Saturday, August 12, 2017

Catching Flight 505

I was hoping to catch the 787 last night.  I knew it was going to be close as there was a bit of traffic on Michigan Avenue on my out from work.  Plus I heard that Middlebelt Road might be closed.  Middlebelt is where I try to catch the planes coming in from the east.
Well I did make it time to catch the Royal Jordanian 787.  This particular one is the 787-8 which was the plane that Boeing first introduced in 2011.  It is intended to replace the 767.  It has a passenger capacity of around 242 and a range of 7,500 miles.  I kind of liked the way the light was hitting the plane in this picture.  It almost looks like it was pasted onto the photo.
 I do think the 787 is a nice looking aircraft.  Not quite as nice looking as the 757 but still not bad.
 And I really like this livery.
 N987DL is an MD-88 that belongs to Delta Airlines.  It was arriving from Minneapolis-St Paul (or MSP for you avgeeks).  I think the DC-9 family planes are also pretty nice.
 This plane has a tail number N991AN.  It is a 737-800 that belongs to American Airlines.  It was on its way from Dallas-Fort Worth. 
 A Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 that was flying in from Seattle.
This was a SkyWest CRJ-200 that is operated for Delta Express.  It was on its way from the land of the Touchdown Jesus.  After landing at Detroit, it flew up to Chippewa International Airport near the Soo.  Then it flew back to Detroit in the morning.  Tomorrow it will fly up to Alpena.
 An A330 heading to Detroit from Beijing.  As I type this post, it is on its way to Nagoya, Japan.  Sometime tomorrow, it will be back in Detroit.
 This CRJ-900 arrived from Madison, WI.
 All of the times trying to follow planes, I was hoping to catch one that was flying in from my hometown.  This CRJ-200 was flying in from MBS Airport.  MBS stands for Midland-Bay City-Saginaw Airport.  When I was growing up it was known as Tri-City Airport.
In 1941, a square mile of land was bought by the three communities in order to build an airport that would serve the needs of the three communities.  Shortly after that, the country found itself at war and the land was taken over by the Federal Government and a bigger airport was built in case Detroit Airport was destroyed. It was never used as airfield during World War II but it was used to house German prisoners.  It was dedicated in 1943.  In 1994, it received it's current name.
It used to be a much busier airport and is currently serviced by Delta and United Airlines.
 A 737-900 arriving from San Diego.
 And this 737 arrived from the land of the mouse.
 An Embrear 175 arriving from O'Hare Airport.
 I was about ready to leave but I saw that a 757 was coming in.
 This particular one was coming in from Mexico City.
 I kind of liked the clouds behind this one.
 I don't normally get shots of this angle.
 Air France 378 coming in for a landing.
 And this A319 came in from Grand Rapids.
 A United 737 coming in from San Francisco.
 I kind of liked this shot too.
 For the purposes of this post, Flight 505 is the Fed Ex flight from Memphis to Detroit.  I think it is a Monday through Friday flight but that may chance based on volume.
 Flight 505 is also the name of a Rolling Stones song.  I think it is about a plane that crashes.
 Devil 505 was the A-6 Intruder that was used in the book "Flight of the Intruder".
 Delta Flight 505 is a daily flight from Detroit to Pittsburgh.
Aeroflot Flight 505 is a Russian flight that took off from Tashkent Airport in Uzbekistan in 1987.  It was a Yak-40 which is smaller than a CRJ-100.  It was taking off behind an IL-76 (which is roughly equivalent to our C-141).  The Yak-40 was too close behind the IL-76 and got caught in its wake turbulence.  All 9 people on board were killed in the crash.

I'm sure there are other Flight 505's.

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