jlemon

26) Absolutely correct, sir! It was SAA flying 74L equipment once a week between IAH and JNB with the intermediate stop you have identified.

Currently, the only scheduled service between Houston and Africa consists of nonstop flights from IAH to Lagos, Nigeria (LOS) and back operated by United with B787-8 "Dreamliner" equipment that had been originally ordered by Continental before the merger of UA and CO.....

jlemon

12) Please guess again!

jlemon

13) Both answers are incorrect! Please guess again!

jlemon

22) Please guess again!

WHBM

I get the impression that South African Airways didn't quite know what to do with their 747SPs after delivery in the late 1970s, which in some respects applies to the other 747SP purchasers as well. South Africa had fallen out politically with most of the rest of Africa in the early 1960s, and their direct route to Europe was banned, so they started the "Bulge" route around the west of Africa. Because of the performance of the 707s, and later the early 747s, and particularly the limitations of taking off from Johannesburg at an elevation of 6,000 feet, well above Denver even, they needed to stop for fuel along the way, but their friendly nations slowly fell away. Luanda in Angola was good for them until the early 1970s, but that was lost, and others (like Sal Island)were borderline from time to time and needed political favours as well. The 747SP was an aircraft which, though limited in capacity, offered Jo'burg takeoffs nonstop to Europe. However, the mainstream 747 also improved its capabilities as well, and was able to continue the European routes, so they were left with half a dozen somewhat uneconomic 747SPs. They tried a range of oddball operations, and sometimes they were even just doing Jo'burg to Cape Town domestic flights. Other times they were just at the back of the ramp at JNB.

The Houston operation was just strange. Houston is a world commercial centre of the oil exploration business. South Africa doesn't have any oil at all. They have long been a world centre for the mining industry, but Houston doesn't do any mining. So it's not surprising that the SAA route to Houston didn't last. Actually, once SAA were banned for some years from serving the USA, it was a great boost for, in particular, British Airways, who developed a substantial business connecting from South Africa to various North American points through London. Jo'burg to Vancouver in western Canada, another world mining industry centre, is actually one of the top BA city pairs for premium class intercontinental-to-intercontinental connecting passengers through London.

After Houston, and once SAA were allowed into the USA again, they tried a whole range of USA points apart from the obvious one at JFK. Miami, Fort Lauderdale (honestly, I'm not making this up, SAA tried Jo'burg to FLL), Atlanta and Washington have all come and gone, and sometimes come again.

Incidentally, in the 1980s when SAA were still running round the "bulge" of Africa, they would stop at Sal Island for fuel in the middle of the night. Alongside on the ramp was sometimes a Bristol Britannia of Cubana, later an Ilyushin 62, operating from Havana across the Atlantic to Luanda in Angola with Cuban military on board, both sides then facing up to one another in armed skirmishes. But for the Sal ground crew, just all part of a night's work. By the way, it was often over 100F and humid on that ramp, and the GSE didn't run to an air conditioning supply, so the SAA passengers in first class were all presented with cologne-soaked face towels during the stop. Y class just had to sweat it out !

jrl767

ok ... a couple months back (Post 3589, answered in Post 3647) we discussed Delta 727-200 service DFW-BTR-MOB-ATL in 1994

I know they had a couple other multi-stop DFW-ATL flights in the late 1970s, and I suspect these were still in existence in Dec 1985 ... I'm pretty sure they all served JAN, but there are two possibilities (SHV, MLU) for the first stop and two possibilities for the third (BHM, MGM)

a flight originating LAS at 130amPST would have landed DFW around 545CST and left around 615; four 30- to 40-min legs with 20-min ground times at the three intermediate points would have put the jet into ATL around 1045EST; and an 1115 departure would indeed have blocked in at TPA approx 1230pmEST

since the rules say I have to provide a complete answer I will go with DL, 72S, LAS-DFW-SHV-JAN-BHM-ATL-TPA

jlemon

13) A good guess....but we are looking for another airline here and the flight in question was not operated with a B727-200.

jlemon

BTW, thought I'd share this link with the group.....

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

What you'll see is a rather striking video that was shot a week ago today on January 10.

This short video chronicles the third test flight of Mr. Branson's new spaceplane which was designed by Burt Rutan from the Mojave Airport in the high desert north of L.A.

jlemon

Good Saturday afternoon all!

Just four quiz items remain and I know that Seat 2A is patiently waiting in the wings with a new set. So here are some hints:

3) This gentleman was a very famous Hollywood actor.

12) The air carrier and their timetable in question was operating McDonnell Douglas equipment at this time. And their partner airline was operating a mix of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft.

13) The equipment operated on this route from LAS to TPA was member of the DC-9 series family of aircraft.

22) miniliq was correct when he identified the third jet type in this quiz item as being a Fokker 100. And the air carrier in question was using a two letter airline code that had been previously used by another Canadian air carrier.

miniliq

Since I've already tried unsuccessfully to answer the other remaining questions, let's try this one -- Henry Fonda!

jlemon

3) Yes sir, that is correct! This was back in the day when Continental was known for its impeccable first class service and Robert Six was running the airline. I believe that Mr. Six was good friends with not only Henry Fonda but also with Bob Hope, James Stewart and John Wayne, and entertained these actors at his ranch near Montrose, Colorado on occasion.....

And now we are down to just three remaining quiz items on what is sure to be an exciting afternoon of playoff games as we head toward the Super Bowl! Good luck to the team your choice and I'm pretty darn sure I know who Seat 2A is rooting for!

jlemon

Last call for the last three quiz items in this latest set! If there are no takers, I'll provide the remaining answers tomorrow evening as another strong Canadian cold front sweeps through our area. And, hmmmmm, could south Louisiana see rare and unusual freezing precip by the end of this week with an ice storm possible and maybe even some snow? Stayed tuned!

jrl767

I confess to a lot of Internet research, and this is the closest I can find:

#13 -- TranStar, MD-80, LAS-MAF-AUS-HOU-MSY-MCO-TPA

the only -- and I mean ONLY -- reason I would have even considered taking a redeye milk run like this was if it was on a "collectible" (uncommon or soon-to-be-retired) aircraft type or an absolute favorite of an airline

jlemon

13) Well, the TranStar name did not officially come into being until 1986....and, as noted, the time frame for this quiz item is 1985. In addition, the equipment used on the route in question during during this time frame was not an MD-80.

But other than those two points, you are very, very close!

jrl767

you really enjoy pinging me on the minutiae and technicalities, don't you? must have something to do with the fact that I'm a Seattle expat and Seahawks fan ... although in my defense my wife and I have a very close friend who grew up in Breaux Bridge (and who lived there w her husband for about 7 years after he retired from the Air Force; we have spent New Years' Eve w them in New Orleans twice and enjoyed it immensely), we both enjoy Abita beer and Cajun food, and we both would probably agree that your Saints are our second-favorite NFL team

obviously I didn't do quite enough research last week: it turns out that the TranStar timetable on departedflights.com is from Mar 86, and since the "Intro" page for the Jul 85 Muse Air timetable doesn't include LAS I didn't dig into those pages any farther ... I figured that Xmas of 85 was closer to Mar than Jul

final answer:

Muse Air, DC9-50; route as identified in my latest "very, very close" guess above