I've always wondered why I don't recall ever coming across the ATR in all my domestic/regional flights within U.S., in spite of this a/c been well-recognized as a very popular (and highly efficient) regional transport by most global airlines. I've had chance to travel in the ATR several times, but only abroad, not in U.S. The reason is that there are only a few U.S. airlines that have deployed the ATR. Though regional transport is certainly important in U.S., this segment is dominated by jets, not by turboprops. The one occasion, Delta Connection had offered me an opportunity to travel in a Turboprop, due to my own pre-conception, I'd declined it in favor of a twinjet (See my post on Delta Connection).

Anyway, Silver Airways, of Florida, stands foremost as the largest of ATR operators in U.S. Its attractive (and eye-catching) livery, consisting of a combination of (Pink/White/Black) colors complete with a White Flamingo (Florida is native to the American species of the bird) on the Pink Tail of the plane (see the final shot below), would readily draw anyone's attention. The airline, in the past, has been an exclusive Turboprop operator (of ATRs and Saabs), with the Saab 340s been now replaced by the ATR 42s, in its current fleet. Moreover, the airline prefers the shorter (ATR 42) variant, with 14 units of the 42-600 (same as what I'm flying for this post) in active service, and many more on order.

The airline was the launch customer of the ATR 42-600 variant in North America and also the first U.S. carrier to take delivery of this type. Sporting the livery, you see below, for the first time, on its new ATR, it was proud enough to have this livery on display at the (prestigious) Farnborough International Air Show. ATR company (and affiliations) duly reciprocated, "We warmly welcome Silver Airways as a new customer....and are proud to see the ATR-600 aircraft ready to fly in the U.S. and to introduce the most modern standards of passenger experience and regional aircraft technologies...".

So, I need to look for the Flamingo Turboprop, next time I'm in Florida...🙂...with no pre-conceptions this time...thanks to MSFS/Asobo. Silver Airways, out of its Florida Hubs, operates services to both domestic and international destinations, including the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. Please find below, my (virtual) version of the Silver Airways ATR 42-600, exploring, here, the island of Dominican Republic (actually, Dominican Republic owns the eastern 5/8-th of this island sharing the rest of the island with Haiti). For my flight, in this post, I've lifted off MDPP (Puerto Plata Airport, one of the 7 Gaya airports that came to us bundled in the Caribbean World Update), to take a brief tour inland and along the coastlines of the island. 

I've also included a few on-site screenshots out of the premises of this airport.

Hope you enjoy this collection of images of the Pink Flamingo...flying high above the island of Dominican Republic...

Thanks for viewing...!

Great photos! That livery sure stands out! 

Back in the early 2000's, ASA Airlines (out of KATL) had a small fleet of ATR72's. For whatever reason, the two things that struck me when I first started flying on those planes was the forward cargo hold (in the hot Atlanta summers, you could see from the passenger cabin up to the cockpit while they were loading bags) and the use of the rear tail stand (that often delayed disembarking the aircraft).

 

Another nice set of shots P_7878, thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

On 3/1/2024 at 12:00 AM, rmeier said:

Great photos! That livery sure stands out! 

Back in the early 2000's, ASA Airlines (out of KATL) had a small fleet of ATR72's. For whatever reason, the two things that struck me when I first started flying on those planes was the forward cargo hold (in the hot Atlanta summers, you could see from the passenger cabin up to the cockpit while they were loading bags) and the use of the rear tail stand (that often delayed disembarking the aircraft).

 

Thanks, rmeier....and a good piece of observation about ASA airline...a classic airline...always liked its livery. I see they did operate the -200 versions of the ATR 72. My most of the ATR flights were in the Asian countries...and, yes, almost always the passengers were bused to the aircraft on the tarmac...so we had to use air stairs to board...but I could not be sure what variant ATR those were... 

BTW, rmeier, I just noticed how one of the pink rivets on the Tail of the aircraft has been cleverly used as the "eye" of the Flamingo...🙂...the only pink part on an otherwise white bird...

 

20 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Another nice set of shots P_7878, thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Appreciated the comment, pmplayer.... Cheers...!!

10 hours ago, P_7878 said:

BTW, rmeier, I just noticed how one of the pink rivets on the Tail of the aircraft has been cleverly used as the "eye" of the Flamingo...🙂...the only pink part on an otherwise white bird...

That is pretty cool! I have to admit, it's a detail I did not originally notice in your photos...but I'm sure I would've had I painted that one!

Back in 2002/3 somewhere around there, I flew on an American Eagle ATR between Punta Cana and San Juan...I'm wondering if some of these Silver Airline birds weren't some of those older AE aircraft? There was a small fleet of them on the stand in Puerto Rico back in the day.

Looks like a nice aircraft/livery for Caribbean flights!

Great set and it's a very good plane, like to fly it as well. Once I had found out how to pop up the pfd and mfd screens all to my second pc screen I must say. 

rmeier and Andreas:

Thanks for these additional interesting comments...!!

Great set of shots! 😉