Gallery Update: Mitsubishi Marquise Sighting in Salem!

A year and a half ago, I photographed a Mitsubishi MU-2 for the first time. The twin-turboprop I photographed back then was a improved version of the short-fuselage variant, the MU-2B-40 Solitaire. Today, I got to photograph the ultimate version of the long-fuselage variant, the MU-2B-60, which has the same overall improvements with the ultimate version of its short-fuselage counterpart. Since MU-2s are fairly uncommon sights in my experience as a spotter, I knew I had to chase this one down!

Salem (SLE) 53

Preview:

Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 Marquise (N6KE) arriving on 31 from Idaho Falls.

My first time photographing one of the long-fuselage variants of Japan's most successful post-war aircraft designs!

N6KE taxiing to the ramp. 

The Marquise designation denotes that this is the ultimate version of the long-fuselage variant of the MU-2, much like the Solitaire I photographed last year being the ultimate version of the short-fuselage variant. Note the fuselage length of N6KE.

N6KE turning into the FBO ramp. Like the Solitaire, the MU-2 Marquise uses the Garrett (later Honeywell) TPE331 turboprop engines. And I appreciated the distinctive "scream" this engine emitted; it was pretty loud!

The MU-2 is such a unique aircraft that it's always worth chasing down. 139 MU-2B-60 Marquises were built out of the 704 MU-2s built to-date.

Face-to-face with the Marquise.

No doubt, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries designed a very respectable utility transport aircraft during the post-war era in Japan!

N6KE parked and engines shut down.

Gallery Update: A Hot Morning in Portland!

Today and tomorrow will see some of the hottest days we've seen this year so far. With my normal Sunday activities and obligations still on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis still ongoing and on the account that I'm still taking a step back from most of these functions, I figured today was another good day to get a decent spotting trip in at Portland International before it got too hot outside, in spite of COVID-19 and certain civil unrest and current events that's been at the headlines in recent weeks.

I never expected things to be the way they are for this long, honestly. The current global health crisis caused by COVID-19 not only has wiped out my plans for air shows and aviation events for the year, but it has also threw any plane-spotting plans I had up in the air (no pun intended!) as economic recovery seems to have stalled well into what was supposed to be a busy summer travel season. For starters, Delta's resumption of service to their international destinations out of PDX have been pushed back again; flights to Amsterdam will now restart in September, the Tokyo-Haneda flights have been pushed back until late-October, and their previously-cancelled London-Heathrow flights are scheduled to resume mid-April of next year. Speaking of London, a major bummer as of recently is that British Airways has since cancelled plans to inaugurate flights between PDX and London for the rest of the year; I was personally looking forward to this one too! Until the U.K.'s flag carrier has a better sense of demand, the status of COVID-19, and the status of travel restrictions, they probably won't start the route until summer of next year, if at all. Typically, everything that's in the works as far as route resumptions and inaugurations are subject to change pending ever-changing conditions caused by this cursed pandemic.

At this point, as a plane-spotter and photographer, all I can do to chase down anything worthwhile when time and opportunity permits and today was supposed to be the case, albeit, with a few snags. The main highlight of today would've been a Kalitta Air Boeing 767-300, but I missed it due to the ongoing construction at PDX! Thankfully, the spotting trip was salvaged by a JetBlue Airbus A321 (a first for me!), one of Sun Country Airlines' Boeing 737-800 freighters flying for Amazon (another first!), and a Volaris Airbus A320!

Portland (PDX) 54

Preview:

Frontier Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N206FR) "Alberta & Clipper" airborne off 28R as FFT790 for Denver.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N643QX) airborne off 28R as QXE2293 for San Jose.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-76N (N7722B) airborne off 28R as SWA572 for Las Vegas.

Flexjet Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 (N367FX) airborne off 28R as LXJ367 for Dallas-Love.

Flexjet Bombardier BD-100-1A10 Challenger 300 (N517FX) airborne off 28R as LXJ517 for Missoula.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N438QX) airborne off 28R as QXE2271 for Seattle-Tacoma.

