A Sight No More: Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-80s

Today marked the end of an era for American low-cost carrier Allegiant Air with the retirement of their fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80s after 16 years of operations. The occasion was commemorated with a special flight going back to the airline's roots by flying their first route, a round trip between Las Vegas, Nevada, the city where their current headquarters is located and Fresno, California, their original headquarters and hub when they were first established.

Allegiant acquired its first McDonnell Douglas MD-80 in March 2002 after exiting a period of bankruptcy and corporate restructuring. The "Mad Dog" served as a replacement for the MD-80's predecessor, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, which Allegiant operated a small fleet of four when the airline was first established. Since then, the airline developed its ever-increasing scheduled-service business model relying on the MD-80, while at the same time maintaining a low utilization out of their fleet.

Allegiant is the only U.S. carrier to have operated all five subtypes of the MD-80 series, all acquired second-hand. Throughout its history the airline has operated 61 MD-80s, split between four of the shorter MD-87s, which were specifically used for casino charter flights until their retirement in 2013, and rest being MD-81s, MD-82s, MD-83s, and MD-88s, which are the same lengths. All MD-81s and MD-82s were either retired or converted to MD-83s by 2013, effectively leaving Allegiant with just the MD-83 and six MD-88s, which were the better-performing variants in terms of increased range, higher weights, more powerful engines, and increased fuel capacity in the standard-length members of the MD-80 family.

Starting in July 2012, Allegiant Air announced the addition of used Airbus A319-100s to their fleet and began acquiring them in 2013. That same year, the airline also began adding the larger Airbus A320-200 to its fleet. The addition of the A320 family allowed for growth and expansion for Allegiant, especially into markets and destinations that the MD-80s couldn't fly into; the newer all-Airbus fleet also allows Allegiant to benefit from lower fuel and maintenance costs. This also marked the beginning of the phase-out process of Allegiant's MD-80s, especially since the age of the aircraft as well as rising reliability issues was becoming an apparent.

The retirement of Allegiant's MD-80 fleet leaves Delta Air Lines and American Airlines as the remaining scheduled passenger operators of the MD-80 family in the United States. Other current U.S. MD-80 operators include World Atlantic Airlines and their small fleet of eight in the charter market, as well as USA Jet Airlines and Everts Air in the cargo market with one and eight jets respectively. A handful of MD-87s have also been converted as air tankers for the aerial firefighting roles.

Here is a montage of all the Allegiant MD-80s I managed to photograph when I had the opportunities:

McDonnell Douglas MD-88 (N401NV).

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N427NV); modified from an MD-82.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N883GA).

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N879GA).

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N417NV); modified from an MD-81.

McDonnell Douglas MD-88 (N403NV).

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N877GA).

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N422NV); modified from an MD-81.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N421NV); modified from an MD-81.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N429NV); modified from an MD-82.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N891GA); modified from an MD-82.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N872GA); modified from an MD-82.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N419NV); modified from an MD-81.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N425NV); modified from an MD-81.

We bid farewell to the legendary "Mad Dog" from yet another U.S. air carrier! The smoky and loud roar of their twin Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200s will be missed from an AvGeek perspective!

Gallery Update: An Hour in Portland

So I dropped my aunt an uncle off at Portland International Airport last weekend and I'm back a week later to pick them up! I got a little under an hour of spotting in since I was waiting to pick up people this time, so I didn't get much on this go-around but I still got a few worthwhile shots. Main highlights of this spotting trip include not one but two Airbus A319s in Virgin America colors, which have yet to get painted in the Alaska Airlines livery (I've actually never seen or photographed a Virgin America A319 before until today!) and my first look at Air Canada's new livery via one of Jazz Air's Q400s.

Portland (PDX) 37

Preview:

Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12/45 (N776JT) airborne off 28R as BTQ354 for Pendleton.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N623VA) taxiing for departure as ASA1808 for San Francisco. Former Virgin America "three if by air."

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N934WN) departing on 28L as SWA2963 for Denver.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N187SY) arriving on 28L as SKW3318 from Seattle-Tacoma.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N457WN) arriving on 28L as SWA3721 from Las Vegas.

ASA1808 departing on 28L for San Francisco.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GJZK) arriving onn 28R as JZA8125 from Vancouver. Finally, I get to lay eyes on the new Air Canada livery for the first time!

