Mini Challenge #212 - Flying Machines

Cavalier

I love machines - any kind of machine - but especially flying machines. Flying machines in the air, taking off, landing, or grounded are always fodder for the camera in my opinion. One of these days I hope to finagle a pass into the plane graveyard in the Mohave Desert just to poke around and play . Anyway, this challenge is about the incredible flying machines - airplanes. Images of planes in any state or size are welcome in this Challenge.

This challenge will run for 2 weeks - from today until Wednesday, September 9, 2015 @ 5:00pm PST-USA.



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OUR UN-OFFICIAL GENERAL RULES
1. Have fun sharing and seeing what others share!
2. The host supplies a topic and YOU POST 1-3 IMAGES. The host judges the winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and is not eligible to enter. The 1st place winner becomes the next host, chooses the next topic and becomes the next judge.
3. Any photo you’ve taken is eligible, regardless of when taken or camera used.
4. Any amount of post-processing is allowed. However, it is helpful if you list your camera and lens along with your photo.
5. You may comment on other contestant's images. If you want someone to leave you some critique or criticism, just ask within your post.
6. The winner has up to three days (72 hours) to begin a new mini-challenge, or the honor goes to the #2 finisher and so forth.

Guidelines:
1. Enter 1-3 photos and put them in a single post.
2. Either embed your image in the thread or, if you must, supply a link to it. Keep in mind, however, most people don't want to click to open photos hosted elsewhere (i.e. on your website).
3. Also try and resize your photos prior to posting so they're sized appropriately for viewing without having to scroll (~800 pixels on the longest side works best.)
4. Give each image you enter a title.
5. Enjoy discussion with members about their images, don't let this just be an entry thread!
6. When quoting a post, change the IMG urls to a 200x200 size picture so it is clear your post is feedback and not another entry. (See here for help).
7. Don't be hesitant; share 'em and enter!

Mini-Challenge pointers:
1. Upon winning a mini-challenge round, your first step is coming up with a new theme and starting a new thread using the same format as others have used.
2. Make sure to notify the admin of this thread to update the main thread links with your entry thread.
3. Feel free to watch the thread as it grows or wait to the end time and look at all the entries all at once.
4. After the time/date has passed, then officially close the thread with a single post notifying everyone of the fact.
5. After you're finished judging, start a new thread (again using the prior formats) and post your Winner and runners-up. It is important to have runners up in case the winner does not show within the 72-hour window.
6. PM the winner with this info above and let them know they have 72 hours to set up the next mini-challenge.
7. If the winner does not show/start the next mini-challenge after 72 hours, notify the next runner-up and post a message on the Winner thread of the fact.
8. Remember, if you're the Winner, you run the next mini challenge!

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Examples:

1997 Vans RV-6A (privately built) Experimental


Take off -
2012 RV-7 (Privately built) Experimental


Castle Air Museum - Boeing B-52D Stratofortress bomber


1941 N3N-3 Naval Aircraft Factory biplane

CHANDLERJA

Great Subject! I love shooting flying machines as well!

1. Boom!



2. Duel Threat



3. Team Work

Cavalier

Jeromy - thanks for starting the Challenge off with a "bang"! Great shots.

Earache

Yes, it flies... not very high, but it still is flying!



Sky Dancing



Gemini 11


Sorry, breaking the rules a little Jo, as they're not all airplanes... but, I read the fine print too late...

Thelensspot

I am an aviation "nut" and flew a single engine for 27 years. I love everything about the shape, colors and sound of an airplane. These three are from my old "JPEG" days so that might look a little "contrasty".

1. Waiting...



2. Lunch break...



3. Direct to anywhere...

sdways01

Some nice entries so far... here are mine:

1: National guard fly by at 4,328 ft. Each year hikers from around New England hike to the 48 summits in NH over 4,000 ft in elevation to fly the US flag for 2 hours in memory of those lost on 9/11. This happens each year on the Saturday nearest the 11th and is known as Flags on the 48. When the weather is nice, we sometimes get a helicopter flyby from the local National Guard unit.


2: Foggy takeoff. Hot air balloons taking off on a foggy morning during the Adirondack Balloon Festival


3: Jumping ATV. 2012 AMA Pro ATV Champion Josh Creamer taking off from a jump at my local MX track during a regional series race a couple years before he got a full time pro ride. Once he noticed me taking pictures, he started throwing more into his jumps to help me get some good shots (like this one).


Not for judging, but just a cool experience. Just before leaving the summit of a local mountain, I heard a noise coming and wondered what it was. Three jets were coming in and banked around the mountain almost even in elevation with me. Glad I was up there that day.

DonRicklin

The only flying image I could find is this one from National Gallery in Ottowa, CAN

Encore tranquilitté, 2008, Jimmie Durham



There it is!

Don

Cavalier

Ouch - poor baby plane! Fun shot, Don.

DonRicklin

Cavalier wrote: »

Ouch - poor baby plane! Fun shot, Don.

Apparently originally a real situation, with real boulder, Now a lighter mock-up...

Don

travelways

Here is my contribution:

1. Boeing Super Stearman biplane from the Ottawa Airshow 2008



2. Zeppelin cabin at the European Aircraft Trade Show - Friederichsafen, Germany, 2009



3. Snowbirds acrobatic flight demonstration in Ottawa, 1012

kscooper

Jo -

Like you, I also love flying machines and, even more, trying to photograph them. The snaps that I'll throw in are kinda dated, from back when I was even more clueless about shooting - let alone about processing! They aren't up to the amazing standards that are already on display, but wanted to toss them in nonetheless . . .

