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Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion.

Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion.

Old Jun 21, 2022, 11:28 am
  #26101  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW
We all know the pre-deregulation route systems of the local service airlines very well, but the local service airlines added routes just as aggressively as the trunks did post-deregulation. With that in mind, here's a quiz based on the Jure 8, 1979 North Central timetable. ...
6. North Central served many of their new post-deregulation routes with just 1 flight a day, and many of these new flights operated at unusual times. The westernmost city on NC's system is no exception. Once you get there, you turn around, and head to MSP for some rest. The next morning, you're disappointed to discover that NC no longer offers any three stops between MSP and Grand Forks. If you'd been able to take one of NC's three stops between MSP and GFK, where would you have stopped?

7. You take a nonstop to GFK, then a six stop Convair 580 to Omaha. Where are the stops?
great questions, and a great story line!


6- how about Hibbing/HIB, Bemidji/BJI, and Thief River Falls/TVF

7- not entirely confident of all six, but I'll offer Fargo/FAR, Aberdeen/ABR, Watertown/ATY, Sioux Falls/FSD, Sioux City/SUX, and Norfolk/NFK

Originally Posted by JoeDTW
When you arrive home at your parents' house, you can hear Detroit Rock City blasting from the backyard, and when you get out of your car, you can smell marijuana smoke. You immediately think "it's nice that my friends have organized a welcome home party for me", but then, to your shock, when you go into your backyard, you see that your parents are listening to Kiss while smoking your weed stash. When your mom sees you, she smiles and says "Honey, you were right....Kiss makes great music. The next time you and your friends go to a Kiss concert at Cobo Hall, dad and I will be coming along with you". Initially, you think it was a mistake to leave mom and dad unattended for a few days, but then you realize that you're lucky to have parents that are so cool.
and it gets even better when your friends tell you "Your parents *ARE* the party!" (weed has never been in the picture, but we've shared a lot of beer and bourbon and barbecue with our son's friends)
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 11:34 am
  #26102  
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Originally Posted by Seat 2A

38. (1987) Your Tennessee Vols are playing Alabama’s Crimson Tide in a major SEC showdown next weekend. A good buddy of yours has called to say he’s managed to procure a couple of tickets on the 40 yard line. Can you make it? Oh, you betcha! Better yet, if you fly down to Birmingham, he’ll pick you up and drive you back up to Knoxville after the game. As for the flight, this really must be your lucky day. There’s a daily nonstop from Knoxville straight down to Birmingham. Book it Danno! Name the airline and the aircraft please.
38. I had initially guessed Florida Express operating a BAC One-Eleven and that proved to be incorrect as far as the air carrier is concerned.

So if my memory serves me correctly, it was back around this time that a reincarnation of Braniff acquired Orlando-based Florida Express and its One-Elevens (and I seem to recall that following the acquisition of Florida Express, Braniff then moved its corporate headquarters to Orlando). Here's a link to a photo of a Florida Express BAC One-Eleven....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Flor...leven/217479/L

Braniff then repainted at least some of the Florida Express One-Elevens with this particular airplane initially serving with the original Braniff International having been delivered new to the airline back in 1965....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Bran...even/4237247/L

Here's a photo of the above One-Eleven (originally registered as N1552) landing in Memphis in 1965 shortly after it was delivered to Braniff International....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Bran...Eleven/91468/L

And here's N1552 in the new BN livery at the time at Chicago O'Hare in 1970....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Bran...leven/220695/L

The One-Eleven wasn't the only twin engine jet operated by a resurrected version of Braniff. This airplane was operated by the final version of the airline (think "Braniff III")....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Bran...-9-14/310556/L

Last edited by jlemon; Jun 21, 2022 at 2:47 pm Reason: added a couple of more BN One-Eleven photos
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 12:03 pm
  #26103  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW

1. The easternmost city on North Central's route system is served with three nonstops from Detroit, and one one stop. What's the easternmost city, and where does the one stop stop?

5. It's possible to fly from the southernmost city on NC's system to the westernmost city in one very long day of travel. You'll take three flights. The first and second flights are nonstops, and the third flight makes one stop. What's your route of travel.
Excellent questions! As I mentioned not too long ago, I recently read a book entitled "Ceiling Unlimited" by Robert J. Serling which concerns the history of North Central from its founding as Wisconsin Central in 1948 up until the early 1970's. NC was a well run airline under the leadership of CEO Hal Carr. I highly recommend this book if you can find it (I purchased my copy used).

