Spotted Before Superbowl XLVII

The Famous Tail Number N1DC aka Blue Star Management,aka Mr. Jerry Jones's private plane seen  holding short of Runway 13L at Love Field today just before noon.

 

General Aviation on final approach to 13L

"The Hand of God"

Private Corporate Jet on final to 13R

Sunshine and blue sky with an above average temperatures. Who could ask for anything more? Some of the things  along the way around one half of Bachman Lake.



The cloud image appeared right over the Southwest Airlines Headquarters Maintenance Operations Building. I've seen a lot of cloud formations over the years but never something that could be compared to an Italian painter 500 years ago.










 

American Airlines Should Be Ashamed

Five days ago, I was on Tweeter and one of the groups that I was following sent out a tweet bragging about the new Boeing 777-300ER that would start inaugural service between DFWairport and Sao Paulo,Brazil on January 31,2013.
The fact of the matter is that it isn't inaugural service at all. American has been flying that route for more than a few years. It is, however, the first flight in their new 777-300ER  livery with the new logo and paint job. Already, my dislike of the paint job has been expressed as many others have done,as well. The creator of American's old logo even went public that he didn't like the logo and paint job either.

So, when I read the tweet on the 29th, I replied to @dfwairport and ask two questions. You can't ask much in 140 characters per tweet but you can get the point across. My question was: is the plane at DFW or will it be flown in beforehand for the event. The second question was: what time will it push back from the gate?This is information that Logistics knows days in advance generally, especially with a big Public Relations Brew Ha planned. @DFWairport sent me the "fools" reply and  attached a link. Upon opening the link I knew immediately that I was getting the 'blow off". A day later, @DFWairport sent out a tweet to their followers that they had a new instantgram account that had taken flight and wanted every one to submit their photos!. I simply replied "NO" and that was that. Later that day I got an e-mail notice that @DFWairport had responded to my tweet. It said that the plane would leave on January 31. No kidding was my thought in as much as that  was the press release date  the media had been promoting. I replied simply with a" Yes, Thursday is January 31,2013. Bless your Heart."

Today, I had been working with my contacts and was planning on going out to DFW Airport. DFWairport for being a media source to build interest for American was sure shooting people in the tweets today left and right. One guy said he was concerned with the answers he was getting. Other tweeters chimed in on various topics and  some were not happy with @DFWairport's replies. I tweeted that they seemed to be in their own little zone today. That got me a tweet from American. Not wanting to rain on their parade, especially today, I replied with an e-mail address that I if they sent me an e-mail, I would be glad to explain my displeasure with @DFWairport. Quickly, came a reply that it was their mistake that they could not share contact emails with customers and staff.

Since I have never been a customer with American, that pissed me off like a slap in the face. I replied in three tweets numbered 1/3 of 3/3. I Never heard from American again.
In the mean while, my contact came through with some information that would have answered my original questions. On Friday,February 1, American, who had others that had been just as upset with American's sarcastic attitudes showed off their media and communications operation on the 5th floor of the AA headquarters. Also, Southwest opened their media center to the media and I must say that Southwest is so far ahead of American it was almost sad.

What I found out about the 777-300ER
If you know anything about the airline business, you learn quickly that #1, airlines don't usually own their own planes in their fleets and #2 tail numbers are like a birth certificate of an aircraft. A plane without a tail is legally, not an airplane. But when an aircraft gets its tail, the tail number ids that plane forever. Or, at least until the bank sells it to someone else for registration changes or it hits the desert grave yards where the tail is lost/separates when it is scrapped.

I learned that N718AN, a 777-300ER was dispatched from Southern California Logistics (KVCV) Victorville, Ca. as American Flight AAL9708 on January 27,2013 for DFW Airport Dallas (KDFW) and that Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA Trustee, Salt Lake City, UT owned the craft . It also appears that the plane was flown in under cover of night arriving DFW at 11:24 PM CST on Sunday. Push back time is at 8:35pm tonight at Terminal D,gate D23 with departure as AAL Flight #963. The last I heard the flight was at climbout at 5700 feet and 281 knots headed toward Miami. I'd love to go back to Brazil but it won't be on an American flight 777-300-ER or  anything else American  liveries.

Below, is a link that American Airlines tweeted to me. The airport is the Southern Cal Logistics (KVCV) mentioned above. And, this is the aircraft that was landed at DFW International just before midnight on January 27,2013.

Victorville is in the socal desert just a bit southeast of Edwards Air Force Base, but because this is a Texas blog, its about 5 miles from the Roy Rogers Museum!  And as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans would sing:

Happy Trails to You! 

