Thursday, October 31, 2013

Is It A Trick Or A Treat?

We are not sure what this ramper is holding in his hand, but it looks like he may indeed be smoking his lunch.

Must have been a treat, after all.

Shot location: EMD (Photo by Damian Freiberg)

Sunday, October 27, 2013

A Unique, And Approved, Method Of Jacking Up The Nose Of A Boeing 767 After An Unintended Nose Gear Retraction.


Shot location: IAH (Photos courtesy of our Texas Smartphone Division)

A hanger incident resulted in the un-commanded retraction of the nose gear, which caused enough damage to the forward jacking point to require some really creative thinking.

A specialized Boeing Team was brought in to jack the aircraft back up, and to repair the damage to the lower fuselage.  This is where it got really interesting.

Apparently, with the proper apparatus and brackets, you can run a support beam on jacks through the cockpit windows to return the bird to her upright position.

Neat stuff.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Twofer Tuesday, And A Salute To The "Good 'ol Days."

Flying over Chino Airport (CNO) during a Totally Jacked Up Aircraft Photos staff tour from LGB to WJF.

On the same flight, this photo is of the east end of Ontario Airport (ONT) showing the terminal at the bottom of the photo, and the United Parcel Service (UPS) ramp at the top left corner.

Looking at the ONT photo brings back a lot of memories of the "Good 'ol Days." 

Back in the day, I would show up at 10:00 PM to work the American Trans Air (ATA) daily flight (a Boeing 737-800), arriving from Honolulu (HNL) at 10:30 PM, to gate 408.  From there, the boss and I would handle all of checks and maintenance until 2:00 AM, as that was when I had to leave to go to my other job as a UPS Ramp Manager until 7:00 AM.  From there, it was back over to gate 408 to ready the ATA bird for her flight back to HNL at 7:30 AM.

Paperwork complete, I would head home, do all of my errands for the day, and be in bed by 2:00 PM so I could repeat the process.

Also, in the photo above is an airport access road on the left side of the picture.  For a time, that was my personal "Freeway" between jobs, and I loved every minute of my commute.

Ah, those were the days.

Friday, October 4, 2013

It's Friday! As A Reward For The Hard Work Week You Put In, This Butt's For You!

Its been said many-a-times you can find a lot of cute behinds in Texas.  They weren't kidding, were they?

Shot location: IAH (Photo courtesy of our Texas Smartphone Division)

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Brush Fires In California: Sometimes The Action Comes To You.

 Bombardier CL-415 seconds before water drop on the fire.

 It's sister-ship, 241, on the way out after a drop, and heading out to "Scoop" another load.

 Los Angeles County Fire Sikorsky Fire Hawk going in for a water drop.

Erickson Air-Crane on one of its multiple water drops.

Today, at approximately 5:00 PM local time, a brush fire broke out on the hill next to the Totally Jacked Up Aircraft Photos plush World Headquarters.  While it is said lightening never strikes twice, the hill next to our offices does not share that same luxury.  This is the fourth brush fire this year to break-out at the location!

Los Angeles County Fire sent in the CL-415 "Superscoopers" to work their magic.  And, they did, with the aid of multiple helicopter attack teams, the fire was finally doused a couple of hours later.

This event made for some interesting photography, being this was the first time I was UNDER the fire fighting aircraft on their actual drop runs.

Last week, fire fighting teams doused a good size brush fire at the mouth of Azusa Canyon (Highway 39).  The flames and air-attack teams were clearly visible from our palatial offices on that one, as well.

Never a dull moment around here.