side of town - waiting to take a picture of an Antonov AN-124 'Ruslan' departing - after being parked at the airport for the last week.

The AN-124 was the Soviet equivalent of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy - and was given the NATO codename of 'Condor' during the Cold War. But unlike Galaxy's that have reached the end of their militarily useful lives (and have ended up on the disposal side of D-M AFB aka the Boneyard), the Ruslan has gone on to a successful life as a heavy-lift cargo aircraft - in the private sector. One of its jobs has been to ferry components of the Atlas EELV from Denver, CO to Cape Canaveral, FL.

I didn't find out about the Ruslan coming into the Phoenix area - until after it had already landed. But some of my fellow aviation photographers did manage to catch it as it was coming in.

Even though the Antonov has visited Phoenix, in the past, it isn't something that is regularly scheduled - so I was determined to get some pictures of it. On the ground - and preferably - when it took off.

[I went to the airport the day after it landed to take pictures of the Antonov on the ground]

The problem was - there wasn't any good information on when it was supposed to take off. A story about the plane being in the Valley had been published in the newspaper on Friday - but that was saying the plane was going to leave Friday night (after dark). But the plane didn't leave then.

So I packed up and went to the airport Saturday morning and joined some of the other photographers who had the same thoughts. Part of the flight crew showed up around lunch time and the word was that the plane was going to leave between 3pm and 4pm. Then at 3:30pm - the flight plan was filed with a departure at 5:30pm.

There was still one unknown that could make or break the pictures - which direction was the plane going to take-off. We had a plan to cover either possibility (the three runways are parallel to each other, so we were less concerned about which one).

Once it started taxiing - it was clear it was going to come back towards us - and then take-off going to the Southeast - so after a couple of quick shots of it taxiing - we jumped in the cars and headed to the South end of the airport. The problem was - the Ruslan taxied faster than we expected, and then didn't hold at the end of the active runway before taking off. So we didn't get to our planned location, and ended up just pulling over on the side of the road and quickly taking pictures.

All of my pictures - both on the ground, a quick taxi shot - and then a series on the actual take-off are in the slideshow (link embedded below).



No one knows if the plane was carrying any cargo. Based on how quickly it was taxiing - I was thinking it wasn't. But then based on how slowly it climbed after take-off - it could have been. Only the flight crew knew for sure.

Super Typhoon Choi-Wan

Super Typhoon Choi-Wan

Storms like this - sure make me glad I live in the middle of a desert.

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See anything special about this picture?

Delta Airbus A319, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

There must have been something special about it - because it was viewed more than 400 times on Monday (9/14). It looks like someone or something was just trolling through Delta group on Flickr, because the referrals to my picture were from the adjacent pictures in the group.

Such a waste - considering I posted pictures of the Antonov AN-124 heavy lift aircraft that is waiting for cargo over at Phoenix-Mesa.

Special Chartered Aircraft in Phoenix

Phoenix Sky Harbor airport is a hub for US Airways (after its purchase by America West) and Southwest Airlines. Because those are the primary users of the airport - the majority of the aircraft that go in are Boeing 737's and Airbus A318/A319/A321's. So aside from the daily British Airways flight from London (a Boeing 747), or the UPS or FedEx cargo planes (767 and MD-11 respectively), the opportunities to plane watch get pretty boring pretty quickly.

A friend found out that an Air China Boeing 747 was going to be coming into Phoenix over the Labor Day weekend. It was going to arrive on Sunday, fly up and back to the Grand Canyon on Monday, and then depart on Tuesday. So trying to capture a picture of this jumbo coming in and out of Phoenix, became a 'Photocall' for the aviation photography group I am part of.

The embedded link below goes to a slideshow of my pictures from both the arrival on Sunday and then the departure up to the Grand Canyon on Sunday (more details below the slideshow link).



During a pre-arrival drive through of the airport - it looked like it was going to be something more than just a normal charter. A reception tent was set-up out on the ramp - and the Police were out and just waiting.

Then there was the flight path this plane had been taking. It started in Beijing - and flew to Toronto (fuel stop), and then on to Havana (Cuba). From there it went to Nassau (Bahamas) for three days before flying to Phoenix.

One of the other photographers finally found a story on-line about this trip - on a Chinese web site (local press didn't have a clue). It was the Chinese equivalent to the US Speaker of the House - on a fact finding tour of the Americas.

Which would explain the next stop the plane made after leaving Phoenix - Andrews Air Force Base, outside of Washington, DC. [for those of you who don't know - Andrews Air Force Base is the home to another rather famous Boeing 747 - Air Force One].

Most Viewed Pictures for August 2009

Most Viewed Pictures for August 2009, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

A mix of old and new pictures highlight the most viewed pictures for August 2009.