WHBM

I'm not sure whether this flight went through National (in which case Electra it is), or Dulles or Baltimore, portrayed in those days as a Washington airport.

I understand the maximum extent was BOS-LGA and EWR, and DCA-LGA and EWR. BOS-DCA was shown on the maps but not I believe a proper hourly Shuttle with guaranteed backups, pay on board, etc


I only ever saw this in published schedules. There must have been flight numbers for operational purposes.

The British Airways Shuttle (I know I keep coming back to this but it's a good comparison) used 4-digit flight numbers with lots of spare space, eg BA4801 for the 07.00 to Glasgow, BA4811 for the 08.00, etc, and the associated backups (our words for an extra section) were numbered BA 4803, maybe BA4805, etc. The large number of flights possibly in the air at once for Heathrow Approach led to the traditional BA callsign "Speedbird" being replaced by "Shuttle" on these flights, which is still followed today by BA on the main domestic flights, although the Shuttle concept has gone, while to further differentiate things the backups used a callsign from the last 2 characters of the registration, so a backup flight using BAC One-Eleven 500 G-AVMR would be "Shuttle Mike Romeo".

And thereby hangs a tale.

Mike Romeo was inbound from Glasgow one evening in the 1980s when Heathrow was on easterlies and busy, so vectoring everyone approaching out to the west of London over Berkshire, Mike Romeo got sent on a westbound heading, and was then embarrassingly and unaccountably forgotten for a while. It was halfway to Bristol, still heading west, when it was remembered, picked up, turned around, and brought back as an absolute priority. And so ATC took to "adopting" Mike Romeo, to make up, and give it priority, always with a little smile among themselves. The pilots heard about this and joined in the fun "Would it help our slot if we say we're Mike Romeo". "This is Shuttle MIKE ROMEO I say again MIKE ROMEO inbound", and all that.

Don't believe it in such a professional UK ATC environment ?

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5946

jrl767

not having any better ideas at the time, I logged my DCA-EWR flight on N5517 (an Electra) as "EA 5517"

jlemon

Good Evening All,

Folks, I'm going to have to take a little break from answering quiz items on the OTA&AQ as my fiancee is now in the hospital with a severe case of pneumonia and is very sick.

I'll try to return this weekend with answers.....

Meantime, please say a little prayer for my Lady Kate.

Thanks,

jlemon

jrl767

here's wishing her a speedy recovery

Seat 2A

All best wishes to Lady Kate for a quick and total recovery, especially with Business Class on Lufthansa's A380 to look forward to in the coming days!

miniliq

Don't worry about the quiz -- look after Kate -- she's on my prayer list starting now.

wrp96

Praying for Lady Kate (and her fiancé).

Icecat

Best wishes for a speedy recovery..been there done that, in three weeks she will be as good as new.

21) Name an airline that operated nonstop jet service with mainline equipment between Little Rock (LIT) and Jackson (JAN) in the late 70's. Also identify the aircraft used on the route.

I will go with Frontier with a 737-200.

jlemon

Many thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Kate is still hospitalized but continues to slowly improve. I am hopeful she will be able to come home by this Sunday.

Meantime, I'll attempt to provide answers and commentary concerning my latest OTA&AQ quiz items either this evening or tomorrow morning.

Thanks again,

jlemon

MADPhil

I'm glad to hear that Kate is recovering. We tend to take that for granted these days but it can still be nasty. My best wishes to both of you.

jlemon

Good Morning All,

Kate Update: she remains in the hospital and there has now been a medical complication. However, it is not life threatening and she continues to improve. It also appears she will have to remain in the hospital for awhile longer.

ROUND 1 - ATL to MIA:

17) A very good guess and the Convair 440 is correct. However, the airline was not Delta. Jacksonville is also correct as it was one of the stops but your other five stops are incorrect.

ROUND 2 - PBI to CRW:

18) Another good guess and United is correct as is Atlanta as it was one of the two stops. However, the equipment was not a B727-100 and the other stop was not Jacksonville.

ROUND 3 - FLL - LAX R/T:

30) Carnival Air Lines with nonstop B737-400 service between FLL and LAX is correct! Here are the scheds....

KW 611: Fort Lauderdale 4:30p - 7:10p Los Angeles
Op: Daily
Equip: 734

KW 610: Los Angeles 11:15p - 7:05a Fort Lauderdale
Op: Daily
Equip: 734

jlemon

3) Correct! Continental West was offering the following totally unrestricted off peak, one way air fares in coach at this time: LAX-SJC $29, SJC-SEA $59 and LAX-SEA $69. Plus, meals and cocktails were complimentary.

jlemon

2) Time to move on down the line to another tri-jet operator! Please guess again!

jlemon

16) Eastern with direct Lockheed L-188 Electra service between St. Louis and Bermuda is correct! Here are the round trip scheds.....

EA 909: St. Louis 8:00a - 11:19a Washington National 11:50a - 2:37p Bermuda
Op: Daily
Equip: Electra "PROP JET"
Classes of service: first and coach (A/T)
Meals in A/T: breakfast STL-DCA, lunch DCA-BDA

EA 908: Bermuda 3:30p - 6:25p Washington National 6:55p - 8:27p St. Louis
Op: Daily
Equip: Electra "PROP JET"
Classes of service: first and coach (A/T)
Meals in A/T: dinner BDA-DCA, dinner DCA-STL

Obviously an honest days work for the good old L-188......

jlemon

21) Correct! Frontier (FL) was operating two daily round trip flights with B737-200 equipment at this time between Little Rock and Jackson, and they were both extensions of service to and from Denver, of course.....

I believe this service into Jackson (JAN) only lasted a short while and was also the only time that FL ever served a destination in Mississippi on a scheduled basis.