This past Saturday we were sitting outside on our deck enjoying an excellent red wine from Paso Robles with good friends when I heard a turboprop aircraft approaching overhead. The twin engine propjet had just departed from LFT and was moving along quite smartly. It flew directly over our home and I wasn't sure what kind of airplane it was. At first I thought it might be a Swearingen Metro...but it appeared to be larger than a Metroliner. So Flight Aware to the rescue....

Well, it turned out the aircraft in question was a Saab 2000, registration N811BB. Here's a photo.....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Mere...2000/7406607/L

The operator is a charter company by the name of Meregrass which is apparently based at a private airfield near Dublin, Texas. The Meregrass website states their Saab 2000 aircraft are configured with 30 seats (regional airline operators typically operated their Saab 2000s with 50 seats in sched pax service) which the company says provides just over five feet of legroom between seats. BTW, Meregrass also operates Dassault Falcon 900B business jets on charter services.

So here's a BONUS quiz question....

What U.S. based air carrier currently operates the Saab 2000 in scheduled passenger service? ANSWERED