I had told Kath I’d get these posted last night, but a combination of computer problems and being a bit under the weather and flat worn out was enough to cause this delay.  My most sincere apologies for that.

On to the pictures from yesterday!

Vision Airlines operates a number of different aircraft and does charter work.  One of their businesses is sightseeing flights from Las Vegas over the Grand Canyon.  Fortunately for me, their ramp is pretty close to the fence allowing for some nice pictures

I happen to think that the Dornier 328 is one of the sexiest “big” planes I’ve ever seen  I think it has to do with those curves, the six bladed props, and the way the wing and landing gear are mounted that makes it look muscular.

The Dornier 228 looks a bit funky, but it was built for a purpose, not for looks.  It’s better for the sightseeing flights and can take off and land from short runways.

Of course, I wouldn’t mind flying either one

Whatever the maintenence is that this Civil Air Patrol Cessna is undergoing, it required removing the engine.  That bucket or drum you see in the engine mount is there to keep it balanced as it would be a bad thing to allow it to rest on its tail.

Robinson helicopters are small (as you can see) and relatively inexpensive.  They’re powered by piston engines and haven’t always had the greatest reputation, but that’s improved greatly over the years.  The helicopter on the left is an R44 Raven and the one on the right is an R22 Beta II.  The R44 carries a pilot and three passengers while the R22 is a strictly two person vehicle.

I thought it was funny that these two aircraft were parked like someone had arranged them just for my photographic convenience

These three aircraft were parked right by the fence which allowed me to get these pictures pretty easily

All three of these airplanes make for great training aircraft and I’ve actually flown both a Cessna 172 and a Piper Cherokee in the past.  Yes, it was with a flight instructor both times

I haven’t flown a Cessna 152 yet, but I hope that will change once I’ve lost some weight – it can only carry about 600 pounds including fuel, people, and anything else it’s taking into the air.  That’s it.  Take me and a 200 pound instructor and we’re already over 500 pounds which would leave about enough available weight capacity for about 13 gallons of gas.  That just isn’t enough for any real flying when you consider that you have to have a 30 minute reserve, the plane burns about 7 gallons per hour, and you’re going to burn a bit just warming up the engine, taxiing to take off, and taxiing back to the parking place.

I was lucky enough to catch this Cessna 172 taxiing to the runway for takeoff.  A Google search of the aircraft’s registration or “N” number shows that it belongs to Christiansen Aviation Inc and was made in 1998 which is pretty new as light aircraft go.

I was also lucky enough to catch this Las Vegas Metro P.D. helicopter returning to base.  From the registration number, it’s an MD Helicopters model 369 FF which traces its roots to the Hughes 500.

The optical viewfinder on my Canon Powershot A1000 IS came in really handy for these pictures as I had it shooting in burst mode

So there’s another day’s pictures in the book.  Have a great day today