Gallery Update: TWO Metroliners in Salem!

"This virus can f**k right off." -Mikey McBryan

Unfortunately for me, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has dealt several death-blows to all of my upcoming plans for 2020 in terms of air shows and aviation events. First, the 2020 Sentry Eagle Open House which was slated to be held in Klamath Falls, Oregon in mid-July was cancelled back in May. Earlier this month, the 2020 Wings Over the Willamette Fly-In, Van's Homecoming and STOL Expo which was supposed to happen mid-August a short hop away over in Independence, Oregon cancelled. Last weekend, the organizers for the AirShow of the Cascades that was to be held in Madras, Oregon towards the tail-end of August announced their cancellation. And then as of yesterday, both the Reno Air Races and the Oregon International Air Show for this year have also been cancelled. The only event left that I can potentially look forward to in August is the 2020 Warbirds Over the West right here in Salem (assuming it does go forward).

Needless to say, the year 2020 has quickly become the year we want to forget. And I am certainly not thrilled about how the year has panned out...

Part of the fun about some of these cancelled events is that I had plans to fly myself out to the airports where said events were to be hosted. While I await word on the one last remaining aviation event that hasn't been cancelled (yet!), I am now looking forward to a year without an air show season. So in addition to focusing on my ongoing flight training, I do intend to explore the Pacific Northwest and parts of the west coast a little more for the remainder of the year (and especially this summer) by flying to airports I've never been to before and photographing what I can. All of this will be in lieu of an actual air show season.

As for today, the Valley Flyers was holding their annual June barbecue today and it was good time mingling, doing some "hangar flying," and networking as pilots. We also had some interesting things on the General Aviation ramp, including not one, but TWO Metroliners operated by Sierra West Airlines! As it turns out, both Metroliners brought dogs being transferred from one animal shelter to another. While I've photographed the two Metroliners on two separate occasions last year, it was worth getting a shot of both of them on the ramp as it's a rare and unusual sight, especially here in Salem.

Salem (SLE) 49

Preview:

Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer (N3563A) parked on the ramp.

Here's a rare sight: TWO Metroliners parked on the ramp in Salem at the same time! Both flew in from Twin Falls bringing a load of dogs getting transferred from one animal shelter to another. Even though I've photographed both airframes last year, it was worth getting shots like this!

Pak West Airlines (d/b/a Sierra West Airlines) Fairchild SA-227BC Metro III (N770TR) parked on the ramp. Arrived from Twin Falls as PKW855.

Pak West Airlines (d/b/a Sierra West Airlines) Fairchild SA227-DC Metro 23 (N852DR) parked on the ramp. Arrived from Twin Falls as PKW830

Piper PA-23-180 Apache/Seguin Geronimo (N164YF) parked on the ramp.

Cessna 180 Skywagon (N180MJ) parked on the ramp. Arrived from Reno/Stead.

Van's RV-10 (N104N) parked on the ramp.

Gallery Update: My First Major Photography Commission!

The board members of the flight club I'm currently a part of, the Valley Flyers, asked if I could take some photos in order to update their website; they were requesting that I take photos of the interior (mainly the instrument panels) because the ones they currently have are out-of-date as well as some exterior profile shots. Of course, I was happy to oblige! I spent an evening last weekend, as well as this past Monday and briefly this evening getting the shots I needed; all this was done working around people in the club reserving the planes as they became available for me when not in use. For the most part, it looks like I was able to take advantage of the opportunities as they presented themselves.

This request was a big deal to me because it is my first major commission as an aviation photographer.

Salem (SLE) 46

Salem (SLE) 47

Salem (SLE) 48

Preview:

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N1636H), the plane I've been flying a lot lately.

A look at all three Cessna 172 Skyhawks (N515ED in the foreground, N5174E in the middle, and N12382 in the back) the club now has!

Cessna 182M Skylane (N70574). I finally had a chance to get full-shot of the Skylane (which I'm still not checked out in to fly, yet!) outside of its hangar!

While I don't intend to showcase EVERY photo I took for the club on here, this gives a good idea of the lengths I went to in order to get the shots I needed. I appreciate the board members of the Valley Flyers for giving me this opportunity to work with them as well as for the membership I have as a club member!

Gallery Update: Shots from Mulino

With my regular Sunday routine(s) still suspended, I decided to go flying for myself. Plus, I haven't been feeling the desire to participate in what online Sunday activities there are going on lately, as I've been taking a step back from all current and possible future church functions for the time being.

I decided to fly up to Mulino State Airport near Portland today because I never been there before and I heard the skydiving company based there, PNW Skydiving recently acquired an aircraft I've never seen before until today: the Pacific Aerospace PAC P-750 XSTOL, a New Zealand-built utility aircraft that's often popular (not to mention purpose-built!) for skydiving. And suffice it to say, I was not disappointed with the time I spent at Mulino! After getting back to Salem, I took a few more quick shots there, where I got to see and photograph the 1,000th SCOCATA TB Trinidad ever built.

