Tag Archives: textron

FedEx Skycourier Arrival in the PNW

Late in 2022, an interesting arrival came to SEA in the form of a Textron Cessna 408 Skycourier.  I had seen my first example of this plane at Boeing Field as it transited from Alaska back to Wichita.  That had been a crappy weather day and this was no improvement.  This was the first example to show up in the region in the colors of FedEx.  I am not sure whether it was delivered or just coming for familiarization with the local operations but it was using an Empire call sign and Empire is the local operator of FedEx feeder services.

It was due in later in the day and the weather was already looking bad with low cloud and the possibility of snow.  It was also a little behind schedule which didn’t help.  The light disappears early in December and it is a lot worse when the weather is bad.  I was waiting watching the ISO levels creeping upwards.  Meanwhile the cloud was creeping down.  A couple of planes came in and then a few jets started making missed approaches including the British Airways Heathrow arrival.  I then saw the Skycourier change course.  I thought it was heading to the inner runway instead.  I made a quick move down the street to that location and checked again and now it had switched back left.  I had a frantic return to where I had been and it transpired that they were actually going for the middle runway.  I hadn’t even considered that.  This meant they were a bit far away but not as bad as it could have been.  Light was terrible so ISO was cranked up high.  Was it worth it?  They will be very common here before too long but that’s not the way my brain works apparently.