| Date | Airline | Flight | Type | Regn | Routing | Time | Miles | Remarks | ||
| Back | 28 Oct 17 | WN | 3436 | 737-8 | N8712L | PHX-MDW | 03:10 | 1471 mi | N/C | Next |
My first trip aboard the new 737 MAX finally arrived. I have a long day ahead as I depart PHX at 0810 and I'm scheduled to arrive back to PHX at 2359...a minute before midnight. I'm scheduled on four flights...as I write this after the fact I'm happy to say everything went off as planned.
I arrived PHX well before dawn and after searching for a parking spot in West Economy ($7 a day, no shuttle service) I just decided to park in Terminal 2 covered parking for $11. I'd still have to walk a short distance to T3 Sky Train stop and ride to T4 but it was fine by me.
During the elevator ride up and walk to T4 I was chatting with an attractive Southwest flight attendant...she wouldn't be on my flight today but was intrigued by my reason to travelling today: just to get a ride on a new 737 MAX. Arriving at the TSA checkpoint I walked right up and breezed through security with nary a delay: the place was empty.
The gate areas were a different story. Southwest has been a major force at PHX for many years...decades...and this early Saturday morning showed that. After checking my gate (C13) I decided to wander over to the north side (American Airlines) to get some exercise and see some planes. It was still dark outside but dawn was approaching. I settled down at the far end of A councourse as this is as far as one can walk in the terminal from where I started.
After an hour or so I wandered back to my Southwest gate area to await my flight to Chicago Midway. I find another MAX sitting at a gate.
FlightRadar24 doesn't show any activity for this airframe so not sure if it flew this day. Click this thumbnail for a bigger photo.
N8712L at gate C13 being readied for Chicago.
Another view of N8712L at gate C13. Photo taken from the moving sidewalk...
Phone photo of the port CFM LEAP motor. The scalloped rear edge of the cowl is discernable as seen from seat 7A.
Below is the Flight Radar 24 screenshot of my flight to Chicago on my inagural 737 MAX 8 flight:
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