Mulino (4S9) 1

Salem (SLE) 46

Preview:

Cessna 195A Businessliner (N1071D) parked on the ramp.

Piper PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance (N5602V) arriving on 32 from McMinnville.

Cessna 140 (NC2404V) "Arctic Tern" parked on the ramp.

Pacific Aerospace 750XL P-750XSTOL (N902ST) arriving on 32 after taking up a group of skydivers.

N902ST taxiing back out with another group skydivers, as is the case in the skydiving business.

N902ST airborne off 32, demonstrating that the P-750 is truly an XSTOL aircraft!

Titan Tornado (N2614C) parked in the grass.

SkyStar Aircraft Kitfox Series 5 Outback (N456JT) parked on the ramp.

Cessna 172 (N6000A) parked on the ramp. Another vintage 1956 original!

Cessna 150G (N551CT) parked on the ramp.

SOCATA TB-21 Trinidad TC (N21XL) parked in front of the hangar after a local flight around Salem. This is the 1,000th SOCATA Trinidad to be built, hence the "Trinidad 1000" decal on the vertical stabilizer.

Gallery Update: Learjet 45 Sighting in Salem

Another beautiful day, another excuse to go fly, and another excuse to see whats parked around the ramp! This time, I got a shot of a beautiful Learjet 45 that was parked on the ramp in Salem after I got back from another local flight.

Salem (SLE) 45

Preview:

Learjet 45 (N45LV) parked on the ramp. Arrived earlier this morning from Denver-Centennial as PRE45. Currently operated by Precision Aircraft Management.

Gotta love the sleek appearance of this corporate aviation icon!

Gallery Update: Citation X Sighting in Salem

I noticed on FlightAware that a Cessna Citation X flew into Salem today, and the operator was Gama Aviation, doing business as Wheels Up Aviation, a private membership-based, on-demand charter company. When they were first founded, Wheels Up operated a fleet of Beechcraft King Air 350i turboprops and Cessna Citation Excel/XLS jets. In 2018, Wheels Up added the Cessna Citation X to their fleet, allowing them to operate coast-to-coast flights in the U.S. Having already seen one of their standard King Airs and a Citation Excel, I knew I had to chase down Wheels Up Aviation's Citation Xs, still one of the fastest civil aircraft.

Salem (SLE) 44

Preview:

Gama Aviation (d/b/a Wheels Up) Cessna 750 Citation X (N902UP) parked on the ramp. My first time seeing a Citation X in the Wheels Up livery! Arrived this morning as GMA902 from Heber City, Utah.

Formerly N941QS with NetJets. I'll need to keep an eye out for Wheels Up's King Airs that are painted in different colors signifying their support for different causes!

Gallery Update: Airbus A350 Sighting in Portland!!!

The fact that I used three exclamation marks in the blog title shows how excited I was for this plane-spotting trip, which made for a really good Monday! Over the weekend, I noticed that Delta filed a flight plan (which got cancelled and then re-filed for today!) for one of their new Airbus A350-900s to fly into PDX and the flight arrived early this morning as a military charter. Having never seen one until today, I was NOT going to pass up seeing the latest wide-body model built by Airbus! So I braved the rainy weather to see this new wide-body jet; this was actually the first passenger wide-body airliner to visit Portland since the COVID-19 pandemic hit us! And I certainly wasn't alone as several other plane-spotters were on hand to see the A350!

Slowly but surely, service to PDX is starting to show signs of returning to normal, albeit with some international carriers changing plans or cancelling altogether. From the look of things, both Icelandair and Condor (both now longtime European options to PDX) will not be serving Portland this summer and will look to resume next year. Delta's seasonal London-Heathrow service seems to have been cancelled completely, partly due to British Airways entering the market later this year. Speaking of British Airways, they will now commence year-round service on September 2. Delta will also finally give a belated inauguration of their Tokyo-Haneda service on July 1. Delta will also plan on resuming flights to Amsterdam on August 1. While these new start dates are subject to change, hopefully, the state of the world and the industry will be in much better shape for these routes...

Aside from the Delta Air Lines Airbus A350, the other main highlight of the trip was something I've been trying to chase down for the past several months: an ATR-72 in the FedEx Feeder livery! I was unable to get it the last opportunity I had because the wind direction and the active runways worked against my photography vantage point. But this time, I was able to catch the Empire Airlines flight on  an afternoon departure, which was unusual because these feeder flights typically depart the hub to go to their out-stations early in the morning before coming back in the late-afternoon/early-evening. FedEx usually puts the longer ATR-72 in place of the ATR-42 on the Portland-Medford-Portland route during the holiday peak season, but they brought it back after the COVID-19 crisis hit in order to keep up with the increased demand for air freight.

