A rare Saab 2000 took the University of Minnesota-Duluth softball team out of Magnolia on Saturday.
Magnolia had many visitors in town on Saturday. One came out of the sky.
Many people at the Magnolia Blossom Festival Parade got a good look at a large Saab 2000 twin-engine turboprop airline as it made an approach to Magnolia Municipal Airport.
The aircraft, owned by Meregrass, Inc., of Dublin, TX and operated by Wildcat Touring, arrived to take the University of Minnesota-Duluth women’s softball team home. The team lost to Southern Arkansas in the NCAA Division II Super Region Softball Tournament on Friday.
Twin-engine corporate jets fly into Ralph Weiser Field all the time, but most are much smaller aircraft capable of carrying a couple of dozen passengers or fewer.
The Saab 2000 was different due to both its size and the relative rarity of the aircraft.
Saab, the Swedish aircraft manufacturer, built the airliner during the 1990s as its entry into the regional airline market. Other aircraft proved to be more popular, and Saab built only 63 of the 2000 model. According to Wikipedia, about half of the Saab 2000s remain in service.
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The aircraft was designed to carry up to 58 passengers. It cruises at about 424 mph and has a range of about 1,600 miles, with a service ceiling of about 31,000 feet.
According to FlightAware, the aircraft took off from Magnolia at 11:55 a.m. Saturday and flew 1,101 miles, arriving in Duluth at 2:23 p.m.
Original article ➤ http://www.magnoliareporter.com
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