Credit the link image,below, to American Airline as they sent this to me in a tweet after I had ask them not to insult me further. In the photo, the aircraft appears to be on the ground at KVCV. They have a 150 foot by 15,050 foot runway at Victorville. The military uses it at times for training. You could land almost anything on that runway. If the truth be know, there probably has been some strange landings and sitings there over the years.

The live image that you see (Air Force One)  is owned and copyrighted by dallaspaparasso and is dedicated in the Nota Bene below the image.

http://twitter.com/AmericanAir/status/297088669909647360/photo/1

Air Force One Arriving Love Field  copyright dallaspaparazzo.com

 Nota Bene: The image, Air Force One was inspired by a man that made the documentary," Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents" that opened at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in 1984. I meet him that same year while attending a pot luck dinner in his home. I still recall the pride and the gleam in his eyes as he talked about a wall in his home filled with pictures,letters and articles about the successful documentary. His wife, had a hand in planning the inaugural of President Richard M. Nixon and had served as the receptionist to Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew. That man was Elliot D. Sluhan and his wife was Maryann Benes Sluhan. Sadly, Mary Ann passed away February,2012; four years to the day of Elliott's passing.
It is, therefore, an honor to dedicate my image, "Air Force One arriving Love FIeld" August,2011, to the memory of Elliott and Maryann Sluhan.

O blest communion, fellowship devine!
We feebly stuggle; they in glory shine,
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
-----William W. How, 1864
For All the Saints, a British Hymn with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

edited and corrected from original post.

 

Super Bowl Sunday

This year,I'm actually looking forward to the Super Bowl. Don't know why. Maybe an East coast team playing a West coast team sounded reasonable. Two brothers;one that coaches each team is touching. The name, Ravens, were in the vocabulary when the 49ers were actually gold miners in 1849. You could even draw some comparison between sunrises and sunsets or Atlantic ocean and the Pacific ocean. How about river comparisons? One is East of the Mississippi,one West. Mountain ranges separate the two teams. Actually, the list could go on and on. But what does it all mean? Well, until this year, it meant absolutely nothing! So what's so different between this year and past years? Again, absolutely nothing other than the fact that now, I'll have material for another post when one of these two teams actually win the game. Well, that's lame, you say. I'd say you be right! 

But because the Hockey lockout  is over, I'm multi-tasking again! #gofigure.

Old Locker Room at former Texas Stadium

Play board from old Raven's game in December, 2008

The original !

Bunny Outline and A Green Heart

A Green Heart at the Chinese Lantern Festival  Takes Shape

This past fair season, Fair Park held a very large area to display the Chinese Lantern Festival. It was such a success that after the State Fair ended, the display ran a few additional weeks. Now that the media calendar is beginning to search for such material, I was able to find a bunny being built and a heart. The heart I shot was green. I choose it because it fits so well with ecology. That famous money-making Cupid treat, candy, fits because even at Valentines, mint chocolate has its followers,too.

A Bunny Head Takes Shape. The electrical bulbs and wiring can be seen inside in sunlight.

 

The Beautiful Lotus Bloom in Silk on a Blue Sky
All these are lighted from the inside and were fantastic at nighttime.

A Second Calatrava Bridge Is Now Approved!

Note the beautiful red ring around the eye. Click on the image to enlarge.

With the first Santiago Calatrava bridge now built and supporting traffic with its cable stays, a second Calatrava bridge,though scaled back, has now been approved to carry Interstate 30 traffic over the Trinity River. This second bridge will have bike trails and hopefully, construction of the Trinity River park will begin later this spring or early summer as the bridge building once again begins West of downtown. Most people don't get excited over projects like this. But for me, it runs deep in my blood and construction projects of this size are like new batteries in an old toy.





 

Walgreen's To The Rescue

Sea gull at Sunset Bay

The plumage is amazing

 It was in the 70's today. Even in Texas, that is a gift in late January because February really can be the coldest month of the winter. I get cabin fever after about three days in the house. So, when I discovered that one of my prescriptions was due for refill, I logged on and submitted the request to Walgreens. This morning, I had an email that my prescription was ready for pick up. Perfect!  An afternoon under the blue sky and sun. With a stress-test coming up shortly, it will also cover a cardiac walk and exercise. Sweet!

Subject matter was a bit limited, but along came a co-operative and curious sea gull. They really are beautiful birds. There must have been five or six photographers all looking for something interesting and for a rare winter's day, nothing was happening today.

 

A man walks  his dog and a woman rest in thought.

Architecture Comes in Varied Forms

Yesterday, while looking for something interesting to blog about, this little wren's nest could not be passed up for its architecture elements and stringing. It seems that every winter, I run across something like this that is unique and interesting. What is so amazing to me is the size of the wren overall. It's not a very big bird.
I have seen some hummingbird nest that are smaller and more detailed, but this one caught my interest because of its location right over a busy bike trail.