A Few Ospreys

I've had occasion to go to one of the nearby military bases recently - a couple of times, in fact.  On both visits, I was lucky enough to catch sight of multiple V-22 Ospreys flying overhead.

There's a small landing zone for helicopters near where I park when I am there.  During the first trip over, there were two formations - the three ship I caught in the photos, and another pair following - a total of five aircraft.

I've posted a few times about the fact that despite I spent six years enlisted in the Air Force, because I was stationed in Berlin, Germany, aircraft sightings were rare.  So it gives me a thrill anytime I happen to see a plane in flight.


While I was walking towards the building I needed to visit, the first trio broke formation to come in for landing.  My second photo shows them on approach, using this aircraft's vertical take off and landing capability.

When I was there a few days later, I saw another pair approach and land.  That time, I was in the right place at the right time to see the touchdown - although I was not in a place where I could snap a photo.

It's likely that the V-22 is my most frequently photographed aircraft under this "Airplane Geek" label.  I don't get out much to bases where there are other types of planes - but that would be nice...especially if I could get a shot of an A-10 sometime.

The C-130 and the Blue Ridge

As I'm wont to do, I was sitting out in the sunshine on the brick terrace a few weekends back.  I heard a gentle rumble of an unfamiliar airplane overhead and started looking around for it.

To my surprise, there was a C-130 in an unusual paint scheme crossing the sky - flying quite low actually, since it was headed for the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park.  The mountains near us - including Stonyman, Hawksbill, and Big Meadow, stretch upwards to 4,000 feet, and I thought the C-130 might have to climb a bit to clear.

In the first photo, you can just see the aircraft.  The line of trees below obscures the view of the park here, but that is on a line to Big Meadow, so that probably gave a thrill to some of the park visitors.

As I was looking through my photos yesterday, I thought I might zoom in on the photo of the C-130 to see if the paint job would come in any clearer.  Here you can see the bright silver of the plane - really caught be by surprise, as we more often get Air Force Reserve or National Guard flights in the area, and the planes are usually green.  I can't identify ths one from a web search, but I suspect it may be a Navy version.

Bethesda Flyover

Off and on during my career, I've had offices in the Clarendon or Ballston areas of Arlington, Virginia.  Among the other advantages these neighborhoods enjoy, one is their proximity to Arlington Cemetery - and because of that, there are regular flyovers of memorial formations for the military funerals that take place there.

After a six year Air Force enlistment - one that had amazingly few encounters with military aircraft, given my career field and the locations I was assigned, I am still thrilled whenever I see one or more of our military aircraft flying by.  So I was attuned to the sound of a military flyover when I worked in those Arlington offices, and I would rise and rush over to a window to check them out.

Flyovers happened a few times now in my Bethesda digs.  I imagine that whenever the aircraft are based somewhere north along the east coast, the sortie exits the area by flying along the Potomac, which takes them into our field of view.

And so it happened a few weeks back that I caught site of this squadron on its way home after a ceremonial Arlington flyover, the missing man just catching up with the rest of the group and preparing to form up.

Whenever I have the opportunity, I'll stop and look up for this - pausing my thoughts just long enough to consider the significance of the flyover, and then picking back up with the thrill of seeing the planes.

Black Helicopters at SBUX

Yesterday morning as I was walking over to my neighborhood Starbucks in Bethesda, I heard the sound of approaching helicopters.  Because of our perch on the palisades over the Potomac, it's not unusual to have a executive sortie flyby, or even larger, squadron-sized groups pass overhead using the river as a navigation guide.

What struck me about these three are the large auxiliary fuel tanks they were carrying - obviously they were setting out on a long range voyage.

I decided to make the rest of the day tactical as a result.  I think I was a success.

Flight of F-15s

One Friday morning a couple of weeks ago, two of us were walking around the campus at work, and I saw a single F-15 flying overhead.  I thought it was strange, and I mentioned it to my colleague.  I think he was more fascinated by the fact that I knew the air frame type than by the fact that we had a USAF fighter flying over the Potomac.

Then Monday morning shortly after 9:00, I happened to look up from the parking lot at the Starbucks and saw this Missing Man formation flying over, along the same route that the earlier one had followed.

Wikipedia describes the formation as an aerial salute, often performed as part of a funeral or memorial.  Given our proximity to Arlington Cemetery, it's not unusual to see them - although I'd expect them in Arlington, not Bethesda.

Flight of the Ospreys

Okay, I created the label "airplane geek" attached to this post so that I could upload random photos of aircraft that I happen to catch in passing.  We live close enough to Andrews AFB - sorry, that's Joint Base Andrews these days - that we see planes coming and going fairly frequently.

I have seen the V-22 Osprey in the air a few times, in fact there is already a post with them on the blog, showing two sightings: one at National Airport, and the other of a pair in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington.

I may have a post with a couple of B-1s, but I am still looking for it - when I worked in Arlington last, we'd see regular flyovers from Arlington Cemetery.

If there are tactical or strategic aircraft flying over and I can safely do it, I will snap a photo.  This goes back to my enlistment in the Air Force - I was stationed at bases that rarely had much of an assigned force all those years.  When we made our trips out to West Germany to visit "real" bases, we'd sit in awe and watch the runways.

...and I still like doing that!

Airplane Geek: The Osprey at National Airport.

As I turned into National Airport during my commute this morning, there was an odd silhouette approaching the airfield.  I slowed to watch, to the consternation of the people following me.  And boy, they were really pissed when I whipped out the phone to snap this photo!

Truth is, I am an airplane geek.  Six years in the Air Force and I still can't get enough of seeing cool planes - honestly, I was never stationed anywhere that they had any of the fighters or tactical aircraft.

So whenever one flies over, you might just catch me running outside to snap a photo.  Even if the aircraft might be a USMC bird - V-22 Ospreys are in service with the Marines and the USAF.


The nacelles are in transition here as the plane was preparing to land at the Pentagon.  I was able to see it in descent as I got further along on the Parkway.

I'm inaugurating a new label with this post - airplane geek.  You can click on it and see some of these random snaps from the past.

By the way, here's an earlier photo of two Ospreys flying over Arlington, taken last year (I'll upload this into Instagram later and see if I can enhance it).

The Big Unit

Has it been a couple of months since I bought this new grill?  I don't know, I don't really remember.  But I have to wonder why I waited so long.

I have been posting on grilling and barbecue quite a bit lately, and this big unit is the reason.  It's a Brinkman that has charcoal and gas sides, and there is even a side burner.

I had a number of folks ask me to let them know how I liked it after I used it...well, I can answer that one now:

I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT.

If you've been thinking about springing for one of these, I don't think you can go wrong.

Stay tuned for a couple of posts this week about cooking out adventures - one post on cooking trout on this grill, and then a second one about a smoked pork shoulder roast.

Oh and here's a photo of an Air Force C-17 that flew over while I was cooking out yesterday!