The Wandering Disciple

Tampa, Florida: The day started like any other, a quick check of my phone upon waking. But this wasn't just any notification; it was a JetTip alert, signaling the imminent arrival of an Antonov at Tampa International Airport. This wasn't just any plane; Antonovs are a rare sight, massive cargo planes known for their unique design and sheer size. Coincidentally, we had already planned a trip to Tampa that evening for a concert. The opportunity was too good to pass up; we quickly adjusted our schedule to accommodate this unexpected aviation spectacle.  Arriving at the airport, we made our way to the top of the parking garage, a vantage point that promised an unparalleled view. And there it was, even from a distance, the Antonov's imposing silhouette was unmistakable. It dwarfed the surrounding aircraft as it gracefully maneuvered onto the west runway. The sheer scale of the plane was awe-inspiring; its massive fuselage, the sprawling wings, and the intricate network of landi...

JENA 1 sits on the Signature Aviation ramp at Tampa International Airport after flying in from Richmond. The plain white Boeing 757 is operated by the US Department of Justice and is used for various purposes. The callsign typical gives a hint to the mission; JUSTICE is typically used for prisoner transports while JENA is used for federal law enforcement teams like the FBI critical incident teams of the US Marshal's task force.   The US Department of Justice operates a fleet of four aircraft. These aircraft are used on mission throughout the country and often operate under a veil of secrecy. Even when you are lucky enough to catch them in person like JENA1 here on the ramp in Tampa, one will likely never know why they were in town.  Taken: January 6, 2024 at Tampa International Airport (Tampa, FL)

A Prime Air flight departs Tampa International Airport taking another plane load of goods to their next destination as they make their way from the warehouse to your doorstep. Amazon has a vast network of delivery methods at their disposal to make sure that the items you order make it to you hands in the fastest way possible. One way to help shrink the the travel time is by air and they rely on a diverse fleet of aircraft and several aircraft operators to maintain an efficient operation. (Photo: August 30, 2021)

  A quad of Southwest jets shine during the Golden Hour at Tampa International Airport.  TPA is a focus city for Southwest Airlines with a heavy presence of the colorful LUV birds.  From Tampa, Southwest connects travelers with over forty destinations.  In fact Southwest is the busiest air carrier at Tampa, serving almost 7 million passengers a year.  (Photo: January 23, 2021)

Tampa, Florida: Just one day after setting a single day record for passengers served, Tampa International Airport was busy once again during our visit to Tampa. There was a steady flow of traffic coming and going in the time we spent spotting from the garage. We were there for a little over an hour and were able to shoot over fifty movements. Runway 1 was in use, so we photographed from the eighth floor of the short-term parking garage.  Here is a look at what we saw today at TPA:  C-GJWN - Airbus A321 (Air Canada)  N194UW - Airbus A321 (American Airlines)  N285WN - Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N348NW - Airbus A320 (Delta Air Lines)  N352DN - Airbus A321 (Delta Air Lines)  N354JB - Embraer 190 (JetBlue Airways)  N361DN - Airbus A321 (Delta Air Lines)  N365EG - Cessna Citation Excel  N370DN - Airbus A321 (Delta Air Lines)  N403RW - Embraer 130  N403SV - ATR 42-600 (Silver Airways)  N416UA - Airbus A320 (United A...

Tampa, Florida: A quick stop at Tampa International Airport resulted in some unique surprises. I almost skipped the airport because I did not see anything interesting on the flight radar. However it must have been having an issue and I was surprised with not one but two special livery Alaska Airlines almost back to back. First up was the Honoring Those Who Service livery followed a few minutes later with the Toy Story 4 livery. Add that to the Utah Air National Guard KC-135 on the FBO ramp and it was a rewarding quick visit.  Here is a look at what we saw today at TPA:   60-0316 - KC-135 Stratotanker (Utah Air National Guard)  N262UP - McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (UPS)  N287WN - Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N289CT - Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N329NB - Airbus A319 (Delta Air Lines)  N402UP - Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N420UP - Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N570AS - Boeing 737-800 (Alaska Airlines/Honoring Those Who Serve)  N584NW - ...

