Looking over the airport list from the Essential Air Service program is giving me ideas. It not only lists the airport and what carrier is servicing that run right now, but also the aircraft normally used on that run.
If you're a dweller in a "spoke" city, and most of your travels take you to other "spoke" cities, you spend most of your flying time on little Bombardier and Embraer regional jets. Every so often I'll see the inside of a 737, 757, or one of the smaller Airbuses, usually if I'm going to or from SHOT or if I'm headed to some manufacturer's dog and pony show held near a hub airport.
One time when I was flying out to visit Marko, the initial itinerary called for a hop in a Dash-8* to Cleveland before transferring to an RJ for the second leg to MHT, but something juggled the schedule and I wound up with the little jet on both legs. I'd been looking forward to riding in the twin-turboprop canoe, too.
Anyway, it looks like if you fly to Clovis, you'll get a seat in a Fairchild Dornier 328JET, and a trip to Alliance, Nebraska comes with a ride in a Fairchild Metroliner.
Go out, sightsee for a long weekend, and then either fly back or...ooh! Get a one-way ticket and then come home via bus and/or Amtrak! That'd be a cool trip to write about and photograph...
*Check that, I think it was a Saab 340, leading to several "Saab story" jokes in response to my whining.
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