Spotters Location Critique Volume III: Eastern Idaho

Eastern Idaho is a rugged, yet beautiful place to live. It's also a great place in my opinion to fly around. It's a good place to to practice while dealing with constantly changing terrain and seasons with the Rocky Mountains. Not only that, but Eastern Idaho does have a few, but not too much interesting aviation-related things worth pursuing. After spending some time in the region, I think I've finally gotten enough information and spent enough time to thoroughly critique three Eastern Idaho airports for the sake of planespotting and aviation enthusiasm.

1. Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA) 2/5

There really isn't much to see at IDA but the airport does serve as a crucial destination for the region as the second or third most heavily-served airport by commercial standards after Boise. The airports in Idaho Falls and nearby Pocatello are currently the only two airports in the Eastern Idaho region served by commercial carriers. IDA see's service from Las Vegas-based LCC Allegiant Air with services to nearby focus cities like Phoenix/Mesa or Las Vegas with their MD-80 series and SkyWest Airlines based in St. George, Utah with service to Salt Lake City as Delta Connection and to Denver as United Express on CRJ regional jets. From a spotter's perspective, there really isn't much to see at IDA since you can look at Allegiant and SkyWest CRJs from better locations. However, there are one or two things worth checking out at least once at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport: There is a company located on the airport grounds known as Pacific Fighters, where they restore vintage (mostly World War II-era) aircraft for private owners and museums. Two different aircraft have been restored and currently on display by Pacific Fighters. One is an F-86L Sabre Dog (an all-weather jet interceptor variant of the famed F-86 Sabre) mounted on permanent display as the airport's official "Gate Guard." The other is a much more rare airframe to see because this is the only one of its kind left in the world. And I'm talking about the Douglas A2D Skyshark, a development spin-off of the successful A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft. The Skyshark can be usually seen just beyond some chain-link fences on the ramp where Pacific Fighters is located but it does get moved occassionally over to the general aviation ramp where the Utah Helicopter flight school is located. Currently, access to see the Skyshark is limited because no one is allowed to pass throught the gates and fences (as is the case with pretty much every airport known to man!) but Pacific Fighters does welcome anyone wanting to see the aircraft.

(See this link to see photos of the aircraft mentioned)

Overall, I give Idaho Falls Regional Airport a 2/5 for a lack of anything plus restrictions in place that make it hard to see anything. But at least there is something worth checking out at least once thanks to Pacific Fighters; they should consider opening a museum to display the planes they've restored! Idaho could use a few more aviation museums...

2. Rexburg-Madison County Airport (RXE) 3/5

While attending school at BYU-Idaho, I would know what airport an aircraft flying overhead would be be coming from or going to and that would be Rexburg-Madison County Airport, located approximately 30 miles north of Idaho Falls. The airport is nothing more than for general aviation usage. The only thing to serve RXE on a daily basis is cargo feeder service from Ameriflight, usually originating from larger airports like Boise, Salt Lake City and possibly even Idaho Falls. But Rexburg does have something worth checking out and that would be the Legacy Flight Museum. What's unique about this air museum is that all the aircraft owned and displayed are in air worthy condition. So it's no surprise if you see a SNJ-3 Texan or a P-51D Mustang flying around. The museum also hosts a bi-annual air show usually around mid-June. During the other years in lieu of the air show, the Legacy Flight Museum hosts an open house known as 'Airport Appreciation Day' for the public, serving a free breakfast and offering an opportunity to see the aircraft; in addition to that, the museum owners and operators take use this open house as an opportunity to take people flying so the planes fly regardless. The Legacy Flight Museum's most notable aircraft is aviation legend Bob Hoover's former P-51D Mustang all painted in yellow nicknamed 'Ole Yeller'; this aircraft is a piece of history not only because it's a premier American fighter aircraft of World War II, but because Bob Hoover used this P-51 as the pace plane for the Unlimited Class at the Reno Air Races many years ago along with the famous radio call coined by him, "Gentlemen, you have a race." The P-51 was painted yellow for the sake of high visibility.

Overall, I give Rexburg-Madison County Airport a solid 3/5. Traffic-wise, there really isn't much to see and it's not worth spending a lot of time there. But if you're there at the right time for the air show or the open house (depending on what year it is), you're bound to catch the featured stars of the airport based there. Solid 3/5 because of the Legacy Flight Museum and what any visitor can catch a glimpse of there. I wouldn't recommend planespotting a whole lot but I would definitely recommend a visit to the Legacy Flight Museum.

