You Can Fly Anything Right

Ray is a friend of mine. He's also a pilot. I've wanted to get some photos from the air of western Pennsylvania, and he's been dying to go flying. So when the opportunity to go this past Friday came, I jumped at the chance and we went up for a really nice flight. We ended up delayed and the air was more turbulent as a result, but I still think everything went well. Below are the awesome results. 

Taking off!

Hey, there's Lernerville Raceway. 

This is a really nice shot of Freeport, with the Route 356 bridge in the background, the Norfolk Southern bridge over the Allegheny River near the center, and the Kiski Junction's bridge over the Kiskiminetas in the lower right corner. 

Here's Leechburg, and across the Kiski is West Leechburg. Both the highway bridge and the footbridge can be seen clearly. 

We flew as far as Avonmore - here's a good shot of the town with the National Roll aluminum mill quite prominent. The railroad bridge at bottom center is one I didn't even know existed. Unfortunately, it's rather inaccessible.

Here's an empty Shelocta coal train waiting to head back to the mines on the recently-constructed branch line. 

A few minutes later, we happened to see this loaded coal train headed east towards the Conemaugh Dam. A large portion of the railroad line was relocated in the 1960's to accommodate the higher waters east of the dam. 

Shot of the day! We had to circle about four times waiting for the train to cross the bridge, but for this, it was worth it. The stone arch bridge beneath the newer railroad bridge is on the line's old alignment which is now a bike trail. 

Heading back, we passed the mothballed West Leechburg plant, once operated by Allegheny Ludlum. 

By contrast, the Baghdad plant still operates - as a matter of fact, we happened to catch Kiski Junction using their new switcher locomotive to work the plant. It's the red object at the center of the photo. 

The last major photo I took was of Schenley. The KJR bridge over the Kiski is at bottom, Lock and Dam No. 5 is at left,  and prominent in the photo are two of the last buildings from the whiskey distillery that once operated here. 

Our intrepid pilot.

Thanks, Ray!