JZA8125 clearing off 28R. Air Canada launched this new retro red and black livery on February 9, 2017 to coincide with the airline's 80th anniversary and Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. The updated livery includes design aspects from the logo used between 1964 and 1992, with an overall white colour scheme, with a black underside, tail fin with red maple leaf rondelle, black "Air Canada" lettering with a red maple leaf rondelle underneath, and a black "mask" surrounding the cockpit windows. Anyone else gets the impression that the plane looks like some sort of bandit or raccoon with that cockpit window "mask?"

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N840NN) arriving on 28L as AAL1460 from Dallas-Fort Worth.

Virgin America (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Airbus A319-112 (N523VA) "contents may be under pressure" taxiing for departure as ASA1552 for Palm Springs. My first time catching an A319 in the Virgin America livery.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900/ER (N293AK) arriving on 28L as ASA659 from Phoenix Sky Harbor. Delivered to Alaska Airlines earlier this month!

Virgin America (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Airbus A319-112 (N527VA) "tubular belle" taxiing for departure as ASA1798 for Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N569AS) taxiing for departure three hours late as ASA809 for Kahului. Formerly the "Starliner 75" retro jet. Kind of disappointing that Alaska repainted it to the standard livery...

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N628QX) arriving on 28L as QXE2695 from Spokane.

ASA1552 departing on 28L. Alaska Airlines is currently focusing on getting the A320s acquired from the merger with Virgin America repainted in order to remain consistent, so the A319s and any A321neos will remain in the Virgin colors for a little longer.

ASA1798 departing on 28L for Los Angeles. Glad to get two Virgin America A319s this spotting trip!

Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-232(WL) (N648NK) arriving on 28R as NKS260 from Las Vegas.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N404UA) arriving on 28R as UAL2055 from San Francisco.

Pilot Life: Quick Flight to Corvallis

I took the 172 down for a quick flight to Corvallis once again to inquire about a few things regarding future flight training for myself (namely multi-engine training!). As always, a little pre-flight procedures and I got airborne before turning on course to Corvallis.

N5174E, my main ride!

After getting the weather information from the AWOS frequency, I entered the pattern for Runway 17 at Corvallis; I sequenced myself in due to several local aircraft in the pattern at the time. After an uneventful landing, I taxied over to the transient parking and shut the engine down.

After going about my business making some inquiries, I returned to the airplane and got back in the air. I stayed in the Corvallis traffic pattern and did a touch-and-go landing to get some extra flight time in! I then made my back to Albany and landed there. And by the look of things, it looks like I got back just in time because it looked like some fog was starting form! After landing, I taxied over to the fuel pumps and topped off the fuel tanks before taxiing over to the hangar to put away the airplane.

Between everything that happened last year and everything I've been trying to accomplish this year, I'm hoping to make inroads with the local aviation community and seek networking opportunities.

Gallery Update: Random Shots from Albany and Corvallis

In between some flying I decided to do today, I made sure to have my camera on me and got some interesting shots in Albany before taking off as well as Corvallis when I made a quick stopover there.

Albany (S12) 10

Corvallis (CVO) 2

Preview:

An ultralight trike airborne off 34.

A second ultralight trike airborne off 34. I don't think I've ever photographed something unusual as this!

Empire Airlines (d/b/a FedEx Feeder) Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster (N960FE) on the ramp at Corvallis. Arrived earlier from Newport just over the mountains as CFS7669 and scheduled to continue on to Portland with the same flight number.

Pilot Life: Practicing Up in Salem

I stayed local today as there weren't a lot places I could go to in terms of distance with variable weather all around. So I decided to hop up to Salem and do some pattern work with Class Delta airspace ops in mind!

Putting Salem in my logbook once again with N5174E!

After departing Albany via Runway 34. I made the short hop north to Salem. After getting the current weather via ATIS, I called up the tower controller, who instructed me to make a straight-in approach for Runway 34 and report back in when three miles out. I have to admit, there are times I do miss training out of towered airport like when I first started in Provo. I was cleared for touch-and-go on 34 and then instructed to make left-closed traffic on each pass. Shout out to the Salem tower controllers for being so accommodating!

I did four touch-and-go landings total on Runway 34 at Salem. On the fifth lap, I requested a full-stop landing with a taxi-back for southbound departure. I got cleared to land and made my full-stop landing on Runway 34. I was then instructed to call up the ground-controller, who instructed me to taxi back to the same runway I landed on via the parallel taxiway. Simple enough! I called the tower controller again and informed him I was ready for departure. He had me hold short of Runway 34 for a departing UH-60 Black Hawk based at the Army National Guard facility in Salem.

Holding short for one of the Oregon Army National Guard's Black Hawks like this one!

