Airbus A320 (XA-VLB)

A chilly and windy day (with a constantly-changing mix of gray clouds, momentary sunshine, and dark black clouds) made for a rather interesting day of photo-snapping at RNO, but a huge variety of military warbird visitors made it more than worthwhile to be there from before sunrise until after sunset. A pair of C-17s, two Hornets, three C-130s, and an Osprey would have been plenty, but to make the day complete, a Beale U-2 doing a T&G was like super special frosting on a cake.

Very nice shot! Sounds like a pretty good day, especially with the U-2. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Greg. :-) The U-2 was a VERY unexpected treat. Unfortunately, 1) the light conditions were a "blah" gray with very dark clouds, 2) when it came by, it was low and there were dark mountains in the background, AND 3) Beale's U-2s wear black clothes. As a result, the plane doesn't show up very well so my pics aren't ones I would post into my FA folder. (* It never actually "touched"; an accurate description would be a "low pass.")

Very nice shot Gary!

Gary, I think you should post a shot of the U-2 anyway. I would like to see what you saw, and I'm guessing there are a couple of others who wouldn't mind seeing it, as well. Not every pic posted to FA needs to be a "5," and I'll bet yours will still be better than many of the pics that get posted here. Oh, and I'll try to get a few pics from the airshow last weekend posted as soon as I can get to it. Thanks, and keep having fun!

Hi again, Greg. I am eager to see the airshow shots. I know how it is ... I always takes hundreds of snaps ... then I have to find time to poke thru them to find the "keepers" and then to select from those the few I'm going to share. Take your time ... but I'm looking forward to seeing them. (Thumb Up)
As for the U-2 pics >> Sorry. Once a pic gets posted into FA's gallery, it can't be deleted. It has absolutely nothing to do with the number of stars someone gives my pics; as I've explained privately to some folks like Mark See and a few others; for photos going into FA's gallery, there is just ONE PERSON'S "rating" that is important. If "5s" were something I was worried about, I'd rate my own pics when I post them (I never rate my own pics when I post them) and I'd be all upset every time you gave me a "4", "3", etc. Except for ONE PERSON'S vote, none of anyone else's votes are important. There is a far, FAR more important statistic about each pic ... and it is because my U-2 photo wouldn't "pass muster" in THAT statistical category that I won't post it. Because I can't take a poor quality photo back out of FA's gallery, I won't put one in just so folks can see it. I don't know how much you know or care about applying for, and getting approved for, photographer MEDIA CREDS at air shows or for receiving invitations from aviation-oriented agencies, but trust me: in a public aviation photo gallery, you never want to put poor quality on display with your name attached to it. Some of my first posts into my FA gallery folder were ones I thought were quirky or funny, but later I seriously regretted having those p-poor shots in there. VERY fortunately for me, a couple years ago a wonderful staff member at FA agreed to help me out by deleting those couple of "Gary, you took THESE? Do these REALLY represent the quality of your pictures?" photos. So a bit of advice from one buddy to another ... be selective about the quality of the pics you post. Even if you think NOW that you'll never care about poor quality pics you post, you may suddenly receive a super unexpected offer and then when you have to tell where examples of your work can be viewed, you may THEN have regrets. (TWO Thumbs Up and a big grin)

Well, that makes sense. I don't want to post "junk" photos either, but I don't need to worry about quite like that. Take care and keep posting whatever you think best.