The A300's were phased out as part of the Go Forward plan. this was the beginning of CO's plan to offer more flights on smaller planes as opposed to fewer flight on larger planes.

the A300's, however, were updated with CO's new livery and interior before they were retired. I really liked the A300 in F. and in Y for that matter.

WOW, of course that would be pretty scary but I'd love to be in the jump seat during such a landing!!!

By the way, this link doesn't work for me neither...

It looks like the site is down for maintenance today.

Lots of photos on airliners.net.

Here's one...

Another in the old livery.

I landed on that runway earlier this year on a 777.

I never cared much for Peoples' Express (or Peoples' Distress), much as I don't care for WN ... but CO did inherit some 747s from them (and I think possibly Eastern as well?)

Flew the 747 a few times; I remember HNL. Back then, I liked the 747.

But the 777 is far preferable, especially in its current configurations.

I do miss the DC-10s ... hated the planes but loved the "pub flights" which made the transcontinental trips fun.

They ain't fun no more.

I did it on a DC-10 in the mid-90s, coming from FRA. Major braking action - it wasn't fun then either... :eek:

I have experienced 5 trips in CO 747's:

EWR-LGW (1987) -- Sat in the nose section; don't recall the seats being anything more special than standard domestic Y seats. The plane was in a modified PEOPLExpress livery - has the PE cheatlines, with the red meatball logo on the tail. I don't recall any special amenities on the aircraft itself. At departure time, it was one of those Newark summer muggy rainy days... thick humidity, warm temperatures, they had the aircraft A/C going on full blast. Of course this turned into a mechanical delay as the air conditioning units above my parents head (think row 3 on the right hand side) started to pour water from condensation. They practically ripped out the overhead compartment to verify this. They made my parents sit further back (not sure if it was BC or coach) for take off and landing. I remember a first class toiletries kit and most of what was in it, the headphones were these terrible red tubing kind (e.g. not electronic). Don't recall the food other than we were fed dinner and breakfast. We left from Terminal B - I believe from Satellite B1, but it could have been B2 (prior to the intl arrivals modification)

LGW-EWR (Return trip) -- this one must have been more uneventful since I don't recall a whole lot about it. I believe this one was painted in full CO meatball colors, but had PEOPLExpress food carts. Arrival was in Terminal C's original Intl' arrivals configuration -- before Term C was open for domestic flights -- It had two intl gates where C3 now is (roughly what used to be the old Continental Express waiting room).


EWR-SEA (1990) -- I think this was part of a EWR-SEA-NRT route that merited this equipment, and I think shortly after CO stopped the SEA-NRT portion and downgraded the equipment to Airbus A-300s for the domestic portion. I remember sitting in coach, right side. The flight was comfortable enough, but otherwise uneventful. The 747 was painted in full meatball splendor.

EWR-LGW (1992) -- The outbound flight was more or less uneventful. We flew coach, but I don't recall much more other than the weather on landing as being low ceilings with rain. I believe this was also a meatball flight.

LGW-EWR (1992) -- I remember this one clearly being a new logo CO jet (current livery). I remember this one well since it was my first solo -- yeah my parents ditched me and got to enjoy Scotland without me... =( . We had a 2 hour delay as there was something terribly wrong with Engine #1 or #2 (Left side - don't recall if it was the outboard or inboard one). Once we got going the flight was smooth. Beautiful New England fall colors on arrival.


That being said - 2/5 flights had what officially resulted in maintenance delays. But the flights were pretty comfortable, granted I still was growing at the time.

I've been on no-one else's 747 before or since. Actually this week marks the 15 year anniversary of my last 747 flight :)

In 1987 CO inherited 10 or 11 "Whales" from PeoplExpress.AC#'s 601-610.They bought a hangar queen from BA in 90 or 91.That one was memorable because it had a reel to reel movie system that had to be turned on in each of the 5 cabins.The 747 was like an old girlfriend.Lots of good memories,but when you see her 20 yrs later,a lot of wear and tear.