Tampa, Florida: On a trip to Tampa, I decided to make a quick visit to Tampa International Airport for about an hour of planespotting. As a result of projects at the airport, the upper levels of the garage has been closed so I spotted from the seventh floor of the short-term parking garage. With Runway 1R/19L closed, it put TPA in single runway operation making it a little easier to cover all arrivals/departures from the lower floor.  Here is a look at what we saw during the hour at TPA:  C-FLKX – Airbus A321 (Air Canada)  N251AU – Boeing 737-400 (Flair Airlines)  N261UP – McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (UPS)  N310FR – Airbus A320 (Frontier Airlines)  N323NB – Airbus A319 (Delta Air Lines)  N382DN – Airbus A321 (Delta Air Lines)  N403SV – ATR 42-600 (Silver Airways)  N424UA – Airbus A320 (United Airlines)  N438UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N443UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N489UA – Airbus A320 (United Airlines)  N624NK – Airbus A320...

Tampa, Florida: We were heading up to ZooTampa for the day and had some time before getting to the zoo so we made a brief spotting trip over to TPA. Tampa International Airport is one of my favorite places to spot because from the short-term garage, it is easy to get good photos from each runway no matter which direction they are departing too. The closure of the upper floors poses a little more of a challenge as it puts you lower to the ground and the obstructions of light posts.  It was a rather slow morning when we visited but I did manage to get some cargo (Atlas), a pink Silver Airways and a few gems on the MRO ramp (Flair and West Atlantic). Over on the FBO ramp, a few military surveillance planes were on the ramp but positioned to make it difficult to get a picture. From the short term garage, it was too far away and hazy, from the economy garage it was directly across only allowing for a photo of the rear of the aircraft. From the fence by the FBO, they were blocked ...

Tampa, Florida: Originally had plans to visit ZooTampa when they opened today, but we were greeted by a large check-in line. So rather then head back home, we modified our plans and came up with a few other things to do before heading to the zoo later in the day. This first stop was a planespotting trip to Tampa International. Flight volume was still low due to the COVID pandemic but we did manage to get a few planes photographed. Here is a look at what we saw today: N126HR – Gulfstream V   N276WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N280WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines/Missouri One)  N373FX – Embraer Phenom 300  N393DA – Boeing 737-800 (Delta Air Lines)  N415UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N431WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N434AS – Boeing 737-900 (Alaska Airlines)  N446WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)   N553WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N5113A – Boeing 737-800 (Southern A...

Tampa, Florida: For the first time in a few weeks, I managed to make a trip to Tampa International Airport. Well the COVID-19 travel restrictions have struck TPA hard as well. Most of the floors of the parking garage were closed and the open floors were mostly empty. In the time we were there, we saw no commercial aircraft arrivals or departures. There were plenty of planes parked with engine covers on. On the MRO ramp, there were a few Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A321 undergoing the changeover to JetBlue and a West Atlantic cargo plane obstructed on the ramp. It was kinda depressing to see a busy airport come to a crawl like this. Here is a look at what we saw around the ramp during our visit: N461UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N494WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N861UP – Beechcraft Super King Air 350  N901JT – Airbus A321 (Thomas Cook Airlines)  N930JL – Airbus A321 (Thomas Cook Airlines)  N13227 – Boeing 737-800 (United Airlines)...

Tampa, Florida: With most attractions closed and social distancing an order from the governor, I was looking for a way to get outside and enjoy some sunshine while staying away from large groups of people. What better way to do this then by a little planespotting. With flight schedules majorly reduced, I chose to go to Tampa International Airport and spot a little while from the parking garage. Locally they had the best amount of scheduled flights remaining following the airline cancellations. When we got there, you could see how much the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the airline industry, the parking garage was pretty much empty and traffic was painless both on airport property and the interstate system, a rarity in season on a Sunday afternoon. While the air traffic schedule was about 1/3 of normal, I still managed to get some aircraft photographed. What was in the air was routine, there was some good variety on the ground at the MRO's including three Thomas Cook Airlines ...

Tampa, Florida: A new year is here and so is a new year of planespotting.  The first planespotting trip of the year would be during a NYD trip to Tampa and thus a stop at the short-term garage at Tampa International Airport.  For a while now, I have always missed out on getting a photograph of Swoop and when I saw it had a daytime landing, we headed over there.  While waiting for Swoop to depart back to Canada, got a few surprises including the second of the retro Southwest, the Celtics JetBlue and US Air Force flyover or Raymond James Stadium for the Outback Bowl.  Not bad for a last minute plan.  Here is a look at what we saw during our stopover at TPA: C-FLSF – Boeing 737-800 (Swoop Airlines)  C-GBWS – Boeing 737-600 (WestJet)  N14GD – Dassault Falcon 2000  N353PC – Bombardier Challenger 300  N354FR – Airbus A320 (Frontier Airlines)  N343NW – Airbus A320 (Delta Air Lines)  N430XA – Boeing 737-400 (Swift Air)  N59...