Portland (PDX) 53

Preview:

Gulstream Aerospace G-VI G650 (N235BH) taxiing for departure.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a United Express) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N156SY) arriving on 10L as SKW5237 from San Francisco.

N235BH departing on 10L.

United Airlines Airbus A319-132 (N895UA) arriving on 10L as UAL464 from Denver.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N187SY) departing on 10L as SKW3403 for Seattle-Tacoma.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-941 (N513DZ) departing on 10L as DAL8821 for Detroit. My first time seeing and photographing an A350 and I've gotta say, this plane is gorgeous! Note the raccoon-like outline on the front windscreen and the blended winglets. 

Arrived early this morning operating as DAL8962 from Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah as a military charter.

The Airbus A350 XWB (eXtra Wide Body) first flew on June 14, 2013 and was designed in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Initially, it was proposed that the A350 would be a development of the A330 with composite wings and new engines; airlines weren't interested, so Airbus instead went with a "clean-sheet" design that we see here today.

The A350-900 first entered service with launch customer, Qatar Airways on January 15, 2015. The A350 will primarily succeed the Airbus A340 and competes with the Boeing 777, 777X, and 787-10 Dreamliner.

Delta Air Lines ordered the A350-900 on November 20, 2014 and began taking delivery of them in early-2017. The A350 was used to replace the fleet of Boeing 747-400s Delta inherited from their merger with Northwest Airlines. As of today, Delta is the only U.S. operator of the A350. United Airlines has 45 A350s on order, but because of the COVID-19 crisis and the resultant decline in air travel, those orders have been deferred for the time being.

Delta currently operates 13 A350-900s and will eventually operate up to 35 of them.

In time, the A350 will become Delta's flagship widebody aircraft for their international routes.

Quite a wingspan for the A350!

Empire Airlines (d/b/a FedEx Feeder) ATR-72-212(F) (N819FX) airborne off 10R as CFS8673 for Medford. My second ATR-72 photographed and my first time seeing on in the FedEx livery! I've been trying to chase this one down for a few months now and I'm glad I finally got it! Normally served by an ATR-42, FedEx Express has Empire Airlines fly the feeder route between Portland and Medford with an ATR-72 during the holiday peak season. While it did briefly go back to an ATR-42, the ATR-72 was brought back soon after in the wake of the increased cargo demand from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

First delivered to Eurowings in April 1993 as D-AEWH. Acquired and converted as a freighter by Empire Airlines in January 2006 (along with re-registering to the current N-number) and placed into FedEx operations in October that same year.

Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N644NK) departing on 10L as NKS1430 for Las Vegas.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A321-211 (N340DN) departing on 10L as DAL791 for Minneapolis/St. Paul. Only my second time photographing a Delta A321!

Delivered to Delta in March 2018. Delta currently operates 100 A321-200s and still has 27 on order from Airbus. Delta also ordered 100 A321neos in 2017, which were slated to replace the now-retired McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 fleets and was expected to take delivery of the first few airframes this year. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, deliveries have since been delayed.

Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12/47 (N474SS) arriving on 10L as BTQ357 from Pendleton. Finally, I catch one of Boutique Air's PC-12s sporting this attractive blue and black livery!

Atlas Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 767-31K/ER (BDSF) (N1373A) departing on 10L as GTI3731 for Wilmington. Arrived earlier this morning as GTI3730 from Baltimore.

Only my second time seeing one of Amazon's 767s sporting winglets.

This 26-year old 767-300 has an extensive history of operators. It's last operator was Thomas Cook Airlines registered as G-TCCA.

Gallery Update: Ramp Shots from Salem

After getting back from a local flight (where I logged my 100th hour flying in the Piper Cherokee!), I got in a little spotting from the ramp after refueling the plane I flew. I actually had to wait at the fuel pumps because a corporate jet was leaving the ramp area for departure and I did not want to taxi behind it's jet blast! The jet I waited on was one of Costco Wholesale Corporation's Gulfstream G280s, one of several aircraft they're known to have in their corporate fleet. I also had a chance to see a pretty uncommon French single-engine airplane I noticed on the ramp and got a few pictures of it as well. It was a beautiful June day and I was glad for the photography opportunities!

Salem (SLE) 43

Preview:

Gulfstream Aerospace G280 (N82CW) taxiing for departure. Registered to everyone's favorite bulk warehouse club, Costco Wholesale!

N82CW departing on 34.

Sud Aviation Gardan GY-80-180 Horizon (N9829Y) parked on the ramp. Currently registered to Salem Air Center, the main FBO at the airport. My first time seeing this French design!

The GY-80 is a four-seat touring monoplane designed by Yves Gardan in the 1960s and built under licence, first by Sud Aviation, and later by it's subsidiary SOCATA.

A total of 267 GY-80 airframes were built, making it a somewhat uncommon sight. The GY-80 would later be improved and developed into the SOCATA ST-10 Diplomate in the 1970s, originally marketed as the Super Horizon 200; only 56 of the type would be built.