3.) Stanford Field (U12) 2/5

Also known as the St. Anthony Municipal Airport. It is located further north from Idaho Falls; approximately 45 miles from IDA and just 15 miles north of Rexburg. Like many small airports scattered across the United States, the purpose of U12 is to provide convenience to the general aviation pilots by having a nearby airport for them to base their aircraft, to have places to fuel up aircraft, as well as to relieve larger airports with commercial service of traffic congestion. One of my uncles keeps his Mooney M20 at this airport, along with his flying partners who all base several of their private aircraft here at U12 so I have a connection to allow access to the airport grounds. But there really isn't much to see here in the first place and I usually take photos here whenever I go out flying with my uncle so I am somewhat biased with this particular airport. But on one end of the runway, the main road going to the airport runs right next to it so it's possible to photograph departing aircraft or arriving aircraft. Again, there's just not that much to see and it's probably not worth the time to planespot at U12.

Overall, I will give Stanford Field a 2/5 for ease of accessibility and a decent vantage point to see any (if there is any) aircraft. But the lack of activity and traffic might not be worth the time.

Special Liveries & Paint Jobs Volume I

I'm expecting August to be a slow month due to a lack of any kind of aviation event going on. Maybe I should find some time to go to an aviation museum... Normally, the Oregon International Air Show should have taken place this month but it got moved to July as you may have noted last month because we were originally expecting a performance from the Navy Blue Angels and the only time closest to the time of the Oregon Air Show was that day in July. But that never happened due to the federal budget cuts and the event was already scheduled. Also, what should have taken place this month was the annual Hot August Flights fly-in and car show event hosted by the Flight Deck Restaurant here in Salem, Oregon but for some reason, it's not happening this year; from what I heard, part of the reason has to do with significant changes in the board members in charge of the event.

So in lieu of these preferred events (not to mention the preferred updates in the form of new photo galleries!), I decided to create a montage of special aircraft liveries and unique paint jobs. At this point, I've taken enough photos of Reno Air Racers, Airliners, and other kinds of aircraft to get to this point so I figured I could start a volume of montages showing special aircraft paint jobs. That's part of the fun when you go aircraft spotting because you never know what you might see; it's like fishing or perhaps the lottery. It's actually quite cool when you see special or commemorative liveries adorned to an airliner because you know it's one-of-a-kind and sometimes rare to see.

Mainline Carriers

I think it's great that airlines like Southwest have so many kinds of special paint jobs on their 737:

I posted this one before; SWA's 'Arizona One' paint job spotted at PDX.
I still got A LOT of SWA liveries to catch!

Though Southwest uses a common livery, they can spice things up with a little sticker commemorating or advertising something, like this one:

Notice the 'FREE BAGS FLY HERE' sticker? SWA Boeing 737-7H4 (N455WN) departing PDX while advertising something that pleases most air travellers that you just can't seem to get on other airlines.

Some airlines have paint schemes indicating their sponsorship of a major sports team. Being here in the Pacific Northwest, I see a lot of Alaska Airlines and it's sister carrier Horizon Air:

Though I prefer better shots of the individual aircraft, this is worth showing off:
Alaska Airlines have their fair share of special liveries ranging from their signature Eskimo with the Hawaiian lei to celebrate service to Hawaii, Disney and the 'Make a Wish' Foundation and the Portland Timbers soccer team livery.

Though a common trend and very identical and repetitive, it's sometimes nice to see airlines paint their aircraft in the livery of the airline alliance they're in:

Though I would prefer to have the entire aircraft airframe in the shot unobstructed, you can't win 'em all...
Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N3761R) in SkyTeam colors at SLC.

Again, another one posted before being a photo taken a few years ago now; All Nippon Airways Boeing 777-281 (JA712A) in Star Alliance livery departing for a domestic flight out of Komatsu, Japan.

I think most airlines that are a part of one of the three major airline alliance groups has at least one or two aircraft in their respective fleets in a alliance livery.

