Pilot Life: Taking My Friends, May & Serafina Flying!

It was another beautiful day to get a local flight in to practice some commercial maneuvers. I also brought along some passengers flying as well! For over a year now, my friend May and I have been trying to find some where our schedules matched so we go out flying; the timing of today matched with the weather couldn't have been more perfect! After I picked up May and her sister Serafina, we drove to the airport and hangar and I proceeded to do my pre-flight and walk-around.

N1636H is becoming my go-to airplane!

After pulling the trusty Piper Cherokee out of the hangar, we hopped in and I gave the usual passenger safety briefing. I got the engine started up and powered on the avionics and picked up the ATIS information Salem was currently broadcasting. I picked up taxi clearance and proceeded towards Runway 34; as per the usual procedure, I got the engine run-ups done. After getting a takeoff clearance I got the plane airborne with two very-excited passengers!

I proceeded to do a downwind departure to the south towards Albany. Weather was forecast to deteriorate starting tomorrow, but I was already starting see fog and low clouds further south; I was planning on keeping things local in order to make effective use of my time to practice commercial maneuvers anyways, so I kept us just northeast of Albany near Jefferson and Stayton, all the while remaining clear of Salem's Class Delta airspace. After doing some clearing turns and scanning for traffic both visually and with ADS-B, I talked with my passengers regarding the commercial maneuvers I needed to practice; I also made frequent position calls on the Albany CTAF frequency.

The first thing I did was chandelles, and as soon as I pitched the airplane up, May and Serafina both screamed with excitement! Something tells me they liked this maneuver! After gaining some altitude from a couple chandelles, the next thing I did was steep spirals, so I pulled the engine power pack to idle with carburetor heat on and began a circling descent over a point. After two laps (I gotta get back to doing three!), I leveled with about 1,300 feet between us and the ground, perfectly set up to do some ground reference maneuvers, particularly Eights on Pylons. After determining two points about equal distance from each other, I executed the maneuver, drawing a figure-eight from a God's-eye-view. After a couple laps, I took us out further northeast towards Stayton and Aumsville, just east of Salem and climbed.

Selfie with May and Serafina! A nice day to take these lovely ladies flying!
(Photo credit: May Pinto-Haynes.)

After clearing the airspace around us, I let May take the flight controls while we were flying over Highway 22 and guided her on doing some gentle banks and turns; she didn't do too bad! After that, I decided to take us back into Salem and call it a flight, I positioned for a straight-in approach for Runway 34, picked up the weather, and called up the tower controller, who cleared us to land.

We made an uneventful landing on 34 and taxied off the runway. I was going to get fuel, but the self-serve pumps weren't working, so I just taxied back to the hangar. After disembarking, I pushed the plane back into it's hangar with the tow bar proceeded to do the usual post-flight clean up before calling it a successful flight.

Another good day of flying with good people to accompany me, done!

Gallery Update: Army Chinook Action in Salem!

As I was getting fuel after getting back into Salem following a local flight practicing commercial maneuvers, I spotted a United States Army Chinook helicopter on the ramp as it was about to take off and got a few pictures of it! What's interesting about this catch is that the Chinook I photographed was an MH-47G, the latest and most-sophisticated special operations version of the venerable transport helicopter. Either way, I was excited to see and photograph a Chinook fly for the first time after seeing them on static display at past air shows!

Salem (SLE) 34

United States Army Boeing-Vertol MH-47G Chinook (10-03789) from the 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (4–160th SOAR(A)) (also known as the "Night Stalkers" and Task Force Brown) out of Gray Army Airfield within Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington just after engine-start. About to depart back to Gray Army Airfield.

Taxiing out. Given that it's used for special operations, I can only imagine that aircraft like this are used for clandestine and covert ops that are probably classified! The 160th SORA(A) provides helicopter support for general purpose forces and special operations forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and these missions are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice. This kind of distinction means that this special operations force consists of the Army's best-qualified aviators, crew chiefs, and support soldiers!

Airborne off 34 for Gray Army Airfield. I think this occasion was my first time seeing a Chinook in flight! Note the the very long refueling probe extending from the nose; since special ops missions can last hours, the helicopters they fly need aerial refueling capabilities in order to stay aloft.

