Gallery Update: Salmon Fishing at PDX, Anyone?

(You'll get the joke in the title later on when you read further down.)

This morning, I had to go up to PDX and pick up my uncle, who was flying in from Salt Lake City. Since this was my typical opportunity, I drove up two hours before he arrived and got a good session of spotting in. This is the first time spotting from the short-term parking garage structure at Portland International Airport with my new camera and the photos all turned out well! The morning hours are the best time to catch the best variety of traffic and I got some new stuff as well. Here is the link:

Portland (PDX) 13

Preview:

Air Canada Jazz De Havilland Canada Dash 8 DHC-8-301 (C-GHTA) departing for Vancouver. Surprised to see there are still Air Canada Jazz-brand aircraft still in the old paint job.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-251 (N530US) departing on 28R. This is a former Northwest Airlines bird.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N559AS) in special "Salmon Thirty Salmon II" livery in partnership with Wild Alaska Seafood pulling up to the gate. Note the split-scimitar winglets.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N557AS) with the Hawaiian lei adorned next to the Eskimo taxiing for departure. Also equipped with the split-scimitar winglets.

Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 DHC-8-401 Q400 (N400QX) in University of Idaho Vandals livery slowing down upon arrival on 28L. Haven't seen this one in a while...

I know it's just a plain Southwest Airlines livery but it IS a 737-300. Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 (N622SW) smokin' the mains upon arrival on 28L.

I FINALLY photographed the new Southwest Airlines livery!!! Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-76N (N7723E) taxiing out for departure. This aircraft is a former AirTran bird, which was acquired when Southwest bought AirTran (formerly registered as N285AT).

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N457AS) taxiing for departure.

United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N419UA) departing on 28R.

United Airlines Airbus A319-131 (N847UA) departing on 28R.

A new sight at PDX: SkyWest Airlines Embraer E-175LR (N110SY) flying for United Express taxiing out for departure. Note the new winglet design for this particular aircraft. Brazilian metal is back at PDX after all the SkyWest EMB-120 services ceased.

N110SY climbing away from PDX, with a glass-smooth Columbia River and neighboring Vancouver, WA as a nice backdrop. 

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N614SK) vacating Runway 28R after arrival from Seattle-Tacoma.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N3769L) taxiing out for departure.

American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N9618A) taxiing for departure to Dallas/Fort Worth. This is a former TWA bird.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-4Q8 (N756AS) slowing down upon arrival on 28L.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N216AG) slowing down upon arrival on 28L. This is a former Horizon Air bird when they operated regional jets before going to an all-Q400 fleet (formerly registered as N606QX). This aircraft was also the second CRJ-700 to receive the Alaska Airlines livery.

Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer E-175LR (N620CZ) vacating Runway 28R after arrival from Los Angeles.

US Airways (now operated by American Airlines) Airbus A321-211 (N162UW) taxiing for departure to Phoenix-Sky Harbor. This is only my second A321 photographed and it's still in US Airways colors. US Airways and American Airlines just recently received a single operating certificate. So while it may be in the US Airways livery, it now flies with the call-sign 'American.' Catch what's left of these US Airways liveries while you still can!

N162UW departing on 28L.

Gallery Update: Spotting in Eugene/Oregon Air & Space Museum

Today was another good day to do aviation-related things. This time, I drove down to Eugene, Oregon to do some planespotting at Mahlon Sweet Field (EUG), otherwise known as Eugene Municipal Airport (with tons of regional flights) and visit a museum there. In terms of airline passenger boardings, Eugene Airport is the second busiest airport in Oregon just behind Portland (PDX) and the fifth largest airport in the Pacific Northwest region. The airport is also home to a small aviation museum I only just recently found out about called the Oregon Air & Space Museum. The museum hours were really tight (noon to 4 PM usually) so I arrived early to try some spotting first. I found a great spotting location at a parking lot by the museum just 300 feet from the numbers of Runway 34L; they say they have people coming by all the time to watch planes so that tells me it was a great spot and it was totally okay to be there. Even though commercial traffic is sparse at best, I'll most likely go back a few more times. The best time for spotting is early morning (according some sources) and again from noon until about 2 PM.