Regional Carriers

A lot of people tend to gripe about how crappy regional air carriers are and how cramped they can get... From a spotter's perspective, regional jets and turbo-prop airliners tend to get old really fast; in today's overall economy, over half of the domestic air travel service is contracted to regional airlines by the mainline companies. The regionals fly the plane and manage the crews to fly and service them while the mainliners sell the seats. But some regional carriers have special paint jobs that might be uncommon and some might be commemorative. Let's start with a large regional carrier like SkyWest:

SkyWest typically has most of their aircraft painted in the colors of their partners (United Express, Delta Connection being the most common and abundant; and more recently, US Airways Express, Alaska Airlines, and American Eagle started having a few routes operated by SkyWest) and those planes with their respective paint jobs are dedicated to the routes where the mainline carriers are contracting them to. But I guess what I can consider "special liveries" are those independent SkyWest liveries where these planes can be interchangeable or be put on rotation. Here are some notable examples:

Pictured together are two Embraer EMB-120ER Brasilias at PDX for comparison; N270YV in the independent SkyWest livery while N234SW is in United Express livery. Most EMB-120s seen here are relegated to West Coast commuter routes.

That's the case with SkyWest's Brasilias but for the regional jets they operate, it's a different story:

SkyWest Canadair CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200ER (N947SW) parked at PDX on the Alaska/Horizon Air side of the terminal. All SkyWest CRJs branded with Alaska Airlines livery are CRJ-700s (previously operated by Horizon Air before being removed from their fleet); seeing N947SW parked where Horizon and Alaska usually park could possibly mean one of the Alaska Airlines-branded CRJs was unavailable, passenger load factors were unusual that day, resulting in usage of one of these independently branded SkyWest jets or there wasn't simply enough room where SkyWest usually parks.

Although, SkyWest Airlines along with most regional airlines tend to reshape their fleet image depending on where and for whom they've been contracted to fly. Some of these independently-branded regional jets have been known to previously wore liveries of they mainline carriers they' did business for.

Now let's look at ACTUAL special liveries of a regional/commuter airline. With most of my photos originating from the Pacific Northwest, Horizon Air and their Dash-8 Q400s are a common sight. What's cool about Horizon Air is their liveries showing support for state colleges in states they fly to. Here are the "college-themed" Dash-8 Q400s I've managed to photograph at PDX so far:

N403QX in Montana State University Bobcats special livery.
Note that its was still branded as Horizon Air and not yet as Alaska/Horizon.

N414QX in San Diego State University Aztecs special livery.

N402QX in University of Montana Grizzlies special livery.

N440QX in Oregon State University Beavers special livery.
Funny to think this is the livery I've seen the most out of all the special Horizon Air liveries!

N407QX in University of Oregon Ducks special livery.

N435QX in University of Washington Huskies special livery, seen here departing PDX.

N400QX in University of Idaho Vandals special livery, seen here departing PDX.

I think I only have two college-themes left to photograph from Horizon Air.

Another unique "regional" paint scheme comes from Japan's Fuji Dream Airlines because so far, all aircraft in their fleet are different colors:

Fuji Dream Airlines Embraer ERJ-170-100SU (JA04FJ), the green one and the fourth  aircraft in FDA's fleet.

Fuji Dream Airlines Embraer ERJ-175-200SD (JA03FJ), the pink one and the third aircraft in the FDA fleet.

Other Cool One-of-a-Kind Paint Jobs

Best place I can think of is the Reno Air Races! Where else, do you find modified or stock World War II-era fighters all unique? Special thing about a lot of World War II-era aircraft is that a lot of them have something called nose-art, usually something suggestive or even sexual with a pin-up girl image; I'll save that for later... or never. We'll see. For the time being, let's focus on some of the most pimped-out Reno Air Racers out there today!

Hawker Sea Fury FB11 (NX232MB), #232 'September Fury'

Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat G-58 (N777L), #77 'Rare Bear'

North American P-51D Mustang (N71FT), #7 'Strega'

North American P-51D Mustang (N6WJ), #38 'Precious Metal'

Hawker Sea Fury F20 (NX20SF), #8 'Dreadnought'

North American P-51D Mustang (N991R), #11 'Miss America'

North American P-51D Mustang (NL151D), #44 'Sparky'

Hawker Sea Fury FB10 (N71GB), #71 'Sawbones'

Avioane Yak-3U/R-2000 (N46463), #33 'Steadfast'

Gotta say, I'm looking forward to Reno next month. The 50th year of Air Racing will no doubt be a special one.

So there you have it! A montage of some of the special aircraft paint schemes and liveries I've photographed over that last year or so.