Boeing Yahtzee: seeing all of their airliners, 707 through 787, in motion, in 24 hours

Avgeeks like us are collection and list-oriented people. A few years ago, I started wondering about what it'd take to document an example of each member of Boeing's jet airliner family, 707-787, in a 24 hour period... and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

At the time, Kalitta Charters II was flying a daily 727 freighter on a scheduled route for DHL out of CVG; it seemed like the easiest way to do pull this off would be starting the day at CVG, catching most of the list there, flying to a hub where you could see a 787, and connecting to OKC to see an E-3 or an E-6. It was conceptually possible, but it'd be expensive, stressful, and require a fair amount of luck. I thought about attempting it a few times, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

I finally got around to doing a deep-drive write-up on what it'd take in November. In short: the Zero G 727, the only example with any sort of predictable schedule, would be doing a flight in Dallas in February. Having spent a few years in that part of the country for college, I knew Tinker Air Force Base, near Oklahoma City, with its E-3s and E-6s, was just a few hours up I-35. With a relatively inexpensive flight to DFW, a rental car, and a bit of luck, it might actually be possible. I booked my tickets and crossed my fingers.

I flew down to DFW on Thursday, January 30th, got a car, and drove up to El Reno, Oklahoma, where I had lunch at Sid's Diner, which, according to someone on YouTube, is home of one of America's most historically significant hamburgers. It was darned tasty, not sure it was worth a 40 minute detour each way, but it was a fun start to the trip. I checked into the hotel in Midwest City (Best Western Plus, recommended), which is on the northwest corner of Tinker AFB. I spent the evening visiting with a few relatives in the area.

On Friday things started getting serious; my goal for the day was to catch an E-3 or E-6 as late in the day as possible. If unfamiliar with Tinker AFB, it as an absolutely massive complex - it's about 10 miles to drive around the outside of it on public streets. I spent much of the morning listening to the scanner in a parking lot on the north side, but nothing was flying. In the afternoon, I went down to the south side, and spent most of my time at the bike trail parking lot at the corner of Midwest Blvd and Stanley Draper Dr. A short walk east of the lot, on a public trail, offers a great vantage point for aircraft arriving on runway 36.

There were a handful of other spotters there, all of them friendly, and we got lucky with a B-52 and E-6 doing approaches for a while. Fortunately for us, an E-3 popped up, coming home from Nellis, and I knew I'd have a perfect, early evening arrival, and would be able to start the 24 hour clock at 5:10 PM.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

5:10 PM: NORSE50, 76-1607, an E-3B Sentry (based on the 707) delivered in 1978, arriving at Tinker AFB from Nellis AFB.

Off to a promising start, I hopped in the rental car, fought suburban OKC traffic for a bit, and made my way to Dallas in the dark. As always, being a fan to bite off more than I can chew, I had picked up tickets to see Too Many Zooz and Moon Hooch in Dallas that night. After great show, I backtracked to DFW, where I checked into my hotel for the night - Home2 Suites - had a nice view of the airport from the fourth floor, and was nice to be on the periphery of the airport, instead of in the middle of it.

I was up at sunrise, and out the door to catch one of the two 757s coming in that morning for UPS; their ubiquity at MSP, where Delta operates so many, had me surprised by how few of them were at DFW.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

7:43 AM: UPS5789 (SAT-DFW), being operated by N454UP, a 757-200 delivered in 1995.

I'd also been hoping to get a DHL 767 that morning, but it snuck in behind me a few minutes before UPS came in. There was no time to lose though, as I headed to the south end of the field to get in position for a Cathay Cargo 747-8F.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

8:08 AM: CPA91 (DFW-ANC), operated by 747-8F B-LJN, delivered in 2016.

With nothing else of immediate need happening at DFW, and with Zero G filed to depart DAL at 10:00, I zipped over to Love Field (~20 minutes away) so I could get a feel for things there. The sun was straight up and down the runways, so my position wouldn't matter much, photo-wise (usually you want to be on the sunny side of the aircraft). I went to the roof of the C ramp, which had a pretty good view of most of the airport, and provided an adequate vantage point for catching a 717, 727, and 737.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

9:10 AM: it'd be criminal to go to Dallas and not select a Southwest aircraft to represent the 737; N923WN is a -700, delivered in 2008, and is departing for MCO on SWA862. Part of Southwest's HQ/campus is in the background.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

9:14 AM: not every photo's a wall-hanger! Delta's handful of daily flights from ATL to DAL are the only regular opportunity to see a 717 in the Metroplex. I like the detail around the center cockpit window from this angle though. This was DAL441, operated by N986AT, which was delivered in 2001.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

10:07 AM: The main event! Zero G's 727 departs DAL; it'll head down to the Gulf of Mexico for a few hours of parabolic ops to give passengers, each paying around $9,000, a chance to experience weightlessness. Operated by Everts Air, N794AJ was delivered in 1976. It's flying as VTS7765.

After the 727 departed, I visited with another avgeek for a bit, and grabbed lunch. I caught the 727 as it returned, documenting the arrival near the rowing club on the west side of DAL. A bit overconfident, with only the 767, 777, and 787 to go, and nearly five hours to do it, I made a leisurely trip back towards DFW, grabbing some more coffee, before arriving at Founder's Plaza, their wonderful official aircraft viewing area.

... and then it was time for some reality-TV style drama. I pulled up JetTip's flight board for DFW, filtered so I'd only see heavies, and saw that the UPS 767 from SDF had been upgauged to an MD-11... and the only two remaining daylight 767s in the area were going to depart AFW (about 20 minutes away) in 25 minutes! This was going to adversely impact my ability to see a 787 at DFW, but none of it would matter if I couldn't get a lousy 767 on this trip!

A tableau of terror: JetTip's flight board showing a cancelled UPS 767, which I was relying on seeing at DFW, discovered annoyingly close to the last 787 movement of the trip.

Fortunately I've spent a few hours spotting at AFW before on previous visits, and had a handful of spots in my head that would work with the light and wind. Just as I pulled up, the first of the two 767s departed - I grabbed a horrific photo out the window - it'd count, at least, but would have been embarrassing to share. Fortunately, the second 767, the more interesting of the pair, a -200, was still taxiing.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

1:54 PM: I've never been so happy to get a picture of a white tail 767! This is N744AX, a 767-200 operated by ABX on behalf of Amazon, heading to ONT as ABX5135. This aircraft was delivered in 1983.

A 767 properly documented, it was time to return to DFW for the third time that day and get a 777 (there were several scheduled) and a 787 (only one left in my 24 hour window).

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

2:33 PM: N795AN, a 777-200ER, arriving on AAL71 from LHR, is about to join several other 777s in the background. This aircraft was delivered in 2000.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

2:44 PM: I'm fairly certain I was paying more attention to AAL49 (CDG-DFW) than anyone else at Founder's Plaza! With this frame, a years-long avgeek itch was successfully scratched. This 787-8, N885BP, was delivered in 2023.

... and there you have it!

It was an absolute pleasure visiting with so many other enthusiasts near Tinker, DFW, and DAL. Thanks to all of you who I met on the ground, as well as those of you who helped with planning beforehand, which allowed me to achieve this goal. Furthermore, it was an absolute thrill to run into so many people who were JetTip subscribers - thank you all so much for allowing me to have one of the weirdest, coolest jobs in aviation!

Nick Benson

Nick lives in Burnsville, Minnesota with his wife and three children. He grooves on railroad and aviation photography, politics, geography, weather, and LEGO. He started JetTip's smart flight alert service in 2017, and is now a full-time avgeek. He can frequently be found atop a step ladder at MSP's Aircraft Viewing Area.