What Aviation is All About

Ever since I started learning to fly planes when I was thirteen, I had imagined how fun aviation could be with friends.  I had always hoped that once I did get my certificate, my high school friends would want to come along on various adventures across the state.  Unfortunately that never happened.  Though many offers were given, and I had prior permission from parents.  NONE of my friends ever came flying with me.

Fast forward ten years, and I finally have cool friends to flying with.  Although with a weird twist of fate, I'm no longer the pilot.  I'm the ride-along photographer, enjoying every second of the beautiful scenery that passes beneath.

Sunday, January 13th was a childhood dream come true.  It was everything I always hoped aviation would be, someday.  Five fellow pilots and their respective aircraft along with about eight photographers met up at Paine Field that noon and put together a plan for a formation flight over the beautiful snow-covered Cascade Mountains.

The plan was simple.  First of all we organized which pilot was flying what position and established safety procedures and communication frequencies.  Then the plan was to simply head east following Highway 2 up to Skykomish, and follow the canyon to the left, which creates a nice comfortable loop, easy to negotiate even with four aircraft off our wing. 

We ended up getting nearly two-hours of formation time in.  It was absolutely gorgeous, as the photos and videos will show, and was a really great experience for all involved.

This, to me, is what general aviation is all about.  Enjoy:

http://fight2fly.photoshelter.com/gallery/Cascade-Formation-Flight/G0000RiYRcUPcT3U/

Video:
http://youtu.be/I--ucgtgfC4

Paine Field Spotting...

What can I say, it's a completely different world over at Paine Field! I wouldn't say it's better but certainly different. You cannot really compare the cozzy experience of a small, home-town airport to a bustling, massive airport such as Paine. In the last few weeks I've met legends in aviation (Mr. Bud Granley), seen legendary aircraft (P-51, Hellcat, B-17, B-24, B-25,) and get to work to the wonderful music of an unimaginable combination of aircraft sounds 6 hours a day, 6 days a week!

I finally have had a chance to get some pictures of some heavy metal and this morning shot an Air Canada 777-300ER, Asiana Airlines 777, Air France 777, JAL Cargo 767, Southwest 737, and two WWII bombers. Quite exciting! I also have some great pictures of Boeings 747-400 LCF that is used to transport major parts of the 787 from all over the world! Both sets are of it taking off while one shows it flying through a small cloud which creates a perfect illustration of the massive wake left behind such an aircraft!

One of the best parts of the whole experience of working here is getting to know new people. Since I hang out at the Future of Flight parking lot/viewing area after work almost every day I get to talk to all kinds of different people. I've come accross people I haven't seen in years and remembered great times from several years ago.

Enjoy!

To view and order prints of the photos I took, please click here.