JJ Skippy
Well-known member
As an avgeek, I love to keep track of the different tail numbers I’ve flown. In my 23 segments I’ve done to date, I currently have three that exist as model airplanes.
Flight #1 - American Airbus A320 (GJ 1st Release)
Getting your first matching tail number in model form is difficult to do within your first handful of flights, but my first came with the second ever flight I took in 2018 on an American Airlines Airbus A320, N117UW, between Charlotte and Minneapolis. I was seated towards the rear of the cabin.
It wasn’t until some time later I realized that Gemini Jets had released this aircraft just over a year prior to this flight and had also released it in 1:200 around the same time. I finally acquired her in 2024 when another forum user sold his collection to Waffle Collectibles and I snatched 117 for roughly retail price.
Flight #2 - America West Airbus A319 (GJ)
No, I did not get the chance to fly America West; I was only a handful of years old by the time they had merged with US Airways.
After a fantastic Airliners International experience in Chicago in 2022, I was excited to get my plans together for the 2023 show in Dallas. I flew American’s mainline service that started to my home airport a few months prior, both on ex-America West A319s. This is our first AA mainline since we had the Fokker 100 from Chicago in the early 90s. On my way home, I flew N814AW.
Like with the first flight, I didn’t realize this was a matching tail number. This one is a little more understandable considering it’s wearing America West colors, so I never bothered to check. Many months later, I was watching back my video on this flight and I recognized the tail number. Alas, it was a match. I hope N832AW (the plane I took to Dallas) gets released with American colors, since for whatever reason the American A319 with IAE engines does not exist. Coincidentally, I bought this model at the Chicago Airliners International show.
Flight #3 - Frontier Airlines Airbus A320neo (Painted Bunting, AC)
This flight came from my most recent trip. I did a bunch of flying for fun with two awesome friends before the Airliners convention in Atlanta, and four of those flights I took were with Frontier. I scored Wiley the Bison, Georgia the Painted Bunting, Hugh the Manatee (A320), and Cubby the Bear. Only the second one (as of this thread’s creation) exists as a model right now, though I asked Andrew Klein at the show about Wiley if that could be produced. Fingers crossed that becomes a reality.
For one of my friends, this was a flight he had been looking forward to doing since this is his favorite Frontier tail. It became all of our favorites after this. We flew N317FR between Baltimore and Charlotte and had a flight attendant with a voice suited for a radio station. As I post this, I don’t have Georgia in my collection yet, but I’m hoping to change that as soon as possible.
What tail numbers have you flown that you also have in your collection? Which ones are you after?
Flight #1 - American Airbus A320 (GJ 1st Release)
Getting your first matching tail number in model form is difficult to do within your first handful of flights, but my first came with the second ever flight I took in 2018 on an American Airlines Airbus A320, N117UW, between Charlotte and Minneapolis. I was seated towards the rear of the cabin.
It wasn’t until some time later I realized that Gemini Jets had released this aircraft just over a year prior to this flight and had also released it in 1:200 around the same time. I finally acquired her in 2024 when another forum user sold his collection to Waffle Collectibles and I snatched 117 for roughly retail price.
Flight #2 - America West Airbus A319 (GJ)
No, I did not get the chance to fly America West; I was only a handful of years old by the time they had merged with US Airways.
After a fantastic Airliners International experience in Chicago in 2022, I was excited to get my plans together for the 2023 show in Dallas. I flew American’s mainline service that started to my home airport a few months prior, both on ex-America West A319s. This is our first AA mainline since we had the Fokker 100 from Chicago in the early 90s. On my way home, I flew N814AW.
Like with the first flight, I didn’t realize this was a matching tail number. This one is a little more understandable considering it’s wearing America West colors, so I never bothered to check. Many months later, I was watching back my video on this flight and I recognized the tail number. Alas, it was a match. I hope N832AW (the plane I took to Dallas) gets released with American colors, since for whatever reason the American A319 with IAE engines does not exist. Coincidentally, I bought this model at the Chicago Airliners International show.
Flight #3 - Frontier Airlines Airbus A320neo (Painted Bunting, AC)
This flight came from my most recent trip. I did a bunch of flying for fun with two awesome friends before the Airliners convention in Atlanta, and four of those flights I took were with Frontier. I scored Wiley the Bison, Georgia the Painted Bunting, Hugh the Manatee (A320), and Cubby the Bear. Only the second one (as of this thread’s creation) exists as a model right now, though I asked Andrew Klein at the show about Wiley if that could be produced. Fingers crossed that becomes a reality.
For one of my friends, this was a flight he had been looking forward to doing since this is his favorite Frontier tail. It became all of our favorites after this. We flew N317FR between Baltimore and Charlotte and had a flight attendant with a voice suited for a radio station. As I post this, I don’t have Georgia in my collection yet, but I’m hoping to change that as soon as possible.
What tail numbers have you flown that you also have in your collection? Which ones are you after?
they lack personality. Letter regs are easier to remember. But I should log pax regs also. In fact I started filling the flightradar24 logbook that includes flight as a passenger. Never got around to completing it because of that lack of info.
