As I've mentioned before, the most interesting (or perhaps only interesting... 😉) thing about Renton is its airport, home of Boeing narrowbody production. And what's really cool is that there's a park that runs basically through the middle of the airport (technically, between the airport and the Boeing plant), which provides some very nice views of all of the planes parked there (and there are quite a few currently, due to the combination of the infamous MAX issues and the impact of COVID on air travel). The rest of this post is basically just going to be a photo dump with minimal descriptions.
This first shot is a look across Lake Washington, towards the downtown Seattle skyline (it's a much better view in person, but my phone camera doesn't much like long-distance pictures like this). Being right on the lake, this airport also has a seaplane base -- I believe this is the only local airport with both seaplane and standard land facilities.
This is a view towards the main production facility. The white plane in the foreground is a military plane, the only non-MAX 737s left in production.
The park is here because of the Cedar River, which flows into Lake Washington in the middle of the airport. Originally, this was actually the outlet of Lake Washington, before the Ship Canal was built in through Seattle.
OK, here we go with the actual description-less photos 🙂
You can tell that some of these aircraft are in longer-term storage by the taped-over instruments and covered engines, though if they were in really long-term storage, the windows would be covered over too.
The bright green color is the primer/protective coat before planes are fully painted.
I found it amusing that the gates to this aircraft parking area were left wide open, with no one in sight. I'm sure the area is blanketed in security cameras, but still!
There's a road wrapping around the other two sides of the airport proper, which has some decent views too (though mostly of the private plane area, which I don't find particularly interesting).
Honestly, I find the Buzz mascot rather creepy...
From airport decor at the Renton Walmart to the actual Renton Airport! I'm a fan of commercial aviation so this diversion is something that I absolutely don't have a problem with, lol. A couple of thoughts stand out in my mind. One is that it's still hard to believe how big some of these 737 variations are. I suppose I'm still used to 737-200 and -500 type 737s buzzing around. Part of me still thinks the -300 and -400 were the 'big' 737s, lol. Now, of course, these 737s are about the size of a 757. It's pretty remarkable. My last 737 flight was on a -600 so at least I got to experience a small 737 one last time.
ReplyDeleteThe second thought is that if these photos were taken in, say, the early 1990s, I'm guessing that the majority of the photos would be of recognizable major US airlines and major flag carriers in Europe. With the growth of low-cost carriers all over the globe and increasing demand for flights in the developing world, we see all kinds of airlines in these photos whose reputations aren't exactly as known or are as sterling as some of those well-known, historic airlines.
I had not even heard of Buzz. It looks like it is some kind of division of Ryanair so it's an airline that I hope to never fly on, lol. The logo does kind of look like the Kroger baby care department, lol.
Ha, yep, that name connection was part of the fun of this! Glad you liked it. The shift towards larger airplanes is certainly a big thing these days, and a weakness for the 737 product line. Though that being said, most of the ones in these pictures should be -7s and -8s, which aren't that big, I suppose.
DeleteYeah, that is certainly a noticeable change, even just over the last few years. Part of it seems to be that many of those major airlines have shifted to Airbus over Boeing, especially for narrowbodies! But it's also interesting to see how so many airlines that previously would have only had second-hand planes have been able to take brand-new 737s and A320s lately -- though that didn't go so well for Boeing, as the combination of the MAX groundings and COVID caused quite a few of those orders to evaporate. And I suspect a lot of the MAX's problems were caused by cost-cutting to win those customers in the first place.
Agreed -- anything from Ryanair isn't anything I'd ever want! Plus those are the new MAX 8 200s, which were specially designed to allow Ryanair to cram in even more seats. No thanks!