World's largest airplane, Antonov 225, at Charlotte (CLT)

Emily and I were in Charlotte this past weekend for a wedding. In normal style we went to the airport to watch some plane action. Saturday wasn't very busy so we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding a little early. On the road around the southern end of the airport I spotted the double tail of the AN-225, otherwise known as the largest airplane in the world. Originally built to carry the Russian space shuttle on it's back, it is now used to carry very large cargo loads around the world. It has a maximum takeoff weight of about 1.32 million pounds, which is 50% heavier than a fully loaded C-5A (according to this article).

I was able to go out a couple of years ago when it made an appearance at RDU and watched it takeoff at about midnight in the rain. Below are a couple of pictures I took of it while it was sitting on the cargo ramp at CLT. I've also included a video of it taking off from runway 36C at CLT yesterday. Too bad I wasn't there to watch it take off.

New Runway at Piedmont Triad International (GSO)

Emily and I were riding through Greensboro a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to ride by to see the new runway at GSO, and this was a good opportunity. We took some pictures, although it's hard to see the runway from the low angles we were able to see it from. Once it opens I'll fly up there and request to land on the new runway to get some better pictures.

The runway is being constructed because of the new FedEx hub that has been built at GSO. This should make for some pretty amazing plane watching, as FedEx uses big planes (A310s and MD-11s, among others). As a hub, they'll be coming in and out frequently. With that and the Honda Jet factory based on the field, GSO is really emerging as quite the contributor to the aviation industry in NC. Pictures Below...

Kind of hard to see, but here is new runway 23R at GSO

Freshly built FedEx hub. This will make GSO a good plane watching airport.

Back to watching planes

I haven't been up in a few weeks, the week before Christmas actually. Maybe this weekend, if the weather is good. Emily and I went to the top of the parking deck at RDU on Saturday with a couple of our friends. It was cool (temperature) and really nice. There weren't many planes moving in and out, but a few made appearances. I think we saw 2 or 3 Southwest 737s take off, a Dash-8 take off, several RJs (regional jets) move around, and got a great view of the in-progress construction of terminal 2. Good time at the airport. Check out the pictures.

Emily, Kristen, and Josh

Terminal 2 Construction at RDU