Living in Comox, near the Airbase located here, I often hear them… the mighty CF-18 jet fighters that are posted here and around Canada. We have a small group of them living here in the QRA on base, and through the year also see visiting aircraft of all kinds from all over the nation. Usually, when I hear them, it’s already too late and they are either landed or gone by the time I get to the base, but once in a while, I get lucky, and they run through a couple of touch-n-go’s before setting wheels down and staying down. Of course, the other factor is whether they are running on 30 or 12. I can get to the end of 30 for landing shots in about 4 minutes from home. Getting to the end of 12 is more like 10 minutes. So I heard it today… at lunch time, and took the shot that I might catch the landing.
I grabbed my camera and my scanner and ran to the car to scoot over to the base. Of course today, I had a slow (lost) driver in front of me on the way to the end of 30, but had already heard that my luck was heading in the right direction and this time I would at the approach end of the runway. But, as I made the last turn and was pulling up to the viewing area I was heading for, the aircraft was flying right over my head, and I had no idea whether this was the landing or another touch-n-go.
I watched the wheels set down as I was stepping out of the car, and then watched as the pilot increased the throttle and lifted off again for another pass! I grabbed my camera, shut off the car and watched the CF-18 loop around for another pass. This time, fully ready, I snagged a series of shots as the aircraft approached, flew right over me, and then set down on the runway for the final time today.
I don’t think I’ve been right under the landing of a CF-18 before, so these shots are the first of their kind in my collection, and a couple of them might find their way into the Screensavers / Wallpapers collection over at Wilsoncollection.com. So enjoy the images, and check back from time to time here and at the collection site to see what’s new.
Cheers!
