Gallery Update: Back to School, Back to Volunteering

This one's more for me than anything else. I went back to school for another semester this week. Needless to say, I did not miss five days of classes per week but one silver lining is that I only have one class to attend on Fridays so I still have a little flexibility when it comes to schedules. Not only that, but it sucked for me to leave home after being there for a couple days and I really want this new semester to move along. But after my first week of classes for the semester, not mention five days of classes I just needed to get away from the apartment as well as the campus atmosphere. And my little "sanctuary" or "fortress of solitude" (as some of my associates at the museum would say) happens to be the Legacy Flight Museum so I decided to get away for a little bit by spending the afternoon there. Of course, I wouldn't be writing this up if I didn't have an update right? Well, I took more photos from the museum (you're welcome!) so I updated my museum "revisit" album with new pictures as well as a new airplane to add to the mix... Well, the airplane is actually just the museum's second Cessna Bird Dog. Here's the Facebook album link:

Legacy Flight Museum Revisits (Updated)

I even got a little "artistic" with my photography as well. I highlight those in the following preview:

Ski-equipped Cessna 305A Bird Dog (N5074A). This Bird Dog participated in the fly-in that happened in June of last year.

Nose section of the ultra-rare P-63C Kingcobra (N169FS) detailing the nose-mounted 37mm cannon.

Nose-section of the P-51D Mustang 'Ole Yeller' (N51RH) made famous by Bob Hoover

And while we're at it, how 'bout the tail-section of 'Ole Yeller?' Come to think of it, it's easy to miss the small details of any aircraft like this; in this case, it's the number 47 and the tail with Hoover's name.

Something I'll be looking forward to in a few short months this upcoming June on Father's Day weekend is the Legacy Air Show being held right here in Rexburg, hosted by the museum.

Gallery Update: Idaho Falls Double Allegiant Sighting

Happy Easter! I drove down to the Idaho Falls Regional Airport this afternoon to do a little spotting. Needless to say, traffic was pretty dull, but not surprising since it was Sunday but I thought different considering it was the Easter holiday; but I stand corrected... But having my airband radio on me, I heard the radio chatter between aircraft and the tower, including what happened to a SkyWest flight upon landing; from the sounds of it, it looks like there was a bird strike on a Delta Connection-branded CRJ. Today also included a double Allegiant Air sighting, which was strange because the schedule called for only one flight when I arrived. I think what happened was that the earlier scheduled Las Vegas flight got delayed long enough to the point it was in Idaho Falls when I got to see the Phoenix/Mesa flight (or vice versa). Sucks for the passengers but for me, two MD-80s for the price of one at Idaho Falls is pretty good! Anyways, here's the link:

Idaho Falls (IDA) 5

Preview:

Again, don't mind the chain link fence, but this is the Delta Connection/SkyWest CRJ that suffered a bird strike when it landed. This aircraft did not return to Salt Lake City as originally scheduled.

Now, compare and contrast this double Allegiant sighting:

Allegiant Air MD-80 in the older livery departing IDA; couldn't tell what the tail-number was...

Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (N427NV) in the updated (with more orange) livery having just arrived at IDA.

Did you notice the slight variations in paint jobs between the old and new livery? Here's a better photo of the last one WITHOUT that cursed chain link fence:

N427NV departing IDA.

Gallery Update: Nampa, a Little Road Trip Detour

So I did go home for about a week after the school semester ended, as you might have noticed from the last post that originated in Salem. I drove back to eastern Idaho today to get ready for another semester but I decided to take my time in returning to the Ashton/Rexburg area by stopping at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho, which is a suburb that's part of the Boise-metro area. I've driven through Nampa many times to get to eastern Idaho and I've always seen signs and a billboard that pointed the museum and I figured it was about time to stop and check it out. Needless to say, it was a pleasant experience. Much like the Legacy Flight Museum, the Warhawk Air Museum is basically a large aircraft hangar and some of the planes are still airworthy. I even got exclusive access to the maintenance hangar next door where one of the museum's two P-40s was getting a landing gear leg change; this also afforded me to do take a few pictures of the general aviation ramp. The only downside to this visit is that I JUST missed the museum's rare P-51C Mustang nicknamed the 'Boise Bee'... Here are the links:

Warhawk Air Museum

Nampa (MAN) 1

Preview:

A replica Fokker DR-1 (DR stands for Dreidecker, or 3 wings) Triplane (N9224C) occasionally known as "The Blue Max" on display.

Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk (NX94466) nicknamed "Sneak Attack" on display.

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk (NL1195N) nicknamed "Parrot Head" getting some maintenance done.

Beechcraft Model H50 Twin Bonanza (N7770X) on display. The H50 model is fairly rare because only 30 airframes were ever built.

Gallery Update: Spotting from My Hometown Airport

Though I consider PDX to be my "home airport" when it comes to flying commercial, my actual hometown airport is the Salem Municipal Airport/McNary Field (SLE) in Salem, Oregon. And today, I actually decided to go do some spotting at SLE even though I was initially not expecting to see much. The airport offers a great vantage point thanks to the Flight Deck Restaurant and some of the real estate it has; the only factor that's lacking about this spotting location is the traffic at SLE, as I mentioned when I critiqued SLE nearly two years ago. Otherwise this would be my ideal kind of place to do some planespotting. It looks like I got lucky with my timing because I saw quite a bit of activity at the airport, making this a spotting trip worth while. Here's the link to the gallery:

Salem (SLE) 3

And here's the typical preview:

An Aérospatiale SA-330J Puma (N338EV) getting ready to taxi out and lift off for departure from SLE.

A Cessna 525B Citation CJ3 (N1KA) sitting on the FBO ramp.

This was a pleasant surprise and a treat to catch; a Dassault Falcon 2000EX (N515PV) taxiing to the FBO to refuel after arrival into SLE.

The Dassault Falcon 2000EX (N515PV) turned right in front of the Flight Deck Restaurant just to get close to the FBO! From this perspective, the Falcon 2000EX is a pretty big business jet.
Talk about being close to the action!

Gallery Update: More Salt Lake-area Off-Airport Spotting

Around this time last year, I took quite a few off-airport photos of SLC air traffic from my aunt's home in West Jordan, Utah, which is underneath the approach/departure pattern of Salt Lake City International Airport. Well, I was in the Salt Lake-area again this weekend and even though I didn't take as many pictures as I did last year, I had my larger camera on hand instead that tiny digital camera I used for most of last year and it yielded greater results by comparison. The only downside was that it was cloudy so I had to settle with silhouette-like shots; but when zoomed in the on the photo subjects on my camera screen, I could easily tell what the aircraft was and which carrier...

Off-Airport 1 (Updated)

Preview:

United Airlines Boeing 737 on approach to SLC.

American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 on approach to SLC.

One of the locally-based Utah Air National Guard's Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker on approach to SLC.