Saturday, January 30, 2021

A Stop at Gerald R. Ford Airport

 It was pretty cloudy out and I wasn't sure if we would make it to Grand Haven from Fallasburg before it got too dark.  I took a look at FlightRadar and I saw that there were some interesting flights coming into the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.  I decided to head over there before heading home.

I was hoping I would make it in time to catch this flight.  It was taxiing as I was driving into the plane spotting area.  I thought it would take off from the main runway, but it ended up taking off from the cross runway.  This was a Southwest Airlines 737 heading to Midway Airport in Chicago.
I'm not sure they were doing to this plane but it is used to fly from Grand Rapids to Las Vegas and back 4 days out of the week.
This is another plane that I wanted to catch.  I see A320s all the time at Metro Airport but I never see Allegiant planes there.
I think Allegiant tends to service the smaller airports like Grand Rapids and Flint.  It lowers their cost structure because the landing fees are lower.  This plane was arriving from Punta Gorda, Florida.  It is a city near the southern tip of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico side.
Then I saw this plane getting ready to take off.
I kept getting some pictures of the Allegiant plane as it taxied to the gate.
I kind of like their livery.
And I think they've improved their safety record in the past few years.
One more shot of that plane.
This is a CRJ-700 belonging to Go Jet but flying for United Express on its way to O'Hare Airport.
One more shot of that plane.
Shortly after that plane took off, this plane landed.
It was arriving from O'Hare Airport.
I kind of like this livery.
As I was watching the last plane land, this plane started to taxi for take off.
It was a CRJ-900 belonging to SkyWest but flying for Delta heading to Minneapolis.
I think Grand Rapids has 2 or three flights to each of the the Delta Hub cities.
This CRJ-900 was coming in from Detroit.
If I remember correctly, it is roughly a half hour flight (if that).
It was taxiing to the gate.
A nice view that you can get from the spotter's park.
And then the plane heading for Minneapolis.
I think that is about an hour and fifteen minute flight.  Or so.
So one more picture.  It was pretty windy as I was watching the planes.  It was also pretty cold and an almost biting cold.  While I enjoy my hobby, it is days like today that make it less so.


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