Special Chartered Aircraft in Phoenix

Phoenix Sky Harbor airport is a hub for US Airways (after its purchase by America West) and Southwest Airlines. Because those are the primary users of the airport - the majority of the aircraft that go in are Boeing 737's and Airbus A318/A319/A321's. So aside from the daily British Airways flight from London (a Boeing 747), or the UPS or FedEx cargo planes (767 and MD-11 respectively), the opportunities to plane watch get pretty boring pretty quickly.

A friend found out that an Air China Boeing 747 was going to be coming into Phoenix over the Labor Day weekend. It was going to arrive on Sunday, fly up and back to the Grand Canyon on Monday, and then depart on Tuesday. So trying to capture a picture of this jumbo coming in and out of Phoenix, became a 'Photocall' for the aviation photography group I am part of.

The embedded link below goes to a slideshow of my pictures from both the arrival on Sunday and then the departure up to the Grand Canyon on Sunday (more details below the slideshow link).



During a pre-arrival drive through of the airport - it looked like it was going to be something more than just a normal charter. A reception tent was set-up out on the ramp - and the Police were out and just waiting.

Then there was the flight path this plane had been taking. It started in Beijing - and flew to Toronto (fuel stop), and then on to Havana (Cuba). From there it went to Nassau (Bahamas) for three days before flying to Phoenix.

One of the other photographers finally found a story on-line about this trip - on a Chinese web site (local press didn't have a clue). It was the Chinese equivalent to the US Speaker of the House - on a fact finding tour of the Americas.

Which would explain the next stop the plane made after leaving Phoenix - Andrews Air Force Base, outside of Washington, DC. [for those of you who don't know - Andrews Air Force Base is the home to another rather famous Boeing 747 - Air Force One].