Dreamlifter N780BA in Everett. Photo by Brandon Farris.
This past week I have traveled all over the place from Anchorage to Miami and even in Seattle a little bit. Something that was awesome while traveling to all of these places was the fact that I got to see three different Boeing Dreamlifters. It all started on Sunday when I got treated to N780BA coming into Everett.
Dreamlifter N718BA in Anchorage. Photo by Brandon Farris.
The next day I was taking a day trip up to Anchorage for some spotting and was treated to N718BA making a fuel stop on its way to Paine Field.
Dreamlifter N249BA in Miami. Photo by Brandon Farris.
And finally on Friday, while on the ramp tour in Miami I got to see N249BA being towed around the airport making it the third different Dreamlifter I had seen in a mere week!
The Dreamlifter is a transport aircraft that flies Boeing 787 parts around the world to Paine Field and Charleston, similar to the Airbus Beluga. Some might not see it as the most eye pleasing aircraft but it gets the job done one day at a time!
CHECK OUT MY OTHER AIRLINE SPOTTING PHOTOGRAPHY
 |
This story written by…Brandon Farris, Correspondent.
Brandon is an avid aviation geek based in Seattle. He got started in Photography and Reporting back in 2010. He loves to travel where ever he has to to cover the story and try to get the best darn shot possible.
@BrandonsBlog | RightStuffPhotography | Flickr |
An Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340. Image by Malcolm Muir.
Thursday 17th January saw two events in aviation that normally would have made headlines, but with all the Boeing 787 issues and American revealing their new livery, these two interesting events have been overshadowed.
The first event to happen in Miami at approximately 545pm EST when an Airbus A340 flown by Aerolineas Argentinas touched down after flying from Buenos Aires. As it was taxiing to the gate it collided with an Air France 777-300 preparing to depart for Paris.
BONUS: The NYDailyNews has a photo of the two aircraft
The collision caused damage to the tail and wingtips of the aircraft. Emergency crews showed up, but thankfully no injuries occurred. Those passengers on the arriving aircraft were allowed to disembark, however the Air France passengers were unable to depart for Paris.
Normally it is not the best to see one of these outside your window. Image by Malcolm Muir.
On the opposite side of the country, around 6:00pm PST, two F15Cs of the Oregon Air National Guard were scrambled from their base at Portland International Airport. The two jets from the 142 Fighter Wing were sent to escort Alaska Airlines flight 819, a Boeing 737, from Kona Hawaii to Seattle.
A hijacking threat had been made against the flight and the passenger involved in the threat was monitored by crew. Alaska Airlines told AirlineRepoter.com that, “This passenger did not display any unusual behavior and was asleep much of the flight.”
Officials made the decision to escort the aircraft into Seattle and the flight touched down in Seattle at 707pm PST where they were greeted by the TSA and the Port of Seattle Police. According to KING5 News, the FBI interviewed the passenger for approximately two hours and FBI Spokesperson Ayn Dietrich said that they do not anticipate an arrest. Turns out that the passenger was cooperative and the investigation will now look into who called in the possible hoax or practical joke.
 |
This story written by…Malcolm Muir, Lead Correspondent. Mal is an Australian Avgeek now living and working in Seattle. With a passion for aircraft photography, traveling and the fun that combining the two can bring. Insights into the aviation world with a bit of a perspective thanks to working in the travel industry.@BigMalX | BigMal’s World | Photos |
Three KLM MD-11's at Schiphol.
In March of this year, KLM started service between Amsterdam (AMS) and Miami (MIA) using one of their MD-11 aircraft. Unfortunately, the route is not working out for the airline and in March 2012, the plug will be pulled.
“We will stop the route AMS-MIA per summer 2012 (as of March 25 2012),” KLM spokesperson explained to AirlineReporter.com. “With the start of a fourth daily frequency Atlanta-Amsterdam, we have a good indirect alternative within the Joint Venture with Delta.”
It is always sad to see a classic tri-holer pull out of a market. Sure, for an average passenger, I would imagine they would rather fly on one of KLM’s newer A330s, but for us aviation enthusiasts, the MD-11 is the classic bird of choice.
