Howdy all! On Black Friday, me @den.aviation and a couple other Denver spotters drove to a deserted cornfield to take plane pictures instead of shopping. @den.aviation threw corn at other spotters and I also got to meet him for the first time, which was pretty cool. We also saw a bunch of special aircraft too, so stick around to see that. Enjoy!
Picture One: The topic starts with just another good old United A320-200. This one, N428UA, is just shy of 27 years old (almost as old as DEN, which is pretty shocking), came in from Miami as “United 370”
Picture Two: Up next is the required Canyon Blue, which is of course a staple in my topics. Today’s example is N7702A, which started it’s life as N166AT for AirTran, being delivered in 2004, making it 17 years old. N7702A flew in from Chicago-O’Hare that day, under the callsign “Southwest 5134”
Picture Three: A bonus Canyon Blue! Wow! This one is N263WN, who is just shy of being 15 years old. N263WN was also one of the first ever aircraft I spotted, and only came out of storage at PAE around a month ago. It operated “Southwest 3047” from Richmond.
Picture Four: It also seems that I must include some type of Frontier plane in my topics, and on this day, like most days, it’s one of their numerous A320 NEO type aircraft. “Jack” the Rabbit is five years old, and was Frontier’s 3rd NEO. “Jack” operated “Frontier Flight 539” from Washington-Reagan (@ToasterStroodie, look!)
Picture Five: Another A320 NEO! What a treat! This was the fourth and final Frontier plane I saw this day, and it being another tail that I’ve added to the collection. “Francie” the Piping Plover is just shy of a year old, and I knew @Thunderbolt flew on her in July. “Francie” operated “Frontier Flight 621” from @Suhas… wait no, I meant Austin.
Picture Six: The 737 MAX is a nice aircraft that I haven’t seen too often, but it was nice to see three Southwest examples this trip. This one, N8812Q, is just shy of two years old, but was only delivered in May. It operated “Southwest 5500” from percussion…I meant @Drummer…I actually mean Baltimore.
Photo Seven: Hey look everybody, knockoff United is here! Wait no, it’s knockoff Continental! Again, it’s just Copa. Copa recently started flying back to Denver randomly, a couple of weeks ago, and this is actually the first time i’ve seen them. HP-1719CMP was the day’s aircraft, a 10 year old example that operated “Copa 476” from Panama City.
Photo Eight: Ahh, good old British Airways. British, between the last time I went and this time, swapped the aircraft from a 777-200ER to a 787-9. G-ZBKK, a 5 year old aircraft, took the hop across the pond this time from London-Heathrow as “Speedbird 219 Heavy”
Photo Nine: This was finally a pleasure to get. I had only seen United’s “Star Wars” livery once, and that was completely accidentally when I was on my flight to Fresno in June, and I didn’t even realize that I saw it until I noticed it after the fact. We got the blue side today, and N36272, which is the aircraft painted in this very nice livery despite being 20 years old, operated “United 1568” from New York-LaGuardia.
Photo Ten: Of course, a widebody special livery on a rarer aircraft is always a treat, and this was a nice occasion to see this. Lufthansa changed their aircraft from Frankfurt from an A350/A330 to an A340-300, which I have never seen before, until this session. Getting that A340 in the Star Alliance livery was even nicer, which still continues my streak of never seeing a Lufthansa new livery before. D-AIGW is nearly 22 years old and is one of the few A340s in the Star Alliance livery, which of course operated from Frankfurt as “Lufthansa 446 Heavy”
Thank you all for visiting this session! This was a blast to meet @den.aviation for once and to see a lot of unique variety at DEN for once. There is a potential for a part two, but knowing my weird uploading schedule, I do not know the outcome quite yet. That’s all from me today and I hope to see you in my next topic!
Previous Spotting Topics
2021 Topics
Off into the sunset - KDEN Spotting, September 5th, 2021
I do the spotting thing - Denver and Fresno, June 16th, 2021
Goodbye, Old Friend - Spotting @ KDEN, April 11th, 2021 (Part 1)
New style, who dis? - Spotting at KDEN, February 21st, 2021 (Part 2)
New style, who dis? - Spotting at KDEN, February 21st, 2021 (Part 1)
2020 Topics
Luke’s Spotting Year in Review
Frigid Spotting - @ KDEN - December 12th, 2020
A busy, pre-turkey day - KDEN Spotting, November 22nd, 2020 (Part Two)
A busy, pre-turkey day - KDEN Spotting, November 22nd, 2020 (Part One)
Smoky Spotting @ KDEN - October 17th, 2020
Planes, Planes, oh, did I mention planes? Spotting at KDEN - September 12th, 2020 (Part 1)
My return to Denver - KDEN Spotting, July 25, 2020 (Part One)
Vintage Aircraft + others - @ KBJC - May 14, 2020
Some pre-lockdown spotting - @KDEN - March 24, 2020
Some other Airport other than BJC or DEN! Spotting at KAPA - February 15, 2020