Gallery Update: Overcast, Yet Worthwhile Day at PDX

With my new job that I've held for a month now, along with what flying I'm able to get in towards my commercial certificate, and just a few life challenges I've been dealing with as of late, I've been feeling rather down, unmotivated, and a little drained lately. So in order to rectify the situation, I decided to take a day for myself by going up to Portland and do some plane-spotting. Considering that I spent all of October getting zero aviation photography in (mainly because of my new job and partly because of taking advantage of what good flying days I could get!), I'd say a major spotting trip was overdue. In fact, I wanted to go up today because I found out about a few opportunities that I'd like to jump on.

The main reason for going up today was to catch a true classic, a Boeing 737-200 operated by a charter airline! Getting to see and photograph a 737-200 in action for the first time was reason enough to go in spite of the somewhat lousy weather we had today! Other highlights from today include catching an Airbus A321neo in the standard Alaska Airlines colors for the first time, two of Southern Air's Boeing 737-800 freighters operating on the behalf of Amazon, and another WestJet Encore Dash 8 Q400 (with a slight variation to their livery!).

I also hoped that I'd be able to catch a Jazz Air CRJ-900 operating for Air Canada as well because they had been sending them to Portland from Calgary for the past month in lieu of the typical Dash 8 turboprops they'd sent in the past. But of all the days they were operating jets, I got a turboprop from them today! At least I got to photograph the new Air Canada livery again... I was also hoping to see a Volaris flight today (since they fly into PDX during reasonable hours on the weekends), but today's flight was running really late, so I didn't even bother waiting for it. I'll catch these two airlines some other time. But overall, it was a worthwhile spotting trip.

Portland (PDX) 48

Preview:

Alaska Airlines Airbus A321-253N (N921VA) departing on 10L as ASA764 for Washington-National. Finally, I catch an A321neo in the standard Alaska livery! This flight usually departs mid-morning, but was running an hour and a half late, which afforded me the opportunity to photograph it! Formerly Virgin America's "NEO Kid on the block" and the first A321neo Virgin America received. This airframe was also the very first A321neo to be delivered to an airline.

United Airlines Boeing 737-924/ER (N75426) departing on 10L as UAL679 for Chicago O'Hare. 

Wheels Up/Gama Aviation Cessna 560XL Citation Excel (N500UP) taxiing for departure as GAJ500 for Santa Barbara.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N278AK) departing on 10L as ASA347 for Ontario, California.

GAJ500 departing on 10L for Santa Barbara.

American Airlines Airbus A321-231 (N988AL) arriving on 10R as AAL1316 from Dallas/Fort Worth.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900/ER (N917DU) taxiing to the gate arriving on 10L as DAL537 from New York-JFK.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 (N6711M) arriving on 10L as DAL1156 from Atlanta.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N260SY) departing on 10L as SKW3657 for Seattle/Tacoma. With Delta consolidating their regional flying to specific carriers per region, SkyWest E-jets in Delta Connection colors are starting to become a common sight here.

Atlas Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 767-306/ER/BDSF (N1321A) arriving on 10R as GTI3524 from Baltimore. Airframe formerly spent a lot of its early years in Europe flying for KLM, Zoom Airlines, ILFC, Fly Globespan, and Nordwind.

Southern Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 737-83N/BCF (N5153A) airborne off 10R as SOO3601 for Chicago/Rockford. I saw this frame the last time I spotted at PDX.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N625VA) clearing 10R after arriving as ASA1767 from Las Vegas.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N421QX) bearing Horizon's retro livery taxiing for departure as QXE2744 for Sacramento. In just a few days time, Horizon Air and the rest of Alaska Airlines' regional operations at PDX will move from Concourse A, which is due to be demolished, over to Concourse C as part of the airport's terminal refurbishment that's been on-going for the past several years now.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N202NN) departing on 10L as CPZ6088 for Los Angeles.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 (N676DL) departing on 10L as DAL1761 for Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Life Flight Network Pilatus PC-12/47E (N856LF) arriving on 10L.

Ameristar Jet Charter Boeing 737-205/Adv (N467TW) arriving on 10L as AJI9664 from Sioux Falls. I am absolutely thrilled to photograph what's become a really rare sight, a 737-200 in flight! A true classic!

