Photos: rainbows, storm light, and interesting traffic at MSP

I, along with Kid 1 and Kid 2, went out to MSP yesterday afternoon and evening, beguiled by one of JetTip's smart flight alerts for a Royal Air Force A400 that would be bouncing through on a fuel stop. The forecast, which called for clearing, was promising, so we headed up to the Mall of America to catch a few arrivals on 35.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

Sun Country's N805SY, arriving after a month at QRO, presumably after maintenance work. The share of aircraft in the old 2001 era livery continues to dwindle.

With ongoing construction happening at MSP closing the south parallel, our "main" runway (12R/30L), traffic patterns have been a bit strange. When we went out, arrivals were coming in on 35, with departures leaving on 4 (see the handy map below).

Arrivals on 35 are nice to catch from level 6 of Mall of America's east parking ramp - at least for in-air photos in afternoon and evening. Conventional wisdom amongst the avgeek crowd had been that security there frowned upon spotting at the Mall, but having spent a few hours there, and having a few conversations with bored guards, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. If you happen to take advantage of spotting there, it's worth knowing there's a Walgreens and restrooms close by on level 3 - it's a great place to watch airplanes with kids, especially when inbound traffic is funneled onto runway 35.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Level 6 of Mall of America's east parking ramp (A), the Aircraft Viewing Area (B), and Terminal 1's parking ramps (C), are all great places to watch aircraft at MSP, assuming the wind, traffic, and light are cooperative.

After documenting the A400 and Delta's Team USA (Paris) A350 from the Mall of America, we went over the Aircraft Viewing Area, where we anticipated catching them again as they left on runway 4. After chatting with a few other spotters, we noticed a departure off of the north parallel, 30R, and realized we needed to reposition to the Terminal 1 parking ramps, which offer a much better vantage point. We bid adieu made the drive around the horn to the other side of the field, eventually making our way up to level 8 of the blue ramp, and things really started to get interesting.

As weather moved around the field, we were treated to a series of rainbows, a few of which were pretty bold, and provided a fun challenge for myself and the boys as we moved across the green and blue parking ramps in search of optimal alignment with aircraft and landmarks on the ground.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

A pair of 717s, a MN ANG C-130, and a rainbow - not too shabby!

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

Under normal circumstances, Air France would almost certainly arrive on 12L/30R, but since it's closed for construction now, we managed to catch them with a rainbow on the north side as they arrived on 12R.

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

Allegiant no longer serves MSP as part of its regular network, so this charter was an interesting catch. N256NV arrived on Friday as AAY4611 from AEX, spent the night, and then departed as AAY4611 on Saturday back to AEX.

Since it flew out of the Signature FBO here at MSP, I'd imagine it was some sort of athletic team charter, but I can't figure out who it might have been. If you have any idea, shoot me an email.

Nick Benson - JetTip.nent

Dark clouds over the skyline conspired for a view of the A400 departing. I prefer a gentle touch when processing my photos - it was nice for nature to provide such a dramatic moment without the need for trickery beyond usual adjustments.

ZM403 arrived from RNO and departed for YHZ as RRR4111. Strangely, it fueled at the USAF Reserve ramp on the north side of the field. Generally when these come through for training, they're handled by Signature... I honestly cannot recall seeing any other transient military aircraft, other than Airforce 1 / 2, getting handled on the Reserve ramp. Weird stuff!

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

N521DN, the Team USA (Paris) special livery, heading back to ATL as DAL1028, again, making a fairly unusual departure on 30R. Not a whole lot of processing in this image here either - the light was spectacular all on its own!

Nick Benson - JetTip.net

It's tough to beat great light, cooperative aircraft, and spending time with Kid 1 and Kid 2!

... and now that this has been written up, I suppose I should get into gear preparing for SpotLAX and Dorkfest next week, and Girls in Aviation the weekend after next!

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 his Subaru at MSP's Aircraft Viewing Area.