Seat 2A

Thanks for your patience, everyone. I was able to load this page earlier today but then unable to do anything with it toward pulling up a reply box to answer your questions. Now - at 100am...

WHBM

Now just as S2A was writing this, in the Arctic Tundra, with the polar bears peeking through his window, elsewhere at that moment, at 1100am local WHBM, Mrs WHBM . and Little Miss WHBM were diving into the hotel pool to escape the climbing +35C (someone can work out the F equivalent). We would have gone in the sea, but yesterday a jellyfish floated past, and the youngest member of the expedition is somewhat spooked by the sight ... Malaga airport meanwhile has turned round, winds are now westerly and the inbounds are passing overhead at medium level. There goes a TUI 737-800, quite recognisable by its bright blue overall livery. And if the winds have turned westerly, maybe that jellyfish is going to blow back.

Meanwhile ...

That 1970 BA flight through Nassau to Miami used to change flight numbers in Nassau to overcome the regulatory restriction. I don't recall if the Miami nonstop would have started by that OAG, it was about that time. So Bonus question. When BOAC started nonstop to Miami (1970 ?), so did National start on the route to London. Pan Am had thought this was a shoe-in, having major bases at both ends, but National won the award. However, although they had DC8s, none of them were fitted for international overwater operations. So what did National do ?

JoeDTW

I think Caribair should be treated as a US airline because:

1. Their aircraft were N Registered
2. The United States CAB and DoT negotiate air service agreements between Puerto Rico and other governments, not the Puerto Rican government
3. The FAA is responsible for the safety oversight of airlines based there.

When Eastern took over Caribair in 1973, regulators treated it no differently than an agreement between two airlines headquartered in the 50 United States.

Incidentally, I would have felt this way regardless of who suggested Caribair as an answer to the question.

Did I answer the PSA question correctly?

JoeDTW

They leased a DC-8-54 from Airlift International, pending the arrival of their own overwater equipped 747-135.

Seat 2A

Well - I managed to get one answered late last night before someone around here perhaps started streaming. Anyway, much better connection this morning (I hope). I'm here for another hour before driving 120 miles down the road for work.

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ARE SOURCED FROM A 1970 OAG

2: Well that was certainly quick. You’ve managed to clean up the situation in Miami faster than originally anticipated – and thankfully without having to involve the police this time. Why not take a couple more days off and head down to the Cayman Islands for a visit to Stingray City off the island’s famous North Wall? A quick check of the schedules indicates a choice of two airlines offering nonstop service to GCM from Miami. Identify both airlines and the respective equipment each operates.
A N S W E R E D

3. It really is a small world, isn’t it? While enjoying foo foo umbrella drinks at a resort in Cayman Brac, you run into an old friend from your days on Wild Bill Donovan’s staff. He’s got a boat. He’s got a case of rum. He’s got multiple female traveling companions. Care to join him for a sail over to Aruba the day after tomorrow? Woof!!

Now you’ve got to get back to Miami from Aruba. Back in 1970 there was just one nonstop flight per week. Identify the airline and the aircraft operating this service.
A N S W E R E D

4. For the most part, passengers flying into Miami from international destinations did so aboard large, 4 engine jetliners. Identify the only U.S. airline to fly into Miami from a foreign destination using a 2 engine aircraft. Oh yeah, identify the international point of origin as well as the aircraft.
A N S W E R E D
Note: Caribair has been correctly submitted. Turns out there's one more US airline that also qualifies here...

5 It’s time to get out of Miami and head up to Atlanta. You feel like a little local flight seeing. Hmm… Here’s a five stop flight departing Miami late morning, arriving Atlanta late afternoon. There are no meals served onboard but the itinerary looks intriguing. Book it, Danno! Identify the airline, the aircraft and the five enroute stops.

