Sunday, August 25, 2013

It's News to Me

The last installment of 'BuffaloWingz' brought you, the readership of half a dozen or so, coverage of the arrival of 'Air Force One' at Buffalo Airport in Western New York.

Today's installment covers the earlier arrival on that same day of another bird which brought a buncha folks who would cover the aforementioned arrival of 'Air Force One' and subsequent events of the day for a much broader audience.

This charter jet, a 737-400, is owned and operated by Miami Air International. MAI is often contracted by the USAF Air Mobility Command for troop and cargo transport. On this occasion, they had apparently brought in some media folks to cover the President's visit to Western New York and subsequent bus tour across the state.


In this first shot, we see N752MA just after touching down. She would eventually come to rest and offload her passengers at Prior Aviation, in front of the large hangar in the right background of the photo.







And here we see N752MA departing KBUF later in the morning...


All photos: S.Donacik/BuffaloWingz


As a side note, for any music fans, back in 2010 this very jet was chartered to transport Paul McCartney and his band from Miami, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico during Macca's 'Up and Coming' tour.



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Friday, August 23, 2013

Big Boss Bird

On August 22nd, 2013 President Obama visited Western New York, and your blogmeister was on the spot to capture these snaps of 'Air Force One' upon its arrival at Buffalo Airport at approximately 10:15AM.

The Presidential chariot is a Boeing VC-25A, a highly modified 747-200B. Two VC-25As were manufactured, their original serial numbers being 86-8800 and 86-8900, later changed to 82-8000 and 92-9000, respectively. Both jets are maintained and operated by the Presidential Airlift Group, 89th Airlift Wing, based at Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews Air Force Base) in Maryland.





The nose gear hits the runway with a streak of smoke...








This Eurocopter AS-350B2, operated by the Erie County Sheriff's Office, was keeping vigil throughout the morning...





A closer look at three sets of eyes looking back...




One last glimpse of the blue, white, and silver bird just before she comes to a rest...


All photos: S.Donacik/BuffaloWingz



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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

What the Fleet? (Redux)

Alrighty... a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far... no, wait. Wrong blog.

Sometime back we shared a neat shot of a groovy little airplane made by Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Fleet was an offshoot of Consolidated Aircraft Corporation of Buffalo, NY and a number of designs previously manufactured by the latter were also produced by the former, albeit under different designations. Eventually Fleet was acquired by Consolidated... quite frankly, your blogmeister hasn't really looked into all the particulars of this Consolidated/Fleet tangle, and he currently has a hard time distinguishing one type from another, more often than not. But he really digs these little flying machines.

So here's a couple'a shots, one old, one new... one borrowed, one... well, not blue, but we'll try to find a rhyme that works. 'Til then, enjoy these groovy images...


Consolidated Fleet Model 10 (we think)


Project 914 Archives



Here's a closer look at the tail brand...


Project 914 Archives



Not too far from the place your blogmeister calls home is another place called Clarence Aerodrome. Based at this little strip is a Fleet Fawn (Fleet Model 7, we think) which is owned and operated by the Niagara Frontier Vintage Aircraft Group. Your blogmeister would love to get out there to Clarence and get some snaps of this little bird for a future installment of this-here cyber-rag but, until then, here's a shot from fellow Western New Yorker, Don Erwin. Thanks for the green-light to include this shot here, Don...


Don Erwin photo



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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Phoenix Risen

A quickie today...

A U.S. Airways Express CRJ-200LR (leased from Air Wisconsin) taxis along near Mercy Flight at Buffalo Airport, August 4th, 2013. This jet was involved in an accident back in 2007, more HERE...


S.Donacik/BuffaloWingz photo


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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Pipers and Beechcrafts and Cessnas, oh my!

As was reported in our last installment, your blogmeister spent half a day or so at the Buffalo Airport this past weekend to say hello to an old friend. But there was plenty more to see than a big 'ole OD and gray B-17.

Here's a few shots for the light civvie fans... no commentary, just pix... enjoy...








All photos: S.Donacik/BuffaloWingz


More civvies to come!


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Monday, August 5, 2013

An Old Friend Comes to Visit

Your blogmeister missed the Geneseo Airshow a couple weeks back, but yesterday he claimed a consolation prize by saying hello to an old friend...

'The Movie Memphis Belle' was back in Buffalo, NY this past week. As some of the half-dozen or so whom we call our readership may recall, the 'Belle's last visit to KBUF was reported here on this very cyber-rag, but on that occasion your blogmeister was not able to stick around for very long and we had only a few photos to share. Well, this time 'round he loitered on the ramp at Prior Aviation for a bit longer and even meandered on over to a prime spotter's roost with a friend, and was able to grab a few decent shots... many more than last year.

Without further adieu, here they be... enjoy!











We mentioned a friend earlier... here's a shot taken by this fella, with whom your blogmeister spent a while jawin' and shootin' pix of things with wings. You can see more of his stuff HERE...

Rick Schenauer photo








The final photo above would probably have been the last one for this installment of BuffaloWingz had it not been for a lucky bit of timing. As the B-17 was rolling out for its last hop of the day, your blogmeister departed KBUF to head home, stopping for a minute or three to take some snaps of an interesting non-aviation subject. Upon his arrival at home-sweet-home, actually about 5-10 seconds after walking in the door, your blogmeister heard the unmistakable sound of four round engines, walked back outside, and, camera still in hand, swung the lens skyward to capture a few final snaps of his old friend... a fitting end to the day...

All photos: S.Donacik/BuffaloWingz (unless noted)


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