DFW | May 2009 | Founders' Plaza | VFR, what's that?

^One week in May, instead of thunderstorms, I get stuck with thick fog and 300' ceilings. You gotta be kidding me. But hey, I did finally get a shot of one of Martinaire's Cessna 208Bs heading out, to Brownwood, I think. They run up and around between here and San Antonio on cargo runs and usually in better weather they're long gone by the time I get to Founders' Plaza.

 ^It was actually kinda cool to see this American 777-200ER break out of the overcast on short final. I think this morning arrival comes in from Tokyo Narita. This particular aircraft, N780AN, was built in August 1999 and has been flying for American its entire career.

^I so need better weather to photograph the morning Korean Air arrival. Usually the flight from Seoul-Inchon lands on 13R and on occasion will arrive on 18R, particularly on days with bad weather or low visibility. This particular 777-200ER, tail number HL7598, was built and delivered to Korean Air in August 2001.

^By the afternoon the fog had lifted. Around lunch time the UPS ramp adjacent to Founders' Plaza gets VERY busy. And this is just some of their aircraft that were parked there- there's a DC-8-71F, 757-200F, A300-600F, and two MD-11Fs in this shot alone. Off to the right out of frame is another flightline that had two A300-600Fs and two 767-300Fs.

^FINALLY! Got Allegiant's MD-87s arriving. Not sure why this one was arriving from Abilene Regional, though. Some sort of charter I assume. Can't see the tail number in any of the shots I took of this aircraft, though. My information shows four MD-87s active with Allegiant. Naturally all their tail numbers could fit the partial views of the tail number I have on this aircraft.

^This shot suggests that it could be either N948MA or N949MA. 948 is a former corporate aircraft that flew for Ford Motor after having flown previously for Midway Airlines. 949 has a more diverse service history, having first flown for Midway, then leased to Oasis International, then flew for Reno, then American after their buyout of Reno, and then Aeromexico before coming to Allegiant's fleet.

^And finally, here's American's Flagship Freedom taxiing out from the AA hangars for the International Terminal.