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Family holiday to Las Vegas 24 July - 8th August 2008  Dave & Matty Anderson Page 1

Only aircraft noted for the first time during the trip are included on each log (except Nellis)

Our annual family holiday this year was to Las Vegas, we had been before only for 3 nights and missed a lot, particularly out & about, we didn't stay on the strip but rented a large house with a pool & spa in Henderson 5 miles from the strip. This wasn't a spotting holiday though I did manage to do something each day even if it was just a drive past McCarran, we did manage a good variety particularly catching the end of one and the beginning of another red flag exercise at Nellis. Temperatures averaged 105deg each day and down to about 85 at night, sounds hot but a different heat to Europe very dry and made a nice change to the crap we have here. On with the report....

Manchester Wednesday 24 July 2008

Before leaving home a quick look at flightaware showed the flight hadn't left Philadelphia, the US Airways site showed a delay from 1100am to 1505pm, nice start! severe weather on the east coast of America had delayed virtually all flights from that area to Europe, there was nothing that could be done so we found a suitable location in T2 and watched the proceedings. Surprisingly a few gap fillers made the stay a little more bearable. The flight over the pond was smooth and uneventful, and with the delay we had missed our connection to Vegas, we were rebooked on an early flight the next day and put up in the Airport Sheraton for the night, this worked out quite well helping with the time difference and having a good nights sleep in Philly. Thank god I had booked both flights with the same airline.

Philadelphia, PA Thursday 24 July 2008

I didn't do any spotting on arrival, bags collected and straight off to the hotel, the following bits were parked near to us.

Philadelphia, PA Friday 25 July 2008

After a good nights sleep it was back to the airport for our flight to Vegas. We left from Terminal B, it gives some decent views over the runway, and with an hour to wait the following were logged, I don't photograph through windows so the camera stayed in the bag, the freight area was off to the right and couldn't be seen until takeoff, the freighters below all moved during the stay. As expected Southwest and US Airways are the major players but it was nice to see some of US Airways regional fleet, hopefully a lot more on our return stop over. Our aircraft was Boeing 757 N936UW in Star Alliance marks, on landing at Vegas parked next to us was Hawiian 767 N589HA and Philippine Airlines A340 RP-C3434. Hire car was collected and off to the house for a nice swim and a cool beer.

Las Vegas, NV Saturday 26th July 2008

On our way out, we called via McCarran for a quick tour of the perimeter, the dedicated spotting area on sunset is ideal for logging arrivals and departures on the main 25 runways, any bizz that may land on 03 could go straight to stand without being read off. The spotting area even lets you listen to the tower by tuning your car radio to 100.1 fm, how civilized, shame our out of touch airport management team aren't as forward thinking! just a spotting area would do. Leaving the spotting area and continuing down Sunset, turning right onto Las Vegas Bvd (the Strip) and taking all the right turns a decent number of bizz and choppers can be read. The EG&G Boeing 737-200 fleet were here in and out all during the stay. It was noticeable that Allegiant seem to have at least 6 MD80's parked up each day only the first could be read off due to the way they were parked - sign of difficult times? The two 747SP's looked stored but both disappeared for a few days during our stay. There were two unidentified USMC Harriers on the ground.

Las Vegas, NV Sunday 27th July 2008

Today we had a couple of touristy things to do, Red Rock Canyon and the Stratosphere (both well worth the visit), the kids wanted to do the rides, mad! I was happy with the view, Nellis looked pretty full for the up and coming Red Flag, B52's E3's and a ramp full of fighters. It was nearly 4pm when we headed down the strip back to home, I was ready for a beer and swim, a quick call into the Northern Bizz area was worthwhile with another 35 copped, and the following different aircraft noted. Fridays and Sundays are the busiest days for exec movements, though there is a steady flow during the week, local news reported McCarran between 2000pm-2200pm is the busiest airport in the world.

Boulder City, NV Monday 28th July 2008

Having done the Grand Canyon by helicopter on a previous trip, this time we flew out to Canyon West for a look over the edge, in particular the new glass skywalk, a 70ft glass walkway out over the canyon with a 4500ft drop below, when we were told it was built to with stand the weight of 12 fully loaded 747's on top of each other I was a bit more reassured still very weird. Flying from Boulder City Airport, a 15 minute journey from our house, with Scenic Grand Canyon Airways our 30 minute each way flight in Twin Otter N140SA was smooth and provided a great view of the dam and canyon. Boulder City, a mainly light field along with Canyon pleasure flying aircraft, you could arrive here and all the Twin Otters and choppers may have gone out, they seem to come and go in batches.

Grand Canyon West, AZ  Monday 28th July 2008

Officially a different time zone, but everything operated in Vegas time for ease, a very small field though work on a second runway and new terminal is underway, helicopters are constantly flying in and out taking passengers over and into the canyon. Our Twin Otter arrived in "formation" with another three and not much else of interest was to be seen.

Las Vegas, NV Monday 28th July 2008

A great day out was finished with dinner in the Luxor, not before the obligatory stop at the bizz jet parks at McCarran. The airport itself is dominated by Southwest and to some extent US Airways, with already nearly 250 Southwest logged from previous trips I was more interested in topping up the corporate fleets, though 48 new ones would go into the log during the holiday.

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