Holiday to USA Aug 30th – Sept 15th Dave Anderson
This holiday for my wife and I was to be a two centre one, the first, a week long Alaskan cruise followed by a visit to Yosemite and Las Vegas. With a lot of you asking for more detail than just numbers I’ve done a bit of both with this report, over 2000 aircraft logged, I’m only including the interesting stuff and a bit more info on the trip itself. Planning as always is done months ahead and with the cruise starting from Seattle it would be rude not to pay another visit to Boeing. Flights were booked with British Airways with an early start on the 6am Heathrow flight from Newcastle, a good start with them using the BEA retro jet A319 G-EUPJ. A few hours in the T5 North lounge gives good views over the airport but nothing other than regulars to be seen, our flight to Seattle was on the 27 year old 777-236 G-VIIA recently refurbished it has the 1-2-1 new club world suites so a very comfortable and enjoyable flight albeit over an hour late leaving.
Seattle airport had experienced a recent cyber attack and they were just getting back to normal when we arrived, some of the screens were not working and bags took an age to get through, though security was a breeze with no delay at all. After picking up the hire car we did the hour long, very slow journey up to Everett and with only 15 mins to spare did the pre booked last of the day Boeing factory tour from the museum of flight, talk about cutting it fine after a 20 hour journey!!! The tour is ok but don’t expect to see a lot of aircraft, you are taken to the 777F production hall and a gantry looking into this and a view of the hall next door that had a Norwegian 787 in said to be for Lufthansa, the guide said they are setting up a 737MAX production line here in 2025. No cameras or binoculars are allowed though you can see the line numbers or operators of the four 777F’s that were being assembled. Some of the hangar doors were open and a few Dreamliners could be seen that were in for rework. The bus then tours the component storage area where four 777-9’s are stored and then back to the museum that has an outdoor deck giving great views over the airfield. A two minute walk to the onsite Hilton Garden Inn hotel that was our base for the night where we enjoyed a few cold beers and the customary chicken wings.
Next morning we headed for propeller Aero Services the FBO at Everett to meet our pilot from Point to Point air. I’d hired a Cessna 172 N79884 for an hour to do a scenic flight over Seattle and to do slow low approaches at the three Boeing airfields. I’d messaged them prior with a requirement for the approaches I wanted and Dave the pilot had pre called the three ATC towers and was the given the OK for what we wanted to do. The weather was great and at 9am we left from the main runway 34L and did a non standard right turn to come back alongside the airfield to photograph everything that was outside. After a view of Puget Sound and Seattle we did two slow low approaches over Boeing Field, I managed to read off all aircraft that were outside from the photo’s, we did a similar sortie over Renton, home of the MAX production line before returning to Everett. We then went to the Flying Heritage Museum as it was closed on my last visit a very good museum with three halls and the majority of the aircraft are airworthy. We then headed into Seattle city centre for the afternoon and night via a call into Renton.
Click here for more Everett pictures Log for Everett
Apart from the Boeing 777-9 test aircraft none of these had flown yet. Chinese 777-Fs and the UPS & Fedex 767-300F's
Click here for more Boeing Field pictures Boeing field log
The car park riverside storage area, lot less than this time last year, but a mixture of 737-7MAX, 737-8MAX, 737-10MAX and the white 737-BBJ MAX
Top to bottom - N7210U & N7209U SWA 737-7MAX's stored since 2022, B-209V Shenzen B-209V 737-8MAX, (N4022L?) Air China 737-8MAX no reg on it, N733BA Boeing 737-7MAXBBJ, N37601 United 737-10MAX, B-209T China Southern 737-8MAX, N810MG Allegiant 737-8200MAX, N252BE Shenzen 737-8MAX stored since 2022. B-20A3 Shanghai 737-8MAX stored since 2019.
Click here for more Renton pictures Renton log
A trio of 737-8MAX, G-TUOB (8997) TUI, XA- (8970) Aero Mexico and N315UA (9022) American Airlines. You can see all three carry the reg N4022T, virtually all 737's carry this reg when at Renton, they move from production to the airfield then return to to the paint shop, most are painted here then take on the airline registration before their first flight and landing at Boeing King Field for final prep before delivery. Some leave here in the green to other Boeing paint shops, such as Portland,OR before heading to King Field . When spotting here the four digit line number is required to tie up the aircraft to its c/n or reg it is always on the nose and sometimes on the rear fuselage. Renton is an easy place to spot and nearly everything seen can be logged.
The Majestic Princess was our home for the next week, our first Princess cruise and no complaints at all, good food and a great service, we even had a trip to the bridge for an hour. The route was up to Ketchikan, Juneau via Dawson Glacia and icebergs!!, Skagway, Victoria and back to Seattle. Weather was fine and it only rained one day in Juneau not bad as the whole area is a rain forrest. At Skagway we did a trip out in a 1959 DH U-6A Beaver N1117F of Island Wings up to an area where black bears feed on the salmon running up the river, we managed to see 12 bears over a two hour period, some very close !!!
Click here for more Ketchikan photo's Ketchikan log
N1117F DH U-6A Beaver Island Wings our flight out to see the black bears.
Spotting wise Ketchikan was the best stop with seaplanes landing right alongside the ship and as you leave you go slowly past the main airport and a few more seaplane bases, decent log made here. Juneau also had a seaplane terminal next to the cruise port they seemed to take off with “lets see who can get as close to the ships as we can” attitude the main airport is out of town and a few airliners / helicopters were seen coming and going during the day. Skagway had a small airfield with the runway running alongside the high street. Our last call on the way home was Victoria,BC somewhere I had visited last year but nice to see the Harbour Air aircraft taking off from our balcony on the ship.
