miniliq

Based on my "research" (which sounds better than cheating, but sorry folks, I have to use all the help I can find) I am pretty confident that two of the classes were "President Special" and Rainbow Economy," and I think the third was "Thrift Way."

jlemon

Icecat

31. Midwest Express wasn’t the only airline to operate its McDonnell-Douglas built aircraft in an all 2-2 configuration. Can you name the other airline that also offered this spacious seating arrangement throughout its fleet of McDonnell-Douglas aircraft?

Legend did the same from Love Field.

Icecat

And here's a bonus question: What did Alaska Airlines call their jet aircraft at this time?

Golden Nugget Jets

Seat 2A

This jibes with what I have as well (0245 - 0400). Even a half full 707 would be hard pressed to offload bags and passengers, go through customs, and then reload everything in that timeframe. Interesting...

Seat 2A

jlemon

Correct! And here's a follow up question:

What type of jet equipment was Alaska Airlines operating during the summer of 1967?

jrl767

hmmmmmmm ... "type", not "types"

I sure thought AS had the 727-90/-90C in their fleet by that time, but I'll wager that jlemon is looking for "Convair 880" and/or "Convair 990"

Seat 2A

WHBM raises a very good point here – one that we are perhaps reticent to acknowledge but one that nonetheless bears comment. I would like to comment, and hopefully I won’t blunder through it in a way that might offend anyone because I/we value everyone’s participation in this longstanding and successful thread. So please – bear with me if you will… (and if possible allow me a wee bit of latitude if I should unintentionally ruffle any feathers)

Although it was a BBC quiz that spurred me to post the first quiz here on FlyerTalk, the original idea for the Old Timers Airline & Airliner Quiz was sprung from a printed quiz that was once presented at an Airliners International convention breakfast that I attended back in the 1980s. Participants did not have access to timetables or the internet so the answers given were absolutely based solely upon one’s recall of airline history and schedules. The winner won an old airline bag or something similar.

I came up with the first seventy questions for this OTA&AQ quiz off the top of my head (which means I also knew all the answers off the top of my head), so to anyone who says “How can I possibly be expected to remember anything so eclectic as an airline fleet or schedule from thirty years ago without looking it up?!” I lean toward saying “I don’t know - just try!”

Speaking for myself, I’ve been a regular reader of the OAG since my school days and perhaps past activities such as writing down every wide bodied departure in the entire OAG or chronologically listing every single departure out of Los Angeles (both of which required going page by page through the entire OAG) has given me a bit of an edge in the schedule department, but then I expect many of our participants have engaged in similar activities, if only just looking at timetables for entertainment purposes. I reckon those who are half the airline geek they think they are should have at least a general idea of the answer to many of these questions. And if we’re wrong with our answer, well, there’s some fun to be had in hashing out the truth with the rest of us.

Most of the participants here at the OTA&AQ have considerable knowledge of commercial aviation history – not to mention extensive personal flight and/or industry experience – and as such likely know or have a good idea of what the answer is to most questions. That said, I also recognize that some of the questions here are pretty darned obscure, (such as those requiring one to list every airport in an eight-stop milkrun) and as such might require a bit of assistance. I enlisted a California road atlas to answer jlemon's question about all 32 California cities served by Air West in 1968 and I'd be surprised if anyone here knew - off the top of their heads - some of those extensive forty-year old Southern Airways routings posed in some recent questions.

One of my considerations in coming up with these quiz questions each month is trying to find and/or formulate questions in such a way that the answers are not immediately accessible via an easy internet search or a specific timetable search at a site like timetableimages.com. IF however a simple flight or routing question necessitates trotting off to the nearest OAG or timetable, well, at that point this exercise will have become more about one’s ability to search out the answer than to actually know the answer. I sincerely hope that any outside assistance toward providing the correct answer is kept to a bare minimum. Again, there’s no harm in being wrong and we might be surprised at just how often we’re right.

jlemon

Ah, I indeed should have said "types".....

And the Boeing 727 and Convair 990 are correct.

In addition, I believe Alaska Air was also operating the Lockheed L-100 turboprop, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules military transport, in all cargo operations back in 1967. AS called their aircraft the "Golden Nugget Freighter".

