Sunday With the Heavies

I decided to go planewatching yesterday afternoon.  I wanted to sample a couple of potential new places.  They were all on Middlebelt Road.   They give pretty good views of planes as they are landing at 21L and 21R.  I'd imagine the views as they takeoff to the north would be pretty good too.

Since there are a bunch of flights that arrive from Europe between noon and 2:00 in the afternoon, I decided to go over there.  They are most of the heavy aircraft that land at Metro it seems.  Heavy is the air traffic designation for planes that are over 300,000 pounds at take off.

This is a CRJ-100 as it was coming in for a landing from Richmond, VA.  Between then and now, it's been to Syracuse, NY and South Bend, Indiana.

This Boeing 717 was coming in from LaGuardia Airport.

An MD-88 arriving from Chicago O'Hare.  American Airlines retired a bunch of MD-80's about a month ago.  I have a feeling the MD-88's are not too far behind.  It will be a shame to see these planes go.

This particular CRJ-900 was coming in from Houston.

This is a 737-900 and it was arriving from the land of coffee and rain, Seattle.

This particular Airbus 320 was arriving from Raleigh-Durham.

After a string of Delta planes, it was nice to see a plane in American Airlines regalia.  This CRJ-900 was arriving from Charlotte.

This is Lufthansa Flight 442 which is their service from Frankfurt, Germany to Detroit Metro.  I believe this is a daily flight.

This particular Airbus A330 was arriving from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.  The airport was opened in 1974 but when it was conceived in 1966 it was known as the Aeroport de Paris Nord (Paris North Airport).  It is Europe's second busiest airport after London's Heathrow.  It was named after General Charles De Gaulle was the leader of the Free French Army during World War II.  He also served as the President of France from 1959 to 1969.  During his tenure, he pulled France out of NATO and formed their nuclear forces making them the fourth nuclear power.  He was also instrumental in the formation of the European Common Market.  Because of all of this, he is a pretty controversial figure.

I believe this is the 747 coming in from Chengdu

I moved to a different spot for a little bit.  There is an abandoned Clark Station a little further down Middlebelt Road.  I've read there are some people that use it for spotting.  It's not a bad spot but you have a limited window for planes because there are so many wires around.  I couldn't make out the tail number, but I think this is an Airbus A319.

This A330 was arriving from Amsterdam.

A Beechcraft 55 Baron coming in for a landing.  Apparently this one is owned by a car dealer.

This Embrear 170 was arriving from Newark.

This Delta 767 was coming in from Munich, Germany.

The other plane I was waiting for was the Airbus A330 that serves as Virgin Atlantic Flight 107 from London, England.    I've heard that this flight may be going away.  Anyway, one of the places that I found is near a McDonalds.  I noticed that planes landing at the other runway pass behind the sign and I wanted to catch a different picture.

A cleaner shot of the Virgin Atlantic plane.

I was trying to check out one more place when I noticed this 747 coming in.  I decided to stop and get a picture of it.  I believe this is the plane coming in from Narita airport in Japan.

After dinner, I decided to go back to catch one of the 757's coming in.  There is a Tim Horton's at the corner of Middlebelt and Ecorse that I decided to try.  It's not a bad spot.

I believe this 757 was coming in from San Diego.