Monday, June 2, 2014

About that picture


A lot of you responded to last week's "What's funny about this picture".  As I am wont to do, I showed you a shot with more than one notable thing in it. So, I'll make a list:

  • The most obvious is the new and old American liveries side-by-side
  • Next, the pairing of an A321 and a B757, which are easily mistaken for one another

But those of you who've been here for a while know that I'm usually not that easy, and several of you commented to that effect. But a handful of you also caught another thing:

  • The A321 wearing the new American colors is actually a US Airways airplane. The old-style Airbus wingtip fences are a tell-tale, and the registration gives it away.
This is the first US Airways aircraft I've seen at LAX in the new American colors. For the sake of comparison, here is an American A321:



As an aside, I don't believe I've noticed an American B757 wearing the new livery, nor an MD-80. In the case of the MD-80s, I suspect that they won't get the new colors at all, as they're being phased out over the next year or so.


3 comments:

  1. WELL......I'LL BE DAMNED............UGHHH....breath Julie.......I swear........I was going to say one was formerly a pr*ck.....Cactus...........and I didn't ...I should have my Aviation geek license revoked for at least 4 minutes............Ughhhh the horror.....!!!!!!!!!!!!.........Grrrrrrrrrrr.......Oh well time to move on.......Captain Vector.......please have a little sympathy for us the little drones..........blind leading the blind............ha ha...........I love it...and look forward to another installment.....of ........."WFT is up with this picture".....catchy name.....huh........??!!......later ..........MissTWA signing off......for now.

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  2. Question-Do you have to take extra steps when directing these planes? In other words if you ask a plane to follow US Airways (Cactus 123) but they are painted in American colors this may cause some confusion. They may say "We see an American A321 but not an US Airways 321". I have heard planes referring to themselves as "Cactus 123 in American Colors" to help the controllers. When directing planes on the ground do you mostly rely on Visual Identification or are you mostly looking at the radar scope to direct planes?

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  3. Dear Andrew......I sure hope I'm not the reason.....Captain Vector hasn't answered you.....??!!......I can say a whole lot of nothing.......and not wanting to be rude........he may not answer you....thinking ......he has ignored me........not to worry......I don't need a reply...if that was the case..........the patty wagon outside my door...........is all the proof I need.........LOL>....I joke a lot......but I hope you get your answer.......because I am a true Aviation......Geek......!!!

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