Gallery Update: More Rexburg Ramp Shots

Weather was nice but it was the 40-50 mph wind that ruined it. I spent yet another afternoon at the Legacy Flight Museum; surprisingly, I got a lot of visitors during my shift so not everybody was going to let the strong winds outside ruin their day. It was good for me too because it helped me stay busy. In lieu of any big update, here are a few ramp shots from the airport; I took these right after closing time.

Rexburg (RXE) 25

Preview:

Close up of the Rutan VariEze (N410U) from three weeks ago. The nose gear is retracted while the aircraft is parked due to the engine weight in the back, which results in shifted center of gravity; without bodies occupying the cockpit to provide a normal center of gravity, the plane would tip backwards. I wonder if Burt Rutan saw this coming when he designed this aircraft?

Cessna 172M Skyhawk (N13686) parked on the ramp.

Gallery Update: Full House at the Legacy Flight Museum

Just another day volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum. We actually had the hangar doors open and I got some planespotting in from the ramp as well. We also had a full house again in the museum hangar as well with several planes belonging to the museum being put back on display today. Here are the links:

Legacy Flight Museum 2015 Revisits (Updated)

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Preview:

Cessna 172N Skyhawk II (N2207E) working the pattern at RXE. This plane has the very same paint scheme as N5174E, my uncle's Cessna 172N, so at first, I thought I was seeing double!

The museum's Cessna 305C, better known as the O-1E Bird Dog (N305CM) sitting on the ramp just prior to being put back on display.

Here's a cool line-up of three Piper Cubs. From left to right is N7196B, N150CW, and N208PF.

The museum's Boeing B75N Stearman (N49259) being towed back to the hangar for display.

The museum's North American SNJ-3 Texan (N676JD) being towed back to the hangar for display.

Grumman American AA-5A Cheetah (N9887U) taxiing.

View of the Legacy Flight Museum with hangar doors opened all the way. All aircraft are in the hangar with the exception of the SNJ-3.

Gallery Update: Chasin' Jets at Idaho Falls

I returned to Idaho Falls for the first time in a year to get some planespotting in; the weather was great and it was technically the first day of spring so I figured today was a good day as any. I wanted to photograph some commercial flights with my new camera and in addition to the general aviation traffic flying around, I got quite a few good shots; they include two SkyWest regional jets, a Metroliner flying for Ameriflight (Metroliners are an uncommon sight for me), a few business jets, and of course one of Allegiant Air's Mad Dogs. With all the air traffic I saw, it made for one of the best days of spotting I've ever had at Idaho Falls. These are my first commercial aviation photos taken with my new camera but I have decided that Allegiant Air is the bane of my aviation photography passion! I say that because they don't fly daily due to their business model, which makes them harder to chase and sometimes, they're late! And unfortunately for me, that was the case; Allegiant Flight 190 from Phoenix-Mesa didn't arrive into Idaho Falls until about 4:30 PM. But then I waited around for another two hours to catch the same MD-80 departing on the outbound leg as Flight 191! But my patience paid off and I finally got what I consider to be my best shots of an Allegiant MD-80 (compared to some of my photos from last year). Here is the link:

Idaho Falls (IDA) 8

Preview:

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2D24 CRJ-900 NextGen (N822SK) departing Idaho Falls bound for Salt Lake City. On occasion, CRJ-900s are used on the IDA-SLC route to provide First Class service in Idaho Falls.

I almost missed this one! Cessna 525A Citation CJ2 (N96NA) rocketing out of IDA. After clearing the runway threshold, the aircraft made a rather steep climbing left turn.

Here's N96NA in its climbing left turn!

Gulfstream Aerospace G-V (N50KC) departing IDA.

Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N883GA) clearing the active runway after arrival into IDA as Flight 190. I would rather not have a shot with out that chainlink fence; at least I got a clear shot of the aircraft though. And I waited two hours after this plane arrived to get the unobstructed shot when it departed!

FedEx Feeder Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster (N991FE) departing IDA for a cargo run.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-440 (N8884E) departing for Salt Lake City. This is a former Pinnacle Airlines regional jet that flew under Northwest Airline's NWA Airlink brand. When I looked up this tail number, I learned that this is a specially-configured CRJ-200 regional jet much to my surprise. The CRJ-440 is certified for up to 44 seats in the passenger cabin with closets in the front part of the cabin; the reason the CRJ-440 was designed for fewer seats is so it could meet their major airline contract "scope clause" which restricts major airlines' connection carriers from operating equipment carrying 50 or more passengers to guard against usurpation of Air Line Pilots Association and Allied Pilots Association pilots' union contract.

Ameriflight Fairchild SA-227AC Metro III (N838AF) departing IDA for Salt Lake City on a cargo run. Metroliners have become a rare sight lately now that many regional airlines no longer operate them for passenger service; airlines like SkyWest and Horizon used to operate these planes back in the day!

And finally, the shot I waited all afternoon to get: Allegiant Air's MD-83 (N883GA) departing IDA as Flight 191 for Phoenix-Mesa.

Gallery Update: General Aviation Traffic

I've finally photographed some fixed-wing aircraft in flight with my new camera! While at the Legacy Flight Museum today, I stepped out back onto the tarmac during the nice springtime weather and observed and photographed quite a bit of traffic. But today's photos aren't certainly the first; the first fixed-wing aircraft photo I got was yesterday while I was walking on campus at BYU-Idaho, so I got this from an off-airport setting. Here are the links:

Off-Airport 3 (Updated)

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Preview:

The aircraft I saw yesterday was an Air Tractor AT-802 (N9002K) working the pattern at Rexburg. This aircraft is based in Rigby and serves as an aerial firefighter, most likely on station for eastern Idaho in the event of any fires breaking out.

My first warbird in flight shot and highlight of the day is courtesy of the North American SNJ-5 Texan known as 'Lil Ashlee.' From what I heard, the aircraft was heading down to Idaho Falls to participate in a photo-op with a P-51B Mustang that was recently restored by Pacific Fighters.

I love this livery! Gotta love the shark mouth on the nose! An Aviat A-C1-180 Husky departing Rexburg after using the grass runway.

I like this particular paint scheme because my favorite color is green and there are different shades of it here. Cessna 182D Skylane slowing down after touching down in Rexburg.

Cessna T206H Stationair (N15EA) departing Rexburg. This one wasn't around too long; they landed and quickly cleared the runway, taxied back to the runway and took back off again.

Cessna 170 (N3910V) taking off. This one stayed close by and worked the pattern.

Cirrus SR22 (N321BR) departing Rexburg. This one didn't take much runway to get in the air!

The most unique sight of the day was this Rutan VariEze (N410U) taxiing out for departure. On take-off, this aircraft used most of the runway, as seems to be a common case for most aircraft with rear-mounted engines.

Piper PA-22-160 Tri-Pacer (N8414D) converted a conventional landing gear (tailwheel) configuration departing Rexburg.