Palmdale Plant 42 - PMD

[f4_phantom_fan]

Here are some of mine from this afternoon, starting with the B-2 stuff. I almost blew it on the B-2's first pass. I had the camera set up to try and catch the Marine C-130 at 1/125th of a second, but the pass was too far off, and by the time the B-2 arrived, I had (DOH!) not reset the shutter speed, BUT I managed to pretty much get away with it on the two best images of the series. This is Spirit of Oklahoma.

[f4_phantom_fan]

Note the Route 66 sign in the window......

[akradecki]

Woah....wait a minute! I didn't notice this from my pics, but in yours, Brian, you can clearly see that from the NLG door that this is 31085, the Oklahoma...not the Louisiana that was static at the anniversary and that has been flying the FCFs recently. Didn't realize they had 2 in for depot maintenance.

[f4_phantom_fan]

The red/white F-16 came in with a gray one, but of course they weren't close enough to shoot both at once. The Marine C-130 was shot at 1/125th.

[f4_phantom_fan]

Woah....wait a minute! I didn't notice this from my pics, but in yours, Brian, you can clearly see that from the NLG door that this is 31085, the Oklahoma...not the Louisiana that was static at the anniversary and that has been flying the FCFs recently. Didn't realize they had 2 in for depot maintenance.

Yeah, Oklahoma has been out at Edwards for some time now - I think it arrived shortly before Missouri and Louisiana, which showed up in January.

[akradecki]

Yeah, Oklahoma has been out at Edwards for some time now - I think it arrived shortly before Missouri and Louisiana, which showed up in January.

Makes sense, if it is out at EDW, why it didn't come back after that last touch and go.

[gfydad]

Great shots guys! 
I had to watch (sans camera) from the office.

[NikonGuy]

Yep, killer shots guys, as always!   

[akradecki]

Here are the two Navy F-18s...sequential numbers, even. What's the significance of the white scheme?

Jim - Finally found out why the one F-18 from Lemoore was white - it was a recent transfer from Pax River TPS, and hadn't yet been repainted.

http://www.apsocal.com/index.php/topic,960.msg11694.html#msg11694

[gfydad]

This is what it looked like this morning when the B-2 was scheduled to go out...


And it remained this way when it turned around and taxied back to the hangar.   

[akradecki]

This is what it looked like this morning when the B-2 was scheduled to go out...


And it remained this way when it turned around and taxied back to the hangar.   

Here's what I managed to get. In the first, the B2 is the three bright white lights. Still it was a nice sunrise, and great company with Jim and Brian.

[DaFalcon]

I was out at PMD for a few hours today.  It was really slow this afternoon, but I did manage to catch this plane right after I drove up to "The Notch".  Anyone know what it is used for?

[phantomphan1974]

Nice catch David.

[Josh]

I was out at PMD for a few hours today.  It was really slow this afternoon, but I did manage to catch this plane right after I drove up to "The Notch".  Anyone know what it is used for?

Looks like the door is set up for skydiving...

[akradecki]

Looks like the door is set up for skydiving...

I agree...hand-hold above the door, step below it, either training or a skydiving team.