7. Identify this airline that ran ads in 1970 claiming that it:
• Had the best on-time service of any airline in North America
• Served over 100 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico
• Offered First Class leg room for all jet passengers
• Offered five abreast seating on all jet flights



MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS

11. What was the world’s first non-scheduled “Holiday” airline to operate the 747? What year did it commence service with that airline?
A N S W E R E D

12. What is the common thread between these four numbers? 11 75 42 17

14. Where would you be if you were enjoying a beer at the Sourdough Bar?

Seat 2A

A bit more information here... The OAG I reference (November 15, 1970) is a North American edition. In the itinerary section BA 663 routes NAS-MIA-LHR X246 and FPO-MIA-LHR on Tuesdays. There is a flight number change on all days to 664 at MIA. The aircraft used is a 707.

jrl767

that seems to be in keeping with the now-largely-abandoned convention of odd-numbered westbound flights and even-numbered eastbound flights

jlemon

Howdy Joe!

Thanks for your patience as I've just returned from a business trip to New Orleans. And it was a beautiful evening yesterday in the French Quarter.....well, it became a beautiful evening once a passing thundershower moved on. I was sitting at the Crescent City Brewing Company on Decatur St. in the Quarter enjoying a freshly microbrewed draft IPA (which, BTW, was excellent) when the storm blew in, thus delaying my departure on foot to the Gumbo Shop over on Saint Peter St. (just a stones throw from Jackson Square) for a dinner engagement. No big deal....and it was a great excuse to stick around a bit longer and try their microbrewed dark beer on tap. Plus, the entrance to Crescent City Brewco is open to the elements so I was able to watch the progression of the storm (not to mention the soaked tourists) while staying dry and listening to great jazz on the brewpub's sound system. And when I did finally arrive at the Gumbo Shop, all was in readiness with no waiting for a table with a view of the street. I had not dined at the Gumbo Shop for several years and their signature gumbo followed by an entrée of chicken, sausage and shrimp jambalaya accompanied by freshly baked, hot French bread and a NOLA Brewing Company Blonde Ale on tap were all truly wonderful. Plus, their bread pudding with rum sauce for dessert should not be missed!

Hats off to the great staff at the four star Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon St. as well - they know me there and I was promptly upgraded to an executive level room on the top floor with complimentary access to the lounge. BTW, lower Bourbon St. (which I usually avoid like the plague) was the quietest I'd ever seen it during the evening hours in my lifetime. And that's because it has been deeply excavated for a number of blocks in order to replace old subsurface pipes, some of which were originally installed following the Civil War back when Mark Twain walked the streets (cigar in hand, no doubt) of New Orleans.

So back to the quiz......

I also believe Caribair should qualify as an U.S. air carrier due to the facts you have pointed out that their aircraft were "N" registered and their flight ops were under the jurisdiction on the FAA.

Which brings us to PSA.....

This from the 1982 Pacific Southwest Airlines annual report:

PROPOSED TEXAS DIVISION

"On December 22, PSA signed an agreement with Braniff Airways providing for PSA's lease of aircraft and the acquisition of Braniff's ground equipment and facilities at 16 cities not currently in the PSA system. PSA planned to use the aircraft, equipment and facilities in the operation of a new division that would have its hub at the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport."

"After bankruptcy and district court approvals were granted, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the earlier decisions and, as a result, the agreement was terminated." (This agreement expired on March 5, 1983)

"During 1983, PSA will continue to explore potential business and growth opportunities both with Braniff and through traditional expansion programs."

The original Braniff, of course, had already shut down earlier in 1982 and PSA was never able to realize its expansion plans in Texas.

So you are correct, sir!

WHBM

I would think the same. The same approach probably applied to Air Micronesia in Guam, and there is a comparable situation with Jersey and the Channel Islands, which are not part of the UK on some occasions, but are on others, particularly CAA control of aviation (so, for example, there is no immigration control needed on flights from there to the UK, but there is customs control, leading to those notices "Channel Islands arrivals" you see at UK airports leading to special passages that circumvent one but route you through the other).

Among other things this led to a dispute in 1948 when all UK airlines were nationalised into BEA (principally), and Jersey Airlines held out for a while on the basis that they could not be included. Indeed it seems on reflection that the civil servants had exceeded their authority, but it was the London government versus an operator of half a dozen G-registered DH89 Dragon Rapides ...

