A Sight No More: Air Canada's E-190s

Today, Air Canada marked the retirement of their smallest mainline aircraft from their fleet, the Embraer E-190, with the final two airframes conducting their final revenue flights on behalf of the Canadian flag carrier. Configured to seat just 97 passengers and having operated 45 of the type, the E-190 served the airline since 2005.

The E-190 was the ideal platform to provide mainline service on thinner domestic and international routes in Air Canada's network. Originally slated to be removed from the fleet by mid-2019, Air Canada ended up retaining their E-190 fleet along with several other aircraft types that were to retire in order to maintain capacity following unfortunate circumstances caused by the Boeing 737 MAX groundings following the two deadly crashes of the type that occurred in Indonesia and Ethiopia; Air Canada operated over 20 737 MAX 8 airframes up until the groundings. The E-190 retirement (among other aircraft) has finally been accelerated in order to reduce airline operating expenses due to the ongoing global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time of reduced operations, Air Canada intends to replace their E-190s over time with the Airbus A220-300 (formerly the Bombardier CS300). The grounded 737 MAX is also slated to take on the bulk of Air Canada's narrow-body operations, assuming the type returns to service in the future and public confidence in it has been restored.

I was fortunate to have photographed a few of Air Canada's Embraer E-190s when they were still in operation:

Air Canada Embraer ERJ-190-100IGW E-190AR (C-FHKE).

Air Canada Embraer ERJ-190-100IGW E-190AR (C-FHOY).

Air Canada Embraer ERJ-190-100IGW E-190AR (C-FHKI).

With that, we bid a fond farewell to Air Canada's smallest mainline jet. The planes are still fairly young, so it's hoped that they will find a place with another operator through the secondary market, but during these unusual times of reduced air travel and airline operations, only time will tell.

Gallery Update: Citation Mustang Sighting in Salem

After getting back from a local flight I did, I stuck around and did some "hangar flying" and got some spotting in around the ramp. The only noteworthy catch of today was a Cessna Citation Mustang. Other than that, Salem Airport is still practically dead, so anything with a turboprop or jet engine is always a highlight here, that is until the aviation events planned for this summer happens (assuming the COVID-19 crisis doesn't throw a wrench in said plans!). And with airline activity still slow to recover in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, there's really not much else to look forward to other than take life one day at a time and hold out on hope that things will start to pick up in droves.

Salem (SLE) 42

Preview:

Cessna 510 Citation Mustang (N603WS) taxiing for departure to Roseburg. Arrived earlier in the day from Roseburg.

N603WS departing on 34 for Roseburg.

Valley Flyers Cessna 172M Skyhawk II (N12382) airborne off 34 for a local flight. I've flown this plane a few times this year already!

American General Aviation Corporation (AGAC) AG-5B Tiger (N1196J) taxiing to the hangar. Registered with the Salem Pilots Association, another flying club based here at the airport. I haven't photographed many examples of the AA-5/AG-5 series of aircraft, so I'll have to keep an eye out for more of them as the family of aircraft has an extensive history of manufacturers!

Valley Flyers Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N1636H) airborne off 34 for a local flight. This has been my go-to airplane for commercial training!

Gallery Update: A Quick Trip to PDX

I normally wouldn't do this, but after noticing a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-700 flew into Portland yesterday afternoon and it was scheduled to fly out the following morning, I knew I had to chase it down because Delta only has ten examples of the type in their fleet and they rarely make their way out here to the west coast! Delta uses their relatively small fleet of 737-700s to serve long, thin, domestic routes as well as certain international routes to Latin America and the Caribbean. The airline picked up the 737-700s while operating under bankruptcy protection in 2006 and began reducing domestic flights and increasing international flights; with such changes, Delta sold off a number of 737-800 orders they had from Boeing at the time and even converted ten of those orders to 737-700s.

Delta's sub-fleet of 737-700s became the ideal platform to serve smaller and developing markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly into airports notorious for short runways, extreme temperatures and high density altitudes; such airports that come to mind include Tegucigalpa's Toncontin International Airport in Honduras, Key West, Florida, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which might be the farthest west Delta usually brings their 737-700s domestically.

Considering that good spotting is, well, spotty right now, any trip I can take in light of the ongoing crisis is a welcome opportunity. And after working seven days in a row this last week with constant lousy weather keeping from flying, it was fun to go do something that I love. As always, this spotting trip was done with appropriate social distancing measures practiced for the duration and such practices are continued to be recommended in the midst of ongoing crisis. Anyone wishing to do their own plane-spotting during this time does so at their own risk.

Portland (PDX) 52

Preview:

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-732 (N304DQ) taxiing for departure as DAL8825 for Atlanta. My first time photographing one of Delta's elusive 737-700s!

