My Birthday at O'Hare - Part II

I met up with one of the members of the Chicago Airport Watch group.  They are a group of spotters that have been cleared to also act as watchers of the airport.  For the most part, they are also spotters but they do perform a security role.  Because of that, they get access to parts of the airport where the general public can't go.

 So I was taken to a spot they called "The Hill".  It was made from some left over construction material and gave a pretty good view of the airport.  It also makes for some nice pictures.  This is one of the 747 freighters taking off.  The airline is called Silkway and it is based in Azerbaijan which is one of the former Soviet Republics.  It was founded in 2001.

 An American A320.

 This particular spot gave me a pretty good vantage on one of the other runways.  That particular runway was being used for domestic operations mostly.  This is an American 737.

 An American 737.

 American is kind of cool in that it has what are called heritage units.  These are planes done up in the livery of one of the Airlines that merged with American.  In this case, AirCal.  AirCal was originally formed in 1967 as Air California.  It also originally flew only in California.  It's main hub was John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, CA.  In 1978, it started to fly to cities outside of California.  The furthest east it flew was O'Hare.  In 1981, it was changed to AirCal and in 1987 it was integrated into American Airlines.

 Another American 737.

 This plane was kind of unusual, it had a tail number of N988DN which would indicate that it is not a 717.  Most of the Delta 717s have AT at the end of their tail number because they were acquired from Air Trans.  This particular one was acquired from an airline called Blue.

 An American A321.

 A 777 belonging to China Eastern.  While I was at the Hill, I tried to follow along on radio.  It was way too complicated because there were way too many flights coming in.  It is no wonder that the split the responsibilities into different zones.

 Another 777, this particular one belonging to United.

 SkyWest is one of the regional carriers.  Normally, they use planes that wear either Delta Connection, American Eagle or United Express livery.  It is unusual to see one in their own livery.

 A 747-8 belonging to Lufthansa.

 It was followed by a 747 flown by British Airways.  It was nice to see more than one 747 in action.

 Another United 737.

A 787 belonging to Hainan Airlines.

 This is Cessna Citation.  It belongs to Smithfield Meatpacking Company.  They are the company behind Eckrich and few other brands.

 An A319.

 An A340 belonging to Lufthansa.  It is always nice to see these planes since I don't think I will be seeing them at Detroit anymore.

 A United 767.

 A United 737.

 One of the things I like about going to O'Hare is the ability to see airlines that I don't normally see at Detroit Metro.  One of them is Aer Lingus and I love their livery.

 A United 737.  Seems like I see many of these.

 A Japan Airlines 777 getting ready to take off.

 An Alitalia A330.

And it was followed by a 747 Freighter belonging to China Airways.