The First Farewell to the Queen

As it turns out, it was a good thing that I headed over to the airport.  I ended up meeting someone from a planespotting group that I am on.  He told me that Sunday was the last 747 flight from Detroit to Narita Airport in Tokyo.  This has been a route that has been served by the 747 for close to 30 years.  As of Monday, the Queen was replaced with an A350.

I don't normally post pictures of myself on this blog, but this one kind of says alot.  I'm not sure if this was my first encounter with the 747 but it was certainly one of my earliest.  For as long as I can remember I have liked airplanes.  I'm not really picky when it comes to planes, if it has wings, chances are pretty good that I would like it.  This picture was taken in 1973 on Guam.  My dad was stationed there and either he or my mom would take me planewatching then.
The plane in this picture belongs to Japan Airlines and is a 747.

 Fast forward 44 years later.  Once again, I find myself starting at 747 behind a fence.  This particular one is N669US and belongs to Delta Airlines.  She is actually a 747-451 and was acquired by Northwest Airlines in August of 1990.  She was then acquired by Delta when they merged with Northwest in 2008.

 I actually found myself a decent spot to plane watch near the cell phone lot.  I might have to try this spot again as I kind of like this vantage point.  Especially since it gives me somewhat of a view of the airport.

 She slowly lifts off the ground and the Spirit Airbus coming in for a landing can only watch in awe as the beautiful leviathan takes off.

 Her four PW4000 engines providing over 200,000 pounds of thrust to get her off the ground.  I still have to admit, it is pretty cool seeing a plane this massive take off.

 Especially when you consider that it almost weighs 900,000 pounds.

 The plane will carry her passengers 6,814 miles and reach an altitude of 30,000 feet.  She will average 577 miles per hour.

 The flight lasted 13.5 hours.

So I bid farewell to the Queen for this flight.

A Nice Day Planewatching

I was almost going to pass on planewatching on Sunday but then I realized that I don't have too many more opportunities to catch the 747s as they leave Detroit.  After I did my laundry and took my shower, I headed over to Romulus to catch some aircraft.

 The first plane that I planned on catching was a 747 that was coming in from Shanghai, so I headed over to Wick Road for my spot over there.  The first plane that I ended up catching was a MD-88 that was arriving from Minneapolis.

 A CJR arriving from Nashville, Tennessee.

 Probably one of my favorite liveries out there is the Frontier Airlines livery.  I like the animals that they put on their tails.  This particular one is Midnight the Wolf and was arriving from Orlando.

 A 737 arriving from Las Vegas.

 This CRJ was coming in from Appleton, Wisconsin.   One of the Iwo Jima flagraisers came from Appleton.

 A CRJ arriving from Covington, KY.  Covington is known as the Greater Cincinnati Airport.

 The 747 was the plane that I was hoping to catch.  I was pretty sure that it would land on 22R but sometimes they end up landing on 22L.  While I get decent pictures when they land on 22L, I prefer the ones when they land on 22R.

 Anyway, this 747 was arriving from Shanghai.  I think this route will be replaced with the A350 soon but I'm not sure how soon.  I am not waiting for that day.

 Hopefully she will extend her life as a cargo carrier but based on some of the pictures that I've seen, that's probably not likely.

 A Boeing 717 arriving from Kansas City.

 The 737 is another old design but Boeing keeps improving the design.  I suspect that we will seeing a version of the 737 for a while now.  This one was coming in from Seattle.

 A CRJ arriving from Dayton.

 Another CRJ arrives from Cedar Rapids.

 A Boeing 717 coming in from O'Hare.

 A Southwest 737 arriving from Dallas Love Field.

 A United Express CRJ coming in from Dulles Airport.

 The next two planes were kind of a surprise for me.  First up was a 767 coming in from London.

 That was followed by another 767.

 This one arrived from Frankfurt, Germany.  Not to be confused with the one in northern Michigan.

 An Airbus A319 arriving from Reagan Airport in Washington D.C.

 Another Southwest 737.  This one was coming in from Nashville.

 A CRJ arriving from Rochester.

 A MD-90 coming in from Fort Lauderdale.

 This plane was also a surprise.  Normally, Delta will use an A330 for the flight from Paris.  This time it was a 777.

 A CRJ arriving from Erie.

 This 717 was coming in from Philadelphia.

 And one from Providence.

 I think this CRJ was coming in from Scranton.

 And of course my favorite plane is the 757.  This one was arriving from Tampa.

 It was followed by one coming over from Orlando.

One more shot before moving on.

Visiting the Harbor Beach Lighthouse

After catching the Lee A. Tregurtha, I decided to head up M-25 to follow the coastline.

 As I arrivied at Harbor Beach, I saw a ship on the horizon.  I think it would be too long before I could get a shot of her with the lighthouse.

 But I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get a shot of the lighthouse itself.

 The ship in question was the Osogovo.  She is owned by Navigation Maritime Bulgare out of Varna, Bulgaria.  I think I've seen other ships from this company.

 The Osogovo makes her way gracefully out on Lake Huron.

 The Osogovo is 610 feet long and can carry 30,000 tons of cargo.  She was built in 2010.

She is on her way to Thunder Bay, Ontario.  I presume that she will pick up grain there.

The Algoma Strongfield Heads Down the St. Clair River

I was not expecting to catch the next ship.

 I think she was docked at the grain elevator in Sarnia which I assume means that she was loading.

 I didn't get to see her pull out in person but I did get to see if moving on AIS.

 At any rate, she's on her way to Quebec City.

 Where I assume she will unload for another ship to take overseas.

 She is passed by the Lee A. Tregurtha.

And she continues her way down the St. Clair River.