Originally Posted by WHBM
Relative in Vancouver was a mining engineer, and this was the flight he was taking to Yellowknire, NWT. I still have (somewhere up in the attic here in London) the timetable of that year which (of course) I took from the Pacific Western check-in counter that day, so this is a bit of a grey-cells memory test. Believe it routed through Kamloops, Calgary, Edmonton (the old Industrial Airport), Hay River, Yellowknife, Norman Wells and thus to Inuvik. I've no idea what these places are like, probably just mining camps and a small settlement.
Originally Posted by
jlemon
11. And with Pacific Western in mind, here is a multi-part bonus quiz item concerning the carrier's shuttle service between Calgary (YYC) and Edmonton (YXD) in the summer of 1968:
1) How many round trip flights was Pacific Western operating between YYC and YXD on a Monday through Friday basis at this time?
2) What was the one way walk up fare?
3) What type of aircraft was being operated on the service?
4) What was the name of this YYC-YXD shuttle service?
5) What did some passengers say in jest the letters PWA stood for?
I actually flew from YXD to Inuvik in early 1970 on the routing described by WHBM (our company had a pipeline research project going on in Inuvik and Aklavik), but luckily my portion of the flight originated in Edmonton so I didn't have to endure the extra YXD-YYC-YXD legs for pax originating in Vancouver.
My answers to the questions:
1)2)3)4) I believe there were 7 or 8 flights a day on the Chieftain Airbus, for about $15, on a mix of 737s, Convair 640s and DC6Bs. It was a true shuttle service, first come first served. If I recall correctly we went out on the tarmac and put our bags on a conveyor belt for loading, then walked on and paid for the tickets in-flight. No TSA delays those days.
5) Pray While Aloft
I'm actually in a motel a few miles north of YEG today, and will be going by YXD later -- fond memories of my maiden flight there in 1954 when a school buddy took me up just after receiving his license.
We wish we were back in MSY weather (although I hope the storms passing from LFT didn't do any damage to our roof) because here it's only 44degF and raining -- pure misery for us -- but it is helpful for the wildfire situation in Fort McMurray to the north.