Here's a picture at the end in the Mojave:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...0-01cr-8-1.jpg

Looks like you should use some CO miles to fly on some CO partner flights. Many CO partners are flying the 744 - including NW, QF, AF, KE, KL, etc. The 744 is still my preferred aircraft.

That's a real sad picture to look at :o

Even Worse
 

Even sadder when you see it side by side with the photo from

the post by "Bonehead" yesterday at 11:22 am on Airliners.net

I spent many a long day being a GA with those two planes, 10 and 11. Every time I saw that we were using 10 for our flight CO2 HNLLAX, I would call home and tell them I had no idea when I would be off from work, their MX issues were lengthy. I miss having 747's just not the ones we bought!

I had only one experience with one
 

Flying from HNL to LAX in about 1997. Was supposed to be a DC-10 but they substituted a Micronesia 747. I am not sure why. All I remember was it was very old and was packed.

I flew one from LAX-HNL in the mid-90's. I vividly remember going from CMH to IAH to LAX to HNL, leaving at 7am out of CMH. At least, I had upgrades from CMH to LAX and then a middle seat (they switched equipment and my aisle seat to a middle seat) from LAX to HNL. At least the plane was roomy and my seatmates were friendly.

The link is gone now, but before the last major overhaul of CO.com, there was a link to "Aircraft for Sale" and there was a picture of a CO 747. I don't recall if it had a price.

Interiors
 

What happens to the interiors of these scrapped planes?

Is there a CO 747 bar/lounge set-up in all of its 70's flashy colors somewhere?

Ahh, the good ole days!


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...o7/oldcal6.jpg

We used to affectionately to call AC 606 Six Oh Fix.I worked more than one flight when the blue "lav juice" leaked into the row directly behind.

It always amazed me how those lumbering jets would shake,rattle and roll for take-off. Too bad CO has no plans order any 747-8's.The 747 is the real Queen of the Sky, not the 777.

Did you ever experience the engine start-up sequence on an L-1011? Fearsome shaking and rattling, all totally routine. You could always tell who wasn't a frequent flyer because of the panic on their faces.

The L-1011 is one aircraft I wish I had found a way to fly before DL retired them in 2001.

Disbelief
 

It's hard to believe that's actually the interior of a CO jet!

747 vs L-1011
 

I've flown both the 747 and the L-1011...and I have to say the take-off from the L-1011 is much more impressive than the 747. I loved the F cabin of DL's L-1011's back/forth between ATL or LAX and HNL/OGG. When departing for the trans-oceanic flight with a full load of fuel, you felt like you were sitting in your living room and your house is about to take off.

CO's equipment today is so smooth that you don't even appreciate the size/weight/distance you're moving like you used to in the "old days."

There were a lot of cool CO interiors. Sondra and I flew the 747 LAX-HNL, then DC10 HNL-GUM-HKG. Attached is a picture of the DC 10 Bar in 1992, when we both were a bit younger:D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17911789@N06/1897321551/

In 1992 the DC-10 I flew on from HNL-GUM had the first class cabin, then from GUM-HKG in the above DC-10 with the lounge. Then on the way back from HKG the GUM-HNL flight was with, I think, a Swiss Air DC-10. Those were the day, and two first class tickets for only 170,000 miles.

And then there were the A300s.

Those are some awesome white boots the FAs are wearing!!! Maybe we can bring those back for my CHQ crews flying CLE-ORD :cool:

Tragic L-10
 

I flew the actual EAL L-10 (Lockheed Tristar) on the northbound

to JFK (or maybe it was IDL then) that turned around and flew

back into the south FL swamp and became the subject of a film

Years later I flew many flights on refurbed EAL L-10s that

Fawcett flew MIA to Lima w/ 3 classes (fortunately in 1st)

ALWAYS preferred the DC-10s (my alltime favorite heavy)