M. Wynn: "Wild Card" Aviation Photography & Images: Gallery Update: Thanksgiving Holiday Spotting at PDX

About This Blog:

The primary purpose of this blog is to showcase the best of my aviation photography. As such, you will find links to my main aviation gallery on Facebook containing photos from aircraft spotting, some kind of aviation event such as air shows and fly-in events, as well as aviation museums. I also critique my flights on commercial airlines and the services they provide. Occassionally, you'll find personally written, independent articles based on news and current events involving aviation. And of course, I'll put up links to official and unofficial aviation-related websites when I find them. And when time permits, I'll talk and discuss about anything involving aviation. But most importantly, this is my way to document my journey into the aviation industry!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Gallery Update: Thanksgiving Holiday Spotting at PDX

If the weather is nice and you're enjoying a long holiday weekend, my rule is try to get some planespotting in! Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and nice long weekend. For Oregon winters, this Thanksgiving holiday weekend has been uncharacteristically clear and sunny (and cold!). With such nice weather, I had to get some planespotting in at Portland International Airport before the weekend came to an end. With all that's happened this past year between air shows, spotting, and aviation events, it's been well over two months since I was last here, not to mention I've got practically nothing to show for in October...

Since my last PDX spotting trip, the two major newcomers to PDX, Icelandair and Condor Flugdienst are on hiatus for their respective routes to Portland for the winter until next spring. Anchorage, Alaska-based Peninsula Airways operating as PenAir began twice-daily to PDX with service to Crescent City, California on September 15, 2015 under the Essential Air Service program this past September utilizing Saab 340 turboprops. PenAir was my main reason to go spotting today because I've never seen this airline and aircraft in person. I also wanted to catch a few other things today as well; I pretty much saw a good variety considering that I spent several cold hours there. Here's the link:

Portland (PDX) 18

Preview with A LOT of photos:

Peninsula Airways-PenAir Saab 340B/Plus (N410XJ) disembarking passengers after arrival from Crescent City, CA.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N422QX) airborne after departure from 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N431AS) taxiing to the gate after arrival on 10R.

Horizon Air DHC-8-402 Q400 (N449QX) on push back prior to departure.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N557AS) taxiing.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N630CZ) arriving on 10L.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332/ER (N16065) adorned with the "Andrew Young - Atlanta's Ambassador to the World" sticker taxiing to International Arrivals after arrival from Amsterdam.

Cessna 560XL Citation Excel (N760ED) taxiing for departure. Note the Oregon Duck's "O" logo standing in for the zero in the tail number! Someone's clearly an Oregon Duck's fan! So there are now two aircraft I know of that's Oregon Ducks-themed...

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-401 Q400 (N410QX) taxiing for departure.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-401 Q400 (N419QX) airborne after departure via 10R.

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N69830) arriving on 10L.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A320-211 (N342NW) arriving on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N558AS) departing on 10L. I saw this airframe participate at the 2014 Oregon International Air Show last year!

I cannot believe I missed this and had to settle for a lousy shot! Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N441QX) in University of Alaska at Fairbanks Nanooks livery airborne after departure from 10R. I've been hearing rumors that this airframe is going to get sent up to Alaska to fly feeder routes up there...

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-702 (N631SK) arriving on 10L.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N402QX) in University of Montana Grizzlies livery departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-790 (N607AS) in the Portland Timbers soccer team livery. This airframe is Alaska Airline's very first Boeing 737-700 in their fleet.

N607AS departing on 10L.

United Airlines Airbus A319-131 (N829UA) departing on 10L.

NetJets Cessna 750 Citation X (N938QS) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N593AS) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N442AS) departing on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N173SY) departing on 10L. This is also a new sight to PDX and my first time seeing one, as these were delivered to SkyWest to fly for Alaska under a capacity purchase agreement on routes where it was out of the range for Horizon's Q400s, but uneconomical for Alaska's 737s. These new Alaska-SkyWest E-175 flights began about two months ago.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N630CZ) departing on 10L.

Raytheon Beechjet 400A (N93FT) arriving on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N564AS) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-490 (N708AS) departing on 10L.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-251 (N537US) arriving on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a United Express) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701ER (N766SK) arriving on 10L with N537US photobombing in the foreground.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) De Havilland Canada DHC-8-301 Dash 8 (C-GETA) arriving on 10L from Vancouver.

