jlemon

Still just a couple of quiz items to go here and I've added some hints.

Meantime, we now have Tropical Storm Cindy in the central Gulf of Mexico and the system is expected to affect Louisiana. The main concern will be very heavy rainfall with possible flooding as Cindy is forecast to remain a tropical storm and thus not strengthen to a hurricane before making landfall early this Thursday morning on the coast near the Louisiana-Texas border.

However, here in LFT, we will be in the "dirty" quadrant of the storm which means we could experience some very significant rainfall with flooding. And as we recently moved back into our home following the Great Louisiana Flood of August 2016, we are hoping and praying we get through TS Cindy relatively unscathed.....

jrl767

25- let's try Command Airways, based out of Poughkeepsie NY

jlemon

25. An excellent guess.....however, it was not Command.

WHBM

I'm taking a guess here, partially from the emphasis on "passenger service".

Could it have been Federal Express ?

jlemon

24. Correct! This from the 1978 Federal Express annual report:

"Since Federal Express' 727s (series 100 QC aircraft), and any medium twinjet which may join the fleet, are capable of rapid conversion (approximately 45 minutes) to passenger configuration, the potential for certain specialized service in the air passenger market is under active review. In August 1978, the Company filed with the Civil Aeronautics Board for permissive passenger authority from Chicago's Midway Airport to 23 cities."

According to its 1979 annual report, Federal Express subsequently ordered "five new Boeing 737s (series 200 QC models) scheduled for delivery the first half of fiscal 1980. These aircraft will be capable of 'quick change' between passenger and cargo configurations......."

However, both Federal Express annual reports make no mention of passengers as "self loading cargo".......

And the Midway passenger service idea never came to fruition, of course.....

Plus, here's a bonus quiz item:

26. In 1978, Federal Express began a joint study with an aircraft manufacturer aimed at defining a potential replacement for its Dassault Falcon 20 fleet. Identify this aircraft manufacturer and explain the end result of this study.

WHBM

FedEx did take delivery of four 737s, with convertible configuration, in 1979. They didn't last for long, and were sold by 1981.

OK, Bonus Questions

1. One of the 737s went to LAN Chile, but the other three went to an operator where they lasted for a long time, the next 20 years. Who bought them ? They remained US-registered. Answered

2. FedEx never set up a passenger operation. But a comparable company did. Who were they. where did they operate, and how did they organise it ? Answered

3. Which UK airline has actually made a long-term success of mixed passenger/freight operations with the same aircraft, and has run them for quite some years now ?

jlemon

1. Wild guess time.....Alaska Airlines.

Indelaware

1. ARAMCO took 3. A 5th went to Alaska Airlines.

2. UPS offered weekend passenger charter services, mostly organized by Apple Vacations, in the late 1990s using 727-100s. CUN was a common destination. There was talk about doing scheduled service, but I don't think that ever got off the ground.

jlemon

Well, what the heck....how about several more bonus quiz items from yours truly as well?

The following have a time line of 1973. You will be embarking on a business trip that will take you from Montreal to south Florida, then to Chicago, then to Panama City, Panama and back to Chicago, and finally to Dallas. All of your flights are operated on a daily basis.

In every case, you will be flying in first class. And as part of your answer concerning three of these quiz items, you will be asked to provide the total number of first class seats on board the aircraft you will be flying on as part of your complete response. Be sure to include the number of seats in F in order for your response to be considered.

27. You will depart from Montreal (YUL) at 9:25 am and arrive in Fort Lauderdale (FLL) at 1:49 pm. One intermediate stop will be made en route. Identify the airline, the stop, the equipment and the total number of seats in the first class cabin. And here's a hint: you will be flying on board a Boeing 727-100. ANSWERED

28. You will depart Miami (MIA) at 7:50 am and arrive at Chicago O'Hare (ORD) at 11:40 am. Two intermediate stops will be made en route. Identify the air carrier , the two stops in the order in which they will be made, the aircraft and the total number of seats in first class.

29. You will depart Chicago O'Hare (ORD) at 11:00 am and arrive in Panama City, Panama (PTY) at 5:55 pm. Your return flight will depart PTY at 8:30 am and arrive at ORD at 3:50 pm. The same two intermediate stops will be made en route in each direction. Name the airline, the stops in the order in which they will be made and the equipment. The air carrier was not Braniff International, the equipment wasn't a 707 or 720 and the two stops were made in the Caribbean

30. You will depart Chicago Midway (MDW) at 5:40 pm and arrive at Dallas Love Field (DAL) at 10:19 pm. Three intermediate stops will be made en route. Identify the air carrier, the three stops in the order in which they will be made, the equipment and the total number of seats in first class.