1. I believe the easternmost city was Boston and the one stop flight between Detroit and Boston stopped in Syracuse.

5. This would be a long day of air travel. I think the southernmost city was Miami with nonstop service to Milwaukee. The next flight would be a nonstop from Milwaukee to Minneapolis/St. Paul. And the third flight would be from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Tucson via a stop in Denver. BTW, back in 1979 I was on board a Continental B727-200 on a milk run service from Austin to Los Angeles with stops in Midland/Odessa, El Paso and Tucson (I think this flight had originated in Miami and then made a stop at Houston Intercontinental before arriving into AUS). As we taxied out from the terminal at Tucson departing for LAX, there was another airplane landing in front of us which appeared to have a waterfowl painted on the tail. It was a North Central DC-9-50 and the waterfowl was, of course, Herman the Duck.

And do you remember the large, colorful poster that Detroit's rock n' roll radio station, WRIF-FM, produced back in the early 1970's? I think I've still got mine somewhere in storage.
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 12:03 pm
  #26104  
 
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Originally Posted by jrl767
great questions, and a great story line!


6- how about Hibbing/HIB, Bemidji/BJI, and Thief River Falls/TVF

7- not entirely confident of all six, but I'll offer Fargo/FAR, Aberdeen/ABR, Watertown/ATY, Sioux Falls/FSD, Sioux City/SUX, and Norfolk/NFK

and it gets even better when your friends tell you "Your parents *ARE* the party!" (weed has never been in the picture, but we've shared a lot of beer and bourbon and barbecue with our son's friends)
6. Bemidji and Thief River Falls are correct; Hibbing is incorrect. The routing is MSP-XXX-BJI-TVF-GFK. HIB was served as a stop between MSP and International Falls, and also had flights to DLH.

7. You're on the right track. FAR, ATY, SUX, and OFK are incorrect. ABR and FSD are correct. The routing is GFK-xxx-xxx-ABR-xxx-xxx-FSD-OMA.

I'm glad your son's friends think you are cool. My parents still live in the Detroit area, and some of my friends will visit them even if I'm not around.
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 12:14 pm
  #26105  
 
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Originally Posted by jlemon
Excellent questions! As I mentioned not too long ago, I recently read a book entitled "Ceiling Unlimited" by Robert J. Serling which concerns the history of North Central from its founding as Wisconsin Central in 1948 up until the early 1970's. NC was a well run airline under the leadership of CEO Hal Carr. I highly recommend this book if you can find it (I purchased my copy used).

1. I believe the easternmost city was Boston and the one stop flight between Detroit and Boston stopped in Syracuse.

5. This would be a long day of air travel. I think the southernmost city was Miami with nonstop service to Milwaukee. The next flight would be a nonstop from Milwaukee to Minneapolis/St. Paul. And the third flight would be from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Tucson via a stop in Denver. BTW, back in 1979 I was on board a Continental B727-200 on a milk run service from Austin to Los Angeles with stops in Midland/Odessa, El Paso and Tucson (I think this flight had originated in Miami and then made a stop at Houston Intercontinental before arriving into AUS). As we taxied out from the terminal at Tucson departing for LAX, there was another airplane landing in front of us which appeared to have a waterfowl painted on the tail. It was a North Central DC-9-50 and the waterfowl was, of course, Herman the Duck.

And do you remember the large, colorful poster that Detroit's rock n' roll radio station, WRIF-FM, produced back in the early 1970's? I think I've still got mine somewhere in storage.
1. Correct! NC flew DTW-BOS 3x day nonstop (1x DC-9-50, 2x DC-9-30), and 1x day on a DC-9-50 via SYR.

5. Correct. The routing is:

Leave MIA 0300, arrive MKE 0455 on NC 301.
Leave MKE 1250, arrive MSP 1345 on NC 563
Leave MSP 1500, arrive DEN 1555 on NC 535
Leave DEN 1635, arrive TUS 1710 on NC 535

NC 301 operates with a -30, and the remaining flights operate with -50s.

