Peoria Int'l Airport Action - July 22, 2023

I intended to do this on a Saturday earlier this month, but I either got to bed too late Friday or the forecast called for morning rain. I got to bed too late Friday, but did this anyway...
 
Since our local "newspaper of record" doesn't cover local commercial aviation anymore, someone needs to do so. (Apologies for my camera's motor noises...I'm looking for a replacement soon.)

United Parcel Service has been having a Boeing 767-300 freighter stop at Peoria early Saturday morning enroute from Louisville to Rockford. It is likely they only stop here to drop off empty cargo containers for Caterpillar's Morton distribution center, explaining the short takeoff shown in the video.

It is good to see a "widebody" like a 767 used here on a regular basis. UPS uses another "widebody"-type (an Airbus A-300) on on its weeknight and pre-dawn flights, but those are hard to catch in daylight unless in mid- to late-June or the planes are late. Occasionally, a 757 will stop here.  


CAPTION: United Parcel Service cargo and passenger airliner action at the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport, early-morning through mid-afternoon Saturday, July 22, 2023. Runway 4-22 was closed for pavement strengthening, and Taxiway E is closed as well. So airliners taxiing to Runway 31 from the airline apron must turn right onto Taxiway A and left onto the runway, and then perform a U-turn prior to their take-off roll. 



- David P. Jordan

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