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Airbus A320neo (N316FR) - Frontier's "Shelly the Sea Turtle" (N316FR) is snapped here in an extremely rare capture; a view of a commercial passenger jet taking off toward the camera's position with Slide Mountain in the background. This unusual photo was actually "caused" by the COVID virus -- because the Frontier jet was almost completely empty, its lack of weight allowed it to rotate less than 3000 feet down runway 34L and climb so rapidly that it was high enough that Slide Mountain could be seen and photographed in the background. Most pictures that show Mt Rose and Slide Mountain are one of two types: they show aircraft on short final approaches as they are about to land on either 34L or 34R ... or .. they are photos showing jet airliners from the rear view angle as they are climbing after taking off from runways 16R or 16L. This "head-on' view of a commercial pax aircraft departing Reno with Slide in the background is only possible if the departing airliner rotates quickly and climbs rapidly, as the nearly empty Shelly did here.
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Airbus A320neo (N316FR)

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Frontier's "Shelly the Sea Turtle" (N316FR) is snapped here in an extremely rare capture; a view of a commercial passenger jet taking off toward the camera's position with Slide Mountain in the background. This unusual photo was actually "caused" by the COVID virus -- because the Frontier jet was almost completely empty, its lack of weight allowed it to rotate less than 3000 feet down runway 34L and climb so rapidly that it was high enough that Slide Mountain could be seen and photographed in the background. Most pictures that show Mt Rose and Slide Mountain are one of two types: they show aircraft on short final approaches as they are about to land on either 34L or 34R ... or .. they are photos showing jet airliners from the rear view angle as they are climbing after taking off from runways 16R or 16L. This "head-on' view of a commercial pax aircraft departing Reno with Slide in the background is only possible if the departing airliner rotates quickly and climbs rapidly, as the nearly empty Shelly did here.

52 of N316FR 4972 of A20N 2160 at KRNO
Gary Schenauer
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Gary SchenauerPhoto Uploader
There was one additional factor that made this photo possible. The thinner air at RNO usually means that departing commercial aircraft must make longer takeoff rolls in order to rotate and get airborne, so even though this FFT was nowhere near as heavy as it normally would have been, it still would have had to stay on the runway to get up to Vr speed. However, the wind was blowing so intensely directly toward aircraft departing on the 34s that this Frontier obtained added lift so as soon as it came off 34L it climbed very rapidly and from my location the snow-capped mountains came into view behind it.
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trembo A
awesome capture!
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Gavin Hughes
Great capture Gary. From your comprehensive comment it seems all things came together but if you don't add skill, you get zilch or poor. Neither of the latter apply here.
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Darryl Sarno
Great shot Gary!
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Tom Vance
I see G-man is out dusting us off the charts again....you forgot to add " extremely rare",,,I've never seen a photo of Slide Mtn in this type of view from RNO! 5 Sliders and Calendar shot!
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ken kemper
Great Capture Gary............

