Delta 757-200 // N654DL - Up Close

[bakejobb_23]

Since i’ve began my photography journey a short month or so ago, one of the main runways here at PIT has been closed. It recently opened again and now i’m back at square one finding new spotting locations on the north side of the airfield. After trying a few places, some sketchier than others, I decided to just bounce around all afternoon and stumbled on this beauty. N654DL is a 757-200 that’s been serving for Delta since delivery in 1990. This plane serves in the subset of Deltas fleet for sports charters, specifically owned (I believe) by the NBA. During the current NBA offseason, they’re used by NHL/MLB teams as well. This one has been flying the San Fransisco Giants around recently, and they’re here in Pittsburgh for a three game series. I saw this bird fly in on Sunday evening and have found it resting on the ramp till the Giants go home on Wednesday night/Thursday. Since it’s so close to the gate and these won’t be around d forever, I decided to use the good sunlight to take some decent closeups of this bird for future nostalgia sake. Enjoy!

Delta 8888 arriving on 10R on Sunday evening (meh photos here but relevant!)



Resting between the Amazon facility and the 911th Air Wing:





Zoom in on the door! Shoutout to the PHX crew and a pacers fan marking through the soot:




Lmk if anyone wants any other things on this 757 photographed up close. I can only really see this right hand side and I can’t get a good vantage point of the whole thing without a light pole or cars or fence in the way, but any antennas or tubes or anything else like these are all possible!

 

[OllieBHaas25]

Maybe a close up of the cockpit?

 

[bakejobb_23]

Maybe a close up of the cockpit?

I can’t get much farther around the front other than what i’ve done but if I go back i’ll try and grab a close up on the windows if what I can see.

 

[bakejobb_23]

Going back in my camera roll and this same bird came through PIT on July 27, just a few days before it came in again on the 3rd. Luckily these photos turned out a bit better than the other arrival ones posted before!

 

[Alphaless]

Great pictures, what a beautiful airplane. It will be a shame when they are gone.

 

[Charter]

Great report Indeed. The real shame Is that Boeing missed to consider a Neo/Enhanced/Plus/2.0 (call It as you want) B757-200! This would have been the real A321neo/LR/XLR competitor. I am not and engineer but re-thing engines, winglets, cockpit instruments, add an additional fuel thanks and you have a monster against Airbus. B737 MAX10 can't be A321XLR competitor and, among B737 MAX10 and B787-8 there is a gap Boeing did not consider. A narrowbodies gap that Airbus filled with the A321neo family.
NMA (New Midsize Airplane)/B797? 4.450-5.000 NM, 225-275 passengers, more efficient, less fuel, less pollution etc etc...no way. This model has been planned since 2015 but today remains just a chimera.
And i write this with extreme sadness because for me the B757-200WL, more than the B757-300WL, is the most beautiful, iconic and elegant narrowbody/high capacity/medium-long haul ever built, and i put it on the Olympo of airplanes along with the Queen of the sky.