Around 56 years ago, I made my very first journey on board a scheduled commercial airline flight. The air carrier was Pacific Southwest Airlines, perhaps better known as PSA, operating a flight from LAX to SFO and the equipment was a Lockheed L-188 Electra. This flight was a birthday present from my folks which enabled yours truly to visit with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins in the Bay Area. I traveled all by myself at the tender young age of ten. And from that time on, I was hooked on air travel and even worked in the industry for a number of years before retiring last year.
But back to the Electra......
Last night, I just happened to catch a TV show on The Weather Channel here in the U.S. entitled "Ice Pilots NWT" which featured a segment concerning Electra operations flown by Yellowknife-based Buffalo Airways into a seasonal ice runway at Goose Lake in northern Canada. The registration of the Electra in the show is C-GLBA (and it would be interesting to know the history of this particular aircraft). The video imagery of the Electra flying into Goose Lake is superb. It was also apparent that the Buffalo Airways flight crew operating the Electra had a challenging time landing on the ice at Goose Lake due to braking and control issues on the slippery seasonal runway as it was late winter and the ice wasn't going to be around much longer before the annual spring breakup. This episode of "Ice Pilots NWT" is named "Meltdown" and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in watching the iconic Electra in action. I also believe The Weather Channel will once again air the "Meltdown" episode this weekend here in the U.S.