Ameristar consists of two divisions based out of Addison, Texas: cargo operations under the Ameristar Air Cargo name as well as charter passengers operations. The airline began operations in September 2000 with cargo and started flying passengers ranging from sports and entertainment industry celebrities, college athletic teams, and high-wealth individuals exactly five years later.

As you'd expect, this true classic has an extensive history, having first been delivered to Braathens S.A.F.E. in June 1986 as LN-SUZ.

Pacific Coast Jet Charter Cessna 560XL Citation Excel (N746PC) taxiing for departure to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N247SY) departing on 10L as SKW3840 for Seattle/Tacoma.

WestJet Encore (d/b/a WestJet) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-FKWE) arriving on 10L as WEN3628 from Calgary. Only my second time photographing the WestJet livery, but my first seeing this variant of their livery; this airframe sports the old logo next to the WestJet name, but when I photographed the inaugural WestJet flight into Portland seven months ago, it had the newer logo that was stylized as a Canadian Maple leaf next to the WestJet name.

Cessna 560XL Citation Excel (N560VM) arriving on 10L. Pretty cool livery for a corporate jet!

WEN3628 taxiing to the terminal.

Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N618NK) arriving on 10L as NKS691 from Las Vegas.

Southern Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 737-83N/BCF (N5147A) departing on 10R as SOO3608 for Tampa. Two Southern Air 737s flying for Amazon in a single spotting trip! Since I first saw Southern Air's Amazon operations, they expanded out of Portland. This airframe arrived a few hours prior as SOO3609 from Houston-Intercontinental. First delivered to American Trans Air - ATA as N324TZ in June 2002 before going to China Southern Airlines as B-5128. This airframe also inaugurated Amazon's new 737-800 operations between Portland and Chicago/Rockford earlier this year on May 2, 2019.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GGNF) taxiing to the gate after arriving as JZA8315 from Calgary. Not surprisingly, Air Canada shifted their Calgary flights to coincide around WestJet's flights, demonstrating just how cut-throat Canadian airlines can be! This is only my second time seeing the new Air Canada livery; the first time I saw it was a year ago to this month! Of all the days Jazz was flying CRJ-900s into Portland from Calgary, they had to send a Q400 today!

Life Flight Network Pilatus PC-12/47E (N126TS) taxiing for departure.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332/ER (N171DZ) departing on 10L as DAL178 for Amsterdam. Starting in March 2020, Delta will be changing things up with their operations out of Portland. Having received new slots to fly into Tokyo-Haneda, Delta will shift over all Tokyo operations to there and end all flights to and from Tokyo-Narita starting March of next year; this is significant because Delta inherited much of the Narita slots they held from their 2009 merger with Northwest Airlines. The airline will also shuffle up what wide-body equipment they'll be flying as well. In the case of the Haneda flights, it will operated with Airbus A330-200s.

Gallery Update: Salem's New Gate Guard!

Between work, flying, and working on project backlogs, plane-spotting and aviation photography has been on a bit of a hiatus on my part. But I did get something worth noting today, as I've been trying to find some time to photograph a Grumman OV-1 Mohawk that was just recently put on display right here in Salem!

I didn't know this previously, but the Army Guard unit here in Salem used to operate the venerable OV-1 Mohawk over a 20 year span from 1972 until 1992 (just goes to show that there's local military aviation history everywhere you go!). The plane on display in Salem, affectionately known as Mohawk #926, was one of 21 OV-1s based here, making it a significant piece of Oregon's history. The group responsible for the restoration and eventual donation and display of the aircraft, The Mohawk #926 Project spent three years working to acquire and restore the aircraft for display, which was recently completed with a dedication ceremony that took place on November 2, 2019.

Salem (SLE) 33

United States Army Grumman OV-1D Mohawk (67-18926) on permanent display outside the Oregon Army National Guard Aviation Support Facility.

Mohawk #926 was assigned to the 641st Military Intelligence Battalion from September 1973 until July 1989. It was a "dual stick" aircraft, so it served as the unit's trainer to help OV-1 crews maintain currency in the type. It also served other roles such as border surveillance for the United States Border Patrol, photo mapping for various state and federal agencies, and most notably, monitoring Mt. Saint Helens for the United States Geological Service before and after the 1980 eruption.

Mohawk #926 last saw combat during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq as one of the last OV-1s to be deployed before being retired. It's gratifying to see such a unique aircraft with local history and ties preserved and displayed right where it belongs!