I purchased a copy of Ceiling Unlimited at a Detroit area used book store in 1987; like everything else Robert Serling has written, it's an outstanding book.

I don't remember a colorful WRIF poster; it may have been before my time. WRIF's big promotion in the late 1970s was the "DREAD Club" Dread stood for "Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco". WRIF gave out membership cards, complete with an image of a "Saturday Night Cleaver" destroying a disco record. When I was in Boy Scouts, some of the boys called themselves the "Dread Patrol".
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 12:17 pm
  #26106  
 
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The correct answer to Question 5 also answered Question 4. The routing between BOS and MIA was via DTW and MKE.
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Old Jun 21, 2022, 6:24 pm
  #26107  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW
6. Bemidji and Thief River Falls are correct; Hibbing is incorrect. The routing is MSP-XXX-BJI-TVF-GFK. HIB was served as a stop between MSP and International Falls, and also had flights to DLH.

7. You're on the right track. FAR, ATY, SUX, and OFK are incorrect. ABR and FSD are correct. The routing is GFK-xxx-xxx-ABR-xxx-xxx-FSD-OMA.
6- first stop was Brainerd/BRD

7- so instead of a basically north-to-south route with two westward excursions, we have a big loop to the west and a southerly final leg: GFK-Devils Lake/DVL-Bismarck/BIS-ABR-Huron/HON-Mitchell/MHE-FSD-OMA
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 9:33 am
  #26108  
 
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Originally Posted by jrl767
6- first stop was Brainerd/BRD

7- so instead of a basically north-to-south route with two westward excursions, we have a big loop to the west and a southerly final leg: GFK-Devils Lake/DVL-Bismarck/BIS-ABR-Huron/HON-Mitchell/MHE-FSD-OMA
6. Brainerd is correct.

7. Correct. Here's the details for NC 874:

Lv GFK 1410, Ar DVL 1436
Lv DVL 1445, Ar BiS :1519
Lv BIS 1550, Ar ABR 1625
Lv ABR 1640, Ar HON 1702
Lv HON 1710, Ar MHE 1726
Lv MHE 1732, Ar FSD 1755
Lv FSD 1820, Ar OMA 1900

Wouldn't this have been a fun flight to take?
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 9:36 am
  #26109  
 
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Here are the remaining unanswered questions for the NC quiz:

Originally Posted by JoeDTW

2. Once you get to the easternmost city on NC's system, you see that you can take a five stop to Marquette, Michigan. Where are the stops?

3. You can also take a three stop from the easternmost city to Chicago. Where would you stop enroute?

8. While you're spending the night in Omaha, you decide that since you've been to the easternmost, southernmost, and westernmost cities served by NC, you may as well fly to the northernmost city. From Omaha, you take a two stop to Sioux Falls, a three stop to Minneapolis, and a one stop to the northernmost city. What's the northernmost city, and how will you be getting there?

9. After spending the night in the northernmost city, you retrace your route to MSP, then take a nonstop to MSP to ORD. By now, you're ready to go home. You think briefly about taking the traditional NC route from ORD to DTW via JXN, but then you see you can take a more northerly route, on one of NC's new DC-9-50s. Your flight makes three stops; what are they?
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 11:00 am
  #26110  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW
6. Brainerd is correct.

7. Correct. Here's the details for NC 874:

Lv GFK 1410, Ar DVL 1436
Lv DVL 1445, Ar BiS :1519
Lv BIS 1550, Ar ABR 1625
Lv ABR 1640, Ar HON 1702
Lv HON 1710, Ar MHE 1726
Lv MHE 1732, Ar FSD 1755
Lv FSD 1820, Ar OMA 1900

Wouldn't this have been a fun flight to take?
look at those station times 9 minutes at DVL, 8 at HON, 6 at MHE

weve mentioned this sort of thing before (probably 7 or 8 years now ), but in DC-3 days those would have likely seen the flight crew leave the # 2 engine running not sure if that was a thing for NC with the Convair 580 (or its predecessor the 340)
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 11:30 am
  #26111  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW

2. Once you get to the easternmost city on NC's system, you see that you can take a five stop to Marquette, Michigan. Where are the stops?
We already know that Boston was the easternmost destination ever served by North Central as later in the summer of 1979 the airline acquired and merged with Southern thus becoming Republic....and this development eventually marked the end of an era specifically with regard to Herman the Duck when RC finally got around to unveiling a completely new livery some years later....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Repu...-9-31/710227/L

So here we go with a classic milk run....

