Official Aviation Thread...

[M-technik-3]

shame

[LateFan]

Last domestic big bird flies home to the nest in Everett for a final visit.

[BlackbirdM3]

Nice shots. I'd love to see the Aeroshell T6s show some day. I hear they put on a good show.

The 200-500 is such a good lens I highly doubt they will lose any value over time on the used market. Yes, it was expensive, but it was well worth the $. I think it will take a significant upgrade lens to make this one obsolete allowing the prices for them to come down.

Will

[varg]

Here are a few of the keepers from my recent aviation themed weekend. I did Flite Fest - a huge RC airplane gathering on Saturday and the Stuart Airshow on Sunday. Unfortunately the lighting was pretty dull and we got rained on for about a half hour, some moisture found its way into one of my lenses and killed the AF.



It was Gene McNeely's last show with the Aeroshell team. I've been watching him fly airshows for nearly 2 decades now.

I'm shooting the Nikon 200-500 F5.6 VR. https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-pr....6e-ed-vr.html

I've been wanting this lens for a long time. Way out of my budget but some day... Nobody has anything bad to say about it for birding or aircraft photography.

damn. i love the L39. there was a time after the fall of the soviet union that you could buy one for about 200 grand. i wonder what the overhaul time is for that single turbofan?

Supposedly 1,000hrs TBO. The real question is how much does that overhaul cost?

[flyboyx]

damn. i love the L39. there was a time after the fall of the soviet union that you could buy one for about 200 grand. i wonder what the overhaul time is for that single turbofan?

[BlackbirdM3]

Enjoy,
Will

[ThatM20Guy]

Thanks for the info Will! I’d gladly buy prints of your photos...so many are totally stunning!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BlackbirdM3]

Will,

What 500mm lens do you use? Looking at getting a higher zoom lens. I have a 300mm but that doesn't really cut it for a lot of stuff.


On a side note, finished my private a little while ago and I am currently working on my instrument rating. Hoping to have that done within a month or two

I'm shooting the Nikon 200-500 F5.6 VR. https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-pr....6e-ed-vr.html

Yes, its expensive, but its worth every penny. I have totally given up using my 70-300 lens. The 200-500 is a big lens, and yes, it requires some creativity when trying to shoot things up close. The pic of the spray bar above was taken with it. The detail it captures is unreal.
This is another example of portrait use with it.

And another.



People told me I was nuts for wanting a 200-500. They said what on earth would I use it for? Well, its my go to lens. All of these shots were taken with it.

Congratulations on getting your license. I'd really love to get mine, but I don't have the $ to make it happen. (Who wants to buy some pics to fund it?)

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

When we talked to the guy flying high-paying guests around the valley in a P-51 here this summer, he said they overheat at low altitudes and you need to get them up high where it's cooler. You can't use full boost or full power on take-off. The exhaust flap on the underbelly cooler was wide open.

How are the cooling systems in these race planes different?

They run a spray bar across the radiator. The full blown Super Stangs like Voodoo, Strega, Dago Red, ect have really interesting setups. They split the oil cooler and radiators into different areas and run a mixture of ADI and water for the spray bars.

This is the very simple spray bar setup that is run on the A model mustang. The radiator setup on this is more like a full race Mustang rather than a stocker.


Will

[ThatM20Guy]

Will,

What 500mm lens do you use? Looking at getting a higher zoom lens. I have a 300mm but that doesn't really cut it for a lot of stuff.


On a side note, finished my private a little while ago and I am currently working on my instrument rating. Hoping to have that done within a month or two

[LateFan]

When we talked to the guy flying high-paying guests around the valley in a P-51 here this summer, he said they overheat at low altitudes and you need to get them up high where it's cooler. You can't use full boost or full power on take-off. The exhaust flap on the underbelly cooler was wide open.

How are the cooling systems in these race planes different?

[LateFan]

^^ nice - it's like being up in the air with them.



RE: ICON A5.... I read it's "like learning how to drive a car," which as a non-flyer really concerns me.


The Associated Press reached out to Stephen Pope, the editor-in-chief of Flying Magazine, who suggests the intended low-altitude flying for the ICON A5 is a potentially critical issue. Here’s more from the report:

Pope said “the plane itself is great,” but he had concerns about Halladay, a new pilot with little flying time, taking the craft out over water at low altitude, though the plane was marketed as a craft that could do that.

“They still think that that’s the way the airplane should be flown, and there are people in aviation who completely disagree with that,” Pope said. “They think you should not have a low-time pilot flying low over water. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

[BlackbirdM3]

This is a hillside shot.

Pylon shot

Also a pylon shot.

From the Pits as they come off pylon 8 into the front straight.


Will

[LateFan]

Yeah, looking down through the canopy is pretty cool.

[BlackbirdM3]

Some great pictures above. I love the heat scorching on the polished alum. In some of the shots earlier it looks like you're actually above the planes - did you go up on a hill next to the race course?


So, what do you flyers out there think of this Icon A5 that just killed the baseball player? Serious plane, or too much of a toy flown by inexperienced pilots?

One of the places I shoot from at Reno is on a hillside to the east side of the course. Yes, I'm above the planes shooting down (thank you 500mm lens) This year at Reno, I shot from just about every possible location. It was a TON of work to cover that much area. This was the first year I got home totally exhausted and had a hard time staying awake at work the following day.










Will