Allegiant Flight #26: Las Vegas to Rockford

One of the things that really interested me with Simbitworld's 'A Pilot's Life' was that it would generate a schedule for you so you didn't have to worry about deciding where you wanted to fly next, and and so you could explore airports that you normally wouldn't fly to. Such is the case today as we fly from Las Vegas to Rockford, which is about 90 miles west of Chicago. Since I was "hired" by Allegiant, I'll be doing a lot of flying out of Las Vegas, so I thought FSDreamTeam's KLAS scenery would be a good investment, and I wasn't wrong.

 

 

Loading up at Gate A12 and getting ready for our 2:55pm departure

 

 

Pushing back a few minutes early which is never a bad thing

 

 

Climbing off of 8L leaving all of the bad decisions everyone made in Vegas behind

 

 

FO's view of the Colorado River as we continue the climb

 

 

Cruising at FL350 as we pass over Colorado

 

 

Passing Omaha, Nebraska

 

 

Descending over a cloudy Illinois

 

 

Cloudy and bumpy arrival tonight

 

 

On final for runway 25. The dusk arrival didn't disappoint

 

 

After a bumpy approach and an even bumpier landing, I have a feeling these folks will be flying Southwest or United on their next trip to the Chicago area

 

Thanks for viewing!

A beautiful series of shots Chris. I especially like the dusk pics. :cool: :cool: Rockford is a good place to go after you've lost all your money in Vegas. :D

Great flight! No frills airline but some fantastic shots. :pilot:

Beautiful set of the A320 and Vegas!

Very good!

Always great to find a new spot especially when you're in a rut of a routine!

Beautiful shots

Thanks guys!

Great shots!! And committing to an airline as well!

 

Speaking of leaving bad decisions behind. Back in the '60's, yes I'm truly that damn old, the cabbies in Vegas and Reno would pick you up at the airport and drive you to town, then settle up for your fare. But when leaving town you had to pay in advance in cash, before they'd start the trip.

 

Michael

I believe that's an actual schedule, too. Allegiant used to fly out of my local airport here of KFNL to KLAS, but they stopped and all I know was that they complained about lack of a tower. Well, now this airport is the first to get a virtual control tower. Not sure when this will roll out though.

Michael, I'm sure those cabbies had to deal with a lot of unpaid fares before developing that process, lol!

 

The program I'm using has up to date schedules, and a quick look at Flight Aware shows it's still an active route with Allegiant. I know ULCC's often try to fly to the cheaper airports to keep costs down, but I am very surprised to see just how many secondary and regional airports Allegiant flies to compared to some of the others like Spirit and Frontier. I have a schedule of 12 flights so far, and the only main airport on the schedule is Las Vegas. Otherwise it's all smaller regional airports.

I believe that's an actual schedule, too. Allegiant used to fly out of my local airport here of KFNL to KLAS, but they stopped and all I know was that they complained about lack of a tower. Well, now this airport is the first to get a virtual control tower. Not sure when this will roll out though.

 

Allegiant flies to lesser known airports in real life. They started with the MD-80’s and now fly the Airbus. I live in Vegas so I see them (and Southwest) all the time.

 

By the way, Allegiant doesn’t fly out of Vegas on Tuesdays. That’s their maintenance day.

 

Great shots man!!

I'm glad they retired the MD-80. I wanted to take an Allegiant to Vegas one day, but part of me was like, "this is when the jack screw fails the moment I fly an MD-80 for the first time." LOL Though, I don't think that mishap has ever happened in decades.

 

I wonder if FedEx still flies the MD-80? I believe they too use the Airbus and so does Amazon I reckon. Just not sure if FedEx finally got rid of that old bird yet as well or not.

 

On an unrelated note. Here in the U.S. I think we have a serious lack in forest fire fighting capability pertaining to firefighting aircraft. As it stands now, a good majority of what we use is old WWII crap that should be in museums or kept up for historical Summer flights at local GA airports. Now that the 747 is retired and rather than letting that aircraft rot in a bone yard or disassembled, they should take at least ten to fifteen to be repurposed for firefighting capability. And that goes for the MD-80 as well if it's possible to fly low and slow.

 

There's a fire here burning away and maybe a few others and everyday I can smell it come down the mountains. It's very potent and stinks to high hell and I'm thinking we need some 747s over there! Yes, there's Evergreen, but I heard they are far from great. We need more modern aircraft owned and operated from the state or federal level. Of course there's the logistics of a fleet like this. Where do you house them all? I'm thinking somewhere in the western part of the U.S. where forest fires tend to happen. Either at a new designated airport here in Colorado or possibility Nevada or even New Mexico. I'd apt for a dry, hot climate since this weather helps for the upkeep. Nevada or Arizona would be a wise idea seen as how California is always a tinder box.

 

It's an idea I have and I know it will be costly, but so too are massive forest fires. In terms of a monetary, ecosystem, visitor, and most of all, possible cost of lives. If I were president or even a governor I'd make this one of my personal agendas to get the ball rolling for more modern firefighting aircraft ability. I've read Canada has us beat in this department, yet this is the United States for God sakes! We can spend billions and now the word du jour is trillions and can't do what is exactly needed. Unreal!

 

#sudo -end rant

The jack screw fear is legit, although like you said, the Alaska Airlines disaster happened in 2000, and since then maintenance procedures and the screw itself were corrected. (Sadly, it always takes a major disaster for change to be implemented).

 

I see Fedex and UPS planes and they’re mostly the 757 and 767’s now. FedEx is slowly retiring their MD-11’s.

Oh, FedEx used MD-11's. Thought they were 80's.

 

Yeah, too the point of air disasters creating change, such is the case as we now know for the Max. Why Boeing made such an unstable plane from the begin with aI don't understand. That's the reason why there's that mechanism (for which I can't remember its name now) to prevent stalls I believe. However, I think in large part, this new mechanism for the Max is more about proper pilot training then anything. Where was it? India where they nose dived that sucker? Had they had the proper training it more than likely wouldn't have happened.

 

Edit-

 

And how be damned. The auto parsed link for the word MD-11 brings up this.

I used to think the MD-11’s were old DC-10’s. Lol