Identification of Airplane Approaching Sky Harbor

Aviation General Aviation
1

Hi,

I discovered this site a day to late to use its airport traffic tracking feature. I recently took pictures of airplanes approaching Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix as they passed in front of the Full Moon. They are here.

pbase.com/polakis/skyharbormoon

In particular, I am trying to identify the airplane and airline for the turboprop that is in the second-to-last image. I think it’s a Metroliner, but can anybody help me identify more about it in particular? Thanks.

Tom

2

Is the clock on your camera accurate?
IOW, was the photo taken at 18:48:07 local time on April 12?

3

Yes, it’s within a minute. That was the time of the photo… about sunset last Wednesday.

Tom

4

The reason I ask is that I can’t find anything quite like it.

Here’s what the database has for PHX arrivals (timestamps are UTC):


 Ident  | Type | Arrival Time
FFT859  | A319 | 2006-04-13 01:38:00
SWA1781 | B737 | 2006-04-13 01:40:00
DAL909  | B752 | 2006-04-13 01:40:00
UAL1497 | A320 | 2006-04-13 01:41:00
ASH6413 | CRJ9 | 2006-04-13 01:43:00
SWQ145  | C750 | 2006-04-13 01:45:00
SWA1385 | B733 | 2006-04-13 01:45:00
AMW6808 | B190 | 2006-04-13 01:45:00
AMF357  | PA31 | 2006-04-13 01:46:00
SWA2002 | B733 | 2006-04-13 01:47:00
SWA1653 | B733 | 2006-04-13 01:48:00
SWA1520 | B737 | 2006-04-13 01:50:00
AWE587  | A319 | 2006-04-13 01:50:00
NWA105  | B752 | 2006-04-13 01:53:00
UAL953  | A319 | 2006-04-13 01:55:00
AWE188  | B752 | 2006-04-13 01:56:00
SWA2393 | B737 | 2006-04-13 01:57:00
ASA700  | MD83 | 2006-04-13 01:58:00
5

My guess is that it was one of the two Ameriflight Metros:

flightaware.com/live/flight/AMF1 … /KCXL/KPHX
flightaware.com/live/flight/AMF1 … /KFLG/KPHX

In any case, it is a Metro.

6

Thanks to both posters for the help. I just checked the clock on my camera again, and it’s dead on. Perhaps this Metro landing came in under the radar (so to speak), and did not make it on the list of arrivals.

Tom

7

It’s definitely a Metro.
Nice pictures! I especially like the Frontier A319.

8

Yes, great pictures.

Ameriflight often goes VFR so the aircraft could have been one of the two I mentioned but they were never opened as IFR because they left as VFR flights.

9

there is a delay from 8-11 minutes - the airplane passing in front of the moon is one that is identified several minutes later . … the time off and on are pretty accurate, but the tracking function is delayed/