Arrived yesterday as DAL8965 from Savannah/Hilton Head. Primarily used on Delta's long and thin domestic and international routes, particularly to airports with short runways, extreme temperatures and high density altitudes.

DAL8825 departing on 10L for Atlanta.

Delta only has ten 737-700s in their fleet and appearances on the west coast of this type from the airline is pretty rare!

DAL8825 rotating off 10L. Very happy to finally catch one of these!

Flexjet Embraer EMB-545 Legacy 450 (N429FX) taxiing for departure as LXJ429 for Van Nuys.

LXJ429 airborne off 10L. The Legacy 450 is shortened follow-up design to the original EMB-550 Legacy 500. One can easily tell the difference between the two by counting the passenger windows; the Legacy 450 has six windows per side, while the Legacy 500 has seven per side. 

In addition, the Legacy family's latest variants include the Praetor 500 and 600 upgrades.

Frontier Airlines Airbus A320-251N (N322FR) "Captain the Puffin" departing on 10L as FFT790 for Denver.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N216WR) departing on 10L as SWA510 for San Jose.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N404SY) departing on 10L as SKW3305 for San Jose.

Flexjet Bombardier BD-100-1A10 Challenger 350 (N593FX) taxiing for departure as LXJ593 for Oakland.

LXJ593 departing on 10L for Oakland.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N451QX) departing on 10L as QXE2806 for Seattle/Tacoma.

Gallery Update: F-15 Flyovers & a Visit to Albany

Long day! After I got off work this morning, I decided to go flying; I was going to go up later in the afternoon following a morning nap, but the temperatures were forecast to hit a high above 80 degrees Fahrenheit today, the highest this part of Oregon will see so far in the year. Of course, that meant less-smooth air for said flight so I decided to push it up for earlier to take advantage of the cooler, smooth air to practice my commercial maneuvers. In the end, it was the right call to make.

Before I went flying though, I staged myself back near my workplace because the Oregon Air National Guard was conducting multiple flyovers today with a pair F-15 Eagles in a show of solidarity to salute the people on the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis and to lift morale during these unusual times as part of Operation American Resolve. Yes, I got the shots of the flyover I wanted! And then during my flight, I decided to stop in Albany to pay a visit with some old acquaintances at Infinite Air Center, as they just re-opened their doors for business just last week and I got a few ramp shots there. It's actually been a while since I took any photos at Albany!

A double gallery update in a single day!

Off-Airport - 05/08/2020

Albany (S12) 19

Preview:

EAGLE 01 flight of two F-15 Eagles from the 142nd Fighter Wing out of Portland overflying my workplace!

Flyover conducted as part of "Operation: American Resolve" and the Air Force's salute to frontline workers and essential employees in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, which has gripped the world for over two months now.

Thank you to the Oregon Air National Guard and the members of the 142nd Fighter Wing out of Portland for their salute! Seeing this flyover was enough to a smile on the face of this often worn out "essential worker."

Cessna 172 Skyhawk (N5636A) parked on the ramp. A true 1956 vintage model of the classic 172! Infinite Air Center is now leasing this true classic for flight training!

Piper PA-28-151 Cherokee Warrior (N33376) parked in the hangar. Nicknamed "Joan" by the flight school, it is the flight school's TAA (Technically Advanced Aircraft), used by commercial students who need the 10 requisite hours of TAA time. This Warrior replaced Infinite's Piper Arrow (the same one that I got my Complex in!), since now the commercial requirement no longer requires just complex time, but rather either complex or TAA time! I of course, went the old-school route and got 10 hours of complex time!

Grumman American AA-1B TR-2 (N1438R) parked on the ramp. I don't think I've seen this type before! The AA-1 series is the predecessor to the four-seat Grumman American AA-5 series. 

Gallery Update: Catching Two Italian Designs in Salem!

After getting back from an hour-long flight practicing commercial maneuvers, I overheard on the radio that a locally-based Partenavia P.68 Observer was coming in to land. Now I've seen and photographed this plane once before, but I knew I had a chance to get a better shot of it! And on top of that, I also got to see a Tecnam P2006T parked on the ramp as I was about to get some fuel! I got the unique opportunity to see and photograph two distinct Italian twin-engine aircraft designs at the same time! Considering that both the P.68 and P2006T are rather uncommon sights here, it was definitely an opportunity that I could not pass up! Even more unusual is that both planes were outfitted for aerial survey and imaging work.

Salem (SLE) 41

Preview:

Oregon Department of Forestry Partenavia P.68 Observer (N9000V) arriving on 34 following a local flight. From what I've heard, the forestry service is conducting training flights for some new-hire pilots in this airplane.

Tecnam P2006T (N950GV) parked on the ramp. This frame is also outfitted for aerial survey work and as it turns out, was doing just that out of Salem several times throughout the day already.

