DFW | January 2010 | Founders' Plaza | It's IMC below 1000' AGL......

Last Wednesday we had a bit of a temperature inversion that had a thick layer of ground fog about a 1000 feet or so thick but VMC conditions above that point. With the rising sun, it made for some unusual shooting conditions at Founders' Plaza that I thought might be fun.

It was too foggy to get a good shot of the registration numbers for either of these two birds. As an American MD-80 lands on 18R, an Airborne Express 767-200F with a yellow rudder from the DHL livery starts its takeoff run on 18L.

Beacon flash! As the sun starts rising, it started to give a slight orange hue to the fog. There were higher clouds that occasionally would cover the sun and give you more of the bluish-depressed look. Here a United A320 gets into position from the NW hold pad onto 18L for departure. This particular United Airbus, N429UA, was built and delivered to United back in May 1995.

The humid air provided an opportunity to try and photograph the low pressure condensation clouds that form over the wings on landing aircraft. As non-standard American tail numbers always get my attention, I had to shoot this MD-80- this is N9426T, an MD-83 built and delivered originally in September 1998 to Trans World Airlines and now flying with American post-merger/acquisition/Borg assimilation of TWA.

"EVA 692 Heavy, cleared to land Runway One-Eight Right, RVR more than six-thousand feet......"

This EVA Air Cargo 747-400BDSF (Bedek Division Special Freighter) came in from Seattle.

This particular aircraft, B-16402, was originally built and delivered to EVA Air of Taiwan as a passenger 747-400. Between June and November 2007 she was converted to freighter configuration by IAI Bedek Division in Tel Aviv.

Note the vortex highlighted by the condensation cloud coming off the mid-wing area! First time I've managed to catch that. Cool. It only shows up as the 747s are making their flare as the angle of attack on the wings increases.

The fog got a bit thicker as the sun got higher in the early morning sky. I can't make out the tail number on this American 737-800 that was asked by DFW West Tower to "position and hold on 18L".

"American 176 Heavy cleared to land One-Eight Right, RVR more than six-thousand feet...." Arriving right on the dot at 830am is American's regular Boeing 777-200ER service, Flight 176, from New Tokyo Narita International (RJAA).

On short final, N793AN shows off it's low pressure condensation cloud. It's actually much more impressive further back from short final, there have been days so humid the 777's condensation cloud will look like a waterfall spilling back off the lowered flaps. This particular 777 was built and delivered to American in September 2000.

At this point in the morning they closed 18L for departures and moved the next bank of departures to 18R (and closer to Founders' Plaza). Operating as Skywest 4745, N821SK takes up position on 18R to await departure clearance. This particular CRJ-900 in Skywest's 35th Anniversary livery was built and delivered to Skywest in April 2007 and has been operating under the Delta Connection banner since then.

You'd think crappy vision conditions like this would dissuade most photographers, but this guy was one of three of us spotting that morning in the muck. He had the biggest glass on hand, though. That's one of the great things about coming out to Founders' Plaza as a planespotter and photographer. I've met plenty of like-minded folks out there who enjoy spotting and photography as much as I do.