Speaking of the C-130, I ran into an acquaintance recently at a hurricane preparation seminar here in Louisiana. He is a USAF officer who flies as pilot in command of a Lockheed WC-130J "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft operated by the Air Force Reserve unit out of Keesler AFB in Mississippi. Knowing that the WC-130J is a radically different airplane when compared with the original C-130, I asked him about this. His reply: "Well, it sure as heck ain't your Daddy's Herky-bird......." He also has some very interesting stories concerning his "Hurricane Hunter" flights into such major Category 5 storms as Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico as you might well imagine......and, BTW, the WC-130J features six bladed props and is powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

Seat 2A

Right you are, Icecat!

And here's a bonus question: Name one more airline besides Legend that also operated its McDonnell-Douglas built aircraft in an all 2-2 configuration.

Seat 2A

Alright then - here are the remaining unanswered questions:

The following four questions are based upon schedules published in the first half of 1974

6. Well I’ll be darned! A casual perusal of your trusty OAG reveals that you’ve got a chance to fly aboard a venerable Lockheed Electra between Nassau and Port Au Prince, Haiti. Better yet, the flight makes a single stop enroute. Excusing yourself from the poolside bar, you quickly find a phone and book yourself a seat aboard this twice weekly flight. Identify the airline and the enroute stop.

7. Returning to Nassau aboard the Electra, you then book yourself a First Class seat onwards to Merida aboard this non-Caribbean airline’s once weekly nonstop flight – the only service offered between NAS and MID. Identify the airline and the aircraft used. A N S W E R E D

9. A Seriously Challenging jlemon Special: Always one to eschew nonstop service, you’re positively ecstatic to discover that not one – not two – but THREE different airlines operate a four stop flight between New Orleans and Chicago. So many choices! Identify each of the airlines, the routes they flew between MSY and ORD and the aircraft each airline employed on its flight. A N S W E R E D

10. This airline – which operated a variety of different Convair props (as well as other aircraft) over its lifetime – flew only a single route in 1974, offering six weekday Convair flights (all of them operated X67) between these two airports, as well as a single Sunday only flight. Identify the airline, the two airports served and – if you feel up to it – the type of Convair shown in the 1974 schedules.


The following three questions are based upon schedules published in the first half of 1988

11. As of early 1988, this airline offered the only nonstop flight from the state of Florida to Bermuda. Identify the airline and the aircraft utilized.

13. A thorough perusal of the OAG has revealed that in early 1988, this airline offered the only nonstop DC-8 service between the US and a Caribbean destination. Identify the airline, the route and the model of DC-8 utilized.

15. Traverse City, Michigan was served by a single jet flight each day. Please identify the airline, the equipment and the route.


The following three questions are based upon schedules published in the summer of 1968

18. If you wanted to fly aboard a DC-9-10 between Miami and Kingston, what airline would you call to book your flight upon?

19. Only two airlines provided nonstop service between New York and Montego Bay, Jamaica – both of them operating 707s. Identify each airline (Hint: BOAC was not one of them)


The following three questions are based upon schedules published in the summer of 1992

24. Once flown by everything from 707s to L-1011s to BAC-111s, during the summer of '92 the Miami to Nassau route was being served by a multitude of propeller driven aircraft and only a single daily jet flight. Identify the airline and the jet aircraft serving this route back then.

25. 727-100s were well into their twilight years by 1992. Indeed, only a few scant schedules remained flown in North America. In the summer of 1992, three airlines operated 727-100s from three different Caribbean destinations into three different U.S. gateway cities. Can you identify the airlines and city pairs?

26. Once the province of wide-bodied aircraft such as Pan Am 747s and Eastern L-1011s, in the summer of 1992 the Bermuda to New York market is served by just a single wide-bodied flight. Identify the airline and twin-aisled aircraft serving this market.


And now, a few miscellaneous questions...

28. This U.S. airline marketed “Preferred Service” in the forward cabins of its jets and “Competitive Service” in the main cabin. Identify the airline and the aircraft type employed for this service. A N S W E R E D

29. This U.S. airline named select aircraft in its fleet after entertainers Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Bing Crosby. Identify the airline and the aircraft type (It was the same type of aircraft for all four) A N S W E R E D

30. This airline’s ad claims it to be North America’s first international airline. Which airline is this? A N S W E R E D



Bonus Question

Name one more airline besides Legend and Midwest Express that also operated its McDonnell-Douglas built aircraft in an all 2-2 configuration. A N S W E R E D

Seat 2A

jrl767

how about MSY - Shreveport (SHV) - Little Rock (LIT) - MEM - Indianapolis (IND) - ORD

jrl767

creo que es Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, "Mexicana" (MX)