Gallery Update: Spotting in Corvallis and Salem

Well, I was hoping to make a completely different post today with regards to my commercial checkride. Long-story-short, I failed the oral portion of the checkride (again!) after flying down to Corvallis. But as funny as it sounds, I felt a lot better walking out of it today than when I first went into it; it was an educational experience and I know exactly what I need to brush up on. Yes, I'm still disappointed in myself, but with everything that's been going on in recent weeks, I gotta give myself SOME slack.

Anyways, since I had the plane all day today, I figured I'd use the remainder of the afternoon doing some aviation-related fun and I got some plane-spotting in. I suppose it was good timing because after parting ways with my examiner, I stuck around Corvallis to catch a Contour Airlines ERJ-135 that was flying in on a sports charter (albeit, the same airframe I photographed last year). After flying back to Salem, I got a few more shots in with a friend's red Stinson when she landed after I did.

Corvallis (CVO) 7

Salem (SLE) 70

Preview:

Comco Ikarus C42E (N162DH) on the ramp. The C42 is a German-built two-seat, fixed tricycle gear, general aviation microlight aircraft used primarily for flight training, touring and personal flying.

Comco Ikarus C42E (N420MS) on the ramp. The C42 can either be powered by either an 80 HP Rotax 912 engine or a 100 HP Rotax 912S engine.

Contour Airlines Embraer EMB-135ER ERJ-135ER (N16501) "Pride of Contour" arriving on 17 as VTE501 from Las Vegas on a sports charter. I saw this very airframe here in Corvallis about this time last year.

VTE501 taxiing to the ramp for the quick turn-around.

Contour Airlines has been running quite a few charters to and Corvallis in recent months.

VTE501 parked on the ramp to offload their passengers.

Piper PA-34-200T Seneca II (N711WQ) parked on the ramp after arriving from Kelso, Washington.

Van's RV-6A (N61TD) parked on the ramp.

VTE501 taxiing for departure to Oakland, where it will return to running the instra-state Essential Air Service route between Oakland and Crescent City, California. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, Contour closed their Santa Barbara focus city and pulled the plug on many of the pre-pandemic routes they established; there was even talk of the airline establishing a route into Oregon, but that's just a pipedream right now...

VTE501 departing on 17 for Oakland. While I saw this airframe last year, it was nice to see this livery here again!

Stinson 108 Voyager 150 (NC8623K) taxiing in after arriving from Independence. It pays to know someone who flies something vintage!