DFW Founders' Plaza (planespottin' in Dallas/Fort Worth)

[Sentinel Chicken]

Thanks to text updates from a friend, I was able to get out Founders' Plaza this particular afternoon to meet him and catch the Volga-Dnepr Antonov's arrival. I was regrettably able to meet with hum for only about an hour before he had to depart to belatedly meet his wife for the arse-chewing of his life, but met some of the DFW spotting crowd and was impressed by the number of people that had gathered on this nice afternoon at Founders' Plaza.



^Eva Air Cargo Boeing 747-400 (specifically a 747-45EF(SCD) B-16483 MSN 30609/LN 1309, built in July 2002) leaving the West Cargo ramps for an intersection takeoff on 18R.



^TACA A319 N476TA (specifically an A319-132 MSN 1934 built in June 2003) turning onto 18L for departure. Heat haze was a killer for this shot.



^British Airways 777-200ER G-VIIW (specifically a 777-236(ER) MSN 29965/LN 233 built in July 1999) on approach. I miss seeing the different BA World Tails, it always made seeing what tail (*snicker*) was coming in every afternoon to DFW something to look forward to amongst spotters.



^G-VIIW sailing in over the numbers to land on 18R, you can make out downtown Dallas in the distance beyond the East Tower. Buildings on the far left include Williams Square in Las Colinas.



^Coming up right after the BA was the one a lot of us who were out at Founders' Plaza that afternoon were waiting for- the Volga-Dnepr An-124! Even from this distance the plane's got quite a bit of physical presence.



^RA-82046, an Antonov An-124-100 of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, built in July 1992 originally for the Russian Air Force but never was taken by them, instead it ended up going to Atlant-Soyuz briefly before ending up with Volga-Dnepr.



^Coming in over the threshold of 18R right in front of quite a crowd. There were even folks sitting on lawn chairs spotting this particular afternoon. This was the first time I'd seen the An-124 in flight- previously I'd only caught it on the ground and from a distance, so this was uber-cool to see it this close on approach/landing. It's a BIG aircraft and has a lot more physical presence than 747s that I've photographed from Founders' Plaza. And surprisingly it's not much louder.

In the distance under the nose you can see one of the many drilling rigs going up on airport property. That one is near the north remote parking lot.



^24 wheels about to plant a big kiss on Mother Earth........



^Touchdown......the cloud of burnt rubber on touch down was the biggest I've ever seen and with the winds gusting from the south, it wasn't long before we were all enveloped by the stench of burnt rubber, something that I haven't had happen to me yet even with 747 freighters on touchdown.

More to come from this day!

[sotoolslinger]

COOOOL

[Captain Canada]

Wow....great shots ! It's an awesome sight to see a heavy right over your head, that low.....and you get to see it all day ! Lucky bugger....

I love the old cargo Jumbos. Something special about those old short-deckers.

A few things of note : I see a rig drilling right beside the airport. Oil everywhere !

And why does Alaskan Airlines have Bob Marley's pic on their tails ?

[Sentinel Chicken]

A few things of note : I see a rig drilling right beside the airport. Oil everywhere !

The Barnett Shale sits under the Dallas/Fort Worth area (from about DFW Airport to points out west) and there's a push by the airport authority to exploit some of that as they own quite a bit of land. From what I recall from one of the real estate developers with the airport, right now they're getting nearly 25% of their operating revenue from gas extraction from the Shale.

[ytown2010]

Wow....great shots ! It's an awesome sight to see a heavy right over your head, that low.....and you get to see it all day ! Lucky bugger....

I love the old cargo Jumbos. Something special about those old short-deckers.

A few things of note : I see a rig drilling right beside the airport. Oil everywhere !

And why does Alaskan Airlines have Bob Marley's pic on their tails ?

i think "bob marley" is supposed to be an eskimo, but i can see the resemblance.

[Captain Canada]

The Barnett Shale sits under the Dallas/Fort Worth area

Ahhh...interesting stuff. Thanks !

[Captain Canada]

And why does Alaskan Airlines have Bob Marley's pic on their tails ?
i think "bob marley" is supposed to be an eskimo, but i can see the resemblance.

I guess that's why they never released the single " No Igloo, No Cry"

[Sentinel Chicken]

Holy crap it was unusually cold for North Texas today. Temps were only in the upper 30s with wind chills down in the low 30s. Some light snow fell out by Fort Worth Meacham Airport earlier today, but nothing significant.

Of course all the transplants in the area from up north were out and about walking around in shorts. Freaks.

Took the plunge and upgraded to a Nikon DSLR (got a deal I couldn't pass up) and took it to Founders' Plaza today to break it in. I still need to experiment with the settings, I had to do a lot of stuff in Photoshop to get these pictures presentable;)


^You can see the weather was lousy for photography. Low ceilings, variable lighting with the low cloud bands moving through the area. And that dang wind. Brrrrrr. That's why I moved down here. I hate winter.

