Michigan Exposures: Return to O'Hare Airport

I decided to head back to O'Hare Airport yesterday. I wanted to find the planewatching spot that I heard so much about.

First I started at the cell phone lot, where I got pictures of this American Airlines MD-83 coming in for a landing. I had to modify this shot a bit to get the lamp posts out of the way.

This plane was coming in for a landing from Minneapolis. After about a 50 minute turnaround, she found herself on her way to Orlando. After a brief stay in Orlando, she was back to Chicago. At midnight last night, she was on her way to Detroit. From Metro, she will head down to Dallas. I have to admit, this DC-9 variants tend to be fairly busy aircraft.

AeroLogic is a German Cargo Airline. It was founded by Lufthansa Cargo and DHL in 2007. Flight operations started in 2009. This particular aircraft is the freighter version of the Boeing 777.

After some wandering around the airport, even trying to find a spot on the west side, I somehow stumbled across the spot I was looking for. As I passed it for about the third time, I noticed some people standing in about the spot I was looking for. So I turned around and I finally found it. It used to belong to the USG Corporation, but now it is owned by a parking garage. You can park on the street and get some of the best aircraft views that I've seen. This Regional Jet was coming in for a landing from Springfield, Illinois.

This is a fairly new 737. This particular version is an Extended Range one. This particular variant first flew in the late 1990's.

One of the things I like about visiting O'Hare is that I get to see different airlines. I'm pretty sure there is an Air France flight that comes to Detroit but I'm not sure on times. At any rate, this is an Airbus 330 landing from Paris.
Air France is the flag carrier of France. I believe this means that it is somewhat nationalized. It was founded in 1933 after several other airlines of France were merged.

This United 737 was coming in from LAX. Apparently, there are a couple of places where you can go planewatching there too. Would love to check it out someday.

This Embrear Regional Jet was flying in from Savannah.

An Airbus 320 coming in from Atlanta.

This was a 757 waiting to take off. I'm not sure where it was heading.

This Scandnivian Airlines Airbus A330 was coming in front Stockholm. This particular plane was acquired in February of this year.
Scandinavian Airlines (or SAS or formerly Scandinavian Airlines System) is the flag carrier for Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It was founded in August of 1946 after the respective flag carriers of those three countries combined to form SAS. It was the first airline to fly a regularly scheduled flight using the polar route (crossing over the North Pole rather than across the continents). This route was popular with many Hollywood stars because it went from Los Angeles to Copenhagen and became a publicity item for SAS. A second polar route was opened when SAS introduced service to Tokyo. They have kind of neat livery.

Another ERJ-135 coming in for a landing. This particular time it was coming in from Akron, Ohio. After that it would fly to Madison, WI and back to O'Hare. Between when I took this picture, it had flights to Newark, Kentucky, Maine and is currently in the landing pattern for Madison.

SkyWest is a regional airline that flies out of Utah. It was founded in 1972. It has partnerships with Alaska Airlines, Delta, United and American.

Trans State Airlines is another regional airline and is one of the fastest growing. It currrently operates out of Missouri. It currently operates 240 flights out of 70 cities.

This is an Embrear ERJ-175 operated by US Airways Express. US Airways was founded in 1937 as All American Aviation in Pittsburgh by Richard du Pont and Alexis du Pont. They come from the same family as the chemical company. It served the Ohio River Valley at the time. In 1949, it became All American Airways as it transitioned from Air Mail service to passenger service. In 1953, it became Allegheny Airlines. In 1968, it absorbed Lake Central Airlines and in 1972, it absorbed Mohawk Airlines and became one of the largest carriers in the Northeast Region. However, it had growing pains and would earn the nickname "Agony Air".
In 1979, it became USAir and expanded into the south as a result of Airline Deregulation. It was the launch customer for the 737-300. At the time, it was the largest operator of the DC-9 and wanted McDonnell-Douglas to design a replacement. That didn't happen. In the mid 80's, it acquired Pacific Southwest Airlines and Piedmont. Like many other airlines, it had financial problems and in 2015, it merged with American Airlines.

This is a Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines. It was coming from Seoul. Asiana Airlines is one of two major airlines that operates out of South Korea. The other being Korean Air. This airline was founded in 1988 by the Kumho Congolomerate (tires is probably their most famous product).

United Flight 646 coming in from Kansas City.

American Flight 1193 coming in from John Wayne Airport in California. This is another 737.

Just another angle of that plane.

Another CRJ-700.

A Spirit Airbus 320. Not sure where it's coming from.

Another 737 belonging to American Airlines. This particular one was coming in from Seattle. It looks like this plane does that route each way every day.

Another CRJ.

One more.

This is an American Airlines Boeing 777 that was arriving from London Heathrow Airport. As engine technology improved, the aircraft manufacturers proposed that twin engine planes be allowed to cross the Atlantic. The FAA finally granted that permission in 1997.

I can't make out the tail number, but this is one of the DC-9 variants.

An Embrear ERJ-145.

Another 737 operated by American.

An ERJ-145 coming in from Chattanooga.

A United 737 coming in from Austin.

Another DC-9 Variant.

These from from the next runway over but not the greatest shots. A Boeing 737.

ERJ-175.

An Airbus 319.

Another angle of that plane.

This plane was probably the highlight of my day. This is a Boeing 787 operated by Lot Airlines out of Poland.

Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT or LOT Polish Airlines is the flag carrier of Poland and was formed in 1929 in Warsaw. It has 45 aircraft and serves 60 destinations in the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Poland, LOT made the transition from a state run airline to a commercial one. Part of this was modernizing the fleet with western aircraft to replace the Soviet aircraft in its fleet. In 2012, it took delivery of the 787 (but that caused troubles for the airline).

The Boeing 787 (or Dreamliner) has had a pretty rocky start. It was the first airliner to use a mostly composite airframe. It was designed to be 20% more fuel efficient than the 767 it was intended to replace. It shares many features of the 777, allowing pilots to qualify for both.
It's first flight was in 2009 and testing was completed in 2011. It received certification in August of 2011 and the first one was delivered to All Nippon Airways in September of that year. It encountered a number of delays in both launch in delivery. In January of 2013, the plane was grounded due to a fire created by its Lithium-Ion batteries. After a redesign of that system, the plane resumed flights in April of that year. Because of that and some other issues, it's not selling as well as expected.