Sunset Arrival

Full width view on Panoramio

Early Morning Arrival at Incheon

Boeing 747 descending out of the hazy morning sky at Incheon Airport

Taxi into Position and Hold

California Firestorm: View From Above

Southern California was burning. It is certainly the most populated area currently affected, but there are forest and brush fires all the way up through Oregon. Smoke is everywhere.

Incident information

NASA MODIS/EOS Satellite Imagery
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 21st) [NASA]
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 22nd) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 22nd) [NASA]
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 23rd) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 23rd) [NASA]
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 24th) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 24th) [NASA]
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 25th) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 25th) [NASA]
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 26th) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 26th) [NASA]
Cloud cover on the 27th provided a less than useful satellite view.
TERRA Satellite Imagery (October 28th) [NASA]
AQUA Satellite Imagery (October 28th) [NASA]
With these images, it appears the Southern California firestorm is pretty much concluded.


A Canadair / Bombardier CL-415 SuperScooper [Wikipedia] fire fighting aircraft landing at Van Nuys Airport to refuel.


Poking above the smoke.


A clear view down to a burn area somewhere north of the San Fernando Valley and west of Interstate 5.
Click to enlarge - some flames can actually be discerned even from this altitude and at this reduced resolution.


Another burn area seen from a bit higher.


Yet more active burns.


Looking toward the coast, the smoke is very evident.


Considerably further north and still smoky.


Another fire up near Fresno.


Plume from a fire near Mt. Shasta.


Klamath Lake with Mt. Loughlin looming in the background. Smoke from many fires visible all around.


Crater Lake. More fires visible in the foreground and the background.

Seattle Sunrise - Another Travel Day

The plane taxis away from the gate. A magnificent sunrise illuminates the sky and reflects off the windows of the terminal building.


Mt. Rainier seen across the wing.


Seattle tower silhouette.


Freight aircraft.

Short Final

Another Travel Day

Sunrise at the airport, the nearly full moon still presiding over the scene, another travel day begins. Even the bustle on the ramp seems sleepy this morning.


Stereogram of Mt. Saint Helens. Click on the image to view a larger version. Once in view, gently cross your eyes until there appear to be three of them. Make sure your head is level so the images converge in both horizontal and vertical axes. The middle image will appear three dimensional.

Traveling Again

Sitting here in the airport early in the morning as I all too often do, I watch as passengers make their way here and there. It's a typical scene that any traveler will recognize but it seemed somehow visually interesting this morning. I shot this with the camera set at 1600 ISO and added noise beyond that resulting from the high sensitivity setting; then switched to monochrome which seemed appropriate.