Its summer already?

Lockheed_C-130_Hercules-8040, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

I realized the other day - that May was over - and June is almost half over. May just flew by. The good included my daughter finishing another year of school, advanced another rank in her Karate for Kids class. There was drama with family hospital visits (everyone is alright) and I flew back to the East Coast for a day and a half vendor meeting (in NYC which was new to me).

And with all of that activity - I still got out a couple of times to take picture of airplanes (and even that will start tapering off for the summer - since 100+ degree temperatures isn't the right time to stand around at airports).

The picture above - was taken at the monthly Coolidge Breakfast fly-in. As the fly-in was winding down - one of the corporately owned C-130 Hercules returned from being 'elsewhere' conducting some drop tests. Some of the other photographers were braver than I in their choice of locations to capture the landing.

The crew was nice and let us climb on-board and take pictures once they had finished unloading their personal gear (their 'gear' included their personal trucks - the joys of having your very own air lifter).

Then - on the way back to town - the Honeywell 757 engine test bed was doing touch and go's at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway (aka ex-Williams AFB). I had never actually seen it flying - only parked at Sky Harbor. Unfortunately it only flew one direction (so you can't see the small bizjet engine mounted on the right side of the fuselage).

Not to be outdone by Honeywell (who is actually providing components for the Dreamliner) - Boeing brought one of their brand new Dreamliners (787 #4) for some low altitude hot weather testing late in May.



Now the weekend that Boeing was in town - there was a cool front going through Phoenix. So we learned that Boeing's 'hot weather' temperature was only 80 degrees (Phoenix normally hits 80 in April). So the Dreamliner had to wait for the temperature (and a mechanical issue) before they could fly. Both the airport and Boeing were very tolerant of the curious visitor as well as the aviation photographers (incl me). The airport opened up one of their overflow parking lots to allow a relatively unobstructed view of the airplane on the tarmac.

Hopefully Boeing will bring the new 747-8 (a stretched 747 w/ highly efficient engines) to town some time soon to test it as well.

And I will try to do a better job of posting on a regular basis.

Most Viewed Pictures for May 2010

Most Viewed Pictures for May 2010, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

Another month gone - and another set of pictures.

It has been a very busy month - and nothing has jumped out as being worth of blogging.

Must be the heat getting to me.

Most Viewed Pictures for April 2010

Most Viewed Pictures for April 2010, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

All in all - April wasn't a bad month for photography.

A Beriev firefighting seaplane at Sky Harbor.

A Mig-17 Fresco outside of Tucson, along with a B-17 and a P-51.

Say goodbye to Launch Complex 39-B

Launch Complex 39-B, in transition, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

It was announced today - that NASA was going to go ahead and start demolishing the Shuttle-specific structures on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center.

This is not unexpected since the Shuttle program is in the process of winding down. But it just seems short sighted. 39B (pictured) and 39A are the ONLY pads that the Space Shuttle can launch from. If something happens to 39A between now and the end (however unlikely) - there is no backup plan.

Once the Shuttle program is over - the only way US astronauts can get into orbit would be the Russian Soyuz capsules - and the Russians (taking a page from the Capitalist playbook) have already raised the cost of a flight on the Soyuz from the estimated $31million (paid by Cirque du Soleil's founder for his trip in Oct 2009) to $45 million for Tourists and $56 million for NASA astronauts (for flights in 2011-2012).

Please let SpaceX's Dragon/Falcon 9 combo work - when they fly it next month. Please.

Have you done your Census form yet?

If you feel the every 10 year US Census is asking for too much information - take heart. It could be worse.

It could be the Indian census. According to the BBC - the Indian census will be collecting biometric information for any person above the age of 15 to add to the Indian National Population Register.

Biometric info is being defined as;

.. such as photograph, 10 fingerprints and probably Iris information will be added for all persons aged 15 years and above.

If those are my options - I will happily fill out the US version.

An unusual plane

One of the other aviation photographers I travel with - got the heads up on a very unusual plane that was going to be coming through Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX). But instead of it being an airline or aircraft that we don't normally see here - it was a completely new type of airplane.

Here it is coming into land on Tuesday night;





It is a Russian designed Beriev Be-200 'Altair'. It is a multipurpose amphibious aircraft. It was in the Western Hemisphere to try to drum up sales for it. It was on its way to California where it was going to be shown off for potential use fighting forest and wild fires.

[For other pictures of the Beriev coming in and leaving Phoenix - take a look at the Photo club's site here]

Most Viewed pictures for March 2010

Most Viewed pictures for March 2010, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

For a change - every single picture shown is from this year (2010). And I didn't have to fudge it to get rid of the continually annoying QR code for the movie '9'.