A Surprise Visitor to Detroit Metro

As I said in the last post, I found out that there was going to be a special visitor coming to Detroit Metro.

When I got up to the parking deck to watch said visitor, I saw that Detroit had another surprise visitor.  This P-8 Poseidon belongs to VP-30 out of Jacksonville, Florida.  I'm not sure why it was here though.

An A300 belonging to UPS.

This A330 was on its way to Amsterdam.

An American 737 heading to Charlotte.

I liked the looks of it as it climbed up.

Another American 737 but it was heading to Dallas.

A United E175 heading to Newark.

I'm not sure where this Spirit Aircraft is heading.

Another United E175 but I'm not sure where it is heading.

A Southwest 737.

A Delta A321 heading to Atlanta.

SAme a little higher.

An A320 heading to Miami.

Some but flying by.

I'm not sure where this CRJ is heading.

An American A320.

A shot with the beacon.

An E175 coming in.

Another A321 heading to Atlanta.

An A321 coming in from LAX.

An American 737 heading off to Charlotte.

A 717 coming in from St. Louis.

An A320 heading somewhere.

The State Police helicopter indicated that the plane I was waiting for would be taking off soon.

It was making sure there was nobody around.

The special visitor turned out to be Air Force One.  President Biden was in town today but I'm not sure what for.

This makes the third time I've see this plane.

It starts the takeoff role.

And starts to lift into the sky.

I think this is my favorite.

And it climbs into the air.

I will have to admit, this is a pretty impressive looking aircraft.

And it turns off to Washington DC.  Like I said, this is a pretty impressive aircraft even though the livery looks pretty low key.  I hope that they have an updated version of this for the new VC-25s getting built.
 

The Rainbow Behind the Gordie Howe Bridge

 As I was heading back from Ohio, I saw that there was a special visitor at Detroit Metro, so I decided to go catch it.  As I was heading up I-275 to get the airport, I saw a rainbow off to the east.  Since I was driving, I couldn't get a picture of it.

It was faded by the time I got to the airport, but I could still see it.  If you look closely, you can see the towers of the Gordie Howe Bridge peeking over the trees.  You can also see the rainbow.

A Special Treat

 Like I said in my last post, I wanted to get a picture of the plane they used to do the flyover.  I didn't see it on the way over to Metro.  As I was at Metro, I was thinking that it was in a different spot than I expected, so I looked at the other side of the airport and found it.

The picture it not from my favorite angle for plane pictures but this was the only angle that I could get.

The P-8A Poseidon is the newest patrol aircraft for the US Navy.  It was developed from the 737 airframe and was meant to replace the P-3 Orion.  Studies to replace the P-3 were began in the 1980s.  Lockheed was contracted to produce the P-7 which was an improved version of the P-3 but that contract was cancelled in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.  In 2000, the Navy decided to do a second competition to replace the versatile P-3.  Lockheed submitted an even more improved version of the Orion.  British Aerospace submitted an improved version of the Nimrod but withdrew as they couldn't find a US production partner.  Boeing submitted this design.  In 2004, Boeing was awarded the contract.

In 2009, the P-8 first flew and it was introduced to the fleet in 2014.  Boeing also has contracts from the Indian, Australian and British Navies for this plane.  As of this year, 174 have been built.

This particular aircraft belongs to VP-62, which is a Naval Air Reserve squadron that operates out of Jacksonville, Florida.  It is the first Naval Air Reserve squadron to operate this plane and it was introduced to this squadron in April of this year.