KLM is still operating 10 of the MD-11s in commercial service and seven in their cargo fleet (as of March 2011). They are the only airline in the world still running the MD-11 on scheduled passenger service.
When asked if there were any solid plans on replacing the MD-11, the airline stated, “KLM is continuously monitoring her fleet development, and at this moment KLM has no exact dates as yet to retire the MD-11.”
KLM still regularly flies the MD-11 to San Fransisco and Vancouver, so enjoy spotting them in North America while they are still around. With fuel prices continuing to rise, it is unclear how much longer we will be seeing the blue MD-11s.
Image: Chris 1971
There were three Lufthansa Airbus A380s waiting at Frankfurt when we left.
Last Friday marked the first time that an Airbus A380 has landed at Miami International Airport (MIA). This was the first Lufthansa Airlines flight from Frankfurt (FRA) to Miami operated by the double-decker Airbus A380.
Miami becomes the third US destination that Lufthansa flies the A380 and the sixth destination internationally. Although the airline has gained experience flying the seven Airbus A380s in their fleet, this was the first time any A380 has landed at Miami.
“We are extremely excited to introduce our new, flagship A380 aircraft as the very first in the Miami market,” said Jens Bischof, Member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board, Sales and Revenue Management. “I applaud Miami International Airport’s management team for their determination to become A380-ready. We share in their excitement and are both committed to Miami’s community of global travelers in both the business and leisure markets.”
I had the opportunity to fly on the upper-deck of the large aircraft, which houses eight first class and 98 business class (where I was sitting) seats. The lower deck contains only economy seats — 420 to be exact. When arriving at the airport I already had my boarding pass and no baggage to check and having a business class ticket allowed me to take the VIP line at security — which did not matter too much since traffic was a bit slow.
Passengers are able to board directly from the Business Class lounge located in Frankfurt, Germany.
When stepping up to security I realized I didn’t know Germany’s rules. Did I have to take out my laptop? Toothpaste? How about body scanners? Things were much different than here in the US –talk about service.
There was a security agent where you unload your stuff and they didn’t assume I knew what to do. They smiled as they let me know I needed to take out my laptop and all metal from my body. I didn’t have to take off my shoes or remove my toothpaste. After going through the metal detector, there was another friendly agent to help me get my stuff and I actually had room and time to gather my things. A far cry from going through security in Seattle.
At the gate, there is a business class lounge located upstairs where one can relax, get a drink and a bite to eat. Before boarding there were folks from the airline that gave a speech with the three pilots and head flight attendant looking on. We were able to board from the lounge and take an upper jetway directly onto the top deck.
Having the entire upper-deck as business class has its pluses and minuses. Even though there are quite a few actual and “fake” bulk-heads (fabric giving the feeling to sections) in the aircraft, there are still 98 of the same seats up top. This does take away a bit of the exclusive feel that flying in a premium seat normally has. However, if you are able to swing a first class ticket, there are only eight of those seats and definitely feels exclusive.
You will find 98 of these business class seats on the upper deck of Lufthansa's Airbus A380.
The business class product on the A380 is very similar to the product found on other aircraft with a few changes. There is a new universal outlet and an updated entertainment system with more content, which is good since I watched a good number of movies flying over on my Seattle to Frankfurt flight just 24 hours prior. Even with the updates, I was kind of hoping for a few more movie choices.
The best change is the ability to view one of three cameras located on the A380: on the tail, on the nose looking down and another looking straight. Of course, nothing beats seeing what is in front of the aircraft directly from the cockpit.
A few of us were invited to take a tour of the flight deck while we were over the Atlantic Ocean. I have been in cockpits during flights before, but never allowed to take photos — bonus. The five of us were easily able to fit in the flight deck and what an amazing view — inside and out. For some reason, seeing the vast blue sky and clouds looked so much better from the cockpit windscreen versus a side window.
The process of getting to the flight deck was a bit of an eye opener. I was sitting near the front of the upper deck, but we had to go to the back of the plane to use the rear stairs and then walk the length of the aircraft on the bottom deck. I have been on an empty A380 and it just doesn’t feel the same when every economy seat is taken. It felt like we had to walk a mile and through hundreds of people (420 to be exact) before getting to the cockpit. That was a heck of a lot of people and I was happy to return to the upper deck when the tour was complete.