Quite right Joe, Airlift had two DC8-54F which originally were ordered by another supplemental carrier, Riddle Airlines, both being based like National in Miami. They had done a lot of military overseas charter work, and also longer term leases to overseas carriers. National picked them up on what would now be known as an ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) lease, which also included the technical management of flight dispatch, as National did not have any of the overseas capabilities for this. They were painted in National livery, and apparently had a very spacious internal layout. I recall a detailed story about them in Flight magazine when the London service started.

I wonder what National did with them. The London service start had been delayed, after the aircraft arrived, for almost a year, and when it did begin it was only months until their pair of 747s arrived, although for the first few years, due to a regulatory capacity restriction, it had to be 747 for 4 days a week and DC8 for the other three. It was only when the DC-10-30 arrived, sized midway between the two, that a consistent daily operation was allowed. But these two separately managed DC8s were in National's fleet for over four years, from 1969 until the first DC-10-30s arrived in early 1974. The daily London route only required one aircraft anyway.

A few responses.

I think they were Southern Airlines, with a DC9, and LACSA of Costa Rica, with a BAC One Eleven, which they operated for the then Cayman Airways in which they had part-ownership (the various dual service operations were a common feature of those early Central American One-Eleven operators, all engineered by the enterprising BAC North America chief salesman, who had earlier been one of the Viscount and One-Eleven test pilots, I wish I could recall his name).
One answer would be Condor, the German charter carrier, who got the first such-configured 747 and used it on various large capacity flights, whether to Palma and the Canary Islands, or to points such as San Francisco which Lufthansa did not serve.

However, Condor was just a division of Lufthansa, who operated the Condor fleet on their main AOC as if they were their own, in a colour scheme which was just a Lufthansa tweak. Which makes the first "proper" holiday airline operator Wardair, who got their first a year or two later. I think the first Condor one likely came in 1971. The Wardair one was the infamous second Braniff one, never delivered, following on from their first allover orange one which held down Hawaii flights on its own for some years. The second was allegedly painted Braniff allover green (although the Boeing shop colour is a matt green as well), and stored at Wichita until Wardair picked it up, but nobody ever seems to have got a photo of it like that. JRL, any ideas ?

JoeDTW

My guess about Mohawk in ERI: DTW and BUF.

Regarding US carrier twinjets at MIA. I think 1970 was before Southern started their MIA-GCM flights, and DL did not have international authority from MIA. That leaves The Wings of Man, which had a huge DC-9 fleet.

I'll guess that EA flew DC-9s to FPO or NAS from MIA.

jlemon

2. I concur with WHBM concerning LACSA and their BAC One-Eleven service into Grand Cayman which, of course, was actually part of an SJO-GCM-MIA route. LACSA had a long association with the Cayman Islands concerning air service and assisted Cayman Airways with the start up of their respective operation as WHBM points out.

And I'll also agree with JoeDTW concerning his observation with regard to Southern as I do not think SO had yet begun DC-9-10 flights between MIA and GCM in 1970.

I do know that BWIA was operating B727-100 "Sunjet" service between Miami and Grand Cayman during the late 1960's. However, BWIA had ceased serving GCM by the early 1970's.

So let's go with Cayman Airways (KX) operating a DC-6B between MIA and GCM.

jlemon

3. Hmmmmm.....I do not think "foo foo" umbrella drinks had been invented yet in 1970 in Cayman Brac.

In fact, I do not believe Cayman Brac even had a full on resort in 1970. It remains a relatively unspoiled island to this day even though it does have an airport capable of handling jet equipment such as Cayman Airways B737-300 aircraft.

But be that as it may, let's head south to Aruba. Now I'm tempted to go with ALM with DC-9-30 service....however, then again I do not think ALM was flying this route nonstop back then, although they may have been operating one stop service on the route perhaps via Kingston.

So let's go with VIASA operating a DC-8 on a CCS-AUA-MIA routing.

jlemon

Ah....but wasn't Lufthansa operating Boeing 707 service between San Francisco and Frankfurt as early as 1961 via stops at Montreal Dorval and Paris Orly? And went on to serve SFO during the 1960's with the Boeing 720B? I think we had a quiz item or two quite some time ago concerning LH service into SFO back in the day.....