"Just a nice picture..."

The number of flying Douglas DC-8s is at an all time low.

So, NASA recognized this unique moment when Samaritan's Purse DC-8-72CF N782SP visited NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Palmdale (CA) on 12 January 2021 and organized a photo-op with its own DC-8-72 N817NA.

The Samaritan's DC-8 was bringing in supplies that will aid the new LA County Emergency Field Hospital near Lancaster's (CA) Antelope Valley Hospital.

NASA's plane is a highly modified DC-8 as a flying science laboratory in support of the agency’s Airborne Science program. It's based at Armstrong and flown to collect data for experiments in support of projects serving the world's scientific community.

According to our database there are currently six flying DC-8s left in the world. These are:

• 9Q-CJL (45909), a DC-8-62H(F) flying for Trans Air Cargo Service
• 9S-AJG (46110), a DC-8-62H(F) flying for Trans Air Cargo Service
• 9S-AJO (46133), a DC-8-73CF flying for Trans Air Cargo Service
• N782SP (46013), a DC-8-72CF flying for Samaritan's Purse
• N817NA (48082), a DC-8-72 flying for NASA
• OB-2059-P (45990), a DC-8-73CF flying for Skybus Jet Cargo

All in all, quite a unique moment captured by NASA.