Another one I missed and had to settle for a not-so-good shot! Hawaiian Air Airbus A330-243 (N380HA) airborne after departure from 10R for Honolulu. Note the Oakland Raiders decal.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 (N368SW) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N557AS) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N431AS) departing on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N459WN) departing on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 (N643SW) in the new livery departing on 10L. Kind of surprising to see a Southwest 737-300 in the new livery considering that they are the older aircraft type in the fleet.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N171SY) departing on 10L. This airframe is the second E-Jet delivered to SkyWest to be utilized for Alaska Airlines flights.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N426WN) departing on 10L.

Beechcraft B200GT Super King Air (N77ML) taxiing for departure.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N621CZ) arriving on 10L.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N448QX) departing on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N407WN) departing on 10L.

NetJets Cessna 750 Citation X (N921QS) taxiing for departure.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701ER (N625CA) smoking the mains upon arrival on 10L. Formerly with the now defunct Comair and the 150th CRJ in Comair's former fleet, which was painted in a commemorative livery.

Frontier Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N232FR) "Sammy the Squirrel" departing on 10L for Denver. First time seeing the new Frontier livery! This airframe is also brand new, having just been delivered from the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France earlier this month.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N529AS) departing on 10L.

C-GETA departing on 10L for the return-trip to Vancouver.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-702 (N219AG) departing on 10L.

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N37466) smoking the mains on arrival on 10L.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N411QX) departing on 10L. Even though it's just a standard QXE livery, I like this shot because of the prop-blur I managed to achieve!

N93FT taxiing for departure.

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N39423) arriving on 10L.

SeaPort Airlines Cessna 208B Grand Caravan (N208TW) pulling up to the remote stand prior to boarding passengers for revenue service. Aircraft formerly flew for Tradewind Aviation in the Caribbean.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-790 (N613AS) departing on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N409AS) departing on 10L.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N430QX) rotating on departure from 10R.

Cessna 510 Citation Mustang (N271CS) rotating on departure from 10L.

American Airlines Airbus A319-132 (N803AW) departing on 10L. Formerly with US Airways before the merger, which was finalized with the official end of the US Airways brand in October. This is also my first time seeing A319 in the new American livery.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N289CT) departing on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N902WN) departing on 10L.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N815DN) arriving on 10L. Delivered to Delta a little under two years ago now and my first time spotting a 737-900 in Delta colors!

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N546AS) departing on 10L.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N423QX) rotating on departure from 10L.

N537US departing on 10L.

Beechcraft B300 Super King Air (N888AS) taxiing for departure.

N208TW taxiing for departure.

Learjet 45 (C-FBCL) taxiing for departure. Aircraft is registered to London Air Service-LAS out of London, Ontario.

C-FBCL rotating on departure from 10L. It's always neat to see foreign tail numbers on General Aviation aircraft!

Delta Air Lines Airbus A320-212 (N341NW) arriving on 10L.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N423AS) departing on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N213WN) departing on 10L.

Learjet 31A (N535PS) taxiing for departure.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 717-2BD (N938AT) arriving on 10L from Los Angeles. Formerly with Air Tran Airways.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400 (N427QX) departing on 10L.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A320-211 (N330NW) arriving on 10L.

Cessna 510 Citation Mustang (N1245) arriving on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N223AG) departing on 10L.

United Airlines Airbus A319-131 (N831UA) arriving on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 (N216AG) departing on 10L.

Hawker Beechcraft 400A (N311HS) arriving on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N215AG) departing on 10L.

Cessna TU206G Turbo Stationair 6 (N206KD) taxiing out for departure.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200LR (N442SW) arriving on 10L.

N442SW taxiing to the terminal. Seeing this aircraft type in Delta colors at PDX is pretty rare now these days; it's more common to see the smaller CRJs in United colors. You just don't see these much at PDX anymore because regional airlines are switching over to larger capacity regional jets and turboprops.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N420WN) departing on 10L.

N815DN departing on 10L. Pretty quick turn-around for a Delta 737-900...

N410XJ taxiing for departure to Crescent City. It sure is nice to see a new variety at PDX now! Saab 340s are becoming quite rare in the lower 48...

Hawker Beechcraft 400A (N402XT) arriving on 10L.

N410XJ departing on 10L for Crescent City.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N512AS) in the hybrid Boeing livery, the original "Spirit of Seattle" departing on 10L. I have waited a long time to catch this one! And I say "original" because ever since Delta started expanding at Alaska's main hub up in Seattle-Tacoma International, they have since dubbed one of their 737s "The Spirit of Seattle." But Alaska Airlines beat them to that one! And given that Boeing is based in Seattle, this livery is the more appropriate one to call "The Spirit of Seattle." But the bitch-slapping contest between Alaska and Delta continues...