Tampa, Florida:  While in Tampa enjoying the holiday events, Mother Nature took over and brought a cold steady rain over the region.  So we headed over to the parking garage at Tampa International Airport for some soggy planespotting under the cover of the garage to see if the weather cleared up.  But it didn't so instead of Christmas Town at Busch Gardens, I got in about an hour of planespotting before the rain got to heavy and it got too dark.  Here is a look at what was seen during this trip to TPA: D-AIFE – Airbus A340 (Lufthansa/Star Alliance) N125UW – Airbus A320 (American Airlines) N182UW – Airbus A321 (American Airlines) N220FR – Airbus A320 (Frontier Airlines) N249TX – Canadair Challenger N317US – Airbus A320 (Delta Air Lines) N360CM – Boeing 767-300 (Air Transport International) N410UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS) N483UA – Airbus A320 (United Airlines) N504NK – Airbus A319 (Spirit Airlines) N525B – Cessna Citation III N544CM – Dassault Falcon 9...

The Force was strong in Tampa as the Star Wars themed Boeing 737 from United Airlines visited Tampa International Airport on Saturday. This special themed aircraft features the dark side on one side of the aircraft and the light side on the other. Look for this one of a kind aircraft coming to an airport near you. (Photo: November 9, 2019)

Tampa, Florida: On the way home from the zoo, I took a look at Flightradar24 and saw that the More to Love livery from Alaska Air was due into Tampa International within the hour so we decided to make a stop on the way home. During the hour waiting for it, I managed to shoot 27 aircraft with 21 of them being new to me. Included in today’s aircraft photographed are: HB-JHQ – Airbus A330 (Edelweiss Air)  N18NY – Gulfstream V  N197PQ – Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-900 (Endeavor Air) #  N211WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N231JB – Embraer 190 (JetBlue Airways)  N247WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N344AG – Saab 340 (Silver Airways)  N455WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N493AS – Boeing 737-900 (Alaska Airlines/More to Love)  N520JB – Airbus A320 (JetBlue Airways) #  N550FX – Bombardier Challenger 300 (FlexJet)  N554NW – Boeing 757-200 (Delta Air Lines)  N648NK – Airbus A320 (Spirit Airlin...

If you are around an airport, you get used to seeing the familiar colors of the aircraft. But most airlines have a few specially painted aircraft like this SkyTeam livery from Delta Air Lines. If you enjoy watching planes like I do, seeing one of these special livery aircraft at the airport is like opening a pack of baseball cards and finding a special insert card. (Photo: August 31, 2019)

A Boeing 737 smokes the tires on the main landing gear after touchdown at Tampa International Airport.  This is a result of the stationary tire of the landing gear touching down on the runway at a high rate of speed, skidding until the tire catches up with the speed of the aircraft.  This tire wear causes the tire to need to be changed at about 250 cycles of landings.  (Photo: August 10, 2019)

Tampa, Florida:    While in the bay area today, we made a brief stop at Tampa International Airport.  Runway 19 was in use so I took a spot on the north side of the short term parking garage.  We were not there long but still managed to get nine new aircraft photographed in less than a half an hour.  Included in the group was an Embraer from Contour Airlines, my first for this airline.  Here is a look of what was seen during today's visit: C-GBHR – Airbus A319 (Air Canada Rouge)  N200WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines) #  N283WN – Beoing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines) #  N350AG – Saab 340 (Silver Airways)  N410UP – Boeing 757-200 (UPS)  N431UA – Airbus A320 (United Airlines)  N564WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N630JB – Airbus A320 (JetBlue Airways)  N724SW – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N751CX – Boeing 757-200 (Air Transport International)  N761RR – Boeing 737-700 (South...

The Airbus see his shadow means more smooth flights ahead. An American Airlines Airbus departs from Tampa International Airport casting a larger than life plane shaped shadow as it departs on a sunny afternoon. (Photo: May 27, 2019)

An American Airlines MD-83 sits on the tarmac at Tampa International Airport.  This workhorse of the American Airlines fleet is on the verge of extinction as both the aircraft and the paint scheme are in the process of being replaced in the fleet.  The MD-83 was produced by McDonnell Douglas from 1983 through 1999.  There were 108 of these in the American fleet with only 27 remaining in service.  (Photo: May 11, 2019)