Birthday Spotting @KMSP

For my birthday today, I decided to go planespotting with my parents. This was planned a while in advance, and the idea was that we’d go early in the evening, then go get dinner (after picking up my sister from soccer) to my favorite Sushi place. Well, plans were changed after I tested positive for COVID on Sunday. Because I’m stuck in quarantine, it’s takeout for me tonight. But no matter, I still got to go planespotting!

I decided to be smart this afternoon, and brought a stepladder to see over the fence to get some actual pictures unobstructed. I also noticed this nice touch - the airport authority put up a Wi-Fi hotspot in the spotting location, to make it easier for folks to track planes, listen to ATC, and do all their other avgeek activities.


As I was setting up the stepladder, I noticed my spotting buddy for the day, this lovely groundhog who must live in the bushes somewhere. I named him George, and he seemed quite interested in my food.


First arrival of the day, this Sun Country B737-800 buttering in from Houston, TX. Quite a nice landing I must say.


American E175, taxiing out for Chicago/O’hare. The captain waved out the window, which was really cool.


This stunning Alaska AIrlines B737-900ER was making very quick work of their takeoff for Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, shortly after an E175 wearing the same livery landed in from @Ryan_Carney land.


A delayed B767-300ER bound for Hawai’i (did I spell that right @Flyin.Hawaiian??) taxiing out for a looong takeoff roll.


The star of the day, the butter machine doing its magic on arrival from Seoul, South Korea.


A mysterious USAF KC-46, about to land from somewhere (not on FR24). All I can say is that these pilots did a pretty good job landing.


Nice little A319 arriving from Philly. I don’t think this is a Delta flight though… these pilots seem to be on Ryanair’s payroll.


Flying School Bus landing from Atlanta, with the Minneapolis skyline in the background.


Final spot of the day, this A321 preparing to depart for Atlanta, one of many flights connecting Delta’s two biggest hubs daily.

Hopefully, my next spotting session produces much higher quality photos. My parents bought me a spotting scope for my birthday.

Which Picture is your favorite?

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16 Likes

looks like MSP finally has a mascot 😆
If you know me… you know my favorite is the butter Neo 😍

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Having COVID on your birthday is probably one of the worst things ever but at least you still got to go plane spotting, nice finds and happy birthday!

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Happy birthday

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indeed you did! most people think its just Hawaii, but in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the actual name of our state is Hawaiʻi.

2 Likes

We do actually have a mascot that is a gopher, because that’s who our state university’s mascot is (sponsorship deal).

Thanks!

I can confirm this

Thank you fine sir

Yesss!

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Happy Birthday! Great shots!

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Nice shots, your way to close to not have a DSLR camera if your able. You’d get some amazing pictures!

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To be fair, he’s doing phone spotting correctly by not trying to overextend himself and taking pictures where planes are relatively close.

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Happy Birthday dude 🤙🏼

Pretty cool range of aircraft you got there!

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such a cute groundhog! happy birthday @Mort

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Thanks!

Thanks! I’ve been looking at cameras, actually.

Yeah. Zoom too much with a phone, and it just is super grainy.

Thanks! We get quite the variety in terms of aircraft here. Sometimes, UPS sends a 747 in

Thanks!

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Happy birthday @Mort !

Oh no! Sorry for you and your favourite sushi restaurant 🍣
Very nice pics!

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Happy bday! Nice shots!

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Hi George!

Awesome shots! George is so handsome too! Also, happy birthday!! 🥳🥳🥳

Welcome to the community @kaaozturk!

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Happy birthday! Awesome shots! Cute spotting buddy lol

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