Last Thursday was shaping up to be a nice day despite the heat and haze. I had just gotten USAir's 2nd America West heritage from my back deck, which completed the US specials for me before they get repainted
Then I see that CS-TLO is coming to JFK for a 4:35 arrival and I still needed that one. So I jumped in my car at 1:30, figuring I had plenty of time to get up there. I got as far as the Staten Island Expwy when the traffic stopped dead. I considered turning around but I had already paid the Outerbridge Crossing. So I started the weaving in and out and riding people's asses. The Verrazano was pretty open, then the Belt became a whole other mess. I was sweating bullets, checking my watch every couple of minutes. I got to the field at 4:25 and saw they were on the 13L/22L split. I couldn't find approach while I was driving so I dialed in Tower as I made u-turns on Brookville Rd, knowing I only had one shot at this. Finally I headed to the Mounds just as they checked in- for 22L. I jumped out of the car and ran across the soccer field just as Euro Atlantic came into view. Exuberent, I blammed off 15-20 shots of it before fist pumping and hollering like an idiot. Then I looked at my shots.
In the last mad dash, the Mode dial had somehow gotten twisted away from Aperture Priority. Not to Shutter, or even Programmed Auto. To Manual. All the shots were taken at 1/200 @ f/8. I had driven like a maniac for three straight hours, picked the right runway, and gotten into position with great lighting, only to be left with a series of horribly-overexposed images. As they say, 'even the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray'.
This is the best I could do to recover the blown highlights
I had to take some more shots to get my mind off what I had just done
I had no idea about the Norwegian Air Shuttle coming in, so I headed over to Bayswater to get some 13R takeoffs. The distortion from the heat haze was ENORMOUS, I could actually see it shimmering through the viewfinder
Saw this parked on the Evergreen ramp and wondered what it was. I love unmarked 747's
I had the pleasure of meeting the Bayswater gatekeeper, as she was locking up for the night and had to escort me out. Her name is Jocelyn and apparently she only does this during the week, with a different resident making the rounds on weekends. She is a very nice lady and said she has seen us out there before, but she didn't think my scanner was legal. At that point I was too sunburned, bug-bitten, and aggravated at my earlier folly to discuss it.
Taken on my way out
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