The pilots of this Southern Air Boeing 777 Freighter (N714SA) seemed quite happy to take delivery of their new jet on Friday.
Departing from Paine Field in Washington on its delivery flight, the aircraft performed a low-pass and a wing wave. By chance, NYCAviation producer Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren happened to be plane spotting at the time and managed to catch it. (But sadly, not quick enough to switch to video mode on the ol’ Canon 5D. Maybe next time.)
Southern Air is a New York-based cargo hauler which now operates four 777Fs with one more on the way, as well as 11 Boeing 747-200s and 747-400s. This is the second aircraft to wear a Southern Air/DHL hybrid livery, matching the one on N774SA. Southern’s two other 777s are wet-leased to Thai Airways Cargo (N775SA) and TNT Express (N778SA), respectively.
Also noteworthy: This was the 1,002nd 777 produced. Emirates recently took delivery of number 1,000, a 777-300ER. Air France will receive number 1,001, if you’re keeping score at home.