Delta 767-300 Takeoff from Salt Lake City - Two Days Before Aircraft's Retirement

Departing Salt Lake on a sunny Saturday afternoon for a routine flight to Atlanta. After pushback, a long engine startup, and a live safety demonstration due to a malfunction in the entertainment system, we weaved our way out of the tarmac and taxied out to Runway 16L for a rolling takeoff to the South. We got off the ground pretty quick, giving us a nice view of the terminals (including parts of the new airport), and with the weather we got a really nice view of the area as we climbed out—including some large fires west of the airport. I love the sound of the PW4000s, and fortunately. you could hear them pretty well from this seat. This was one of Delta's last two A-model (i.e. non-"ER") 767-300s configured for domestic/medium-haul flights, which have slowly been retired over the last few years. Although they retired the majority of the domestic 767-300 fleet by the end of 2016, the small subfleet of four newer, ETOPS-configured, Pratt & Whitney-powered aircraft remained for a few more years. This, in part, allowed them to continue operating the daily ATL-SLC-HNL roundtrip, which they were well suited for and had operated exclusively for quite a few years. Two of those aircraft (N143DA & N144DA) were retired in 2017, leaving just two aircraft left in the fleet at the time this was recorded. This was my first time flying one of these planes, so I was glad I caught one before they were gone completely. This specific aircraft, in fact, was retired from the fleet two days later, so this was one of the last flights it ever operated. The remaining aircraft (N1402A) continued flying back and forth between ATL and SLC as scheduled for a few more days, but since then it has only been used for charter flights and as a spare.

You can check out the landing video from this flight here:    • Delta 767-300 Rainy Landing in Atlanta  . I flew back to Salt Lake on the same plane later that night, but didn't have a window seat so there's no video for it.

Date: April 20, 2019
Airline: Delta Air Lines (DAL/DL)
Flight: DL1078
Departure: Salt Lake City Int'l Airport
Arrival: Atlanta-Hartsfield Jackson Int'l Airport (KATL/ATL)
Aircraft: Boeing 767-332
Registration: N140LL (76P)
Seat: 13G (Comfort+)
Camera: iPhone XS Max