Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA, KIWA, IWA) "Willie"

[Jeff D. Welker]

Thanks to Joe for the heads-up on this NASA bird. My wife's medical appointment was nearby and timed-out perfectly with the arrival timeline. I was able to shoot the arrival and get back to my wife without a hitch. The only irritant was a hay fire east of the airport that created some smoke haze in the background. Otherwise, the lighting was not bad considering the time of day. This particular King Air is registered to NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. An interesting little factoid for yours truly.

[azspyder]

Nice catch Jeff...

We have been dealing with the hay fire with the schools. I get air quality updates from my kid's school administration. I would think they would fix the issue by putting the fire out but a decision was made to let it burn. I guess it could be worse, it could be tires burning.

[Dave S.]

Jeffe,

That's a nice catch on the King Air (& Space).  Angle/framing looks very nice with a cool leading, yellow line.  Were you above or shooting through the fence for this?

- Dave

[Jeff D. Welker]

Thanks Steven and Dave. When I was a kid (nearly a thousand years ago) the farmer next door had his humble stack of hay catch fire. It took most of a day for the fire crews to put it out. If this is a large commercial hay operation, there may not be enough water in Maricopa County to put the darn thing out. I was shooting over the fence.

[John Driscoll]

Snapped this one on Thursday morning.  Assuming it is out of Pinal Air Park?

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[Warbird Keith]

Snapped this one on Thursday morning.  Assuming it is out of Pinal Air Park?

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Yes, I saw it departing Pinal.

[Scott Youmans]

A couple of T-1As.  Heavily cropped from a shot taken through the fence with a 35mm lens. I didn't expect to be stopping there and that was all I had.  Live and learn.

[Jeff D. Welker]

A couple of T-1As.  Heavily cropped from a shot taken through the fence with a 35mm lens. I didn't expect to be stopping there and that was all I had.  Live and learn.

Nicely done Scott. Terrific backdrop, especially for these white T-1A's.

[Scott Youmans]

Thanks Jeff! I thought I'd throw it out there mainly on the merit of the stormy background. Those storms came into town later which was quite a surprise! I could kick myself for not bringing another lens.

[Joe Copalman]

NIGHT WIZARDRY

Merlin arriving at Willie.

[Tower Guy]

Damn nice shot Joe. I saw the stats on Flickr, 1/30 at 6400 ISO, can't ask for much more than that, very sharp considering the conditions and movement.

[Joe Copalman]

Thanks Harvey.  Definitely a bit of "hair" on the image, but I'm still pretty impressed with the 70D's low-light performance.  Not really print-frame-hang-caliber stuff, but it's good to know I can get results like this if I ever need to for editorial purposes. 

[Joe Copalman]

'ROUND THE CLOCK, READY TO ROCK

[Tower Guy]

Outstanding night panning shot Joe. You even have blur on the rotor mast and everything else is tac sharp, beautiful.

[Joe Copalman]

Thanks Harvey!  Definitely a lot of luck here, I was certainly surprised by how sharp it came out.  I didn't do nearly as well on the DC-9 I went out there to catch, at least not until it stopped moving.