Boeing Announces New Plane and China Builds Its First Airliner

Boeing has announced its next commercial airliner. Unofficially dubbed the 797, this aircraft will fill the market between the short-range 737 and long-range 787, presumably serving as a replacement for the aging 757. This new aircraft will have two aisles, and will be able to fly routes of up to 5,200 nautical miles while carrying upwards of 270 passengers. At this point, not much more is known about this new airplane.

In other news, China has built its first domestic commercial airliner, the Comac C919, which has successfully completed it's first test flight. However, it still has a long way to go before it makes its first actual commercial flight. The aircraft is set to compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 series. It can seat approximately 168 passengers.

More information about both aircraft will be posted as it becomes available.

All information courtesy of CNN

Sorry, Antonov...

We officially have a new candidate for the title of the largest plane in the world. Stratolaunch Systems, owned by Microsoft, just unveiled their new airplane on May 31st. Called the Stratolaunch, its 395 foot wingspan exceeds that of the Antonov-225 'Mriya' by 95 feet. It has a length of 238 feet and is 50 feet tall. Its purpose is to launch rockets into orbit. The first flight is tentatively scheduled for 2019.

Photo and information courtesy of Business Insider.

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Success!!!

Well, after posting yesterday about how badly I wanted to catch the FedEx DC-10F in action, I got my wish later that very same day:

I arrived at the airport just after 5pm yesterday, and not 15 minutes later, this beauty arrived. I just hate that I didn't realize beforehand that the lens on my phone's camera had fogged up due to the humidity, which is why the video appears blurry. Oh well. At least I did manage to get a video of it. Hopefully at some future date I can get a better quality one.

It was a great day for spotting. Apparently the evening is the best time to be at Charlotte, as I was able to witness several A330's departing and arriving, including Lufthansa flight 429, an A330-300 bound for Munich.

The Airbus A330-300 is the larges aircraft that operates out of Charlotte on a routine basis. I was also fortunate enough to see one of American Airlines' own A333's, flight 733, arriving from London Heathrow.

As well as this neat AirCal livery on one of American's Boeing 737-800's:

And finally, a Southwest Airlines 737-700, flight 5488 departing for Baltimore, MD.

Like I stated before, it was an amazing day for spotting, and a good learning experience for me as I now know the best time to be out at the airport to get some nice videos. Now I only wish I had the equipment to actually take some very nice quality shots instead of having to rely on a nearly four year old smart phone. I did hang around for a bit after the Southwest 737 took off in hopes that I'd catch an American 757-200 landing, but unfortunately it was cleared for a different runway. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to post some shots of it in the future.




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Airbus A330-200 Arriving at Charlotte from Dublin, Ireland

This is probably my favorite spotting video that I've taken so far. On this particular day, I was getting ready to leave when I heard the Charlotte tower clear one more flight to land on runway 18C, so I decided to stick around long enough to see it. I'm sure glad I did!

Turns out, it was American flight 725, an Airbus A330-200 arriving from Dublin, Ireland. The A330 is such a beautiful plane in my opinion. And not too bad to fly on, either. I certainly prefer it over the old 767's that used to make international flights from Charlotte when it was a US Airways hub.

Watching the video, it's incredible how slow the plane seems to be moving, almost appearing to just hover over the ground at times.

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Enjoy!

Welcome!

For those of you who found my blog, welcome! I'm pretty new to the whole blogging thing, but hopefully I'll get it figured out sooner rather than later.


Anyway, in case you couldn't tell from the description, this blog is dedicated to planespotting and other aviation related subjects. Many of my posts will be regarding my own personal spotting adventures (mainly at Charlotte Douglas International in Charlotte, NC since that's the closest airport to me), but I'll also be posting other items related to aviation in general. If you have something you'd like to share, post it in the comments.

I love spotting at Charlotte Douglas, but I do wish that a wider variety of aircraft operated from it. The vast majority of aircraft that arrive and depart are Canadair Regional Jets, either CRJ-200's, -700's, or -900's. Now and then they'll be interspersed with an Airbus A320 series or Boeing 737, but mostly it's just CRJ's. Because of this, it's a real treat to catch a heavy airliner arriving or departing. The Airbus A330 is pretty much the only heavy commercial jet that operates from Charlotte. Used to, Lufthansa would use an A340-200 for their flights between Charlotte and Munich, but they've also gone to using only an A330. I would absolutely love it if American would start operating some 777's or 787's from Charlotte as well.

The one aircraft that I'm really hoping to catch at some point is the FedEx DC-10 that comes in every so often. I've yet to see it in action, but hopefully that'll happen soon. As far as I'm concerned, that is the Holy Grail of planespotting at Charlotte. Of course, that would easily be eclipsed by the Antonov An-225 if it ever returns. It has made appearances in Charlotte in the past, but they're extraordinarily rare and the last one occurred in October of 2008.

If you enjoy this blog, check out my YouTube channel "KCLT Planespotter", and/or follow me on Instagram, @clt_planespotter_86. Thanks for stopping by!

Below is a link to my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbYSuJW5PTC_BA9okfVu0A