WHBM

It's 9.45pm on a hot +31C evening here in London, just home late from the office, still daylight on about the longest day of the year (remember London is the same latitude as Calgary) and I am sat out in the garden. Suit off shorts on. Inbound traffic to Heathrow is passing to the west, generally a sign that all is well, and there's nothing holding in that stack, also visible from the garden, to the NE of London. Pretty clear skies. There goes a BA A320 from Gothenburg, Sweden, chased by a BA A321 from Glasgow, a Lufthansa A320 from Frankfurt, another BA A321 (one of the old BMI fleet) from Munich, and so on. Up at about 15,000 feet, but audible, there is a light turboprop twin, not on FR24, looping round and round for some purpose, and up high at 30,000 feet the speck of a Flybe Embraer 175, Stuttgart to Birmingham, has just started its slow descent. It has about 130 miles to run. Stuttgart to Birmingham may sound a bit of a peripheral route if you don't know the European economy, but they are the two major car industry production centres of the UK and Germany, long linked.

Well done, InDE, Aramco was the operator, based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, who used those 737s long term on various oil industry flights around Saudi and to various other countries. Although based there, their fleet was always registered in the USA, even when the company became wholly Saudi owned. I don't have trace of a FedEx 737 going to Alaska, and there's also a notable gap in their fleet numbering, did this aircraft even make it to FedEx service ?

Ah, here comes, in the half light of dusk, just a high and large contrail, a 747F cargo flight from JFK to Liege in Belgium, they will be starting their descent pretty soon as well.

UPS did try running weekend passenger charters on the 727C fleet they got secondhand for weekday package flights. From various East Coast points (Philadelphia was their base) to Mexico and the Caribbean was the principal work, plus the sports and exec market. They even managed a White House charter on an odd occasion. It probably did little more than break even, and was a distraction to the regular package business. Regular flight deck crews, the flight attendants came from an agency. The seats had come with the aircraft purchase, they would be put in on Friday and back out again on Sunday.

Now, here comes Mrs WHBM, just downstairs from toils with Little Miss WHBM, finally asleep. I have made myself a pleasant Gin & Tonic out here. Smiles and two platefuls of pleasant food approach. A description of the aforementioned toils starts, then my G&T is spied. Gulp Gulp Gulp ! But it finishes with a smile. Yes, dear, I'll go and make myself another one ...

Eastern via JFK and 16.

Herb687

25: Metro Airlines.

jlemon

Ah, domestic tranquility on what sounds like a very beautiful evening in London....and I trust a certain new bicycle is safely stored away.

I'm also delighted to report that thus far, Tropical Storm Cindy has had very little impact on LFT with no heavy rain and no flooding. The system should make landfall in the wee hours of tomorrow morning near the mouth of Sabine River and the border of Louisiana and Texas.

27. And this does sound like Eastern, doesn't it? However, it was not EA and JFK wasn't the intermediate stop. There is a bit of good news here: the 727 utilized on this YUL to FLL flight was indeed configured with 16 first class seats.

Please guess again, sir!

jlemon

25. Actually Metroflight Airlines (FY), division of Metro Airlines (HY) which initially operated as Houston Metro Airlines between the Clear Lake City STOLport near the NASA space center and Houston Intercontinental (IAH) with Twin Otters. And your answer is close enough to be termed correct!

Examples of American Eagle service operated by Metroflight in 1985 with the DHC-6 included Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Tyler (TYR) with ten round trip nonstops a day and Dallas/Fort Worth - Longview (GGG) with three round trip nonstops a day. Metroflight was also operating the Convair 580 on its American Eagle service on other routes into DFW at this time.

WHBM

OK. Delta never bought a new 727-100, but in 1973 had just taken over Northeast, which brought a fleet of them into their colours. Could have operated on the old Northeast route from Montreal to Boston, then on to FLL. For some reason there are many French-speaking resorts south of there, and Florida flights from Montreal favour Fort Lauderdale over Miami.

jlemon

27. Correct! Here's the sched....

DL 1251: Montreal (YUL) 9:25a - 10:16a Boston (BOS) 10:50a - 1:49p Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
Op: Daily
Equip: 727
First class cabin service: Royal Service - Lunch
Number of first class seats: 16

Delta was not operating any Boeing 727 aircraft until they acquired Northeast. This brought B727-95 and B727-295 equipment into the DL fleet. I believe NE was the very first operator of the B727-200 model. The standard 727 model was phased out of the Delta fleet around 1977 but the airline went on to operate a huge number of stretched 72S aircraft (which I flew on many, many times over the years).

I also distinctly remember seeing a Delta operated B727-100 at Houston Intercontinental (IAH) back around 1973 that was still wearing the resplendent Northeast "Yellowbird" livery but with DL decals up near the nose of the aircraft. "Wow!", I thought, "I need to check out where this aircraft is departing to!" So I went to the DL ticket counter and discovered the aircraft was getting ready to depart on an IAH-JFK-BOS-BGR routing. This was back when Delta was still flying the Convair 880 nonstop between IAH and JFK as well.