A little history.... North American Airlines

 My first encounter with North American Airlines was on my first trip to New York to spot at LaGuardia and JFK and the paint scheme did intrigue me some with the flag on the tail and the blue and white on the fuselage.  My good friend Phil Derner (@PhilDernerJr) spent many years at North American plying the skies all over the world on various charters.

North American was founded in 1989 and began operations in January 1990 providing services for connecting to El Al flights and charters for Club Med flying Boeing 757-200's.  The airline later gained access to Boeing 767-300ER's for longer international type charters as well as 2 Boeing 737-800's.  In April 2005, the airline was acquired by World Air Holdings, holding group of World Airways, another charter operation that also ran a cargo operation.  In April 2007, World Air Holdings was purchased by New ATA Holdings and renamed the company to Global Aero Logistics.  Unfortunately, bankruptcy in 2014 saw the demise of North American.

Here are some shots of their aircraft I managed to get over the years.

Weather in South Florida has not been conducive to getting out to shoot at FLL, but as fall approaches, hopefully this will change soon......

Unsuspecting Cargo Flights

 One thing that seems to have become a norm in these times of COVID-19 are unsuspecting cargo flights.  What do I mean by that?  Well, for those of us that follow traffic into Fort Lauderdale will know that the only Emirates flights they we (used to) get were the 5 times a week Boeing 777-200LR from Dubai that we as a family also traveled on.  So, when Boeing 777-300ER flights suddenly started arriving once or twice a week, we wondered why was going on.  The explanation given to us - cargo - using an empty aircraft to transport cargo to and from Dubai.

This has become a norm for a few pilots that I follow on Twitter - British Airways has done exactly the same from London to a couple of cities in China - flown an empty 777-300ER outbound and filled it with cargo back to England.  

For the latest flight, it was an added bonus as Emirates decided to send us one of their 2020 Dubai Expo special schemes which I managed to catch on some decent light as it headed back to Dubai.

A previous standard color scheme B777-300ER on approach.

Some more time spent behind the camera lens.....

Palm Beach Memories and Fort Lauderdale incl. Arizona One

After weeks and weeks of not being able to get out to FLL, re-editing some old images (a couple of which I will share), I finally went out to FLL this week to get something I have been looking for for ages - Southwest Arizona One as a 737-700, not the old -300 that I got many times.  It is still the dead of summer, and sun angles are still not the best, but I wanted to get out to get this finally after many ill-fated previous attempts, and it was worth it.

But, firstly, I went back to some of my original trips for Lam Beach International (PBI) to look for some stuff that I had never posted before - can't believe they are 13 years ago - US Airways, Delta, Continental, airTran, some memories for sure!!!

And then ta couple from the FLL trip this week, including Arizona One.

Finally... getting time behind the camera lens......

Rome - July 2018

In between time spent in Malaga, we also headed off to Rome to visit the city for a while.  I didn't get as much chance to take aircraft shots in Rome, with the exception of the last afternoon/evening when our hotel was right under the departure line of the airport and I managed to get some shots.

Alitalia A330s

Emirates A380

 

Alitalia B772

Qatar B773

Malaga - July 2018

One of the trips that we took in the last few years was to visit friends in Malaga, Spain.  We flew British Airways direct from Fort Lauderdale (now longer a route for them) to Gatwick, and then after a day in London, took a flight from Gatwick to Malaga.  While there, I managed to get out to Malaga Airport to get some views that I would not normally get...... here are a few of them.

Scandinavian A320Neo

Brussels Airlines A319

Private Learjet 60

My first even CS300 (now Airbus A220) from Air Baltic

Turkish B737-900ER

Norwegian B737-800

Norwegian B737-800

Ryanair B737-800

Ryanair B737-800

Air Europa B737-800

Iberia Express ATR72

Air Europa ATR72

Easyjet A319

Vueling A320

Vueling A320

Vueling A320

Ты говоришь по-русски? (You speak Russian?)

Yes, I speak Russian, well, I speak Russian aircraft.  Over the years, I have managed to catch a fair share of Russian aircraft in my area.  They are always interesting to catch.  My exposure to their wide range of aircraft is limited - I have seen images from trips to Russia, North Korea, etc from photographers that I am very jealous of.  There is still one that I would love to catch - the Antonov AN-225 Mriya that is currently plying the cargo routes with masses of medical cargo - maybe one day.  In the meantime, the few that I have managed to get.

Antonov AN-12 at Miami

Antonov AN-26 at Opa Locka

Antonov AN-124 at Fort Lauderdale

Antonov AN-12 at Opa Locka

Two Antonov AN-12's at Opa Locka

Ilyushin IL-76 at Palm Beach 

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Ilyushin IL-76 at Fort Lauderdale

Freight Dogs - McDonnell-Douglas MD-11

Of all the freight dogs that ply the airways, I have to say that my second favorite (behind the Boeing 747-8F) is the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11.  I just love the lines of the aircraft and my first exposure to the MD-11 as an aircraft type was my move over from South Africa to the USA back in 1998 when I flew on a Delta passenger version from London-Gatwick to what was then the very busy hub of Cincinnati before flying on to Atlanta.  I just remember how smooth it was to fly in, but how powerful the takeoff was.  Since then, I have tried to get as many MD-11's caught in camera lens as possible, currently the one that I would really like to get is the UPS version (any of my connected friends that can get me a ride???? :) ).  They are becoming a rare breed of bird these days to, and I suspect that I am going to have to make a pilgrimage to Anchorage before long to be able to get them or Louisville and Memphis for the FedEx/UPS hubs.  In the meantime, here are some of the photos I have shot of the freighter versions over the years.

EVA Cargo after landing at Anchorage (my one trip there so far)

World Airways Cargo in full colors powering down the runway  at Miami

World Airways Cargo in hybrid colors lifting the nose wheel at Miami

Western Global plain white version landing at Miami

FedEx approaching Fort Lauderdale

SkyLease Cargo approaching Miami

Martinair after landing at Miami