Tag Archives: a340-500

A Rare Beast – Shame It Is 34k’ Above Me!

My buddy, Mark, sent me a message about a plane that he had spotted coming inbound from the Pacific which he had hoped would stop in Vancouver.  It was a Royal Thai Air Force Airbus A340-500.  Instead it was coming further south but it was still at cruising altitude so there was no way it was coming my way either.  However, it did end up flying directly overhead, albeit at 34,000’. It was a lovely clear day and the four contrails from the jet showed up nicely as they ran back and then rolled up together.  I grabbed the camera from the trunk and got a few shots as it passed overhead.  It was heading for DC so we didn’t have a chance that day or for the return journey.

Sands and Their Little Jets

AE7I7958.jpgThe casino business is obviously a bit of a money-spinner (well, for almost everyone who owns a casino!).  In Las Vegas, the casinos put a lot of effort in to keeping their big money players happy.  Sands has a fleet of aircraft that they use for moving these clients to and from their operations.  Big jets are a part of this.  They seem to focus on jets that can be customized nicely but aren’t terribly high on the acquisition cost scale.  The two that I was most interested in were the Boeing 747SP and the Airbus A340-500.  Both of these are cool looking jets as far as I am concerned and the Sands livery suits them well.  Sadly, I have not been around when either of them flew but I have seen some great shots of them airborne.