My First Experience of the Pods

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I had a flight to take from Heathrow that had an early start. It wasn’t practical for me to use my normal route to the airport and get there in time, so I was going to have to drive. I decided to have my first go with the Pod Parking connected to Terminal 5. I had seen plenty about this over the years and had watched the pods on their tracks while driving around the perimeter road towards the rental car lot when collecting or returning vehicles.

The whole thing was booked in advance, so the number plate recognition system identified me when I got there and let me in. The car park was pretty full, but I got a spot not far from the station B. A short stroll and I was at the station. There were two pods in the station, but both were charging so I had to wait for a minute or so. Amusingly, the screens told me that demand was high and that there might need to be a requirement to share a pod. Since I couldn’t see anyone anywhere near me, I am not sure what congestion that they were thinking of. After a short wait, both pods showed ready and I pressed the screen to get going.

The doors of the station and the pod opened and I climbed in. I had to press one button to close the doors and a second to start on my way. Given I only had one destination to go too, the chances I was in the wrong pod were limited but, once I knew what was needed, we were ready to go. The pod reversed slightly out of the bay and then we were off. There are two stations in the car park, A and B, and they merge in an elevated section of track which then crosses the road and runs inside the airport fencing.

The route brings you around the end of the northerly runway at Heathrow and I had a flight come in over my head as we transited across. The ride was fine if a touch bumpy. It really was a quick run to be approaching the terminal and then we were inside. We loop around the station before approaching the bays where the doors open and I was done. A quick trip up in the lift and I was at the departure level of Terminal 5.

It really was a very simple process and felt like it was a very efficient way of dealing with parking offsite. The same can be said for my return. I collected my bag from the reclaim and headed back to Level 2 of the parking structure. There were two pods waiting and, this time, there was no delay while they charged.

I did have to select which station I wanted in advance. Then, I got in, closed the doors and pressed start – I have learned quickly. Then a quick run back the way I had come before. I was back at the car park in no time and in my car. Since everything was pre-paid, I drove to the gate, and it opened as I approached and I was on my way. If the timing requires it, I will be happy to use the service again.

Aussie Herc in Great Light

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The last returns at the end of the Red Flag evolutions are usually the larger aircraft. The tankers and the AWACS will be near the end as might be the larger bombers if they are involved. You do also get some transport activity on the missions, and the Royal Australian Air Force had one of their Hercs included during one of my visits. I was off base for this return, and the light was beginning to get low which made for far better conditions than the high sun in the middle of the day. The Herc picked up the late light really nicely.

Looking Around Solent Express on the Beach

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In a previous post, I discussed how the hovercraft, Solent Express, made a visit to the beach at Lee on Solent. Once they had parked her on the beach, the public was encouraged to come and have a look around her. Plenty of people took the opportunity! She is a large hovercraft compared to the ones that run the Ryde-Southsea service with a capacity of 130 passengers. Her size is apparent when up close. Also, because she was on the slope of the shore and on a ridge, there was a large drop from the bow to the ground making her look even more sizeable.

There was plenty of time to have a look around. I got both close and also up on the embankment above the beach to get a wider view. Having so many people walking about really gave some scale to her. She was a little way out of the water when she landed, and the stern was on the beach. However, the tide was coming in and, by the time they departed, this was well in the water. More of that at a later stage.

I did get to take a look at some of the design features. The skirt is an integral part of the hovercraft and, while it looks flexible and flimsy from a distance, when you get close up and see how thick it is and how it is joined together, you appreciate it is a lot sturdier than it initially appears. Given the conditions that is has to experience, this really shouldn’t be such a surprise.

The ducted props at the rear are substantial. The props are large and the ducts with their flaps for directing the flow are big pieces of engineering. The carbon fibre drive shafts looked particularly cool to someone with an engineering background. All in all, she was quite the craft.

Everything About Eagles That I Love

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As a kid, I was a big fan of the F-15 Eagle. It was the fighter of the 70s and 80s and its size and power were so impressive to me as a kid. It could also go faster than almost anything else (although it wouldn’t in real life). The big wing (causing the nickname flying tennis court) and the nodding inlets looked excellent. Aerobraking and the speedbrake are just a bonus. Being able to see them so close up when at Red Flag was a big treat for me. I am so glad that the EX model means that they will be around for a while yet. Here are some shots of the jets that, I assure you, resulted in a big grin on my face at the time.