Cessna 560 Citation Encore (N707W) taxiing to the FBO after arriving on 28R from Grangeville, Idaho.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LL E-175LL/E-175SC (N298SY) arriving on 28R as SKW3616 from Seattle-Tacoma. My first time seeing an E-175SC (special configuration). Introduced in late-2017, the E-175SC is limited to 70 seats like the E-170 and takes advantage of the E-175's performance improvements, but still comply with US airline scope clauses limiting operators to 70 seats. Embraer is markets the E-175SC as a replacement for the older 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 with better efficiency and a larger first class. SkyWest received their first E-175SC in early-2018 and began flying them for Delta on certain routes previously flown with CRJ-700s.

FedEx Express Airbus A300B4-622R (N726FD) departing on 28L as FDX889 for Memphis. This A300 shows signs that it was converted from to a freighter! First delivered as SU-GAU in December 1990 to EgyptAir. Acquired and converted by FedEx in March 2006.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N248WN) taxiing to the gate on the newly-completed Concourse E after arriving on 28R as SWA3225 from Denver. Note the sticker on the nose denoting that this was the 2,000th Boeing 737 NG built!

Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8Q8 (N815SY) taxiing for departure as SCX296 for Minneapolis/St. Paul.

SCX296 departing on 28R for Minneapolis/St. Paul. Still waiting to catch Sun Country's latest livery...

JetBlue Airways Airbus A321-231 (N965JT) "BluesMobile" (N965JT) arriving on 28R as JBU1095 from Boston. My first time seeing a JetBlue A321!

Atlas Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 767-31K/ER/BDSF (N1487A) arriving on 28L as GTI3730 from Baltimore.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N955WN) "Arizona One" airborne off 28R as SWA1336 for Oakland.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N493UA) airborne off 28R as UAL606 for Chicago O' Hare.

Cessna 525B Citation CJ3 (N70FC) airborne off 28R for Carson City.

Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12/45 (N645PC) airborne off 28R as BTQ358 for Pendleton.

N298SY taxiing for departure as SKW3616 for the return-flight to Seattle-Tacoma. Really wish Delta sent a few of their Airbus A220s to PDX once in a while...

The 2,000th Boeing 737 NG airborne off 28R as SWA327 for the return-flight to Denver.

Sun Country Airlines (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 737-84P/BCF (WL) (N5693A) arriving on 28L as SCX3009 from Forth Worth/Alliance. This is a new sight! In order to diversify it's business portfolio and seek revenue during the airline's slow summer months (not to mention make use of their already-qualified pilots who would otherwise sit around during a seasonal lull!), Sun Country Airlines announced in December 2019 that they would begin cargo flights flying 737-800 freighters on the behalf of Amazon; Sun Country began flying for Amazon in May of this year. Already a seasoned 737-800 operator, it would make sense for Amazon to entrust a portion of their 737 operations to Sun Country!

United Airlines Boeing 737-724 (N33714) taxiing to the gate after arriving on 28R as UAL318 from Houston-Intercontinental.

Volaris Airbus A320-233 (XA-VLQ) "Los Ornelas" (XA-VLQ) arriving on 28R as VOI956 from Guadalajara. Volaris is finally back after COVID-19 caused them temporarily suspend service to PDX! Also only my second time photographing this airline's old livery.

American Airlines Airbus A321-231 (N154AA) taxiing for departure as AAL1316 for Dallas-Fort Worth.

"BluesMobile" taxiing for departure as JBU296 for the return-trip to Boston. Sending an A321 on their seasonal route between Portland and Boston is quite the upgrade for JetBlue!

AAL1316 departing on 28R for Dallas-Fort Worth.

JBU296 airborne off 28R for Boston.

Hope to see more A321s from JetBlue more often!

