Gallery Update: Chasing Sierra Pacific Airlines at PDX!

I'm quite happy to get back onto a regular Monday through Friday work schedule as of this month! I'm also taking paid-time-off that's "use it or lose it" this month as well and I've taken today off to give myself a three-day weekend.

I decided to brave the rain and do a spotting trip up to PDX today because I noticed on FlightRadar24 that a Boeing 737-500 operated by Sierra Pacific Airlines was scheduled to fly in. I had to chase this down because Sierra Pacific only has two planes in their fleet and this classic version of the 737 has become a really rare sight! Furthermore, there's not a lot known about Sierra Pacific Airlines so I considered this a little plane-spotting gem.

In addition to the 737-500, I was thrilled to catch one of Delta Air Lines' Airbus A330-300s again, as the carrier re-instated their year-round flights to Amsterdam as of yesterday after over a two year pause due to pandemic repercussions. Another new sight for me as of today was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by United Airlines as well as a Cessna Citation Longitude operated by NetJets. I also caught site of WestJet's Q400 for the first time in two years.

I am also looking forward to catching British Airways' long-awaited inaugural flight serving PDX from their London-Heathrow hub after a two year delay next month. Things appear to finally be getting back to a real normal at PDX.

Portland (PDX)

Preview:

Cessna 525 CitationJet (N678RT) taxiing for departure to Napa County.

N678RT departing on 10L for Napa County.

Gulfstream Aerospace G650 G-VI (N673HA) arriving on 10L. How many times have seen this G-VI at PDX now???

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N847DN) departing on 10L as DAL2226 for Salt Lake City.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LL E-175SC (N291SY) arriving on 10L as SKW4053 from Seattle-Tacoma.

Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321-271N (N226HA) departing on 10L as HAL39 for Kahului.

SKW4053 taxiing to the gate.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N853VA) departing on 10L as ASA686 for Chicago O'Hare. Better catch these while they're still around because they'll be phased out by the end of this year!

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GJZK) taxiing for departure as JZA8653 for Vancouver.

JZA8653 departing on 10L for Vancouver.

Sierra Pacific Airlines Boeing 737-5L9 (N709S) arriving on 10L as SPA709 from Tucson. My first time seeing Sierra Pacific Airlines and the first time in a long time photographing a Boeing 737-500!

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Sierra Pacific Airlines operates as a charter airline on the behalf of other airlines as well as various government entities with a fleet of two Boeing 737-500s. The airline previously operated two Boeing 737-200s.

Other than where they're based out of and what their fleet consists of, there's not much else known about this charter airline as they don't have a website or social media (and based on the kinds of charter work they do, it's probably for good reason too!).

Airframe first delivered in March 1997 as OY-API to Maersk Air and then transferred over to Sterling European Airlines in June 2005.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N649QX) departing on 10L as QXE2578 for Santa Rosa.

United Airlines Boeing 737-824 (N36207) taxiing for departure as UAL1491 for San Francisco.

Bombardier BD-100-1A10 Challenger 300 (N228PK) arriving on 10L.

SPA709 taxiing to the FBO ramp.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N477AS) departing on 10L as ASA30 for Boston.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N253SY) departing on 10L as SKW3542 for Los Angeles.

UAL1491 departing on 10L for San Francisco.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N642VA) departing on 10L as ASA206 for San Francisco.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N527AS) departing on 10L as ASA286 for Dallas-Fort Worth.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 (N8643A) arriving on 10L as SWA2591 from Chicago Midway.

United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 (N17265) arriving on 10L as UAL8114 from Newark. My first time seeing one of United's MAX 8s!

Today is actually the first day of the year that United's route between Newark and Portland goes to twice-daily, one of which uses the MAX 8. Apparently this is one United's first non hub-to-hub transcontinental MAX 8 routes.

United's taking of the MAX 8 into their fleet was a rather low-key one, considering that they first took delivery of it just last year just months after the worldwide grounding was lifted. As it turns out, United ended up debuting a few new passenger amenities on the MAX 8 that's currently not consistent with the rest of their narrow-body fleet.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 (N8699A) taxiing for departure as SWA2069 for Phoenix Sky Harbor.

UAL8114 taxiing to the gate.

SWA2069 departing on 10L for Phoenix Sky Harbor.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-323 (N813NW) arriving on 10L as DAL179 from Amsterdam. After a two year hiatus due to pandemic repercussions, Delta resumed their service between Portland and Amsterdam as of yesterday!

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900/ER (N918DU) arriving on 10L as DAL685 from Atlanta.

DAL179 taxiing to the gate. The Amsterdam flights are operating thrice-weekly as of right now, so this airframe will operate a repositioning flight later in the day as DAL8789 to Atlanta.

Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N845VA) departing on 10L as ASA1374 for Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N401QX) in the Washington State University Cougars livery arriving on 10L as QXE2453 from Boise.

QXE2453 taxiing to the gate. Better catch the Alaska Air Group's Dash 8s while they're still around, because they will be retired by the end of 2023!

United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 (N37522) departing on 10L as UAL702 for Denver.

N709S taxiing for departure as SPA709 for Edmonton.

After its service with Sterling European, airframe was re-registered as UR-DND and flew for Dniproavia starting in January 2008.

Airframe was then transferred over and re-registered again to UR-GBC in April 2013 and flew for Ukraine International Airlines.

NetJets Cessna 700 Citation Longitude (N822QS) arriving on 10L as EJA822 from Boston. My first time seeing a Citation Longitude!

The Longitude was developed from the 680A Citation Latitude with an extra row of seats added. The Latitude and Longitude shares the same fuselage cross-section.

SPA709 departing on 10L for Edmonton.

After three years of service with Ukraine International, airframe was withdrawn from use in August 2016 and put into storage in Billund, Denmark.

Sierra Pacific Airlines acquired this airframe in June 2017 to serve as a replacement for their Boeing 737-200s.

Today, I caught Sierra Pacific's 737-500 that's equipped with winglets. The other one in their fleet (based on pictures I've seen online) lacks winglets.

It was certainly a worthwhile trip just to catch this rather rare airframe!

WestJet Encore (d/b/a WestJet) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (C-GEEN) arriving on 10L as WEN3628 from Calgary. WestJet resumed flights between Portland and Calgary as of this month as well and they've apparently gone to twice-daily because rival Air Canada dropped the same route.