2. Boston - Detroit - Lansing - Grand Rapids - Green Bay - Escanaba - Marquette. Although not requested in this quiz item, I'll also guess the equipment was a DC-9-30.

BTW, back during the fall of 1971, I did some hitch hiking all around Michigan including up in the UP all the way to Sault Ste. Marie and beyond into Canada. One of the things I noticed was the fact that North Central was all over the place in Michigan - I think NC served just about every city both large and small in the state.

Last edited by jlemon; Jun 24, 2022 at 11:56 am Reason: added photo link
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Old Jun 27, 2022, 9:12 am
  #26112  
 
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Originally Posted by jlemon
We already know that Boston was the easternmost destination ever served by North Central as later in the summer of 1979 the airline acquired and merged with Southern thus becoming Republic....and this development eventually marked the end of an era specifically with regard to Herman the Duck when RC finally got around to unveiling a completely new livery some years later....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Repu...-9-31/710227/L

So here we go with a classic milk run....

2. Boston - Detroit - Lansing - Grand Rapids - Green Bay - Escanaba - Marquette. Although not requested in this quiz item, I'll also guess the equipment was a DC-9-30.

BTW, back during the fall of 1971, I did some hitch hiking all around Michigan including up in the UP all the way to Sault Ste. Marie and beyond into Canada. One of the things I noticed was the fact that North Central was all over the place in Michigan - I think NC served just about every city both large and small in the state.
Correct, although the equipment was actually a -50.

Here's the itinerary for NC 597:

Lv BOS 1630, Ar DTW 1822 (Dinner)
Lv DTW 1855, Ar LAN 1923
Lv LAN 1939, Ar GRR 1959
Lv GRR 2014, Ar GRB 1959
Lv GRB 2015, Ar ESC 2141
Lv ESC 2150, Ar MQT 2210

The short segment time between GRR and GRB, and the long segment time between GRB and ESC, are because GRR and ESC are in the Eastern time zone, but GRB is in the central time zone.
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Old Jun 28, 2022, 10:45 pm
  #26113  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW
8. While you're spending the night in Omaha, you decide that since you've been to the easternmost, southernmost, and westernmost cities served by NC, you may as well fly to the northernmost city. From Omaha, you take a two stop to Sioux Falls, a three stop to Minneapolis, and a one stop to the northernmost city. What's the northernmost city, and how will you be getting there?
8- Ill try to clear this one off the board:
  • OMA-Norfolk/OFK-Yankton/YNK-FSD, Convair 580
  • FSD-Brookings/BKX-Watertown/ATY-Mankato/MKT-MSP, Convair 580
  • MSP-Duluth/DLH-Winnipeg/YWG, DC-9-50

I have a handful of international questions (1983 and 1989) ready to go when we get through the last of this great NC set from JoeDTW
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Old Jun 29, 2022, 8:04 am
  #26114  
 
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Originally Posted by jrl767
8- Ill try to clear this one off the board:
  • OMA-Norfolk/OFK-Yankton/YNK-FSD, Convair 580
  • FSD-Brookings/BKX-Watertown/ATY-Mankato/MKT-MSP, Convair 580
  • MSP-Duluth/DLH-Winnipeg/YWG, DC-9-50

I have a handful of international questions (1983 and 1989) ready to go when we get through the last of this great NC set from JoeDTW
Omaha-FSD is on the correct route.

FSD-MSP: MKT is correct, but the flight did not stop at BKX or ATY. NC did not offer single plane service from BKX to MSP; passengers had to change planes at ATY. It's "tap in" time for this segment.

MSP-DLH-YWG is correct, although the equipment is a -30.
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Old Jun 29, 2022, 2:18 pm
  #26115  
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Originally Posted by JoeDTW

3. You can also take a three stop from the easternmost city to Chicago. Where would you stop enroute?
3. Departing from Boston, let's fly nonstop to Detroit and then make stops in Kalamazoo and South Bend before arriving into O'Hare. And what the heck, I'll also guess this flight was operated with a DC-9-50.
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