DFW | September 2009 | Arrivals on the 17s | Love that mornin' Texas sun...

Decided for a break to head to my east side spot instead of Founders' Plaza. The traffic isn't as varied but the lighting is nice and you can get closer to the planes. Or is that the planes get closer to you? In Soviet Russia, planes spot you!

But I digress.

Here's N973AN on short final for 17C just about to cross over Carpenter Freeway. This particular Boeing 737-800 was built and delivered to American Airlines in October 2001 and retrofitted with blended winglets in 2007.

This is N523AE, a Bombardier CRJ-700 that was built and delivered to American Eagle in June 2004.

Finally caught a FedEx arrival on the east side in decent weather, this is N741FD. It has quite a service history, having been built and delivered as an Airbus A300-600R back in May 1991 to leasing company AWAS. AWAS then leased her to Garuda Indonesia, then to Korean Airlines, then to Turkish charter airline Alfa Airlines, then to Saudi Arabian Airlines and finally passed like a party bong to Qatar Airways. Sold to FedEx around 2003, stored for a while and then converted to A300-600F freighter configuration by Airbus at their Dresden, Germany, facility before entering service with FedEx last year.

Narrow shot view of N741FD on short final. That's a lot of flap track/actuator fairings!

Gotta love that early morning light when you're on the east side spotting. This is N946AN, a Boeing 737-800 built and delivered to American back in September 2000.

Here's something you don't see very often at DFW- a 737 without any winglets! This Continental Airlines Boeing 737-300 was built and delivered back in July 1985 to Continental/Texas Air Corporation (back when Frank Lorenzo was the holy terror of organized labor in the airline industry) who leased to New York Air, Texas Air's nonunion operation. It wound up back with Continental where it wore the Red Meatball scheme before getting its current colors.

Nose tight shot of N63305 on short final. She sure doesn't look like she's just shy of 25 years of age, this -300 was darn near pristine.

DFW | August 2009 | 17R Arrivals | The Angry Widget

Caught Delta's early morning 757 flight from Atlanta on short final to 17L on the east side. I find these colors strangely growing on me, though nothing could possibly top the Widget livery for me...but then I'm a sucker for days gone by when it comes to commercial airliners.

This is N618DL, a Boeing 757-200 built and delivered to Delta back in April 1986. And it wore the Widget livery back then....ahhhhhhhhhhh........

Different angle of N618DL as it passes over Carpenter Freeway on short final.....

DFW | April 2009 | Arrivals on the 17s

Time to head over to my east side spotting location! I just got the car parked as this American 777-200ER made its final approach to 17R. I love how you can see the shadow of the aircraft on the field below reflected on the baremetal underbelly of the jet. I liked this one so much I had it made into a 10x15 print I'm going to hang in my office.

This particular aircraft, N762AN, was built and delivered to American in April 2002 and was using the callsign "American 51 Heavy" and was arriving from London Heathrow.

This is Lufthansa's Flight 438 arriving from Frankfurt, Germany. This particular aircraft, D-AIFA, is christened "Dorsten" and is an Airbus A340-300 built and delivered to Lufthansa in June 2000. I had photographed this aircraft during the 2006 World Cup season arriving at DFW by the old Founders' Plaza with a soccer ball painted on the nose radome.

Close up shot of "Dorsten" on final approach for 17L.

Another one of the my favorites of the day, this Continental 737-500 was operating as Flight 1136 from Newark. This particular aircraft, N14653, was built and delivered to Continental in January 1998 and only recently was retrofitted with winglets.

My special catch of the day, an Embraer ERJ-190 in TACA's new colors. This was operating as TACA 612 nonstop from San Salvador. This aircraft is practically brand-spankin' new, built and delivered to TACA in September 2008.

Beacon flash! The lighting isn't ideal in the afternoons on the east side but you gotta deal with it to catch the interesting traffic.

DFW | April 2009 | Arrivals on the 17s

 This Continental Express (operated by ExpressJet) ERJ-145 arrived from Houston Intercontinental- this particular aircraft, N13979, was built and delivered to ExpressJet in November 1999.

This Delta MD-88 in the latest color scheme is a regular morning arrival at DFW's east side from Atlanta. This particular aircraft, N913DE, was built and delivered to Delta in December 1992.

One of my favorites of the morning (of course I dig the 757-200), this American 757 is on short final and just about to cross over Carpenter Freeway for 17R. This 757, N624AA, was built and delivered to American in June 1990. She got her winglets retrofitted in 2007.

Last shot of the morning, this AirTran 717 came in from Atlanta as well. This bird, N956AT, was built and delivered to the airline in January 2001.

DFW | April 2009 | 17C Arrivals

^Figures, the first time I catch a US Airways ERJ-190 the weather sucks in all sorts of dimensions I didn't know even existed. This particular aircraft, N947UW, is operated by US Airways (instead of a regional partner like most other US airlines that have E-Jets flying in their colors) and is two years old. This flight arrived from Philadelphia.

^Full view of the US Airways ERJ-190 on final approach to 17R.

DFW | April 2009 | Arrivals on the 17s

^I started this particular day over on the east side of DFW, there's a spot just a block or so west of the corner of Freeport Parkway and Royal Lane that is out of the way and has a great view of arrivals landing on 17C. You don't have as good a view as you do of the west side from Founders Plaza, but in the morning the lighting is just right for the arrivals and they come in a lot closer to you than arrivals to 18R from Founders Plaza.

This was a close up shot of an arriving MD-80. Yeah, I know. The ubiquitous-80. It's a good opportunity to test all sorts of shutter and aperture combinations for a DSLR noob like me.

^I've been hunting for a *long* time to get a good shot of the American Astrojet 737-800 on approach. Finally got it. This is the shot that made up for missing 2 747-400Fs arriving on the west side. The spotting gods taketh, the spotting gods giveth. But enough horsing around on this side...back to Founders Plaza!