jlemon

The weekend is upon us, which means.......quiz time!

Can't let this thread sputter out, you know.....

1) Name the former U.S. operators of the MD-90.

2) Name as many U.S. operators of the Martin 404 as you can (and there were a number of them).

3) Of the former U.S. operators of the Martin 404, name two airlines that never operated any turboprop aircraft of similar or larger size.

4) Name three airports that are no longer served by Southwest Airlines.

5) What type of aircraft did Braniff International primarily use when BN flew "wingtip to wingtip" with Southwest between Houston and Dallas in a concerted effort to match WN's schedule with the goal of driving them out of business?

6) Southwest at one point operated B727-200s formerly operated by Braniff. Southwest also flew B727-200s that had been operated by another airline. Name that airline.

7) What airline operated a DC-8 Super 60 series nonstop between Honolulu (HNL) and Calgary (YYC)?

8) What airline operated direct, onestop B747 service between Honolulu (HNL) and Cleveland (CLE)?

9) What airline operated nonstop jet service between Long Beach (LGB) and San Diego (SAN) and what type of aircraft was used?

10) What airline acquired a B727 formerly operated by Northwest that was involved in the D.B. Cooper hijacking?

797-3

Let me give this a stab without "google is your friend".

4) formerly San Francisco (left and returned)
Beaumont, Texas
Stapleton International Airport, Denver
Intercontinental Airport, Houston (now Bush Intercontinental)

7) CP Air

10) Key Airlines of Savannah, GA or someplace close to there.

I know at least one answer is correct so a new question:

What airport was destroyed between midnight and approximately 3 am on a secret mission ordered by the Mayor? They just destroyed the runway so that planes could no longer take off or land. Some planes were stranded.

What was one scheduled route that used that airport?

tonywestsider

jlemon: Mahalo nui for the great history of your time in Hawaii!


1.) Reno Air
2.) Martin 404 operators: Air South, Eastern Air Lines, Pacific Air Lines, Piedmont, Mohawk, Florida Airlines, Ozark Airlines, Provincetown Boston Airlines, Southeast Airways, Southern Airways, TWA, Atlantic Southeast
3.) Florida Airlines, TWA
8.) United

cs57

The destroyed airport was Meigs ---Chicago

Wally Bird

jlemon

Great job by 797-3, tonywestsider and Wally Bird with regard to your various answers!

1) Reno Air and American. American acquired Reno Air and then operated the MD-90 for awhile with a modified AA livery. TWA never operated the MD-90 but did operate the B717, which was previously known as the MD-95 (the "little brother" of the MD-90). Delta continues to be the only current U.S. operator of the MD-90 in scheduled service.

2) Here's the list I have for past U.S. operators of the Martin 404:

Air South
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA)
Eastern Airlines
Florida Airlines
Marco Island Airways
Mohawk Airlines
Ozark Air Lines
Pacific Airlines
Piedmont Airlines
Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA)
Southeast Airlines
Southern Airways
TWA

In addition, military versions of the Martin 404 were operated by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy.

Interestingly, I could not find any European operators of the Martin 404. Anyone have any intel concerning this?

3) Besides TWA and Florida Airlines, Southern Airways never operated a similar sized turboprop (although I believe SO did operate the 19 pax Fairchild-Swearingen Metro at one point).

4) Of course, Southwest went back into both DEN and SFO.

Here's the answers I was looking for:

Beaumont/Port Arthur (BPT)
Houston Bush Intercontinental (IAH)
Detroit City (DET)

7) Correct! CP Air operated the D8S nonstop YYC-HNL.

8) United is correct! And I think it's been a very long time since CLE had scheduled 747 service.

10) Correct! Piedmont acquired this famous 727 from NW.

However, I have been unable to verify whether this particular airplane actually had a placard placed next to the inside door of the rear airstair that read "Parachutists not allowed past this point"......

Wally Bird

Well I cheated and consulted a book. Operators in addition to the above who may have carried passengers (I haven't heard of any of these):
Flamingo Airlines
Voyager
Page Airways
Fiesta Air
Westernair
Colony Airlines
Kwin Air
Balantic
Africair! (N40425)

And to answer my own question, yes Pioneer only operated 2O2s. No Europeans.

WHBM

I don't think a Martin ever appeared in Europe, let alone operated for someone.

The only new operators were Northwest, Eastern, TWA and the US military. Northwest had one too many fatal accidents with them and sold them prematurely, some of which ended up as the first aircraft for a new Japan Air Lines, operated by US crews. The main difference was the Martin 2-0-2 was unpressurised and the Martin 4-0-4 was pressurised.

Wally Bird

Proof of two more 4O4 operators:
Shawnee was a Florida intrastate taken over by Florida Airlines.



No idea who Global were, although the concept of a "global" 4O4 seems a little ambitious .

tonywestsider

Hi jlemon,

When you were working in Hawaii, weren't there some Martins and DC-3s flying for an inter-island carrier called DHL Island Airways? Circa 1979?

jlemon

Excellent questions....and I honestly do not recall seeing them. Were these aircraft being used for interisland cargo operations?

One thing I will always remember is watching a CP Air DC-10-30 depart from the vantage point of the Mahalo Air hangar across airfield from the HNL terminal. There was a driving tropical rainstorm in progress at the time and the DC-10 roared down the runway anyway. We noted that departures were then halted until the extremely heavy downpour and high winds associated with the intense squall abated......

BTW, my first and only flight on board a Martin 404 was on a Southern Airways flight from MEM to HSV back in the mid 60's. Southern then acquired their first DC-9s shortly after that and thus never operated a similar sized turboprop such as the Fairchild F-27 or Convair 580.....

Wally Bird

3 4O4s were used by DHL (cargo), all broken up at HNL around 1981:

Cattle Airlines

Have I found an error? If so, my answer is a great answer!

Didn't Southwest leave 4 or more airports?
Detroit is counted because it left Detroit City Airport even though it now operates out of Detroit Metro. Therefore, it is the airport we are counting.

Denver did leave Denver Stapleton. I think when they returned to Denver, the current DIA was open and Stapleton was closed.

There are still more airports. Austin, Texas opened a new civilian airport at the site of an old air force base. Southwest moved when that happened.

Southwest also took over Morris Air Transport, Muse, and AirTran. Some AirTran markets will be shut down though they would not have operated under the Southwest name.

Brownie point for me?

jlemon

Good points all! I was looking for specific airports where Southwest made a voluntary business decision to end service and then never returned. BPT, IAH and DET all qualify in this regard. These airports are obviously still there.

At AUS, WN did not have a choice if they wanted to continue to serve Austin. All the air carriers had to move to the old Bergstrom Air Force Base. And the same holds true with regard to Denver Stapleton. Also note that the three letter code for both airports did not change.

And, of course, with regard to AirTran, I was specifically talking about Southwest in a historical sense as this the "Old Timer's" quiz, although your point about Morris Air and Muse/TranStar are noted.

So, yes, you get the brownie point!

Cattle Airlines

In all fairness, brownie points are not deserved for Austin. Denver, does, I believe. That is because WN left Stapleton as a business decision. They didn't come back for many years. By that time, Stapleton had closed.