Commercial service is mostly provided by SkyWest Airlines via United Express with flights to Denver and San Francisco, Delta Connection with flights to Salt Lake City, and most recently via American Eagle Airlines with flights to Los Angeles when American Airlines contracted SkyWest to do some West Coast routes for them. And for me, the highlight of this spotting trip was catching an American Eagle livery for the first time! Aside from SkyWest, Allegiant Air flies certain days into Eugene with direct flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Phoenix/Mesa; the prospect of catching Allegiant Mad Dogs at Eugene is reason enough to plan a second spotting trip! And of course, being in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska Airlines offers flights out of Eugene through sister carrier Horizon Air with commuter flights to Portland and Seattle. SkyWest via United Express used to compete with Horizon on the Portland and Seattle routes but have since ceased when their EMB-120s were all relocated to California for eventual retirement. Frontier Airlines also up until recently flew into Eugene from Denver as more of a mainline service but have since ceased upon changing business models to become an ultra low-cost airline. As for the Oregon Air & Space Museum, it is a unique one with a variety of displays in two hangars; a few of the museum aircraft are airworthy as well.

Here are the links to the full photo galleries:

Eugene (EUG) 1

Oregon Air & Space Museum

Previews:

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a United Express) Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200LR (N969SW) arriving from San Francisco.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200LR (N417SW) arriving from Los Angeles. I am very happy to finally catch an American Eagle livery, particularly the old colors pictured here because the American Eagle brand is changing to become unified with the "New American Airlines" livery.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200LR (N460SW) beginning take-off roll for departure to Salt Lake City.

Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air) Bombardier DHC-8-401 Dash 8 Q400 (N404QX) arriving from Portland.

Israel Aircraft Industries IAI-1125 Astra (N777AM) taxiing for departure. According to FlightAware, this aircraft flew down to Reno, Nevada. 

N417SW taxiing for departure for the return trip to Los Angeles.

A little SkyWest smorgasbord!

N969SW beginning take-off roll for departure on the return-trip to San Francisco. 

The world's smallest jet, the Bede BD-5J (N811Q) on display.

Full-scale (and airworthy!) replica of the legendary Nieuport 17 (N25PH) made famous by France in World War I on display.

Monnett Monerai S glider (N8534P) on display.

Mitchell Wing B-10 ultralight on display (no tail number visible at this time).

Erickson Alfred A Herqui (N8176E) on display. Not much is known about this aircraft at the moment.

5/8 scale replica of the venerable F4U Corsair (N86RD). The fact it has a tail number means this mini-Corsair flew!

5/8 scale replica of the Mitsubishi Zero (N4217). This one also flew once.

5/8 scale replica of the Messerschmitt Bf-109. There is no addition information and no tail number on this aircraft, therefore it is believed to be a simple mock-up.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco (NX306DM) on display. This MiG-17 was flown by Bill Reeseman in the "MiG Magic" air show routines. However, this aircraft suffered an in-flight fire during a test flight in Aurora, Oregon and Reeseman was forced to land this MiG, which was written off and subsequently donated to the museum.

Fire damage evident on the back-left part of the MiG-17.

Grumman A-6E Intruder (162206) on display.

McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (148491) on display.

Gallery Update: The Past Three Days/Homeward Bound

I am officially done with school at BYU-Idaho and I have since returned home to Oregon. But in the last three days, I managed to get snap a few more photos even while on the go.

Thursday the 9th: I drove up to Ashton to be with my relatives before I left for home and I get an off-airport opportunity when a helicopter landed in a field by the church across the street from my relatives' home.

Friday the 10th: Still in Ashton, I was returning to the home of my relatives when I noticed a jetliner high up in the sky leaving behind a contrail. I snapped a photo of it and when I zoomed in on the photos, I found out it was a FedEx tri-jet (either a MD-10/DC-10 or an MD-11, couldn't really tell which was which from that distance). As a result of these photos, I've started an albums dedicated to contrails and this one will be updated when opportunity permits.

Saturday the 11th: On the drive home, I stopped in Nampa, Idaho just west of Boise to revisit the Warhawk Air Museum. It was about this time last year when I first visited, but I had missed the P-51C Mustang known as the "Boise Bee" by just a matter of minutes. This time, I was happy as a clam to lay eyes (and take photos) of the rare P-51C Mustang! While there, I managed to do a little planespotting by the Nampa Airport Ramp as well.