Gallery Update: Ramp Shots from Crescent Lake

Today, the flight club held its monthly fly-out and I got to fly myself out to the destination, which was to Crescent Lake, Oregon for a little lunch outing. It was a neat time, considering that I should've been at Klamath Falls today for the Sentry Eagle open-house and air show; of course, that was cancelled no thanks to the current circumstances stemming from COVID-19! So this was a fine alternate activity that still had something to do with aviation. All five of the club's planes flew out to Crescent Lake, so I used that fact as an excuse to get a few pictures, mainly ramp shots. And considering that I'm spending what's left of this year exploring the Pacific Northwest in lieu of an air show season, Crescent Lake, not to mention the Oregon back-country was a great place to start in fulfilling this commitment to myself in order to keep myself sane.

Crescent Lake (5S2) 1

Preview:

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee (N1636H) parked on the ramp. I flew this plane out from Salem!

Cessna 172N Skyhawk II (N5174E) parked on the ramp.

Cessna 182M Skylane (N70574) parked on the ramp. My commercial flight instructor flew this plane out from Salem.

Cirrus SR22T (N696CC) parked on the ramp. This plane flew in from Corvallis yesterday. The Crescent Lake Airport ramp has five tie-down parking spots; if it weren't for this Cirrus, all five of our planes would've had a place to park!

Cessna 172M Skyhawk II (N515ED) on short final for 31. Of the club's five planes, this one was the last to arrive.

Cessna 172M Skyhawk II (N12382) parked on the ramp.

Ramp shot of four of the club's five planes, representing at least one of each type currently in the club fleet.

Gallery Update: PBY Catalina Sighting in Salem!

It's a beautiful, summer Friday evening and I had the opportunity to take some friends flying for the first time in months! But before we got airborne, we were treated to a spectacular sight: Soaring by Sea, LLC's PBY Catalina that was the headliner for Warbirds Over the West last year! Speaking of Warbirds Over the West, the 2020 edition of the event has been modified to be a General Aviation fly-in, barbecue, and pie social (with social distancing being practiced, assuming the state doesn't shut it down before hand!). The PBY Catalina, which went into winter maintenance up in Aurora after last year's air show season, was doing touch-and-go landings when we showed up and it was nice to get some warbird action!

Salem (SLE) 52

Preview:

Consolidated PBY-5A Canso-A (N9767) arriving on 34 doing a touch-and-go.

The Catalina came out of extensive maintenance earlier this past April. The organization just completed their hangar in Eugene dedicated to this warbird recently. 

The plane obviously is up here from Eugene!

Gallery Update: Coast Guard Hercules Sighting in Salem!

We got a surprising visitor in Salem and I must say, it was a nice and subtle highlight to end the 4th of July weekend on! The visitor was a Lockheed Martin HC-130J Hercules operated by the United States Coast Guard; having never seen a Herc operated by the Coast Guard before, I just knew I had to chase this plane down and get a few photos!

Salem (SLE) 51

Preview:

United States Coast Guard Lockheed Martin HC-130J (L-382) Hercules (2005) parked on the ramp. Aircraft currently assigned to CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Arrived early this morning from St. Louis. 

The Coast Guard's fleet of HC-130Js are derivatives of the KC-130J tankers used by the United States Marine Corps, itself a variant of the C-130J Super Hercules, newer than the legacy Hercules. The Coast Guard is currently in the process of replacing their legacy HC-130H Hercules with the new J-models; some of their old legacy Hercules have already been transferred over to the U.S. Forest Service for aerial firefighting roles.

My first time seeing a Coast Guard-operated Hercules and only my second time seeing a J-model! The Coast Guard Air Station that this Herc is based out of, CGAS Elizabeth City, is one of the busiest in the U.S. Coast Guard bases in the country, operating missions as far away as Greenland, the Azores and the Caribbean. 2005 is currently one of five HC-130Js stationed there.

Cessna 551 Citation II/SP (N551GE) parked on the ramp. Scheduled to depart Salem for Van Nuys tomorrow morning.