Monday With the Heavies

When I arrived at work this morning, the power was out.  After a couple of hours, it was apparent that the power wasn't coming back anytime soon, so they let us go.  Since it was a nice day, I decided to take advantage of it.  I was hoping that I would be able to catch a couple of ships but those had passed by the time they let us go.  Then I remembered that the "Heavies" land at Detroit Metro between 12:30 and 2:00 (or so), so I decided to head over to the airport for a bit.

 While not a heavy, it's not like I would be wasting film, so I got a picture of this CRJ-900 landing from Newark.  This plane has been pretty busy since then with a flight to St. Louis and back.

 Evidently this SkyWest CRJ-200 came in from Scranton, PA.  I wonder if it had the gang from "The Office"?

 This Airbus A330 was coming from Amsterdam.  It was the first "heavy" I ran into this afternoon.  I believe this was Delta Flight 135.  On the radar, it would be referred to as Delta 135 Heavy.  The heavy part alerts planes following it that they may encounter a little turbulence.  However, the Air Traffic Controllers try to put a decent interval between planes so that doesn't happen.

 This particular Spirit Airbus A319 was coming in from Philadelphia.

 I love it when I can get the skyline in a shot.

 Tail Number N801 Aw Yeah.  Another CRJ.

 I believe this plane was coming in from Buffalo.

 It always brightens my day when I see a 757.  I think this one was coming in from Atlanta.  I'm sure alot of you may wonder why I like the 757 so much.  I think it's a beautiful looking aircraft.  And it reminds me of a puppy with those large engines.  It almost looks like it needs to grow into them.  Interestingly enough, even though the 757's weight classifies it as a medium aircraft, it gets to call itself heavy because of it's flight characteristics. 

 Our heavies are getting a little heavier.  This is the Lufthansa flight from Germany.  The silhouette behind it is a 747.  Detroit does not get any A380's.

 I think these are neat looking planes.

 But still not as neat as my favorite.

 This is one of the 747's arriving from Japan.

 A Gulfstream V coming in from somewhere.

 This plane was coming in from Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome, Italy. 

 Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian artist that lived from 1452 to 1519.  His most famous painting was the "Mona Lisa".  He is also famous for being way ahead of his time on some ideas and is sometimes credited with inventing the helicopter, parachute and tank.  He also did some pretty decent studies of the human body.  He was a pretty fascinating man.

 This 767 was arriving from Munich.

 Looks like the Delta boys are ready to rumble.

 A United Express plane getting away from the trouble.

 Last week, American Airlines sent a bunch of MD-80's to the boneyard.  I suspect the MD-88's can't be too far behind.  It will be sad seeing these go.

 The Virgin Atlantic flight from London.

 I tried a frontal shot, but I think I had too much distortion from the heat.

 Another 757.

 As it taxis to the gate.

 And is photobombed by an Airbus A319.

 Another 757 preparing to take off.

The Airbus could only gaze in awe at the lovely beauty preparing to take off.