Windy Minneapolis Spotting | June 16th, 2024
We had a massive thunderstorm come through late the night prior. The morning after was steamy, hot, and gusty, but it would be the best spotting conditions for days (rain in the forecast). Because of construction (expansion and re paving) on runway 12L/30R, the runway configuration was a little different than normal. This works in our favor, however. 12R/30L was primarily used for landings (though a few takeoffs happened there), which runs right in front of the spotting lot. Most departures were off Runway 17/35, which is behind the spotting site, through the cargo area.
Sun Country Airlines 737-800 (BNA-MSP)
This was the first arrival that we spotted. Despite some pretty gusty winds and quite of bit of rudder on short final, they managed to absolutely butter. To make the best runway exit for Terminal 2, the braking was quite heavy.
Delta Air Lines 737-800 (MSP-AUS)
The 17 departures were taxiing right past the spotting lot, making for some great photography. This is one of 2 daily MSP-AUS services with Delta. Sun Country and Southwest also fly this route.
Spirit Airlines A320-200 (MSP-DTW)
The School Bus airline was taxiing very quickly out to the runway. Listening to the ground frequency, it seemed like the crew might not have been familiar with MSP, since there seemed to be a lot of confusion on behalf of the pilots as to where and when to turn.
Air Canada Express CRJ-900 (YYZ-MSP)
Welcome to the land of Freedom and Democracy, Air Canada! This was probably one of the harder landings, but I’ll cut them some slack. This was the windiest part of our spotting session, and most of the planes were struggling a bit.
Delta Air Lines A350-900 (DTW-MSP)
Delta operates many flights a day between their second and fourth biggest hubs, Minneapolis and Detroit respectively. Most of them are a steady stream of 737s, A321s, and CRJs, but once daily they send an A350-900, which then departs for Seoul. This one was especially fun to see, since it was Delta’s “Spirit” livery, one of only two special liveries/decals on their A350 fleet, the other being for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Private Gulfstream G500 (MSP-HYR)
This very sharp looking Gulfstream taxied out for departure to Sawyer County Airport, in Wisconsin. This private jet is owned by General Mills, and used to transport high level company executives around the world.
United Airlines A319 (EWR-MSP)
United landing Ryanair style into Minneapolis from Newark. Upon hearing it’s city of origin, my grandma (visiting from New York), went on a lengthy tirade about how JFK and LGA are far superior to their New Jersey counterpart, and how mad she was when United pulled out of JFK. She had a pretty high status with them, but when she moved to NYC she despised EWR so much she abanonded that and started traveling almost exclusively with Delta.
Southwest Airlines 737 MAX 8 (MDW-MSP)
The sun came out to greet this Southwest arrival from Chicago’s second biggest airport, Midway. The landing was pretty decent, and for whatever reason, the reverse thrusters were never opened and they rolled out using only spoilers and presumably wheel brakes. Must not have been in a rush to get to the gate (or maybe something was weird with the reversers?)
Frontier Airlines A320neo (PHX-MSP)
Rosie the River Otter paying us a visit up here in Minneapolis after an early morning departure from Arizona’s capital and largest city. Fun fact: Phoenix is the only state capital in America with a population of over 1 million.
Denver Air Connection E145 (TVF-MSP)
The shortest flight we spotted, KG5107 took a mere 43 minutes to travel between Thief River Falls (in northwestern Minnesota) down to here in Minneapolis.
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