A Stop at Gerald R. Ford International Airport

 On the way over to Grand Haven, my mom saw some F/A-18s flying over Grand Rapids.   I saw a post in the Planespotting group that they were there.  Later, I found out that they were there for a funeral.  I figured they would have landed, so I stopped at the airport on the way back.

I stopped at the spotters park on the other side of the airport.  It gives a great view of the planes.  This A320 is getting ready to go to Atlanta in the morning.

Two of the F/A-18 Hornets that I saw.  I wish I could have caught them flying but this isn't a bad view.

A Fed Ex 757 at the cargo terminal.

The little plane is a Bombardier Challenger.  The bigger plane is an Embrear.

The other two F/A-18 Hornets.

A more overall view of the airport.

Just before I left this plane came in.

It was a CRJ-700 belonging to American Express coming in from Philadelphia.

About to land.

A puff of smoke as it touches down.

One more shot before heading home.

So my whirlwind day is bookended by two different airports at almost opposite ends of the state.  I was able to see something unique at both airports so that was pretty cool.  The only problem is that it made for a long day.

A Stop at Gerald R. Ford Airport

 It was pretty cloudy out and I wasn't sure if we would make it to Grand Haven from Fallasburg before it got too dark.  I took a look at FlightRadar and I saw that there were some interesting flights coming into the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.  I decided to head over there before heading home.

I was hoping I would make it in time to catch this flight.  It was taxiing as I was driving into the plane spotting area.  I thought it would take off from the main runway, but it ended up taking off from the cross runway.  This was a Southwest Airlines 737 heading to Midway Airport in Chicago.

I'm not sure they were doing to this plane but it is used to fly from Grand Rapids to Las Vegas and back 4 days out of the week.

This is another plane that I wanted to catch.  I see A320s all the time at Metro Airport but I never see Allegiant planes there.

I think Allegiant tends to service the smaller airports like Grand Rapids and Flint.  It lowers their cost structure because the landing fees are lower.  This plane was arriving from Punta Gorda, Florida.  It is a city near the southern tip of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico side.

Then I saw this plane getting ready to take off.

I kept getting some pictures of the Allegiant plane as it taxied to the gate.

I kind of like their livery.

And I think they've improved their safety record in the past few years.

One more shot of that plane.

This is a CRJ-700 belonging to Go Jet but flying for United Express on its way to O'Hare Airport.

One more shot of that plane.

Shortly after that plane took off, this plane landed.

It was arriving from O'Hare Airport.

I kind of like this livery.

As I was watching the last plane land, this plane started to taxi for take off.

It was a CRJ-900 belonging to SkyWest but flying for Delta heading to Minneapolis.

I think Grand Rapids has 2 or three flights to each of the the Delta Hub cities.

This CRJ-900 was coming in from Detroit.

If I remember correctly, it is roughly a half hour flight (if that).

It was taxiing to the gate.

A nice view that you can get from the spotter's park.

And then the plane heading for Minneapolis.

I think that is about an hour and fifteen minute flight.  Or so.

So one more picture.  It was pretty windy as I was watching the planes.  It was also pretty cold and an almost biting cold.  While I enjoy my hobby, it is days like today that make it less so.

A Stop at Gerald R. Ford Airport

As I said in the post yesterday, I decided to head to the other side of the state.  I couldn't resist a stop at Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.  They have a really nice spotters' park there.

 I kind of stopped there on a lark and I wasn't sure what I would catch.  When I saw that there were a couple of planes leaving soon, I decided to stick around to catch them.

 First up was a 717 that was getting ready to head to Minneapolis.  It's cool that they have this nice park but it would be nicer if they had bigger planes.

 It gets ready to taxi to the takeoff spot.

 Passing the tower.

 This Allegiant A320 was getting ready to go to St. Petersburg in Florida.  I didn't realize that Allegiant had special livery.  It was kind of nice to see.  I actually wasn't expecting to see this plane pulling out.

 And this Southwest 737 was on its way to Fort Myers, Florida.

 This was taking off from the other runway.

 It makes for a pretty nice view.

 And it takes off.

 And then the A320 taxis for takeoff. 

 I had to pay attention to get a headshot but it was pretty nice.

 I didn't get a picture in front of the control tower but I do like these views.

 It taxis by.

 The 717 gets ready for takeoff.  I wasn't expecting it to take off from this runway but the winds were variable.

 I kind of like this view with the Fed EX A300 behind it.

 And the nose pitches up.

 Airborne.

 One more shot.

 The A320 goes on its takeoff roll.

 Rotate and take off.

I was surprised to see this United CRJ-550 coming in.  I think it was a new one because the picture on FlightRadar was the the house livery.  It was pretty cool to see this plane in the new United livery though.  I think this plane wears it pretty well.

And on a side note, this is my 7,500 post.  I suppose it's appropriate that it's planes.  It would have been nice to be ships but since those aren't stirring yet, I guess planes will do.  Anyway, I look forward to the next 7,500.