M. Wynn: "Wild Card" Aviation Photography & Images: Gallery Update: 4th of July Weekend 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, July 3, 2016

Gallery Update: 4th of July Weekend at PDX

Happy Independence Day to all of you here in the United States! I hope you're enjoying what should be your long 4th of July weekend. As for me, I'm sticking to my traditions and taking advantage of the long weekend at home by making a commute up to Portland International Airport and getting some planespotting in; it's been a few weeks since I was last at PDX to catch the inaugural Sun Country Airlines flight to Minneapolis earlier this month. While I managed to catch all the new airlines that came to PDX this year, I still haven't been able to see the two European carriers, Icelandair and Condor Airlines that serve PDX on a summer seasonal basis at all this year and they've been back at it for a couple months now. That all changed today though! In addition to catching the two European carriers currently serving PDX, I also finally caught the new American Eagle/Compass Airlines E-175 flying the route to Los Angeles (which started on June 2 of this year) today as well. Here's the link:

Portland (PDX) 25

Photo preview and highlights:

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N808DN) clearing 28R after arrival from Atlanta as DAL259.

Icelandair Boeing 757-256 (TF-FIT) Helgafell getting towed from the remote stands back to the terminal. Arrived the evening prior as ICE665 and spent the night in Portland. Will be departing later in the day as ICE664. Registration formerly belonged to a Fokker 50 of Air Iceland, a regional subsidiary of the Icelandair Group. This 757 was also previously leased to Globespan, a British tour operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland which operated the airline as Flyglobespan, which ceased operations in December 2009 due to financial problems. After that, the airframe briefly went to Russia and flew for Yakutia Airlines.

Helgafell is the name of a dormant cone volcano on the outskirts of an important fishing town in the Westman Islands. A neighboring volcano, Eldfell, was formed in an eruption in 1973.

This is actually my first time photographing a standard Icelandair livery. The last time I photographed an Icelandair 757, it wasn't this livery, rather an interim, all-Euro-white fuselage with only the winglets, engine cowlings, and vertical stabilizer as the only recognizable features with the airline's logos.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N387DA) taxiing for departure as DAL222 to it's Pacific Northwest hub in Seattle. Airframe arrived from Seattle about an hour prior as DAL373.

Gulfstream Aerospace (G-VI) G650 (N673HA) taxiing to Atlantic Aviation FBO. This Hillsboro-based G650 is often seen overseas so I suspect that this airframe comes into PDX to get processed by customs despite such services being available (albeit, on a limited basis) at HIO.

Flexjet Bombardier BD-100-1A10 Challenger 350 (N571FX) airborne after departing 28R as LXJ571 for Oakland County International Airport in Pontiac, Michigan.

Condor Flugdienst Boeing 767-330/ER (D-ABUI) clearing 28R after arrival from Frankfurt as CFG90. This is the same airframe that was used for the inaugural flights between Portland and Frankfurt last year.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A320-212 (N357NW) taxiing out for departure as DAL1741 for Salt Lake City. Formerly with Northwest Airlines.

DAL373 just airborne on departure from 28R for Seattle.

DAL1741 rotating on 28R for Salt Lake City.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GGMZ) clearing 28R after arriving from Calgary as JZA8315.

Face-to-face with JZA8315. Note that the left engine has been shut down.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N816DN) rotating on 28R for departure to Atlanta as DAL740.

United Airlines Boeing 737-824 (N37274) getting towed to the remote stands for an overnight stay. Scheduled to depart on the 4th of July as UAL714 for Denver; airframe arrived earlier in the day as UAL550 from San Francisco.

Learjet 60 (N29LJ) airborne after departing 28R.

Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8Q8 (N805SY) arriving on 28R as SCX8024 from Laughlin/Bullhead International on a casino charter. Given that the daily Minneapolis flight has already come and gone for the day, I was absolutely thrilled to catch another Sun Country airframe! It is also my understanding that this airframe also landed at Salem-McNary Field on a military charter back in 2012.

Learjet 60 (N208BH) airborne after departing 28R.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-323 (N819NW) taxiing for departure to Amsterdam as DAL178. Formerly with Northwest Airlines.

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N950AN) taxiing for departure as AAL1500 to Dallas-Fort Worth.

DAL178 departing on 28L for Amsterdam.

Horizon Air Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N441QX) in the University of Alaska at Fairbanks Nanooks livery over at the Horizon maintenance base. This one still somewhat eludes me, but one of these days though!

AAL1500 departing on 28L for Dallas-Fort Worth.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 (N8661A) arriving on 28L as SWA6068 from Denver.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7BD (N7747C) taxiing for departure to Baltimore as SWA1428, one of the few trans-con routes the airline flies. Airframe formerly with Air Tran Airways as N329AT.

SWA1428 rolling on 28L for departure, beginning the long four-hour flight to Baltimore.

N808DN taxiing for departure as DAL2466 for the return-trip to Atlanta.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 (N695DL) taxiing out for departure as DAL1073 for Minneapolis-St. Paul. Kind of ironic to see a Boeing 757 taxiing right behind a 737-900, the latter which seems to be more or less replacing the venerable 757 on many routes...

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N69816) taxiing out for departure to Chicago O' Hare as UAL464.

DAL2466 airborne after departing via 28R for Atlanta.

DAL1073 airborne after departure from 28R heading for Minneapolis.

