August Mach Loop Trip

Soldato
Joined
22 May 2003
Posts
4,055
Thought I'd post these for those that like this sort of thing, headed to Wales for 3 days last week to try and catch some jets, weather was pretty poor as is usual in Wales when I go, cloudy and windy with spells of rain for most of the time but I can't complain as we had 2 days with more than normal F-15s coming through.

Some of their passes were a bit high (believe these pilots don't know the area that well as they have just been posted here) but you just can't beat the sound and sight of F-15s screaming past you :)

Anyway, apart from the F-15s we had the usual Hawks and a nice pass by a Typhoon late one afternoon, I can't deny it's getting quieter in the Loop, seems to be more chance of catching American hardware than the British variety.

All taken with a D300s and Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S lens, poor light meant highish ISO most of the time to get the shutter speed up, really making me look at f/2.8 glass...

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Cheers, cockpit shots are nearly all 100% crops but I like them when you can see the pilots looking or waving at you :) Caught one of the passengers in one of the Hawks throwing up into a sick bag on the way round :D
 
Safari on the Ipad doesn't like it for some reason, it's ok in Chrome on the laptop...

Nice set, I'm liking #3 :)

Cheers, one of my favourites too, just wish I'd got the lead a/c a bit closer :)

Excellent shots, in #13 the pilot is certainly looking at you.
How hard is the climb up there?

Thanks, they definitely saw us, we had a few tents up on the hill, one was neon orange :D

There are different spots you can shoot from, some, well most, are a good 10-15 minute walk up, but this is including stopping to catch your breath ;) If you want the classic Loop experience go up Cad West, easy parking and an easyish path up. Cad East is the easiest place as you can drive up most of the way and it's a 2 minute walk from where you park, although the planes bank away from you so you mostly get underside shots but can be good for head on shots.
 
Cheers chaps, I don't often catch a break with the light/weather so it makes it harder to get a good shot.

Andy, 3 is one of my favourites too, I can't say I intentionally cropped/shot it like that but I was trying to even out the framing, would have liked to have the lead aircraft closer and to the right of the frame but didn't manage it. Its a hard image to edit so I am going to go back to it once I leave it for a while :)
 
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