jlemon

Ah, the third base reference actually pertains to the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team who won the World Series this year....and it had been over 30 years since the Dodgers won a World Series championship - the last time they did so was in 1988. I used to attend Dodger games at Dodger Stadium in L.A. in the early 1960's with my grandfather back when I was just a kid.

However, of course, there is beer (excuse me, actually an ale) involved this evening.....and I'm delighted to report the seasonal 2020 Anchor Brewing Company "Merry Christmas & Happy New Year" holiday ale has now reached Lafayette all the way from exotic San Francisco. Anchor has been brewing a seasonal holiday ale every year now for over 45 years. But let's hear directly from the great folks with Anchor Brewing concerning this year's rendition:

This is the forty-sixth annual Our Special Ale from the brewers at Anchor. This Ale, made with natural flavors, features a different recipe and tree every year, but the intent with which we offer it is the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Trees symbolize the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. The Three Graces (representing radiance, joy & flowering) are giant sequoias - what John Muir called "columns of sunshine" - in California's Mariposa Grove. Their synergistic beauty is awe inspiring.

And this year's ale features a beautiful artistic rendition on the label of each bottle of the aforementioned three giant sequoia trees from a grove in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

25. Yep! Here's the relevant Cruzeiro system timetable (the schedule in question appears in table # 2):

Cruzeiro - Servicos Aereos Cruzeiro do Sul

And here's the relevant page from the Air France system timetable:

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...4/af754-09.jpg

jlemon

29. Yep, it was Braniff II and your routing is correct as well....however, the aircraft in question wasn't a B727-200.

30. So we now know the equipment wasn't a B727-200. And the air carrier in question wasn't Northwest nor was the stop made at Memphis.

Please guess again, sir!

jlemon

9. Ah, it wasn't Southern....

29. It was actually Braniff II with a routing of IND - MCI - SAT (please see my response above to Bluehen1).... but the equipment wasn't a B727-200.

jlemon

18. Yep! Here's the sched....

SO 114: Milwaukee (MKE) 6:47a - 8:15a Memphis (MEM) 8:50a - 9:49a New Orleans (MSY) 10:28a - 10:58a Mobile (MOB) 11:13a - 1:13p Atlanta (ATL) 1:54p - 3:20p Washington Dulles (IAD) 3:40p - 4:34p New York LaGuardia (LGA)
Freq: Daily
Service class: S
Meal services: Breakfast MKE-MEM, Snack ATL-IAD
Equip: DC9

22. Western operating a B727-200 is correct....however, the flight in question did not stop in Salt Lake City, Denver or Sioux Falls. But the fourth stop was made at Minneapolis/St. Paul.

jrl767

22- well, I suspect the only other WA nonstop destination north of PHX would have been Las Vegas/LAS; I seem to recall one of their DCA-MSP flights continuing to Seattle/SEA, so it’s entirely plausible that this eastbound trip ran the route in reverse ... that would indicate Portland/PDX as the second stop

Bluehen1

29. Let's make this an Airbus A320-200.

30. So, let's try SAT-MSP-MKE on Northwest with an A320-200.

jlemon

22. The flight in question did not stop in Las Vegas.....but it did stop in Portland and Seattle. So we are looking for a missing stop as well as the correct order of the stops.

jlemon

29. Nope, Braniff II was not operating an A320 on this service.

30. Ah, Northwest did not operate the flight in question and it did not stop at Minneapolis/St. Paul. Plus we now know it wasn't operated with an A320.

jrl767

22- the first stop wouldn't have been LAX or SAN, as the question was phrased "north then east" ... I went SFO-SEA on WA a few times in 1976-1980 (including an 0200 departure on a 707 Combi that came up from LAX and continued to Anchorage/ANC); can't recall they ever ran PHX-SFO, much less with a stop at Sacramento/SMF or Reno/RNO ... I'm shaking my head as to whether this 72S might have dropped into Spokane/GEG on the way east from SEA, but that's almost more believable ... PHX-PDX-SEA-GEG-MSP-DCA

WHBM

This one had a convoluted logic for me. From South America to Japan the longstanding only operator was Varig, in fact going right back to predecessor Panair's days with Constellations. Now I knew that Varig routed via Lima, where there is a surprisingly large Japanese diaspora, even the Peruvian president once, and a one-stop from there was on a 707 via Los Angeles. I guessed it was joint with JAL. The nonstop connection from Brasilia, a different carrier so not Varig, was thus to Lima, of the other Brazilian carriers Vasp I think was confined to domestics so Cruzeiro (merged with Varig a few years later) seemed a choice.

So, it's not Varig on the main run, but is a 707, and starting from Lima. Both Aero Peru and JAL had DC-8s at the time so from a different country again. And then I remembered that oddball Air France flight. Papeete in Tahiti was long a French UTA monopoly, from Los Angeles or the long way round from Paris via Asia. But someone at Air France attempted what UTA probably never guessed, a flight from Lima (already an Air France terminus from Paris) to Papeete and on to Tokyo. Japanese tourists to Tahiti; Japanese-Peru trade links; Air France sneaking into Tahiti; no competition. So it seemed like a good idea at the time. Probably only lasted a year or two. Eventually the Peru segment was given up and UTA took over Papeete to Tokyo.

jlemon

22. Yep! Here's the sched...

WA 688: Phoenix (PHX) 8:35a - 10:00a Portland (PDX)10:30a - 11:02a Seattle (SEA) 11:45a - 12:35p Spokane (GEG) 1:05p - 5:28p Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) 6:00p - 9:04p Washington National (DCA)
Freq: Daily PHX-MSP, Daily except Sat. MSP-DCA
Service classes: F/Y
Meal services: Snack PHX-PDX, Lunch GEG-MSP, Dinner MSP-DCA
Equip: B727-200

Bluehen1

29. So, there's only one option left and that's a 737-200.

30. So, lots of 737-200 operators. Let's start with Continental flying SAT-DEN-MKE

jlemon

29. Well, there's actually another option as the aircraft in question wasn't a B737-200.

30. And nope, it wasn't Continental and this flight did not stop in Denver.

Bluehen1

29. Okay. So, I guess I was wrong. Must have been the BAC One-Eleven.

30. With the BAC One-Eleven, the guess is now USAir with a routing of SAT-PIT-MKE.

jlemon

29. Yep! Here's the sched....

BN 151: Indianapolis (IND) 6:00p - 6:29p Kansas City (MCI) 7:20p - 9:27p San Antonio (SAT)
Freq: Daily
Service class: Y
Meal service: Snacks IND-MCI & MCI-SAT
Equip: BAC One-Eleven

30. Nope, it wasn't USAir and this flight did not stop in Pittsburgh. Which means....

Please guess again, sir!