In addition to flying, another hobby of mine is aviation photography and photojournalism. I've done a few air-to-air photoshoots with airshow performers ranging from Extras and Rockets to L-39s and everyone's favorite C-130... so when I learn about a nice-looking new airplane or two, I will sometimes fantasize about how cool it would be to take pictures of them from the air, ideally composed with maybe a local landmark making up the photo's background.
One nice thing about the pilot community - especially RV folks, and especially the nice friendly groups of pilots in the Seattle area - is that sometimes, if you just ask "Could we...?", the answer may end up being "Totally!".
This was one of those cases. As soon as Tom Powers started posting pictures on Facebook of his RV-8 - with a fast-back, a tip-over canopy, and a super cool blue shark pain scheme - and as soon as Jim Ruttler painted his RV-10 in an unusually colorful and intricate pattern of glowing blue curves, I thought "How amazing would these two airplanes look, flying formation together?". I asked - because it never hurts to ask - and we made it happen!
On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of being flown in a 172 to photograph these airplanes. First we climbed up high over Bremerton, west of SeaTac's airspace, until we could take pictures with both Mt Rainier and Mt Adams in the background. (They turned out a little less spectacular than I expected, but oh well, definitely worth a try). Then we descended low over the Puget Sound and took pictures looking down with just water in the background. Then we flew past the downtown Seattle skyline, from the stadiums to the Space Needle. Then down past SeaTac, over Tacoma, and finally some circles over Lake Tapps to wrap it up before a landing back at Renton. I'll start with the last picture of the set because it's the best, then go over the others chronologically.
Full-resolution pictures can be found here, in case anyone wants to download wallpapers or make prints or whatever. (Which reminds me, I gotta submit a couple of these to the calendar...)
One nice thing about the pilot community - especially RV folks, and especially the nice friendly groups of pilots in the Seattle area - is that sometimes, if you just ask "Could we...?", the answer may end up being "Totally!".
This was one of those cases. As soon as Tom Powers started posting pictures on Facebook of his RV-8 - with a fast-back, a tip-over canopy, and a super cool blue shark pain scheme - and as soon as Jim Ruttler painted his RV-10 in an unusually colorful and intricate pattern of glowing blue curves, I thought "How amazing would these two airplanes look, flying formation together?". I asked - because it never hurts to ask - and we made it happen!
On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of being flown in a 172 to photograph these airplanes. First we climbed up high over Bremerton, west of SeaTac's airspace, until we could take pictures with both Mt Rainier and Mt Adams in the background. (They turned out a little less spectacular than I expected, but oh well, definitely worth a try). Then we descended low over the Puget Sound and took pictures looking down with just water in the background. Then we flew past the downtown Seattle skyline, from the stadiums to the Space Needle. Then down past SeaTac, over Tacoma, and finally some circles over Lake Tapps to wrap it up before a landing back at Renton. I'll start with the last picture of the set because it's the best, then go over the others chronologically.
Full-resolution pictures can be found here, in case anyone wants to download wallpapers or make prints or whatever. (Which reminds me, I gotta submit a couple of these to the calendar...)