Michigan Exposures: lot airlines

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Messing With the Light Box - Part II

I posted a couple of my pictures on Facebook and one of the people that friended me wanted to know what I used. I looked it up on Amazon and posted the link for him. As I was looking at the link, I realized that I should have had the lights on top of the box, so I figured I would try that because I didn't like the shadows on my first attempt.

And sure enough, it does look better. The light seems a little more even.

This is an F-15 that is stationed at Langley Air Force base. The FF on the tail stands for First Fighter.

The F-15 is a pretty cool plane.

I couldn't pass up on more pictures of my F-14.

This is a little better for a frontal shot. I might have to try a smaller f-stop to get more depth of field.

The details on this one are amazing.

The pilots look real.

Again.

This is probably one of the more iconic squadrons.

An AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow. The Sidewinder is a heat seeking missile. The AIM-7 Sparrow is a semi active radar guided missile. That means that the plane has to maintain a lock until the missile hits. This missile has been replaced by the AMRAAM which is an active radar guided missile which means the pilot can peel off after firing the missile.

These are AIM-54 Phoenix missiles and are probably the missiles that made the Tomcat famous. They are active radar guided missiles and tied into the F-14's radar. The system was one of the first that could track multiple targets. These have been retired because for the most part they were only good against bombers.

The F-22 Raptor.

A better attempt at a frontal shot.

This is a pretty cool looking plane.

The AMRAAM missiles.

An F-35 Lightning.

This is the P-61 Black Widow and was one of the first planes to have a radar built in.

It was also a night fighter and pretty much only saw service in the Pacific.

When people are asked what their favorite fighter from World War II is, they will usually answer the P-51. Because I am a fan of the Navy, I will answer the Hellcat.

If I remember correctly, the Hellcat had one of the better kill ratios of the war.

It was a cool looking plane to boot.

A better frontal shot.

The first 787 I saw was from LOT Airlines but it wasn't this livery.

A frontal shot.

My favorite commercial plane is the 757. This particular one belonged to Northwest which is now a part of Delta.

I like the livery and would love it if Delta brought heritage liveries.

A frontal shot.

One more.

Two of the United 757s have liveries that were designed by women. This is one dedicated to New York. The other is dedicated to California. I would love to see this one in person some day.

Pan Am used to be one of the more iconic airlines. Sadly, it is no more.

This 727 has my favorite United livery.

A DC-9 from PSA. PSA had cool livery until they were bought out by American Airlines.

A North Central DC-9. North Central was bought out by Northwest.

A Republic propellor plane. Republic was formed in a merger of North Central and another airline.

And I end this post with a smile.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Spotting from Schiller Park - Part I

After the air show, the traffic returned to the normal pattern which meant I could go catch them at the Schiller Park Metra Station. I'll have to say, this is probably my favorite place to spot anywhere (so far). It's a spot where I can get all sorts of different angles and most of the foreign airlines.

First up was a Finn Air A330 coming in from Helsinki.

It was raining when I started at the station but it looked like it would clear very soon. So I braved through it.

I think O'Hare may be the capital of the 787s but I'm not sure.

This United 787 was coming in from Frankfurt.

An All NIppon Airways 777 coming in from Narita.

A United 737 coming in from Fort Lauderdale.

An Emirates 777 coming in from Dubai.

This Southwest 737 was coming in from Nashville but it made me think of a thought exercise. If they needed a 737 at O'Hare, how far would it have to fly from Midway to get there. The two airports are 15 miles apart. It turns out, there is a flight like that and it is 66 planned miles.