N9000V taxiing back to 34 on taxiway C for departure and pattern work.

A shot of both Italian twin-engine designs in one shot!

N950GV taxiing for departure for another aerial survey mission and then on to Portland-Troutdale.

N9000V airborne off 34.

N950GV airborne off 34.

Raytheon/Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier I (N88MM) parked on the ramp. Arrived earlier this morning from Scottsdale and scheduled to return to Scottsdale in the evening.

A Sight No More: Alaska Airlines' Airbus A319s

The COVID-19 crisis is wreaking havoc on the aviation industry in more ways than one. Aside from the sharp decline in air travel demand and struggling airlines ceasing operations, airlines that are getting by during these times have been forced to make drastic cuts and reductions in many aspects of their daily operations as well as planning for the future. One thing we've seen during this crisis is airlines accelerating the retirement or removal of certain aircraft types from their fleets. Some of them iconic, some of them often underappreciated. In today's case, it's the latter.

Alaska Airlines has announced that they've retired their entire sub-fleet of Airbus A319s (ten aircraft total) from their fleet, along with two Airbus A320s. Along with their A320s, and A321neos, the A319s were inherited by Alaska Airlines following their merger with Virgin America. Among its mainline fleet, the A319 was the smallest aircraft in Alaska Airlines' fleet and along with the two A320s that were removed, were among the handful of aircraft that had not received the reconfigured cabin interior that the airline is currently known for. Additional A320s that are still equipped with the old Virgin America livery are also likely to retire, having already been parked and most likely not returning to service amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Being the smallest mainline aircraft in the fleet, the A319 was definitely the least profitable aircraft in the Alaska Airlines fleet, so it would make financial sense to remove them from the fleet to mitigate the amount of money the airline is burning just to stay operation, more so now amidst this current decline in air travel. It also doesn't make much financial sense to maintain such a small sub-fleet consisting of the ten A319 airframes versus the larger number of A320s (along with the newer, fuel-efficient A321neos, which they apparently love!) that Alaska currently operates.

This is easily a case of a short-lived aircraft type with a certain livery, as the all the A319s Alaska Airlines inherited from Virgin America were only repainted just a year ago. It was also just a year ago that the final Virgin America Airbuses were repainted into the current Alaska Airlines livery. But on the other hand, this crisis and the repercussions that the aviation industry would feel from it came way out of left-field and such accelerations of fleet-type retirements were still previously a ways away from happening. The COVID-19 crisis changed everything...

Here's a photo montage of all the Airbus A319s sporting the most-merger Alaska Airlines livery I managed to photograph in the past year (excluding photos of airframes sporting the former Virgin America livery featured in a previous montage):

Airbus A319-112 (N521VA)

Airbus A319-112 (N524VA)

Airbus A319-112 (N530VA).

Airbus A319-112 (N528VA)

Airbus A319-115 (N522VA)

I was fortunate to have photographed five A319s in the Alaska Airlines livery! But it's another sighting I never fully appreciated until it was gone. While the A319 could have served certain mainline routes for Alaska Airlines and offered slightly greater range compared to the A320, the small fleet numbers and the current condition of the industry dictates otherwise. With that, we bid farewell to the former-Virgin America-turned Alaska Airlines "Baby Buses!"

Gallery Update: Chasing Portland's Cargo Heavies

NOTE: Appropriate social distancing measures were practiced for the duration of this spotting trip and such practices are continued to be encouraged in the midst of this global crisis if anyone wishes to do their own plane-spotting at their own risk.

Alright, I decided to spend a Friday evening up at PDX for a quick spotting trip because it's been a while and frankly, I was starting to get a little stir-crazy and bored from all the isolation. Between working slightly-longer hours, flying when I could, and my studying, there isn't much else going on!

While passenger airlines are still suffering and operating at a reduced capacity because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, cargo airlines are still going strong, which shouldn't come as a surprise since they're playing a vital role in transporting essential supplies, equipment, as well as medicine to help combat the Coronavirus. And that's what I wanted to focus on during this spotting trip as there were a few things I wanted to specifically go after. I also took comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone today as there were a few spotters and families watching what air traffic there was at the usual vantage point on top of the short-term parking garage. Again, it shouldn't be a surprise, since plane-spotting is an activity where social distancing is easy to do; of course, I kept my distance from fellow spotters and had no close interaction with anyone for the duration of this trip!

Honestly, it was a sad sight at PDX though with the terminal pretty much empty and lots of passenger airliners (mainly from Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines) parked for long-term storage. And I should've had at least two previous spotting trips up to Portland already, which were supposed to be the inaugural Delta Air Lines flight to Tokyo-Haneda with Airbus A330-200s and then the inaugural flight(s) between Portland and Seattle-Boeing Field by JSX (formerly JetSuite X) and their Embraer ERJ-135s/145s respectively. Not surprisingly, the Delta flights between Portland and Tokyo-Haneda have not started at all after passing the transition date (March 28, 2020) from the Tokyo-Narita operations, and the JSX flights seems to have been removed from the carrier's route network completely. Hopefully, these flights will start up in the future once the current crisis is finally behind us. The British Airways inaugural flight between Portland and London-Heathrow is still scheduled as planned in June.

