Bits of Barcelona for Next Time

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In some of my other posts from Barcelona, I have commented on how warm it was when we were there. This discouraged me from some of the potential excursions we could have made. One area I would have gone to if it were cooler was the Montjuic area. This is a hill overlooking the coast with a castle on top and a cable car connecting it to the shore. It was also the location for the Olympics when they were held in Barcelona.

Looking across from our hotel, you could see the Olympic Stadium on the hillside as well as the the rest of the region. There is a large communications tower that is far more architecturally interesting than is usually the case for comms towers. This was all a bit hazy on the hot days we were there and I would like to explore in cooler weather – not least because it seems like there might be a few hills to negotiate when walking around. Something on the to do list should we head back at some point.

Stacking the Approaches Again at Heathrow

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A bit repetitive from some previous posts today but I get a kick out of this stuff, so you end up getting a post. While I spend most of the time when shooting at Heathrow offset from the approach. However, I do always take a bit of time to line up with the approach and get some head on shots. That also means the chance to get a view of the line up of jets heading in. Two shots from that visit for this post. What I did like on this day was watching the furthest out jet as it came in from the side to line up on the localiser. Some video of that is probably something I should try and some point.

Padstow Lifeboat Station

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While staying in Padstow, we drove out to Trevone and took a circular walk around the headland. The last leg of the walk brought us down past the lifeboat station for the Padstow lifeboat. They have been doing some work on the structure so it has been unavailable for visitors for a while so I couldn’t visit. Given the location and the steps required to get down there, I won’t complain about this at all!

However, I could walk along the clifftop to get to a location that overlooked the station. Looking down on it and across the bay back towards Padstow provided a very photogenic location. On a sunny day with calm sees, it looked tranquil. A launch in bad weather would be a very different story. We continued south along the coast and there was a view back towards the station that appeared as we went which showed off the slipway and the backdrop nicely.

Stargazer’s Special Mods

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The last of the Pegasus missions has now been flown. Built to carry the Pegasus (and later Pegasus XL) air launched orbital booster, it was a conversion of a Lockheed L-1011. For a while now, it has been the only airworthy example of this classic airliner. I saw it at Mojave many years ago and it came to the Edwards AFB air show that I went to a few years back. At that point, they were still conducting training flights to retain currency for upcoming missions. I took a bunch of images during the show that looked at the details of the exterior changes for the launcher mission.

Now that the last booster has been launched, I imagine there is no further use for the airframe and it will be retired. Sadly, the launch, while successful, carried a payload that was not operational in its intended role. Such a shame to end that way. Will the aircraft go somewhere else – a museum for example – or will it be stored at Mojave until it is broken down?

So Many Gnarly Trees

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A walk in Richmond Park is a trip through time. The park has been around for centuries and so have some of the trees within its bounds. As we walked around, there were many trees of a younger vintage but not shortage of old and gnarly looking trees – some of which were clearly done but others that were doing just fine. The diameter of the trunks was so much larger than their neighbours and the shapes reflected centuries of growth and decay. It doesn’t take too much imagination to conceive of them being part of a fairy tale!

Chipmunk Vintage Pair

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The first big airshow I went to had a display called the Vintage Pair with a Vampire and a Meteor. Sadly, they were lost during that performance. Quite an introduction to airshows! Consequently, when a I saw a display planned for Cosford with the same name, it caused me to have a raised eyebrow. This time, it was a pair of Chipmunks that were to display. A slightly slower pairing but, as it turns out, still a pretty good one and no drama this time.

The nice thing about displaying slower aircraft is that you can keep things close to the crowd without too much effort. They did a nice job of having something underway in front of the spectators throughout the display. I enjoyed the whole show, but one element really appealed and that was at the end of the performance. They came into land in formation. Throughout the curving final descent, both aircraft were side slipping, so they came down quite quickly. A formation descent on a curving path while side slipping seemed pretty high skill to me. Congratulations to the team. I was impressed.

Sea Otters

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I was thinking about sea otters recently and it got me wondering what posts I had created of this cute looking creature. Looking through my images uploaded, I was surprised not to see many. It is entirely possible that posts pre-date the current method I use for uploading images to the blog but, if that is the case, why not have another look at these little cuties.

When we lived in California, we got to see them on many occasions. There are a few in aquariums but, if you go to Moss Landing, you will have a good chance of seeing them. There are boat tours available which will give you access to the large groupings in the estuary. However, you can even find them swimming around in the water alongside the road. They are not hard to find.

They are buoyant little things and spend a bunch of time floating on their backs. They can rest in this pose, or they can be busy chomping through their food. They can also act as the base for the youngsters (although they are buoyant too). Only one of the images has a small bundle of fluff on top of the parent. The rest are individuals and rafts made up of many otters. I suspect they are not quite so nice as their cute appearance suggests but they do look great.

These Engines Look Bigger Than the Fuselage

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The Embraer sales team have been doing quite well with the E2 versions of their jets. They are selling well and showing up with lots of operators. I have seen them passing our house as KLM brings them to Southampton now and there were a few at Heathrow when I was there a short while back. The head on shots I got really emphasise the unusual proportions of the E2. The most noticeable change from the E1 was the addition of the Pratt geared turbofans. These have a far larger bypass ratio and the diameter of the engines compared to the narrow fuselage of the original airframe is a little disproportionate in my view. What do you think?

Happy 50th to the HST

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I just learned that it has been fifty years since the in High Speed Train was introduced in the UK. Known by the brand InterCity 125, in the industry it was just the HST. I worked on these a lot in a previous role and remember them being introduced when I was a kid. At that time, living on the Island, I thought of the idea of travelling on one as almost as exotic as plane travel – something I didn’t envisage. Over the years, I ended up travelling on them frequently and often in the nice carriages too!

There are some still in service including one I saw bringing a charter service to RailLive earlier this year. Unless I head to Scotland or get on a charter, I doubt I will be riding on one again, but they are definitely a train that I have a soft spot for. Consequently, while I don’t have many images of them, here are a few.

The Smithsonian’s Blackbird

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As you enter the NASM building at Dulles, you are greeted by an SR-71 Blackbird. It is in the centre of the building facing the entrance and the elevated position of the entrance gives you a view down on it. It was in the same place on my previous visit so, on this trip, I didn’t give it as much attention as I might otherwise do. So many things to see so I did rather skip by. However, I wasn’t going to fail to photograph it at all!