Was quite an eventful day here in Seattle. Was running a bit late this morning, so got to the field and parked as Air Force One was on about a 2 mile final. Plenty of time. I got my ladder set up and got the camera out just in time for the majestic bird to cross the threshold. Here is the resulting photo:
Oh wait, that's right. No memory card in the camera. In my haste I missed one crucial step. What a bummer since Air Force One had posed for pictures during landing by floating down the runway right in front of us. Oh well, life goes on, well does go on after cursing a lot and kicking a few things.
Well then the wait was on for the departure some 5 hours later. Had a good breakfast and spent some time at the Boeing Employee Store. Lots of knick knacks, but did keep from purchasing anything this trip. As we were there, 2 loud booms occurred, which had Boeing security running around the area in circles trying to figure out what happened. Kind of funny really how they reacted.
Turns out that the booms were in fact sonic booms from 2 Oregon ANG F-15's scrambled out of PDX to intercept some weekend warrior pilot who deviated into the no fly zone surrounding the area. Later found out that it was a float plane returning from eastern Washington who had no idea about the restrictions and landed prior to being intercepted. Poor F-15's flew all the way up from PDX at supersonic speeds and didn't get to scare the float plane pilot. Maybe next time!
By this time the show was about to begin with the President due back to BFI shortly. I was excited to get my first pictures of Air Force One. Even though it was quite bright I believe the shots turned out pretty well.
Once Air Force One was gone, the wait was on for the support C-17 to load up and depart as well. Finally around 7pm, this beautiful bird took to the skies.
Thanks for taking the time to look at this post.
-Tad
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