Today, I went after mainly the cargo heavies that are serving PDX. The main highlight of this trip was a Boeing 747-8F operated by UPS Airlines. I also noticed that FedEx Express was sending their older Airbus A300s into PDX and I definitely wanted to photograph one of those! Another surprise catch that I kind of forgot about was ABX Air; they usually send one of their Boeing 767-200s in the DHL livery, but this time, I got one in the standard ABX livery! The one thing I couldn't get this trip due to the winds blowing in the wrong direction was an Empire Airlines ATR-72 in the FedEx livery; I've seen several of their ATR-42s before and even got one of their ATR-72s in the 'Ohana by Hawaiian livery earlier this year, but I have yet to catch one in the standard FedEx Feeder livery. I'll get it next time! Aside from one exception, this is probably the first spotting trip I've done at PDX where I photographed only the cargo airlines!

Portland (PDX) 51

Preview:

FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N590FE) clearing the active after arriving on 10R as FDX781 from Memphis. First delivered to American Airlines as N1757A in August 1991. Leased to USAfrica Airways in April 1994 before returning to American in February 1995. Acquired by FedEx in January 1998.

Atlas Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 767-3Q8/ER/BDSF (N1361A) arriving on 10R as GTI3736 from Cincinnati. After seeing a few 767s in the Amazon colors, I finally catch one sporting the blended winglets!

GTI3736 taxiing to the cargo ramp. First delivered as HL7249 to Asiana Airlines in March 1995. Then went to Southern Winds Airlines in Argentina as TF-ARB in September 2002. Airframe then spent the rest of its time in passenger configuration with LAN Airlines amongst its subsidiaries. Transferred to LAN Chile as CC-CEN in October 2003. Re-registered as LV-BFD for LAN Argentina in July 2006. Returned to LAN Chile in March 2008 and re-registered again to CC-CXL and transferred to LATAM Airlines Chile in May 2016. Acquired by Atlas Air in June 2016 for conversion to cargo. Re-registered as N1361A in April 2017 to be used for Amazon operations.

UPS Airlines Boeing 747-8F (N611UP) arriving on 10R as UPS2998 from Louisville. My first time seeing a 747-8F operated by UPS!

UPS2998 taxiing to the cargo ramp. Scheduled to depart later in the evening to Anchorage carrying the same flight number.

Ameriflight Embraer EMB-120RT Brasilia (N201YW) clearing the active after arriving on 10R as AMF1977 from Medford.

FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N625FE) clearing the active after arriving on 10R as FDX382 from Memphis.

West Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan (N619MA) taxiing to the FBO ramp after offloading on the FedEx ramp. Arrived earlier in the evening as PCM1911 from Astoria. Formerly with Maverick Airlines, a tour operator that offers scenic flights of the Grand Canyon.

ABX Air Boeing 767-223F (N312AA) airborne off 10R as ABX903 for Cincinnati via Seattle/Tacoma. My first time seeing the standard ABX Air livery on the shorter 767-200!

First delivered to American Airlines in June 1984. Went to ABX Air in November 2008 and then transferred to Air Transport International in January 2011. Leased to Cargojet Airways as C-GCJO in July 2014 before returning to ABX Air in July 2015. Impressive to see that this 36 year old frame is still soldiering on, not to mention a rare Boeing 767-200!

Frontier Airlines Airbus A320-251N (N341FR) "Fran the Sea Lion" arriving on 10L as FFT394 from Denver.

FedEx Express Airbus A300F4-605R (N663FE) arriving on 10R as FDX591 from Memphis. My first time seeing an A300 operated by FedEx!

First delivered to FedEx Express in November 1995. FedEx is the world's largest operator of the A300 and their fleet includes the very last A300 built. Over time, they'll replace these old workhorses with newer 767-300Fs straight from the Boeing factory. Sadly, my biggest regret was not getting a chance to see any of FedEx's Airbus A310s, which were all retired earlier this year...

FDX591 taxiing to the ramp. FedEx A300s have been a rare sight to PDX, but most-likely because of the current crisis and the increased demand for ever-essential freight, FedEx is using these old workhorses to increase capacity.

West Air Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster (N228DA) taxiing to the FBO ramp after offloading on FedEx ramp. Arrived earlier in the evening as PCM1973 from Eugene. Other than the fact that this Caravan was previously based in North Las Vegas, it's history is a bit of mystery...