I was eventually cleared for takeoff with caution of wake turbulence from the departed Black Hawk. I got back in the air and made a southbound departure on the left downwind. I gave my thanks to the tower controller and made my way back to Albany. I entered left traffic for Runway 34 and made an uneventful landing before heading to the fuel pumps. After topping off the tanks, I taxied the good old Skyhawk back to the hangar, where I put the plane away and called it a another successful flight.

Pilot Life: Quick Cross-Country Through the Willamette Valley

I'm beginning to think and plan ahead for my flight training after the Instrument Rating; the plan is to pursue my single-engine Commercial Rating afterwards, but something else I'll eventually need is a multi-engine add-on rating. The flight school I'm currently receiving instruction from does not have a multi-engine trainer, so I had to get some research in regarding where else I could possibly go. After a day or two of Internet searching, I've narrowed down two possibilities; one up in Aurora, and the other down in Corvallis. After measuring the distances, I decided to fly to these respective locations and made a cross-country flight out of it flying in a triangle!

A quick cross-country triangle flight in N5174E!

My first flight leg was from Albany to Aurora State Airport, the second-longest of the triangle route I had planned. My route of flight took me through Salem's Class Delta airspace northbound before going into Aurora's Class Delta. After establishing radio contact with the tower controller at Aurora, I was instructed to make a straight-in approach to landing for Runway 35. After landing, I was instructed to call up the ground controller, who gave me taxi directions all the way to the north side, which was where I needed to go to make my inquiries!

After my business at Aurora was done, I flew my second leg of the triangle, which would be longest! I departed Aurora via Runway 35 (after a long wait holding short!) and made a left downwind departure to the southwest. My next destination would be Corvallis. As I made my way southwest-bound, I had a moment to appreciate how nice of a day for flying today turned out to be! After making the 50 mile hop from Aurora to Corvallis, I entered the left downwind for Runway 35, as the winds were favorable according the AWOS report. After landing, I taxied to the ramp with transient parking and shut the engine down. I then made my inquiries, which ended up being a partial dead-end; thankfully, I got some contact information I could call at a better time!

With the sun setting, I hopped back in the airplane and taxied over to Runway 35. I did a quick run-up and then held short for some local VFR traffic beating up the Corvallis pattern before departing. I turned to the northeast and flew the shortest and my final leg of the triangle back to Albany. It was quiet in Albany, which I found unusual. I made my approach via an extended left-base for Runway 34 and made an uneventful landing. With the last bit sunlight, I taxied over to the fuel pumps and topped off the tanks before taxiing back to my uncle's hangar, where I put the airplane away for the night.

Every opportunity to fly counts at this point, and I'm glad I got a quick cross-country today!

Gallery Update: Jet Sighting in Albany!

Another small update to the gallery, but worth sharing. After doing a quick cross-country flight up and down the Willamette Valley today on an unusually sunny afternoon, I had the opportunity to take a closer look at something on the ramp at Albany I just had to photograph! The aircraft in question (that's been on the ramp in Albany for quite some time now!) was an early model of the Cessna Citation family.

Albany (S12) 9

Preview:

Cessna 500 Citation I (N70CA) parked on the ramp. By today's standards, this airframe is a far cry from some of the newer models out there so not surprisingly, a straight-wing like this can be worthy of the "Slowtation" nickname! According to the FAA website, this jet's airworthiness and registration is currently expired, so what's to become of this old bird is up in the air...

Pilot Life: Practicing Down in Corvallis

After that local night flight I did the last time I went flying, I decided to return to Corvallis today with plenty of daylight to spare so I can get some landing practice when I can actually see outside!

Doing some daytime flying in N5174E for the first time in a while...

After the usual pre-flight, I got airborne and headed down to Corvallis. After picking up the weather from the AWOS frequency, I entered the left downwind for Runway 17. I did two standard touch-and-go landings followed by a full-stop with a taxi-back via the parallel taxiway. I did my standard departure off 17 and departed from the downwind back Northeast to Albany, where I touched down to call it another flight.

After topping off the fuel tanks, I taxied the Cessna 172 back to my uncle's hangar and put the plane away before heading home.

Gallery Update: Another Morning Spotting in Portland

This morning, I had to drop off my aunt and uncle at PDX who were flying down to Utah for a week. Of course, this offered me the opportunity to get a little plane-spotting from my usual spot on top of the short-term parking garage. As far as spotting highlights go for this opportunity, the only major firsts for me would have to be a pair of special Southwest liveries, my first look at a Spirit Airlines A319 in their latest (albeit really yellow!) livery, and my first time seeing and photographing a Piaggio P.180 Avanti. I also got to see another 737 MAX 8 operated by Southwest Airlines along with a couple of F-15s from the Oregon Air National Guard.