Interesting add on about how the pic was "made".
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JM32
WOW !! I mean really WOW. This is an awesome picture. Well done Gary. 3 thumbs up
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Dale Docken
Totally magnificent, Gary!!
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Qatar123
Awesome shot Gary!
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ACTIVITY LOG
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Date Aircraft Origin Destination Departure Arrival Duration
01-May-2025 A20NReagan National ()Denver Intl () 01:10PM EDT 02:47PM MDT Scheduled
01-May-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Reagan National () 06:50AM MDT 11:57AM EDT Scheduled
01-May-2025 A20NHarry Reid Intl ()Denver Intl () 01:09AM PDT 03:50AM MDT Scheduled
30-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Harry Reid Intl () 11:05PM MDT 11:49PM PDT Scheduled
30-Apr-2025 A20NHouston Bush Int'ctl ()Denver Intl () 06:13AM CDT 07:33AM MDT Scheduled
29-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Houston Bush Int'ctl () 08:46PM MDT 11:48PM CDT 2:02
29-Apr-2025 A20NSan Antonio Intl ()Denver Intl () 06:46PM CDT 07:31PM MDT 1:44
29-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()San Antonio Intl () 01:41PM MDT 04:31PM CDT 1:50
29-Apr-2025 A20NHouston Bush Int'ctl ()Denver Intl () 06:28AM CDT 07:29AM MDT 2:01
28-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Houston Bush Int'ctl () 09:14PM MDT 12:11AM CDT (+1) 1:56
28-Apr-2025 A20NReno/Tahoe Intl ()Denver Intl () 12:29PM PDT 03:23PM MDT 1:54
28-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Reno/Tahoe Intl () 10:27AM MDT 11:13AM PDT 1:46
28-Apr-2025 A20NAustin-Bergstrom Intl ()Denver Intl () 06:07AM CDT 06:51AM MDT 1:43
27-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Austin-Bergstrom Intl () 08:30PM MDT 11:17PM CDT 1:46
27-Apr-2025 A20NCharlotte/Douglas Intl ()Denver Intl () 05:20PM EDT 06:34PM MDT 3:13
27-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Charlotte/Douglas Intl () 10:57AM MDT 03:43PM EDT 2:45
27-Apr-2025 A20NPortland Intl ()Denver Intl () 06:26AM PDT 09:40AM MDT 2:13
26-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Portland Intl () 10:53PM MDT 12:04AM PDT (+1) 2:11
26-Apr-2025 A20NKansas City Intl ()Denver Intl () 08:59PM CDT 09:26PM MDT 1:27
26-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Kansas City Intl () 05:18PM MDT 07:30PM CDT 1:12
25-Apr-2025 A20NOrlando Intl ()Denver Intl () 09:07PM EDT 10:37PM MDT 3:30
25-Apr-2025 A20NLuis Munoz Marin Intl ()Orlando Intl () 03:02PM AST 05:45PM EDT 2:43
25-Apr-2025 A20NOrlando Intl ()Luis Munoz Marin Intl () 11:00AM EDT 01:25PM AST 2:25
25-Apr-2025 A20NBoston Logan Intl ()Orlando Intl () 06:19AM EDT 08:45AM EDT 2:26
24-Apr-2025 A20NOrlando Intl ()Boston Logan Intl () 09:52PM EDT 12:20AM EDT (+1) 2:27
24-Apr-2025 A20NCharlotte/Douglas Intl ()Orlando Intl () 07:16PM EDT 08:24PM EDT 1:08
24-Apr-2025 A20NOrlando Intl ()Charlotte/Douglas Intl () 04:37PM EDT 05:52PM EDT 1:14
24-Apr-2025 A20NTrenton Mercer ()Orlando Intl () 06:52AM EDT 08:52AM EDT 1:59
23-Apr-2025 A20NOrlando Intl ()Trenton Mercer () 09:12PM EDT 11:16PM EDT 2:04
23-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Orlando Intl () 09:11AM MDT 02:19PM EDT 3:07
23-Apr-2025 A20NHouston Bush Int'ctl ()Denver Intl () 06:18AM CDT 07:23AM MDT 2:04
22-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Houston Bush Int'ctl () 08:15PM MDT 11:13PM CDT 1:57
22-Apr-2025 A20NSan Antonio Intl ()Denver Intl () 05:41PM CDT 06:52PM MDT 2:10
22-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()San Antonio Intl () 01:35PM MDT 04:20PM CDT 1:44
22-Apr-2025 A20NSan Diego Intl ()Denver Intl () 06:42AM PDT 09:31AM MDT 1:49
21-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()San Diego Intl () 10:55PM MDT 11:54PM PDT 1:59
21-Apr-2025 A20NHector Intl ()Denver Intl () 07:44PM CDT 08:18PM MDT 1:34
21-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Hector Intl () 04:09PM MDT 06:28PM CDT 1:19
21-Apr-2025 A20NWilliam P Hobby ()Denver Intl () 01:25PM CDT 02:22PM MDT 1:56
21-Apr-2025 A20NAustin-Bergstrom Intl ()William P Hobby () 11:17AM CDT 11:51AM CDT 0:34
21-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Austin-Bergstrom Intl () 06:13AM MDT 10:11AM CDT 2:58
21-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()William P Hobby () 06:13AM MDT Diverted
20-Apr-2025 A20NCharlotte/Douglas Intl ()Denver Intl () 10:55PM EDT 12:02AM MDT (+1) 3:07
20-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()Charlotte/Douglas Intl () 04:18PM MDT 09:16PM EDT 2:57
20-Apr-2025 A20NEl Paso Intl ()Denver Intl () 12:57PM MDT 02:23PM MDT 1:26
20-Apr-2025 A20NDenver Intl ()El Paso Intl () 10:26AM MDT 11:46AM MDT 1:19
20-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Denver Intl () 06:56AM EDT 08:18AM MDT 3:22
19-Apr-2025 A20NPhiladelphia Intl ()Tampa Intl () 09:50PM EDT 11:58PM EDT 2:08
19-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Philadelphia Intl () 06:18PM EDT 08:30PM EDT 2:12
19-Apr-2025 A20NTrenton Mercer ()Tampa Intl () 01:33PM EDT 03:46PM EDT 2:13
19-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Trenton Mercer () 09:59AM EDT 12:13PM EDT 2:14
19-Apr-2025 A20NLuis Munoz Marin Intl ()Tampa Intl () 05:30AM AST 08:21AM EDT 2:50
19-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Luis Munoz Marin Intl () 01:06AM EDT 03:31AM AST 2:25
18-Apr-2025 A20NMilwaukee Mitchell Intl Airport ()Tampa Intl () 07:46PM CDT 11:01PM EDT 2:14
18-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Milwaukee Mitchell Intl Airport () 04:22PM EDT 05:55PM CDT 2:32
18-Apr-2025 A20NWashington Dulles Intl ()Tampa Intl () 01:15PM EDT 03:00PM EDT 1:44
18-Apr-2025 A20NTampa Intl ()Washington Dulles Intl () 10:07AM EDT 12:00PM EDT 1:52
18-Apr-2025 A20NTrenton Mercer ()Tampa Intl () 06:03AM EDT 08:15AM EDT 2:12
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