Night at the Cathedral

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We bought tickets for an orchestral performance of The Planet Suite at Winchester Cathedral. It was still daylight when we went in before the start of the event but, by the time it was over, it was dark outside. The illumination on the cathedral was really nice and the ability of a modern phone to compile an image in those conditions still amazes me. I stitched together some shots to make this image. I also took a few inside the cathedral between the parts of the performance. Low light really does make for more interesting shots.

More on the Dash 7 Theme

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I had a recent post about a testbed Dash 7. That had resulted from finding some other shots that I was looking for to use in a project. That was regarding two defunct airlines that had operated from London City Airport when it first started operations. The only aircraft that was initially allowed to use the airport was the de Havilland Canada Dash 7. The initial operator was Brymon Airways that, if memory serves me right, was based in Plymouth.

A second operator joined them at LCY with the imaginative name of London City Airways. Their livery included a fin designed to look like a business suit. The target market was city workers that didn’t want to make the trek out to Heathrow. It wasn’t long before there was a push to get jet aircraft into the airport. The BAe146 was the only option at that point and a demonstration was undertaken in 1988. I was there for the CAA and had a chance to get out on the ramp at one point. I got these photos during that visit. The 146 did become a regular feature and then runway expansions allowed a variety of larger aircraft to use the airport with slightly less restrictive approach paths.

How Advanced Spam Has Become

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I have some automated filters on the comments section of this blog. They do a solid job of removing the seemingly endless selection of useless messages that bots deliver to the website. When the comment is a more human sounding message, they go to the pending folder for me to approve. However, recently, I have seen a far higher number of messages appear in that folder and they seem to be real. Below is a selection of the recent messages received.

That’s a really interesting project – it’s great to see how practical applications like Helinet can be showcased in visual media.
Sounds like a really busy but rewarding day of travel and photography. Itchen Abbas is a bit of a trek from the Watercress Line!
It’s amazing how much technology was packed into those older helicopters. They really were impressive machines.
That’s a really interesting spot you’ve found. I wonder if they might be used to encourage fish to gather and feed?
That’s really fascinating, it’s amazing to think about how much equipment is involved in modern movie productions.

These might all look like someone had been reading the posts and commenting on them. However, when you look at the website links that are associated with the comments, they are all odd websites in Korea. It appears to me that there are some decent AI elements that are scanning the posts and creating plausible comments that can then get the links into the comments section. It is not an overwhelming level of commenting at this point, so I am comfortable sending them to spam. However, it does have me wondering whether this is going to grow to a level that is really troubling. Hopefully the spam filters will get more adept at identifying the dodgy links that are associated with the comments and junking them, but we shall see.

Catalina at RIAT

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I had seen a few Catalina family aircraft in recent years living in the PNW. I was a little surprised by this one showing up at Fairford for RIAT last year. Sadly, I only got to see it on the ground as it taxied in after arriving. I don’t know when it departed and why I missed it, but such is life. Here are a few shots of it. The blister windows on the rear fuselage look a lot slicker than the original design!

Farley Mount

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I had noticed Farley Mount on a map when randomly looking at what is the area around Winchester but hadn’t planned a specific visit to it. Then, one afternoon, I was riding through the area and saw the sign to the car park. I wasn’t in any great hurry so decided to divert to take a look. There is a track that runs from the car park up to the structure and, since it was pretty quiet, I rode up there on my bike. The surface was rough, but my new bike has bigger tyres, and it seemed to be fine.

Apparently, the monument is to a horse that fell into a pit while out hunting but survived and went on to win a race. Seems like quite a strange thing to create such a large monument to but landowners have built far stranger things over the years (and still do), so why question it too much. The top of the structure is a pyramid shape. With plenty of trees growing up around it, it was a touch tricky getting an angle with the light that I liked but, since this was mid bike ride, I wasn’t working hard on the shot options. Time to get back on the road and continue home.

This is an Old Hornet!

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This US Navy Hornet was rolling out at Nellis AFB during a Red Flag exercise. Looking at it now, it doesn’t have the antenna locations that the C model had so this must be an old A model. The US Navy has now retired all of its original Hornets (although the Marines haven’t relinquished all of theirs yet). However, when it took this, I think that the Navy was mainly using C models so this must have been on its last legs. I do love the look with the speedbrake deployed. There was a Charlie as well so I shall include that for fun.