Schmotographs - Airfield

Today was the first time I was really able to experiment with the long lens that I bought with my camera. I grabbed my bag and headed down to an airport that I used to fly into back in the day.

This used to be a very busy field. People would fly here to buy fuel, as it was much cheaper than surrounding airports. There were several busy flight schools here and as a result, there was always traffic in the pattern.

As you can see, not a whole lot was going on here today.

This Cessna 172 departed while I was there, went to a practice area and had a lesson, then returned to the field and did a few touch and goes. The student told me that they worked on emergency procedures and off-field landings. It brought back some memories of flying lessons on hot summer days, ones where your back stuck to the seat of the aircraft.

This beauty arrived while I was there. It is a Cessna 175, I think. Notice that it does not have a nose wheel, but a small one in the tail. Tail draggers require good technique while on the ground and while landing and taking off. This pilot did a good job landing with a gusting, variable wind to contend with as he landed.

This is a Cessna 150 or 152, very similar to the one I learned to fly in. It is a very small aircraft and was a cramped learning environment. We were required to fuel the aircraft after each flight, no matter how short. The fuel is stored in two tanks, one in each wing.

Here, a mechanic is working on the nose wheel of a Cessna 172. He placed two sandbags on the tail of the aircraft, using it as a lever and raising the nose. Thant way, he doesn't have to use a jack to get the wheel in the air.

As I was leaving the field, I saw this gentleman securing his airplane. This is the same aircraft that is in the third photo above. A classic beauty for sure.

I only spent 90 minutes at the airport, yet I managed to shoot 400 plus images. A lot of it was because I was in fast sports mode, which shoots about eight images per second. Stay on the shutter too long and you can amass images in a hurry.

As I was using a long lens, most of the images were taken from pretty far away. All in all, I am pretty happy with the camera / lens set-up.

Sorry this wasn't fire related, bu there was NOTHING going on near my house today. I couldn't even shoot a training session with the Local F.D. At least aviation is a decent back-up.

Thanks for reading,
Schmoe