PHOTOS: Hanging Around Paine Field

Living in the greater Seattle area has its advantages. Being able to go pretty much any time and drive around Paine Field Airport (KPAE) is for sure one of them. Plus, if you book yourself a night at the Hilton Garden Inn, you are very likely to get a room that looks over the airport. Heck, you can even spot from your room and/or car and have yourself a bit of an AvGeek hootenanny. I recently did just that and my pal Jeremy joined me. Although this story might mostly be photos, I am likely to add a snarky comment here or there.

I decided to do a little blast from the past and use my “real” DSLR camera instead of my iPhone. It is amazing for the close-ups, but I think I might need a refresher course. Jeremy ended up taking a few of the photos, but I was too lazy to label them properly. Just assume if one looks like someone with talent took the picture, it was him. Here we go…

I typically don’t like to use two photos that essentially tell the same story, but I like how these other used parked aircraft are watching the new 777s just sitting there. This was a sweet surprise… N782TW. She was built in 1967 for Continental and then operated by Ameristar since April 2011. I was excited to look at FlightRadar24 and see that this beast was going to take off later in the night. Took this and the take off (well, taxi) from my hotel room. Even though Paine Field has had commercial service for a while now, it still surprises me to see an Alaska 737 taking off with passengers here. As it started to get dark a 777 was moved across the tarmac. Now you might be wondering why I didn’t get a photo of the Sky Lease Cargo 747-400F going full throttle. Well, I did, it is just that… Weeee… remember how I said I think I was rusty earlier?

I not only love the fact that I always see an array of liveries here that I might never see out in the world, but also the fact that there are different airplanes there every time I go!