But here's two UPS MD-11s getting loaded. With the 747-200s gone from the fleet, we're seeing more MD-11Fs from UPS now.


^Close up shot. Didn't realize the space in between the rudder segments was painted red. I wonder if this is just UPS or this is standard for all MD-11s. Never noticed this before. The MD-11F with it's tail pointed my way has the later version of flap-track fairings that extend past the trailing edge of the wing.


^UPS 757-200F. Not usually parked in this area. Most of the time it's 767-300Fs and A300-600Fs that park in this part of the UPS ramp.


^Delta Connection CRJ-700 in the new colors getting the hell out of Dodge. I think this is a Skywest bird, there's a little logo on the nose that usually will be the ASA logo, or Skywest. Haven't seen anyone else's Delta Connection CRJs here in a while, they're usually one or the other.


^NWA Airlink CRJ-700 just about to enter the clouds. Thought I'd blown this shot when I first previewed it, then realized I'd caught it just as it was about to disappear into the cloud base.


^UPS A300-600F pulling into the UPS ramp. Landed on the east side, poor guy must've been taxiing forever to get to this side of DFW.


^Highlight of today's foray, a UPS DC-8-71F that came in around 130pm or so. I've been trying to catch this one, wish I had a better weather day to photograph it.

It landed on the east side of DFW and had to taxi to the west side. It was sitting short of Runway 36R waiting to cross when the tower called out for him to go ahead and cross- the pilots asked if they were sure as there was an MD-80 ready for takeoff at the far end and the tower replied "Throttle up and expedite, you'll make it."


^Closer shot, this time it's getting ready to turn into its parking spot. Oddly there were quite a few folks there today despite the weather, most were sitting in their cars and one guy gets out as the DC-8 was coming in and I guess figured I was knowledgeable with a camera and asked me what type of plane it was. I told him what it was, and he asked several more questions (and I regaled him with DC-8 geekery) before we ran back to our respective cars to warm back up.


^A much more active UPS ramp now with the A300-600F and DC-8-71F parked next to the MD-11Fs.


^China Eastern 747-400F heading out. The brisk winds from the NE seemed to shorten everyone's takeoff runs, the takeoffs on 36R seemed to be rotating much sooner than usual.


^The Alaska 737-800 with the additional Hawaiian lei markings on the Eskimo on the tail has been a regular at DFW for several weeks now, maybe more.

Not the best shots I have, but better than I expected with a brand-new camera. I had quite a few shots that blew thanks to the shivering!

Enjoy!

[PR19_Kit]

Maybe the MD-11s are ex-US Navy, what with the red surface joints.........

(Visions of one trying to land on the 'Nimitz'!)

[B777LR]

The MD-11 has it's red parts from it's time with lovely Swissair

[Hobbes]

I'm no spotter, but I'm enjoying these pics. The An-124 especially, by coincidence I'm in the middle of applying Volga-Dnepr decals to my Revell An-124 at the moment.

[Sentinel Chicken]

These are the last pics I've taken with my older point and shoot before switching over to a Nikon DSLR.

I've been trying to catch the departure of UPS's new 747-400Fs now that they've retired their 747-200Fs earlier this year. The day prior the wife tipped me off that if I could get to Founders' Plaza no later than 815am I might be able to catch the UPS 747 (yep, the wife. She doesn't shoot pics, but she'll go out there to relax between dropping Chicklet 01 and 02 at their school and Chicklet 03 at her school which starts one hour later.


^So imagine my surprise to see not a 747-400F, but an ex-EVA Air 747-400M that has since been converted into a 747-400BCF for UPS ("Boeing Converted Freighter). Above is the grand lady at push back.


^Push back completed, it looked like there were some last minute checks being done before they unhooked the tug. As a matter of trivia, the conversion work is done in China and the 747-400BCF is the first flight test program of Boeing's that is being completed outside of the United States.


^Winglets! Winglets! Winglets! Side by side with an MD-11F makes for an interesting comparison in wing dihedral, winglet configuration and overall wing span.


^Now rolling on its way out of the UPS ramp.


^Catching the light of the early morning sun.


^Holding short while a China Airlines Cargo 747-400F touches down. You can easily see the difference in length of the upper deck being the cockpit, with the China Airlines one being purpose built with a short upper deck and the UPS bird being ex-passenger/combi with a longer upper deck.


^I wish I had the new set up for this one. Each morning a lone Convair CV-580 pulls out of the West Cargo complex, does an interesection takeoff and turns west. That's a real nostalgiac sound, reminds me so much of Frontier Airlines' 580 "Mountain Masters" that were common in the High Plains in the 1970s connecting communities to Denver.


^And that's how she rolls. A high pitched whine distinctive of those engines and constant-chord props, I wish I had a better shot of the smoke trail left behind.


