Gallery Update: Sightings in McMinnville & Salem

Yesterday, I was flying with my instructor and we flew up to McMinnville to practice short approaches. While flying the pattern, I noticed a Fairchild Metro III sitting on the ramp. After I got home yesterday, I looked up McMinnville's arrivals on FlightRadar 24 and verified that the plane arrived a day earlier and wasn't departing anytime soon! And as it turns out, the Metro III I spotted has connections to Berry Aviation, a charter airline based out of San Marcos, Texas that operates charter passenger and cargo flights as well as work for the Postal Service.

So today, after a commercial ground session with my instructor in Salem, I flew solo back up to McMinnville to first practice some things from yesterday's flight lesson again and to check out and get photos of the Metro III I saw! After my quick stopover at McMinnville, I flew back to Salem and got to see some aerial firefighting aircraft throughout the day, which included a Bombardier Superscooper and a Sikorsky Skycrane!

McMinnville (MMV) 4

Salem (SLE) 56

Preview:

Cessna 320C Skyknight (N3050T) parked on the ramp. My first time seeing a Cessna 320, the enlarged version of the 310.

Berry Aviation Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III (N691AX) parked on the ramp. Arrived two days ago from Denver-Rocky Mountain Metropolitan.

While the nose gear doors on either side still bear the Berry Aviation name, this Metro III is actually registered to a private company (it's implied that Berry Aviation operates the aircraft on the private company's behalf.).

Face-to-face with the Metro III. As it turns out, this "Texas Lawn Dart" is headed to Hawaii, which means it's going to get fitted with ferry tanks here in McMinnville before making the crossing. That also means Southern Cross Aviation will most likely be operating the flight.

NetJets Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 (N312QS) parked on the ramp. Arrived this morning as EJA312 from Paso Robles, California and scheduled to depart later in the afternoon for Petaluma, California.

Piper PA-32-301T Turbo Saratoga (N8185Y) parked on the ramp. Arrived yesterday from Auburn, Washington.

Aero Commander 500A (N471D) parked on the ramp. Arrived yesterday from The Dalles.

Aero-Flite Bombardier CL-215-6B11 CL-415 Superscooper (N386AC) parked on the ramp. One of two amphibious water bombers that arrived earlier this morning from Moses Lake. Looks like they'll be temporarily based in Salem for some nearby wildfires. My first time seeing one of these!

Helicopter Transport Services Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane (N6979R) parked on the ramp. This heavy-lift aerial crane has been operating on nearby wildfires the past few days. Formerly with Evergreen Helicopters.