jlemon

Whoops....not a trick or a treat but just a dupe post.

jlemon

Ah, sorry about this.....still getting used to my new computer here.....

WHBM

Rain here in London by month last 12 months, including October where it's been one or more deluge days per week ...

jrl767

it’s a beautiful clear 52F here in Seattle ... I spent a few hours carving three pumpkins, but I’m not sure how many kids (if any) will be making the trick-or-treat rounds this evening






UPDATE: spent maybe 2.5 hours as a socially distancing pumpkin-head (which got numerous approving comments from kids and parents alike) and counted approx 30 trick-or-treaters, who went through close to 90% of the treats we had provisioned

jrl767

... Two stops ...

2A- As the project is winding down, you receive invitations to three consecutive breakfast meetings to discuss follow-on efforts. The first is on Wednesday at the field office in Billings; the second is with a consultant in Chicago on Thursday; and the third is at the Boston home office on Friday. Naturally, you’re delighted to see that you can keep your two-stop routine in place for the entire cross-country trip. On the first day, each flight involves a different airline and a different aircraft type, and you’ll even have time for a beer or two and dinner with a college buddy in the airport where you change airlines. Further perusing the first airline’s timetable, you realize you can depart PDX on an earlier flight (on yet a different type) to one of the intermediate stops and have lunch at that airport (presuming, of course, that you’ll actually find a restaurant or bar in what’s sure to be a fairly small building) before picking up the original flight. Please identify both airlines, all three equipment types, and all stops in sequence.
HINT: The flights on the first airline operated with twin-engine aircraft; the flight on the second airline operated with a four-engine aircraft

2B, 2C- Both the second and third days are straightforward: a direct two-stop flight, each on a distinct airline and jet. As usual, please the airline, the aircraft, and the stops in order for each flight.
HINT: One has four engines, the other does not

3A- A month later, as you’re enjoying your second Bloody Mary and struggling with the Sunday crossword, a frantic-sounding project manager from the Newark office calls. The courier service just delivered the wrong drawing package for her client’s Monday morning visit. Can you somehow get the right files to Newark in time? Well, your Monday tickets are in your attache case, and your calendar has been blocked for months -- an early flight for a breakfast meeting with a Dartmouth professor to talk about a potential consulting arrangement, with further talks and tours of the research labs in the afternoon. Then you're supposed to proceed on the same airline to an airport near Long Island University, site of a 730pm welcome reception for a two-and-a-half-day symposium. Please identify the airline, both equipment types, the airport serving the Dartmouth campus, your arrival airport in the New York metropolitan area, and of course the intermediate stop on the southbound flight.
HINT: Both are twin-engine aircraft

3B- Your first thought is to switch your morning flight to a NYC departure, so you could simply check into the conference hotel tonight. Bummer, no two-stop trip today; it's a 1045am arrival, meaning it'll be a down-and-back by train and/or the Eastern shuttle. Or not! Here’s a nonstop to EWR, and a late evening one-stop on another carrier and aircraft type, back to BOS. The airlines, the aircraft, and the stop on the return flight, please.
HINTS: Both airlines in question operated these two aircraft types (and had several others in common); the two carriers competed on all three segments, although service to/from the intermediate stop may have used other NYC airports

3C- A few minutes later the phone rings again. Wait, what? She needs the Denison University folio, but has the Rutgers University one? Dang it, where’s a map? Where’s the OAG? Okay, here’s a workable single-carrier itinerary – but it's 13 brutal hours. The project manager agrees to meet you at a major airport, about an hour’s drive from Newark, where you’ll be disembarking from a direct First Class dinner flight (making, of course, two stops). Your return trip leaves just over four hours later -- plenty of time to review the files and have what will certainly be a much-needed drink -- and gets you back to Logan before sunrise; it involves two different jets, with the first flight making an intermediate stop before the connecting point. Please identify the airline, all aircraft types, the meetup airport, and all stops in order.
HINT: All three are four-engine aircraft

4- Following the symposium closing session, you’re headed to Mexico City. You certainly could have picked the simple same-plane two-stop itinerary, but you found a much more interesting option that involves two airlines, two aircraft types, and an unusual connecting point. It also arrives at the far-less-inconvenient hour of 955pm rather than shortly before midnight. You know the drill: we’re looking for the departure airport, the airlines, the equipment, and both enroute airports. Bonus points, of course, for the info for the direct flight.
HINT: All three aircraft are from different manufacturers

jlemon

Here's an update.....

The aforementioned "area of disturbed tropical weather" is now Hurricane Eta. A USAF Reserve WC-130J "Hurricane Hunter" has been investigating Eta this morning and has found evidence of rapid intensification. Our NHC now forecasts that Eta will strengthen to a major Category 4 hurricane (which is defined as having sustained winds of 130 to 156 mph in the eyewall with higher wind gusts) when it makes landfall on the east coast of Nicaragua. And NHC also made this statement in their forecast discussion this morning concerning Hurricane Eta: "Although Eta's low-level center may not survive after being inland over Central America for so long, most of the global models depict a cyclone over the northwestern Caribbean Sea later this week and into the weekend which appears to develop from at least part of Eta's remnants, and the new NHC track forecast shows the system emerging over the northwestern Caribbean Sea....."