Visiting the flight deck while in flight was amazing. I am being shown where we currently are with an old-school map.
I have been hearing how quiet the plane is during take off, but I kind of brushed it off as PR-talk. Since this was my first time taking a flight in one, I paid extra attention when we took off. I was genuinely shocked at how quiet the plane was at full throttle taking off from Frankfurt with a full load. It took us a good chunk of the runway to finally rotate, but it didn’t even sound like the engines were at full throttle — impressive.
The trip to Germany and the flight back were great experiences, but the landing easily trumped them of both. We touched down in Miami to hundreds of people lined up along the airport and freeway to greet the plane. I had never seen so many people line up to greet a plane like that before. This wasn’t just one group of people, but hundreds lining the length of the runway to catch a glimpse of our Airbus A380 landing — it was surreal.
I feel that Miami has a unique love affair with aviation. Eastern Air Lines used to be based in Miami and so many people are still very proud of the airline and the influence it had on aviation. Miami International Airport is proud to be one of very few airports to host the Airbus A380.
There were four fire trucks at Miami to greet the Airbus A380.
’œToday is one of the proudest days in the history of MIA and Miami-Dade County,’ said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Jose Abreu. ’œLufthansa’s A380 service elevates MIA into an elite class of airports worldwide that are capable of receiving this groundbreaking aircraft. We congratulate Lufthansa and deeply appreciate them for helping us reach another historic milestone.’
The A380 is one large plane that is able to carry one heck of a lot of people. It provides better economics per passenger compared to other aircraft (when nearly full) and is amazing to see in person with its double decks. I still do not think the A380 is as majestic as the Boeing 747, but it does its job and does it well. It has a beauty all of its own that truly is hard to compare to other aircraft. This might have been my first A380 flight, but I doubt my last.
More Good Airbus A380 Stuff:
* All 42 photos from the first MIA-FRA A380 flight
* Local Miami channel 10 was on the flight and did a great piece
Heck yes! DJ'n at 35,000 feet on KLM's new Amsterdam to Miami flight.
It takes something big to turn down an offer to fly on a party plane from Amsterdam to Miami on KLM. I was invited to KLM’s party flight, but unfortunately had to turn it down to cover the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental’s first flight.
Luckily Shashank Nigam, who runs the site Simpliflying.com, was on the flight and able to share all the excitement. “The KLM flight was quite exciting, and entertaining, to say the least,” Nigam told me over email. “It was the first time I was in a plane that felt more like a club, since everyone was grooving to the music being played by the Dutch DJs. Probably the most happening 10 hours I’ve spent in the air.”
The passengers were no ordinary folks. Sure there were quite a few DJ’s to offer block-rocking-beats, but also passengers who won KLM’s Fly2Miami social media competition. And actually the power of social media made KLM change the first flight.
Originally KLM planned to fly on March 27th, but a DJ and film maker explained that would be too late for participating in spring break events in Miami. KLM challenge them to fill the plane and they would make it happen.
One beautiful tri-hole. A KLM MD-11.
They started a website and social media campaign to get folks to get 150 people to sign up and only had seven days to do it. Luckily for them, it only took five hours to fill the plane and KLM changed the date to March 21st. Now that is awesome.
Well for social media it is awesome, for me it meant I couldn’t go. Although parting at 35,000 feet is pretty slick, I am more upset that the aircraft used on the flight was an MD-11 and I missed out flying on it. KLM is the only airline offering scheduled passenger service using the MD-11. For an airline nerd, this is awesome. KLM flies a fleet of 10 passenger versions and seven cargo versions of the MD-11 aircraft. This is a small percentage of their over 200 aircraft strong fleet.
KLM will now offer scheduled service from Amsterdam four days per week and is their 65th international destination.
MORE GOODIES:
* Video of Water canon salute
* Video of the DJ’s in action at 35,000 feet
* KLM’s blog about the event
Images: DJ from KLM, MD-11 from caribb
