McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (N304FE)

I had a stroke of good luck snapping "Claire." This same FDX freighter had been here a day earlier and I clicked its departure then, but that was a 7:25 AM takeoff and by then the heat waves rolling up from the open airport grounds were so intense that my pictures had suffered severe heat degradation. Then, yesterday morning, I was again at RNO very early in order to get photos of the five military aircraft that had spent the overnight hours at RNO and to my surprise, "Claire" was here again ... and ... was making a much earlier departure. So just as the bright morning sun was lighting up the foothills in the background (and well before it had been up long enough to create more heat waves), I was given a second opportunity to snap "Claire" departing as seen here.

Great shot Gary! Too bad these are all being phased out and I suspect the MD-11s won't be too far behind either.

Thanx, Mark. I've been trying to click as many of these as possible. I was disappointed in the heat-roached shots I got of this one on Friday morning and I was pleased to get a second opportunity to catch it clean yesterday.

Nice catch, Gary!

Nice catch Gary!

Love the light, colour and shot, Gary.

Greg, Roy, and Frank ... Hey, guys, I appreciate your comments VM. :-)

N306FE, the one involved in the 1994 FedEx 705 attempted hijacking is still in service. I have an alert set up w/FA for every time that particular aircraft files a flight plan. I sincerely hope somehow that particular DC-10 is saved.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Express_Flight_705

James ... I'd totally forgotten about that gruesome situation. And I just missed getting a snap of "John" (N306FE); it was here less than two weeks ago. TY for the reminder; I'll keep a watchful eye for it.