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SBitz
Jan 30, 2018, 8:33:21 PM1/30/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Was this a Delta Airlines jet maneuvering over SB this evening with a chase jet taking aerial photos? I guess our mountains are a photogenic backdrop for their promotional materials. Maybe a new type of airliner in their fleet, a new paint scheme, or just a new backdrop for their pix.
I thought at first it might be a hijack escort, but the small jet doesn't look military. Then I saw that the small jet was maneuvering around the airliner rather than flying escort off one wing. Then I noticed in the zoom pix that there's something hanging from the nose. Camera? Soon after I noticed this and started taking pix, the small jet was gone and the airliner made this very un-passenger steep turn and headed toward LA. Sure was fun to watch!
I thought at first it might be a hijack escort, but the small jet doesn't look military. Then I saw that the small jet was maneuvering around the airliner rather than flying escort off one wing. Then I noticed in the zoom pix that there's something hanging from the nose. Camera? Soon after I noticed this and started taking pix, the small jet was gone and the airliner made this very un-passenger steep turn and headed toward LA. Sure was fun to watch!
as.th...@cox.net
Jan 30, 2018, 8:40:28 PM1/30/18
to sb...@googlegroups.com
As a guy that used to do stuff like this for my job, I think that you are correct. Regards, Addison Thompson
SBitz
Jan 30, 2018, 8:49:59 PM1/30/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Art wrote:
As a guy that used to do stuff like this for my job, I think that you are correct. Regards, Addison Thompson
Thanks for the confirmation. I found two other pix that came out OK, so here they are. Both are after the photo jet left as the airliner turned toward the mountains (closest it came while I had the camera) and on toward LA.
SBitz
Jan 31, 2018, 4:17:15 AM1/31/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
There's some discussion in the Edhat comments about the airliner being an Airbus A350, and comparing these pix with those on the wiki my guess is it might be the new A350-1000 variant.
SBitz
Jan 31, 2018, 4:10:37 PM1/31/18
to sb...@googlegroups.com
I got curious about the photo platform (jet with camera), discovering it's one of these built in 1980 and used for the Patriots jet aerobatic team. In that task, the flying is rather more dynamic than following an airliner as we saw it. Even this pose is rather pedestrian in contrast with air show work.
This pic shows it from an angle very similar to my pic for comparison.
FlightAware has this flight track that matches what I saw just before the airliner headed back to MHV (not joining a route to the LA area as I first thought). Must have created some buzz at SBA and IV when they circled that area.
This pic shows it from an angle very similar to my pic for comparison.
FlightAware has this flight track that matches what I saw just before the airliner headed back to MHV (not joining a route to the LA area as I first thought). Must have created some buzz at SBA and IV when they circled that area.
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