It started at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. I would be flying standby to DFW to see the American Airlines CR Smith Museum. We got on CO flight 67, a 737-500, in first class row 3 seats A and B. We landed on runway 18 C at DFW with a Saab on our left, an ATR behind him, and a MD-82 on our right. The first thing I noticed about DFW was the huge number of Saabs! We arrived at gat B-13 after a very long 10-15 minute taxi. I was yet to find out about DFW's size. We began looking for somewhere good to take pictures but there really wasn't one. So we walked... and walked... and walked. We walked for over an hour and we only covered 2 and a half terminals! It just got rediculous. DFW is it's own city! We proceded to the DFW Marriot South. Our room happened to be facing the airport and on an upper floor. I set up the camera, my scanner, and watched. The 3 towers never shut up. "Ok Americans 1462, 998, and 1893 taxi across the alpha bridge contact ground. American 455 cleared for take off 17 L. American 1600 cleared to land 17R." Jeez! I did see some great stuff though. I have listed it below. We went to the Museum on Thursday. The hotel was about 1 mile from it so we walked. Following a service road for about 15 minutes in 105 degree weather is something different. The museum is great! AA really had a good idea with it. The IMAX movie "Spirit of American" was incredible. The DC-3 "Flagship Knoxville" was beutifully restored and we walked freely inside and out. We saw the cabin, sat in chairs, saw the cockpit, even checked out the lav! The museum is something else. We spent hours there! I HIGHLY reccomend it to anyone with even a passing interest in aviation. We returned to DFW the next day for the flight home. Another 735 but now not first class... but darn close.. the airplane was basically empty so we went in row 5, right up front on the bulkhead. There was no one within 5 rows of us! When we got home CLE looked small and lifeless. DFW made DTW and PIT even look small!

Interesting sights:
DFW: Ozark 328JET, Big Sky Metro 3, AA 777, 767, MD-11, Korean 747-400, Lufthansa A340, BA 777, Alaska MD-83, Delta MD-11, 767, 757 (new yucky colors) And tons of aircraft landing and departing at once. A family of Coyotes behind the hotel was pretty neat too.

CLE: Too many ERJ's, Saudi Arabian 747SP and Falcon 900, Kuwait Airways A300, Lots of 737's and MD's.

Likes/dislikes DFW:
Not spotter friendly
Halls are too thin
variety is good.
Airport does its job well. It is just huge!

Overall raiting 1-5: ****