Flying Fortress (2004; Olympus C-2100 UZ; 2.1 MP )



National Biplane Fly-in, Junction City, KS (2011):



A "Twin Beech" SNB-5 (in a hangar; 2005):



And, if u don't mind: I'll add another, just for laughs: it is certainly technically poor, but this low Blue Angel pass at a Chicago Airshow practice run in 2010 *really* shook up the beach crowd; and made me go "Whoa"!.

grandmaR

Heres one of a bunch of airplanes - taken from the Southwest flight leaving Costa Rica on March 18, 2015


OK here is one to go with that one - this one was taken in Watsonville California in 1965 - black and white film of the airfield during the Antique Airplane Fly-In



There is a story to go with this. Two stories actually.
This story starts when the local antique auto club decided to give the pilots who came to the Fly-in a ride to breakfast. Bob, my husband has a 1932 Plymouth and he was one of the volunteers. I thought it would make a good story for the Antique Automobile Magazine. I wanted photos for the story. (The photos had to be black and white prints in those days so I loaded my camera with black and white print film.) I did a bunch of shots of planes landing and taking off,

https://picasaweb.google.com/106980008852702705641/WatsonvilleAntiqueAirplaneFlyIn?authuser=0&feat=directlink

but I thought a view of the field would be a good idea. I went up in the tower (which was un-manned) but that wasn't satisfactory. So I started asking around of the pilots to see if any of them would take me up. (I was a very pretty girl in those days). Pretty soon one of the guys said he would take me up. The plane was a 1929 Waco biplane. He gave me a leather helmet and put me in the front seat and told me not to touch anything. We went up, circled the airfield once - he asked if I had a photo, and then we landed.

After we landed he said that he had just bought the plane, and had never flown it before.

The second story is from today. I was looking up the history of the antique airplane fly-in and found my photo used on the web page of the city of Watsonville. It is one of the first photos that comes up when you ask for photos of the fly-in

I sent a note to Watsonville and got a reply that they thought the photo was in the public domain, and if I would supply 'proof' that I took it, they might give me credit.

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Since then they have groveled sufficiently that I told them they could use the picture(s) as long as I was credited. I thought briefly about askin for money, but since it is the city airfield (i.e. government), I decided not to do that. They said they sent an intern to look for photos last year and he came up with mine. They were apparently very excited about it because the photo showed where the old tower was.

Anyway, I'll enter this one as the third photo -



Taken from the deck of a cruise ship leaving Baltimore harbor.
I have lots and lots of other airplane photos includig ones taken when our 2nd daughter went through pilot training in Columbs MS - mostly snapshot type pictures taken in Museums (Navy museum in Pensacola, Southern museum in Birmingham AL, museum in Baton Rouge at the AFB, Eglin AFB museum etc). Tough to make a choice.

GSPeP

Have a nice collection of flying machines

1. JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off)



2. Flying to the moon



3. Apocalypse Now

ChrisJ

Wow, lots of cool shots in this thread!

Here's a few of mine that I like.


Shuttle carrier and Space Shuttle Endeavour over Los Angeles


My favorite 747-SP... SOFIA takes off in the Palmdale desert.


Museum of Flight in Seattle

Cygnus Studios

Watching over us:



B2 Spirit aka Stealth Bomber



Going vertical:

Alans Grin

Great theme, and really great shots - it's going to be tough judging Cavalier!

I'm not sure if the first two qualify as they are not aeroplanes, possibly not even "machines" but are flying things!
I include them for fun and amusement only, so don't judge if outside the bounds.


1) Flying Liquorice Monster




2) Leeds Castle Balloon Festival




3) Last Vulcan Bomber (Taken a couple of weeks ago and sadly this last one is now permanently grounded)



Good luck everyone.

Alan

jwear

last flight
last flight

jwear

Only in L.A.

jwear

The last flight ,heading for L.A. X so it could crash on the street

Gatto

My 2 cents
complicated in their own way




Hula dancer doll



Endeavour's final Lift Off

Cavalier

OK folks, the challenge is now closed. I'll post the results tomorrow morning.

Thanks to everyone for submitting entries to the Flying Machines Challenge. Great photos were posted, and now I have a tougher challenge selecting the winner for this one. :uhoh

Cavalier

First of all, may I say that there were some unique and terrific shots posted to this challenge. Thank you all for participating and sharing your beauties.

Honorable mention:

Earache - Eric, I do like the Navy hovercraft even tho it's not a plane! And your Dancer shot has incredible detail.

Thelensspot - Wayne, the Quick Silver HDR shot is really nice.

Kscooper - Eric, the throw-back feel of the Twin Beach shot keeps me coming back to look at it.

GSPep - Peter, I've never seen a Jet Assisted Take Off before - love it!

Alans Grin - Alan, the only shot I have of a Vulcan is on the ground. Thanks for posting your shot of the last Vulcan Bomber in the air!

Gatto - The shot of the Blue Angels (Hula Dancer Doll) looks like it is coming straight at you. I like the angle and the fact that you can see the pilot and copilot as well as the doll.

Winners:
Third place: Tatiana (Travelways) Snowbirds acrobatic flight demonstration in Ottawa, 1012. The colors and composition are beautiful.



Second Place: Peter (GSPep) - Flying to the Moon. The clarity of both plane and moon is great and I love the idea!




First Place: Jeromy (Chandlerja) Boom! Well just Boom! Great composition and timing on this one.




Congratulations to everyone for a great Challenge. Jeromy you get the pleasure of hosting the next Mini Challenge. BOOM!

Alans Grin

Jeromy - a well deserved win, great capture.
Alan.

travelways

Wow, thank you very much Jo for the 3rd place :ivar

I really liked the 2 images ahead of mine, but for the "Boom" - I was sure it will get the first place!

Congratulations

kscooper

Great work by the 3 winners; Jeromy - beautiful vapor cone!!!!