Gallery Update: Chasing an Atlas Air 747-400F at PDX!

Happy Halloween! This was a last-minute spotting trip as I just found out last night via social media and confirmed with FlightRadar24 that an Atlas Air Boeing 747-400F was making a special, one-time trip to PDX from Japan. Of course, I knew I had to jump at the opportunity! And the weather and lighting today couldn't have been better for a morning spotting trip!

In addition to the Atlas Air 747, I got to see a Kalitta Air 767 in a hybrid DHL livery, as well as a C-17 Globemaster out of New York.

Portland (PDX) 65

Preview:

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900/ER (N280AK) departing on 10L as ASA1385 for Los Cabos.

Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12/45 (N7YR) arriving on 10L as BTQ353 from Pendleton.

Kalitta Air (d/b/a DHL Aviation) Boeing 767-3P6/ER (BDSF) (N765CK) airborne off 10R as CKS1817 for Los Angeles. My first time seeing the Kalitta/DHL hybrid livery!

First delivered in 1992 to Bahrain-based Gulf Air as A4O-GT before being leased to Air Europe SpA in 1997. Transferred too Gulf Air's all-economy subsidiary Gulf Traveller in 2004 before the outfit ceased operations in 2007. Airframe was then picked up by now-defunct Russian airline Transaero in 2008 under the Irish registry as EI-UNF. After Transaero ceased operations in 2015, airframe was re-registered as 2-EUNF in 2018 under the ownership of Sundown Aircraft. That same year, it underwent conversion to become a freighter and was delivered to Kalitta Air.

New York Air National Guard Boeing C-17A Globemaster III (97-0045) taxiing for departure as "POLO84" for Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York.

Assigned to the 105th Airlift Wing (105 AW), 137th Airlift Squadron (137 AS) out of Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York.

Atlas Air Boeing 747-4KZF/SCD (N404KZ) arriving on 10R as GTI2152 from Tokyo-Narita. Always a pleasure to catch the Queen of the Skies!

Most likely operating a COVID-related flight as this was a special one-time flight and was scheduled to return to Tokyo later this afternoon as GTI7653.

Purpose-built as a freighter, this airframe was first delivered to Japanese cargo carrier, Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) as JA04KZ in 2007 and was painted in the "Green Freighter" special livery.

Atlas Air took ownership of this airframe in 2017. It's kind of ironic that this 747-400F was first delivered to a Japanese airline and is still frequenting Japan according to some recent flight tracking data!

"POLO84" airborne off 10R for New York-Stewart.

A long, cross-country flight home to Newburgh.

GTI2152 taxiing to cargo. I was kind of surprised to see that this was taxied onto this side closer to the terminal. The taxiways on the opposite of 28L/10R would've been more convenient.

But you won't hear me complaining about getting some bonus shots of this white-tail Queen!

The SCD designation indicates that this 747-400F was purpose-built with a side-cargo door for easier freight loading.

Hard to believe that this 747 isn't even 20 years old! While it has declined in terms of passenger use, the 747 like this one will be around for many years to come hauling cargo!

Air Transport International - ATI (d/b/a Amazon Air) Boeing 767-323/ER (BDSF) (N499AZ) airborne off 10R as ATN3445 for Baltimore.

First delivered to American Airlines as N395AN in 1998. It spent it's entire life as a passenger carrier with American until retirement in late-2019. This was one of many airframes that got fast-tracked for conversion in 2020 during the height of the COVID crisis in order to meet growing demand for cargo and E-commerce. Cargo conversion was done in late-2020 and delivered to Air Transport International in early this year to be exclusively used for Amazon's growing operations.