Beechcraft F33A Bonanza (N204LP) airborne and immediately turning northbound to avoid the Delta 757's wake turbulence for Friday Harbor, WA after departing from 28R.

UAL464 rotating on 28R for Chicago O' Hare.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-790 (N614AS) in the interim livery arriving on 28L from Los Angeles as ASA419.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N714CB) in the classic "retro" livery in tribute to Colleen Barrett arriving on 28L from Austin-Bergstrom as SWA2426. I knew Southwest had at least three of their 737s in the classic retro livery and I'm glad I got to photograph one today because I've waited a long time for this one!

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N403QX) in the Montana State University Bobcats livery rotating on 28L.

C-GGMZ taxiing for departure as JZA8316 for the return-trip to Calgary.

JZA8316 airborne after departing 28R for Calgary.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N435QX) in the Washington State University Huskies livery taxiing to the gate after arriving from Eugene as QXE2609.

SeaPort Airlines Cessna 208B Grand Caravan (N932SP) taxiing to the gate after arriving from Pendleton as SQH823.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N240WN) departing on 28L as SWA912 for Denver.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N402QX) in the University of Montana Grizzlies livery airborne after departing on 28L as QXE2170 for Seattle.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N218NN) taxiing for departure as CPZ6026 for Los Angeles. This is one of the newest sights here at PDX, with service commencing one month ago.

N805SY taxiing for departure for the return-trip to Lauglin/Bullhead as SCX8023 on casino charter.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N225AG) arriving on 28L as SKW3493 from Santa Barbara.

CPZ6026 departing on 28L for Los Angeles.

SCX8023 departing on 28L for Laughlin/Bullhead.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GGMQ) taxiing up to the gate after arriving from Vancouver as JZA8125. I was kind of surprised to see that the flights to Vancouver got upgraded to the Q400 from the usual DHC-8-300s; my best guess is that Q400s are summer season equipment upgrades.

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N69838) arriving on 28R as UAL1159 from San Francisco.

Flight Options Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 (N314FL) airborne after departing 28R as OPT314 for Sun Valley, ID.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N298WN) arriving on 28L as SWA885 from Houston-Hobby.

N714CB departing on 28L as SWA1927 for Phoenix-Sky Harbor after a relatively quick turn-around.

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N988NN) taxiing for departure as AAL2281 for Chicago O' Hare. This is a brand new airframe for American, having been delivered from Boeing earlier this spring.

N8661A taxiing for departure as SWA2635 for Dallas-Love.

AAL2281 departing on 28L for Chicago O' Hare.

SWA2635 departing on 28L for Dallas-Love.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N603QX) airborne after departing 28R as SKW4705 for Seattle. Tail number gives it away here; airframe formerly with Horizon Air.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N526AS) arriving on 28L as ASA557 from Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-790 (N613AS) arriving on 28R as ASA409 from San Jose.

It's been a while since I got a view like this but check out that Airbus A319 arriving on 28R with Mt. Hood in the background!

Spirit Airlines Airbus A319-132 (N507NK) arriving on 28R as NKS990 from Los Angeles. It has been a long time since I last photographed an aircraft from Spirit Airlines. Spirit seems to fly in and out of PDX during the mid-afternoon with a red-eye flight or two late at night.

N673HA airborne after departing 28R, most likely to it's home base in Hillsboro a short hop away.

N387DA clearing 28R after arriving BACK from Seattle on a re-positioning flight. Scheduled to depart to Salt Lake City as DAL50 later in the day.

C-GGMQ airborne after departing 28R as JZA8124 for the return-trip to Vancouver.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 717-2BD (N979AT) taxiing for departure to Los Angeles as DAL2814.

TF-FIT taxiing out for departure to Reykjavik-Keflavik as ICE664.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701ER (N641CA) arriving on 28R from Seattle as SKW4623. Airframe owned by Delta Air Lines and formerly flew for the now-defunct Comair.

DAL2814 just airborne after rotation from 28R for Los Angeles.

ICE664 beginning it's rotation on 28R for Reykjavik-Keflavik. Icelandair increased it's flight frequencies into PDX this year as well so there are more opportunities each week to spot their flights during their summer seasonal runs.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A319-114 (N371NB) arriving on 28R from Salt Lake City as DAL1194. Airframe formerly with Northwest Airlines.

N507NK taxiing for departure as NKS991 for the return-trip to Los Angeles.

NKS991 departing on 28L for Los Angeles.

N613AS departing on 28L for the return-trip to San Jose as ASA402. The 737-700 is the ideal platform for routes like this, especially when flying at several frequencies a day, where a quicker turn-around is ideal.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N215WN) departing on 28L for Oakland as SWA1244.

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N892NN) arriving on 28L from Phoenix-Sky Harbor as AAL329. Seeing that they're using a legacy American 737 on a route inherited from US Airways following the merger shows that the post-merger American fleet has been fully integrated and consolidated into the entire route network; in the past, American-operated flights to Phoenix were always with Airbus A319/320/321s inherited from US Airways.

D-ABUI taxiing for departure for the return-trip to Frankfurt as CFG91.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-790 (N611AS) in the interim livery arriving on 28L as ASA583 from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, CA.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-401 Dash 8 Q400 (N400QX) in University of Idaho Vandals livery beginning it's taxi for departure.