Southwest Airlines Newest 737!
 

Well here she is parked at the gate overnight here @ BNA last night. The airport operations supervisor and I, along with my wife and a few fellow photogs, climbed onto the airport terminal roof to get this shot of it.

It formerly served as a corporate jet for Ford Motor Company, but was bought by WN and is now in their hybrid colors awaiting the holiday rush to slow down so it can enter the paint booths in Dallas.

N271LV
http://www.pbase.com/lexyky/image/72022439/original.jpg

when are they going to stick on the blended winglets? ;)

this shot is a sure-fire a.net winner!

You know, I don't know when it is scheduled to go into maintenance to get its winglets and paint job, but I heard from a WN higher up that it is after the Christmas season and before the vacation rush. That is especially why it is like a crapshoot to get pictures of it now while it still has its Ford livery. Supposedly, there is another one similar to this one floating around their routing system somewhere.

I like the slightly overexposed C4 light

Just curious, what do you do that in this day of uber-security that can get you on the roof of a major airport to shoot some pics?

I am a member of a large group of photographers here in Nashville. We are called the Nashville Aviation Photographers and we have "members" that range from scheduling agents for Evergreen Air in Arizona to one of the Airport Operations Supervisors @ Nashville International Airport. We usually can get out on the field for special arrivals, typical daily operations, or overnights to get pictures. Go to www.airliners.net or www.jetphotos.net and search "KBNA" and it will show you a bunch of what we got. You can also check out my website which is listed in my signature line for even more shots I have gotten this year.

It is important to note that we do have to clear security before going out on the field. Just as a passneger would have to clear before boarding an airplane.

I don't know what that has to do with anything on here, but okay. You try white balancing a camera on a dark cold roof with nothing white on or around you, and in a hurry. LOL!!!

Cold? Maybe here in Nashville!

I just walked through C4 not 2 hours ago ;)

Yeah, last night it was cold and damp outside. We took that shot around 1am and to be honest, the wind was howling on the roof and it was terribly raw feeling outside. We later retreated down into D concourse to grab a quick drink and stop off in the bathroom before continuing on.

boo hoo, I live in Buffalo. It's not cold here in Nashville :D

You're right!!

That's Boeing's old house colors before they switched to the present one.
Indeed, it was a rush paint job!

well, not quite...

http://matthieu.papin.free.fr/french...%20747-400.jpg

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft...77/b777_01.jpg

It is interesting that Southwest is buying used equipment. They must be wanting to grow their fleet faster than the delivery schedule from Boeing.

Yeah, what varient is that anyway?

Didn't think it was a new one.

It's a 737-705, first flight date of 9/3/98. Previously owned by Braathens before Ford.

That's not too old - only eight years.

Still looks to be in mint condition.

Probably wasn't used very much while flown for the Ford company.

Was it a business jet (BBJ) when Ford had it?

Looks like it might have been one.

No, it was delivered new as a standard pax model to Braathens, a Norwegian budget carrier.

Boeing wouldn't bump up slots for them so Boeing sent them to Ford who wanted to dump the two big planes.

Ciao, and Hook 'em Horns,
Capt-AWACS, The Captain formerly known as Lieutenant