12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 9:41 am
Employees take photos as she begins her last taxi
Author: Jeff Fenske Page 9 of 15
As our bird turned the corner fairly close to me,
I knew I’d be totally safe behind the snow berm from direct jet blast,
but I didn’t expect the sudden chill of snow being sprayed up my pants’ legs.
I was lying the other direction to shield my face and of course, my G11.
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand
Honor
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand
After I took this shot, I just lost it!
The emotion hit me and I just started balling — which I really didn’t expect at all.
I forced myself back into calm so I could shoot with full concentration and steady hands..
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12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand– 9:40 am
Captain Tim Tobin turns on the lights and releases the brakes
Related:
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand
What’s this?
During towbar disconnect and engine start
Seeing all these extended deicing truck booms, I decided the best place to get the following images was behind me.
We have often seen fire trucks shoot water over planes to honor retiring pilots, but this was new to me, and very touching!
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 9:31 am
Caesar stands at the nose gear,
waiting for Steve to begin the push
so we can remove the chocks
and walk this plane out.
Kim is tagging along in the passenger seat of the paymover.
A sad day.
9/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 9:10 am
Tom Shuts the Door
From left:
Cesar, Tom, Patty and a pilot
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 8:34:30 am
The door closed above me, and I turn around to see
Tino and Bob ‘Pineapple’ heading back to the barn
in the black of night,
having loaded the last NWA freighter’s lower deck.
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 8:33 am
Dioni, Steve, Cesar
.
That was pretty heavy —
shutting the door for the last time.
12/28/09 — Cargo’s Last Stand
From left to right:
Cargo Managers Tom and Steve; Paul V. and Paul M.
Steve remains as our cargo manager
(sorry for the blur — 6/10 second exposure)
Tom is now a manager at an oil company.
His inscription on ITS OVER reads:
“Thanks for the Great Memories!”
12/28/09
My apologies:
any movement is blurred in these 1/2 second exposures.
I’m making do with the G11,
but this far surpasses what the G10 could have done.
Tech Note: yet another color temp example
When the photo is adjusted for the Taylor’s seemingly ‘white’ lights, then the snow looks deep yellow, lit by the yellowish outside lights.
12/28/09
The Taylor brings a 20-foot stack, loaded with comat
(company material) to the loader I’m operating.
One of these 20-footers, I had to spin 180°.
.
Cesar wields the pry-bar
while another van awaits in the doorway
12/28/09
Cesar, load-sheet hanging out of his mouth,
muscles the stuck pallet down the rail.
Every lead has his style.
Ed H. (recently retired NWA main-deck veteran) was famous for saying:
“Get me the bar.”
Often, working the main deck is not just about moving switches and setting locks.
There’s pushing, pulling and prying, pulling pallets with pallets, etc..
Cesar is brilliant, knowing almost instantly the best way to to get ‘er done.
Blurred in this 1/2 second exposure,
I’m not big on using the G11’s tiny flash.
Tech Note: Another good color temperature example
The plane isn’t green. But it is lit by the yellowish outdoor lights which have a completely different color temp than the plane’s interior lights. I’ve set the color temp so the van and the inside of the plane would be white, and the plane’s white skin then becomes green.
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 7:14 am
The mostly comat load now begins in the aft
with one of our vans on a 20-footer
I rapidly departed the loader to get this shot sequence
of the last NWA freighter shutting its nose in Anchorage.
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12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 7:07 am
: )
I’m starting to post the last departure photos.
So I’m finally getting towards the end.
Lots of red wall photos, though.
Those will be fun.
God bless!!!
Jeff : )
12/28/09 – Cargo’s Last Stand – 7:06 am
Steve gets the honor of shutting the nose for the last time
— as I jump off the loader to shoot The Last Smile.
: (
12/27/09
Darth II lost his left nostril in a fight
.
Christmas Day
Keanu Reeves (James) doing the impossible
12/25/09
F-2
12/25/09
Chilean Wine
12/24/09
The Church in the Sky
12/24/09
Main Deck
Looking forward from the rear
12/24/09
Main Deck
12/22/09
James, Steve, Bob ‘Pineapple,’ Lynn, Ken
12/17/09
Sprayed with air during deicing
under the F-7 lights