It's been a while since I posted to the blog, it's been a busy summer what with the flock of Chicklets off school and we also welcomed the arrival of Chicklet 004 as well. I do have a mountain of DFW area spotting shots from earlier this year and the last few weeks to sort through and post to this blog, though, so stay tuned. About 2 weekends ago had the rare chance for me to go out to Founders' Plaza around sunset. Most of the time that I can go spotting it's usually in the mornings or mid-afternoons, so getting a chance to head out and shoot in the evening light is always a nice change of pace.
One of American's 767-300ERs heads out from line maintenance at the west hangars for International Terminal D. You hardly see American's jets now taxi out back to the terminals from maintenance work under their own power now. Nearly all the time, they use these tugs that pick up the nose gear and take it away. You can see the slight nose up stance when these tugs are being used. In this shot, they're holding short of 18R while an American MD-80 rolls out with its thrust reversers deployed.
This particular 767 is N386AA, a 767-323(ER) built and delivered to American in May 1994. Not sure how many 767-300s are left that haven't been retrofitted with the blended winglets, but as the 763s with the blended winglets are becoming more common at DFW, the numbers of unmodified 763s have to be shrinking quickly.
MD-80s are so synonymous with DFW I usually don't shoot pictures of them unless they have non-standard tail numbers which usually clues me in that they're ex-TWA birds. This MD-80 sailing in over the numbers on 18R is N9621A which is an MD-83 that was built and delivered to TWA in June 1998 and is now part of American's fleet post-merger.
In the background a British Airways 777-200ER is heading out to go to the east side for departure. I couldn't make out the tail number, but it's one of several British Airways 777s that have "KEEPING THE FLAG FLYING" titles on the aft fuselage in reference to dealing with the crew strikes of recent at the airline.
I was hoping to catch the Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F evening arrival, but a UPS MD-11F will do nicely in exchange! There was a time before 9/11 that Japan Air Lines operated passenger MD-11 services to DFW and it's a bit nostalgic when an arriving UPS MD-11F happens to be an ex-JAL bird like N273UP happens to be. This aircraft was built and delivered to JAL back in June 1994 and was operated in passenger configuration. JAL's MD-11s were known as "J-Birds" and each plane was named for a species of bird native to Japan. This aircraft, when it was JA8583 with the airline, was named "Golden Eagle". A bit appropriate given the golden light of this particular evening at DFW.
In 2002 it was sold to UPS where it was converted to freighter configuration by STAS-Singapore at Paya Lebar Airport (that was Singapore's old international airport before Changi opened). As a side note, I've noticed in the last several months that the GE-powered UPS MD-11Fs are less common at DFW now- it's now almost always a PW-powered MD-11F. I assume that might be for maintenance reasons. Last year there were several occasions where GE-powered MD-11Fs of the airline were down for maintenance and sat on the UPS ramp until fixed.
This particular MD-11F was using the call sign "UPS 2752 Heavy".
Here UPS 2752 Heavy does something that the Dallas Cowboys can't quite do- make a touchdown in DFW. (*rimshot*) You can see that the centerline main hasn't touched down just yet.
"UPS 2752 Heavy, turn right on Taxiway C and contact UPS Ramp." In the distance you can see Alaska Airlines' 737-800 with the special lei markings on the tail for their Hawaii services. Not from DFW. Obviously.
I could never get sick of trijets of any sort. Even though the MD-11 has a checkered history, it's still a sharp looking aircraft.
Close up of the front office on UPS 2752 Heavy as it passes another UPS MD-11F and an A300-600F. The room and visibility from the cockpit of the DC-10/MD-11 probably have to be some of the best of any jetliner.
Enjoy!
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