C-FJHA/318 DHC-3T turbo Otter Harbour Air on a flight to Vancouver.
After a superb week we were back in Seattle and off for our flight to Fresno,CA. A good service the ship offered was to take your cases from the room and you don’t see them until final detination along with a coach transfer to the airport for $80 much cheaper than the Alaska Airlines charge for 3 bags and a taxi. I had 4 hours here and made camp near a window in concourse N where I could see all arrivals and departures, but too much clutter for photo’s. Lots of Alaska and Delta were logged and managed to cop 98 here including 25 Alaska now only need 30 for the fleet. I’d been watching the flight over the previous months it was generaly a 737-9 and rarely 737-9MAX (emergency door blow out aircraft) fingers crossed for the MAX sure enough N913AS 737-9MAX was our jet on the two hour flight to sunny Fresno.
Car collected, quick blast around the airport it was off the Yosemite National Park for a few days before returning here for a night stop. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Fresno Airport, nice enough and within walking distance from the end of the runway (if it wasn't 37deg) our room had a view of the runway through a gap in the trees and a few more were logged during the evening. The USAF ANG have a base here with F15C Eagles, they were night flying and looked great with all departing in full reheat a small display of aircraft is within the base and can be seen from the road, the US Army have a maintenence base and four UH60's were outside, visitors included a pair of US Navy Hornets. Our journey to Las Vegas was a drive down to Bakersfield and across to Victorville via Mojave and Palmdale (USAF Skunk Works). Mojave was first with lots of stored aircraft including 4 A380’s needed, leaving only 18 left for the lot. I’m not going to list around 200 or so seen but a good few 747’s and lots of 777’s. Palmdale is a huge site, only a solitary B1B was on the airfield but the museum was worth the call in.
Click here for more Palmdale pictures Palmdale log
61-7973 Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, built here, nice to see it again first seen flying at Mildenhall in 1987 where it was wearing 64-7973 with 9 SRW.
Skies were blue from arriving back at Seattle, however as we got closer to Victorville it became apparant we were driving into a huge smoke cloud that was coming from a 33,000 acre fire 30 miles away on the hills outside Los Angeles. The skies were bright orange and very eerie, we did all the nooks and cranies on the hangar side of Victorville before heading to our hotel, nice log and left the north side storage till the following morning. Lots of Fedex DC10’s A300’s and 757’s as well as Australian 717’s and mixed airliners either for storage or parting out, around 500 or so. Most of the photo's taken were to tie up registrations and many aircraft obscure each other along with orange skies not the best pictures. An interesting aircraft was N234HG a Lockheed C130K Hercules ex mexican Air Force nut also ex XV191 of the RAF I'd first seen in 1988.
Next morning the skies had cleared with a change in wind direction but the fires were still burning out of control and most of the hotel guests had been evacuated from their homes. After a drive around the "desert" to the opposite side of the airfield storage area it was off to Vegas via a bit of Route 66. The Mandalay bay hotel was our home for the next four days, floor 36 facing the strip gives excellent views over the airport, they used a number of runway combinations during the stay but from the room window you can see all arrivals, a huge bizz jet area and the EG&G terminal. Binoculars and scopes are fine to read off the bizz jets, there were around 50 in this area alone at any one time and most changed over during the day. There is an official spotting area alongside runway 26/08 with live ATC being transmitted over FM radio, I didn’t use this area as its not good for photo’s through the fence, instead carrying alongside “Sunset road” there is a car park of a dissused shop unit on the right hand side off S Bruce Street just after the petrol station which is ideal for anything landing or departing on 26/08. Temps were in the mid 30’s so we didn’t spend more than a few hours here altogether. To log the bizz jets you can start in the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign car park on S Las vegas Blvd this is opposite the Signature ramp, around 30 were parked here. U turn heading back towards the Mandalay Bay turn right onto Four seasons drive (shell and McDonalds on the corner) turn right onto Haven street and at the end is the JSX terminal, NetJets and Las Vegas Sands ramps as well as a huge apron for jets staying overnight, about 60 were here on Friday afternoon. Follow Haven street back to a T junction right and right onto Giles st and right onto E Reno Ave, this brings you to MGM Aviation where a good log can be had, a lot are hidden in front of hangers but luckily this was the ramp I could see from the hotel, around 100 were in this area on Friday afternoon. Bizz jets often land from this end on 19R and photo's can be taken from parking spots off Paradise road. Over the four days we were there around 400+ bizz jets inc 46 Mexicans were logged and there would be many more as we had lots of other things to do in Vegas.
Click here for more Las Vegas pictures Las Vegas log
N723GD Gulfstream G700, very new and based here.
On Friday morning we headed out for some shopping via a call into Nellis AFB and Las Vegas North, nothing flying at Nellis but managed a decent log including four new F15EX Eagles.
Saturday evening we dropped off the car and headed into the terminal to catch our BA A350-1000 G-XWBR back home, the 350 is one of the best aircraft I’ve flown in, so quiet and you don’t come off with dry eyes. After a good nights sleep we were back at Heathrow and a few hours logging from the lounge before our flight back to Newcastle. A fantastic trip, with a few aircraft seen! but lots of relaxing time and great places visited. If you are ever in Vegas you have to do the Sphere, we saw a U2 show which was out of this world we have never seen anything like it, it was a projection of them but there was no way you could tell it wasn’t them, amazing.
Thanks as always to Sue my wife who does a great job with the log book.