Having finally passed all of my ATPL exams ( [/brag] 😀 ), I’ve decided to celebrate by heading out for the rest of the day to catch some well deserved fresh air. With a spot of sunny weather in an otherwise cloudy and dull week – and my photo finger getting very itchy – the airfield had naturally quickly made the shortlist; so in the afternoon, I set course for the field to see what, if anything, was new…
Nothing really was, to my disappointment; but nevertheless the afternoon’s high cirrus clouds and fading sun at least made for prime conditions in which to test out the low light capabilities of my new Canon 5D… 🙂
An ant's eye view of our poor old Skymaster as the afternoon draws to a close. Just below the lower prop blade you can see the main gear bay doors, fully closed to reduce drag when the gear is down. The unique Cessna gear retraction mechanism would first swing the gear legs down into the vertical and then fold them backwards into the fuselage - though I've been told that this creates more drag than a more conventional gear retraction sequence (click for larger version)Holding the camera above your head does help with the oddly-shaped and difficult-to-photograph Skymaster :). The extent of the prop damage, caused by a landing incident almost a decade ago, is fully visible here... (click for larger version)My attempt at making the Cessna 150 appear (far) bigger than it actually is :). Almost looks like a PC-6 from this angle... (click for larger version)Starting up for a short cross-country flight. These late afternoon flights are always a fantastic experience - the air is calm, there's little or no traffic and the scenery is often breathtaking (especially in the late summer and early autumn) (click for larger version)Very helpfully posing for me at the end of the flying day :). Having no night lighting whatsoever - despite continuing efforts by all aeroclubs to install it - life at Lučko effectively ends when the sun dips below the horizon (click for larger version)In night photography, you use whatever you can lay your hands on - even if it's just a spinner and standard room lighting 🙂 (click for larger version)The joys of night photography - almost a full palette of colors lighting up the background as 9A-DMO prepares for another calm and cool night at Lučko (click for larger version)Airport Cat is under your airplanes, ruining your compositions 😀 (click for larger version)
Achtung, Skyhawk! 