About This Blog:

The primary purpose of this blog is to showcase the best of my aviation photography. As such, you will find links to my main aviation gallery on Facebook containing photos from aircraft spotting, some kind of aviation event such as air shows and fly-in events, as well as aviation museums. I also critique my flights on commercial airlines and the services they provide. Occassionally, you'll find personally written, independent articles based on news and current events involving aviation. And of course, I'll put up links to official and unofficial aviation-related websites when I find them. And when time permits, I'll talk and discuss about anything involving aviation. But most importantly, this is my way to document my journey into the aviation industry!

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Gallery Update: Classic Dash 8 Sighting in McMinnville!

It has been a while since I chased down a "one-off airliner visitor" at McMinnville as today provided a rather unusual opportunity. I noticed on FlightRadar24 that a Dash 8 Q300 was en route, so I decided to make a brief stop in McMinnville while taking advantage of a rare sunny November afternoon to fly. Needless to say, I was surprised at what I saw regarding this particular "Classic Dash 8" airframe. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

McMinnville (MMV) 

Preview:

Skytrans Bombardier DHC-8-311Q Dash 8 Q300 (C-FNCU) parked on the ramp after arriving from Sault Ste Marie-Chippewa County International in Michigan, where the plane and crew cleared customs after crossing the border from North Bay, Ontario. First time seeing this livery from a lesser-known Australian airline!

This "Classic Dash 8" was first delivered to Brymon Airways as G-NVSB in January 1999 on the behalf of British Airways. Airframe continued to operate for British Airways after it was transferred to British Airways CitiExpress in March 2002 and again when transferred to BA Connection in February 2006.

Airframe went to the Canadian register starting in May 2007 with Voyageur Airways, an Ontario-based charter airline, primarily operating on the behalf of the United Nations for the past 15 years.

Now the airframe is being prepped for its next chapter with Australian charter airline, Skytrans and will be registered as VH-QQL.

Skytrans is based in Cairns, Queensland and was founded in 1990. They suspended operations and briefly went into administration on January 2, 2015 and eventually rebranded and returned to service on March 31 that same year.

Face-to-face with the "Classic Dash 8" with the setting sun! Skytrans currently operates a fleet of Dash 8 100s, so the addition of this Dash 8 300 is considered a significant upgrade for them

The "Classic Dash 8" is already a rare sight and the overall Dash 8 family is going to be an even rarer sight now that Alaska Airlines is retiring their Q400s in the coming months.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)