Links:

Off-Airport 3 (Updated)

Contrails

Warhawk Air Museum (Revisit)

Nampa (MAN) 2

Preview:

Air Idaho Rescue's Bell 407 (N160AM) on approach for landing in a field in Ashton, ID. I photographed this very same helicopter three years ago as my very first off-airport photo.

P-51Cs are significantly rarer than the usual D-models. I've waited a long time to see the Warhawk Air Museum's P-51C Mustang (NX4651C), nicknamed the "Boise Bee." This aircraft was fully restored in 2010 and honors five-time World War II fighter ace Lt. Col Duane W. Beeson of Boise, ID. Beeson flew in the 334th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force in England.

The aircraft of the museum's namesake, the Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (NX94466).

Cessna 305A/O-1A Bird Dog (N5263G).

Gallery Update: Last Day at the Legacy Flight Museum

Today was my last full day as a volunteer at the Legacy Flight Museum. Kind of a bitter sweet feeling knowing that I probably won't back here for a while because I'm finishing school at BYU-Idaho at the end of the semester and won't be returning for spring... Alas, I've had good run here and the place certainly had its perks! I've enjoyed tending to the airplanes on display, seeing them fly, and giving people tours. To say this was a good gig is an understatement; I've gained experience for volunteering here! Well, given that this was my last day to do the usual things I like to do, here are some final photos from the museum as well as from Rexburg-Madison County Airport. I decided to get cockpit photos of most of the planes at the museum and I also stayed after-hours today to oversee a couple and their photographers' 1940s-style wedding engagement photo-shoot involving a couple of the planes and vintage cars at the museum and I managed to get some planespotting in while there. Here are the links:

Legacy Flight Museum 2015 Revisits (Updated)

Rexburg (RXE) 27

Preview:

Grumman American AA-5A Cheetah (N9887U) practicing touch-and-goes and working the pattern.

Cessna R172K Skyhawk (N736QV) taxiing for departure soon after arriving; this one didn't stay very long.

Air Idaho Rescue Pilatus PC-12/45 (N129JW) practicing touch-and-goes.

Front cockpit of the T-28C Trojan.

Cockpit of the Mormon Mustang.

Gallery Update: 'Section Eight' Returns!

Today was a great day to be at the Legacy Flight Museum despite some chilly winds. The museum's unofficial "third" P-51D Mustang nicknamed "Section Eight" made a surprise visit and return to Rexburg today and I was lucky to photograph its arrival. Many thanks to the Driscolls for bringing her in!

Links:

Legacy Flight Museum 2015 Revisits (Updated)

Rexburg (RXE) 26

Photo Preview - North American P-51D Mustang "Section Eight" (NL2869D):

Roaring into Rexburg with a fly-by with the distinct sound of the Merlin engine; too bad photos fail to portray the sound.

Roll-out after touchdown.

Taxiing in.

Opportunity to photograph while outside in great lighting.

Getting towed into the barn for the night.

Safely tucked away. Haven't seen this one since last year's air show. Great to see this P-51 here again!

Other sightings of the day:

Cessna T182T Skylane (N2474V) departing RXE.

Here's an unusual sighting while at the Rexburg Airport: spotting a C-130 Hercules flying directly overhead! It is most likely a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130H of the 153rd Airlift Wing, which would make sense because this plane was flying in the direction towards Wyoming and Cheyenne Air National Guard Base is home of the 153rd.

Love the slightly retro look to this Cessna 185F Skywagon (N469RP). Seen here taking off using the grass runway.

N469RP getting buffeted by the wind.

Ameriflight Beechcraft C99 Commuter (N106SX) taxiing for departure for the daily weekday cargo run to Salt Lake City. N106SX is a former, now-defunct Christman Air Service bird. Nearly half of all the Beech 99s produced are still in operation with Ameriflight. Since last year, I've noticed that Ameriflight seems to send certain Beech 99s to Rexburg as there are recurring tail numbers showing up on different days of the week.

Ameriflight's N106SX rotating from the runway on departure, starting the journey to SLC.