Stay tuned.....

Seat 2A

Good morning! I've recently returned home - if only for five days (It's -21°F)- and upon my next return on November 20th I will be working on a new set of questions. Additionally, although it's coming along at a glacial pace, my set of non-schedule based questions addressing airline/aircraft history is slowly taking shape as well. As with every question - especially of this nature, I've got to not only formulate the question but also document the source should any debate arise as to the validity of my information. In any event, here's hoping everyone's doing well and that jlemon is done with hurricanes for the year! And now, I'm off to vote!

jlemon

I voted early last week and thus did not have to contend with what we’ve heard are the rather crowded polls today. And we now await the results of democracy at work....

Meantime, I’ve been working on a new set of quiz questions as well. We are heading out of town this Thursday but I shall be ready to submit them around Nov. 14 after we have returned home.

WilcoRoger

You can say that again - whereas the Canaries holiday crowd probably didn't care, for Toronto it was a real.bummer, to be avoided at all cost.

WHBM

Sorry to say we have lost yesterday Max Ward, probably the instigator of the finest holiday flight operation ever at Wardair. Age 98, a good innings. Just look out for the posts about Wardair Service that will be coming.

https://www.pprune.org/canada/636546...hlight=Wardair

My own links with Wardair back at posts 6786 and 6795 from a few years ago here

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24217883-post6786.html

WHBM

Good to hear from you up north there, WilcoRoger.

Just to continue the reminiscences, did you ever hear of Spantax looking to run nonstop from Helsinki/Stockholm/Oslo to Las Palmas - with Concorde ? !

Some notes from someone in the know who saw the costings (using a chartered BA aircraft), which didn't quite add up unfortunately. It would be about 3 hours each way.

https://www.pprune.org/aviation-hist...l#post10906595

WilcoRoger

Never heard that one - probably never happened, because no fanny packer would ever had paid Concorde prices. BTW neither Stockholm nor Helsinki are "Northern Scandinavia"

WHBM

I bet they feel like it when your base is in Las Palmas ! "Jose, what's this "de-icing" on the handling invoice ?"

jlemon

Very sorry to learn of the passing of the legendary Mr. Ward. I remember seeing Wardair A310 aircraft at LAX back in the day. And old friends up in the Vancouver area always spoke very highly of Wardair and the airline's service.

Here's a photo of a Wardair 707 at Manchester in the UK.....

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9786977

Seat 2A

My first experience with European low cost carrier seating came aboard a Vueling A320 flight between Frankfurt and Barcelona. OMG! The 29" pitch was indeed tight. Thank goodness it was only a 2 hour flight! As an American used to flying aboard Alaska Airlines where seat pitch in economy is 32", I was shocked. The difference in space was especially notable given that I'd flown into FRA in First Class aboard an Emirates 777. It's worth noting however that Vueling charged about $105 for the FRA-BCN flight whereas a flight aboard LH or IB would have been double that and then some. Additionally, word has it that Iberia's standard seat pitch is not much better then Vueling's.

Here in the U.S. our low cost carriers (Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier) generally follow the European model on seating with Spirit Airlines inflicting an industry-low 28-inch pitch on all its aircraft. I believe Frontier and Allegiant check in with 29". Spirit describes its seats as being “pre-reclined,” which is just a clever way of saying they have no recline at all. That's probably just as well since reclining into a 28" pitch would be pretty invasive. Some years back I flew from Las Vegas to New Orleans for a quick visit with jlemon. AA, DL, UA and even WN were all offering one way fares in the $250 range. I booked a flight on Spirit for an incredibly low base fare of about $75. I then bundled in a checked bag and an upgrade to Spirit's "Big Seat" - essentially a First Class seat with 36" of pitch but no recline. Total cost: $154. Frontier also offers a more spacious product called "Stretch Seats". Located in the first 3 rows of Frontier's A320s, they offer a generous 36" pitch. I sampled this product aboard a Frontier A320NEO last year and was generally pleased.

Overall, despite industry wide reductions in economy class seating, we've got it pretty good here in the U.S. AA, DL & UA all offer a 30-32 inch pitch standard depending upon the aircraft and seat location. My hometown carrier, Alaska, offers a fleet wide 32" pitch. As a Million Miler with Alaska who thus enjoys Gold status for life, I am spoiled as I get to book Premium Economy seats at no extra cost anytime I fly. The seat pitch there is 35" which brings back memories of the "Good Old Days" when 34-35" pitch was the standard in economy aboard most all of the major US airlines (AA, BN, CO, DL, EA, NA, NW, TW, UA, WA). I remember flying aboard DC-10s from UA and CO when they entered service in 1972. 8 across 2-4-2 seating, generous seat pitch and coach lounges made for an unbelievably comfortable and pleasant economy class experience. As an added bonus, since the CAB had control over all fares and routes, the best way airlines had to differentiate from one another was through innovative and quality inflight service. Flying - even as an economy class passenger - was practically dream like compared to what we experience today.












I logged my 1000th flight in 1981 and so was fortunate to have flown a lot on all of these aircraft. Those were the days...