Portland (PDX) 36

Preview:

Atlas Air (d/b/a Cathay Pacific Cargo) Boeing 747-87UF/SCD (N856GT) arriving on 10R as CPA3281 from Los Angeles for a brief stopover to pick up cargo before continuing on to Hong Kong via Anchorage.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N562AS) arriving on 10R as ASA407 from San Jose. 

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N558AS) departing on 10L as ASA638 for Las Vegas.

Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV-X G450 (N125TF) departing on 10L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a United Express) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N162SY) departing on 10L as SKW5458 for Denver.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N955WN) "Arizona One" departing on 10L as SWA5224 for San Francisco. I finally photograph one of Southwest's many state specials!

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a United Express) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N140SY) arriving on 10L as SKW5808 from San Francisco.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N402QX) in University of Montana Grizzlies colors airborne off 10L as QXE2850 for Seattle-Tacoma.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N620QX) departing on 10L as QXE2581 for Burbank.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N613CZ) departing on 10L as CPZ5829 for Seattle-Tacoma.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N443QX) in University of Alaska at Anchorage Seawolves colors departing 10L as QXE2350 for Spokane.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N854VA) taxiing to the gate after doing some engine runs.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N403QX) in Montana State University Wildcats colors taxiing to the gate after arriving from Seattle-Tacoma as QXE2175.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332/ER (N196DN) arriving on 10L as DAL179 from Amsterdam.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990 (N302AS) departing on 10L as ASA572 for San Diego.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N183SY) departing on 10L as SKW3482 for Salt Lake City. My aunt and uncle were on this flight!

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900/ER (N870DN) arriving on 10L as DAL2715 from Atlanta.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Embraer ERJ-170-200L E-175LR (N215NN) departing on 10L as CPZ6088 for Los Angeles.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N481UA) taxiing to the gate after arriving from Houston Intercontinental as UAL1938,

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N705SW) departing on 10L as SWA4024 for Oakland.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N466WN) departing on 10L as SWA5002 for Phoenix Sky Harbor.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N459UA) arriving on 10L as UAL2390 from Chicago O'Hare.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N865DN) departing on 10L as DAL1067 for Detroit.

Cirrus SR22T (N72AD) arriving on 10L from Seattle-Boeing.

Virgin America (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Airbus A320-214 (N284VA) "Rabid Badger" airborne off 10L as ASA9565 on a re-positioning flight to Seattle-Tacoma.

N854VA departing on 10L as ASA1282 for San Francisco. Formerly Virgin America's "Stand Up Flyer."

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 (N697DL) arriving on 10L as DAL1297 from Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

Southwest Airline Boeing 737 MAX 8 (N8722L) departing on 10L as SWA2994 for Dallas-Love. My second time seeing a 737 MAX 8! Southwest also recently took delivery of their last 737 NG from Boeing just recently, so that means any new aircraft deliveries from here on out will be nothing but the 737 MAX series!

N856GT airborne off 10R, continuing as CPA3281 for Hong Kong via Anchorage. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen this airframe here at PDX...

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (84-0094) airborne off 10R as "Rage 01."

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (78-0482) airborne off 10R as "Rage 02."

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (78-0470) airborne off 10R as "Rage 03."

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15D Eagle (85-0130) airborne off 10R as "Rage 04."

Piaggio P.180 Avanti (N777ZK) departing on 10L for Redmond. My first time seeing one of these unique Italian executive transports! They're pretty uncommon right now too, since about 240 of them have been built so far.

Dassault Falcon 2000 (N598WC) arriving on 10L.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N413UA) arriving on 10L as UAL1950 from Denver.

Spirit Airlines Airbus A319-133 (N535NK) departing on 10L as NKS692 for Las Vegas. This is my first time seeing an A319 in Spirit's latest livery! Formerly with Volaris as XA-VOP.

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N948NN) departing on 10L as AAL2714 for Dallas-Fort Worth.

American Airlines Airbus A321-231 (N144AN) departing two hours behind schedule on 10L as AAL1316 for Dallas-Fort Worth.

American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N918AN) departing on 10L as AAL2408 for Chicago O'Hare.

Virgin America (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Airbus A320-214 (N633VA) "The Tim Clark Express" departing on 10L as ASA1798 for Los Angeles.

Learjet 31A (N535PS) arriving on 10L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N945WN) "Florida One" departing on 10L as SWA1014 for Denver. I got two Southwest state specials in a single spotting trip!