^Later that day I came back, caught the American 777-200ER from I think London Heathrow sailing in while an American Ubiquitous-80 and a US Airways A320 sit in the NW hold pad awaiting their clearances.


^I believe this Cessna Citation Excel belongs to NetJets.


^Finally caught the Alaska 737-800 with the lei markings on the tail. Heat haze was at all new levels of suck for the day, summer will be a real hoot:mad:


^Singapore Airlines Cargo "Mega Ark" 747-400 rolls out from the West Cargo complex for departure. Look at how those wings are dropping to near level from a nearly full fuel load.


^This was my last shot for the afternoon before the camera battery crapped out, but here's the Singapore Air Cargo 747-400F getting ready to taxi up Taxiway E for takeoff on Runway 18L.

[lancer]

I'm no spotter, but I'm enjoying these pics. The An-124 especially, by coincidence I'm in the middle of applying Volga-Dnepr decals to my Revell An-124 at the moment.

Have to admit that I chickened out on the Volga-Dnepr markings and applied Aeroflot ones instead. Still the cheatline decal was still a bugger to apply!!!

[Sentinel Chicken]

I found these on my archive drive and had never posted them before, but it's a different look. All too often we want the ideal lighting conditions for photography when spotting but I have found times when what looks like a load of dingo's kidneys for conditions can offer up some surprises. I took a ton of shots this particular morning and only these four caught my eye. The rest, could only have been salvaged by that neato program they use on CSI:Miami that makes Photoshop look like something that belongs on the TRS-80.

But I digress.

It was interesting morning- the sun was rising, but a band of low stratus (storm? rain? Can't remember exactly) was coming in from the northwest and was wanting to see if I could catch some arrivals and departures with a little bit of a different sky as a backdrop.


^UPS MD-11F headed out onto Runway 18L after having received departure clearance. In the distance past the haze you can see some of the office buildings of Las Colinas.


^Rolling forward just as an American Eagle ERJ-145 zips right in to land on Runway 18R. That's the usual practice- takeoffs on the inboard runway (18L in this case) and landings on the outboard runway (18R on this day). You can barely make out another Eagle RJ on the NW hold pad past the MD-11F.


^Throttle up and start rolling! I liked the way the exhaust of the centerline tail engine has blurred out the light poles, Skylink station and East control tower. Didn't notice that when I previewed the shot in the LCD screen on the camera. Lesson learned- what looks like crap on the LCD screen might have some surprises when you look at the image in a bigger screen format.

I couldn't help but notice how much trim was dialed into the horizontal tail planes. Particularly in light of the FedEx crash in Tokyo Narita, I've always heard that the MD-11 had insufficient pitch authority compared to the DC-10.


^Last of this set, here's a Singapore Airlines Cargo 747-400F arriving just behind the departure of the UPS MD-11F. This one has smaller fuselage titles, the later variant of this livery has much larger fuselage titles. This one was probably running late- I'll find this one landing as I'm getting the kids off to school, this was the first time in a position to photograph it.

[Sentinel Chicken]

Lately Mother Nature has been trying very hard to irritate me. I have some time go spotting and the weather and ambient lighting conditions end up catapulting me into dimensions of suck I didn't realize existed. Such was the case earlier this week when I wanted to try and catch the Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F departure........


^Of some thirty shots, this was pretty much the only one worth posting...but it's a special catch, as this MD-11, registered with Lufthansa Cargo as D-ALCN, happens to be the very last MD-11 built. Here she is taking the active after getting clearance to take off.


^Here is a NWA Airlink (flown by Mesaba Airlines for Northwest) CRJ-900 coming in to land. This one is brand spankin' new, this aircraft was just built back in September 2008. Enjoy the look as these planes are getting repainted in Delta colors.........


^American Airlines' N643AA coming in for landing. The winds were pretty gusty this particular morning- gusts as high as 40mph out of the south! And this 757 had to do a lot of shimmying on the final approach to keep it stabilized and lined up.


^Sailing in over the numbers, in the background was one of two North American 767-300s parked at Terminal B on military charters- usually there's only one North American 767-300 here in the morning on a trooping charter, this time there was two which we don't see very often.


^One of American's Boeing 777-200ERs, N752AN is only eight years old. She sure seems a bit porkier than usual in this shot.


^Meet N250UP, one of UPS's many MD-11Fs. She originally flew as PP-SPL for the Brazilian airline VASP before VASP was shut down. When picked up by UPS, she was converted into pure freighter configuration by SASCO Singapore.


^A United 757-200 (tail number N585UA) arriving from Chicago O'Hare....and it's blue/gray livery looks even more dismal in the lousy weather we had this particular morning.

Lousy morning for photography. I tried some photoshop tricks to improve what I thought was worth posting, but they still look like a boar's arse. But getting a shot of the last MD-11 built was worth the hassles. And the umpteen number of times I had to go run after my baseball cap........

Enjoy!