jlemon

33. Correct!

jlemon

Following the merger of North Central and Southern in July of 1979, the newly formed Republic Airlines was serving a considerable number of smaller communities with the McDonnell Douglas "Super" DC9-50 to include:

Aberdeen, SD (ABR)
Bismarck, ND (BIS)
Duluth, MN (DLH)
Eau Claire, WI (EAU)
Escanaba, MI (ESC)
Fargo, ND (FAR)
Grand Forks, ND (GFK)
Green Bay, WI (GRB)
Hancock, MI (CMX)
Hibbing, MN (HIB)
International Falls, MN (INL)
Iron Mountain, MI (IMT)
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, MI (AZO)
La Crosse, WI (LSE)
Marquette, MI (MQT)
Minot, ND (MOT)
Muskegon, MI (MKG)
Pellston, MI (PLN)
Pierre, SD (PIR)
Rhinelander, WI (RHI)
Stevens Point/Wausau, WI (CWA)
Traverse City, MI (TVC)
Watertown, SD (ATY)

These former North Central DC9-50 aircraft operated by Republic were configured with 130 seats featuring all economy seating. I'm not sure how RC filled up these flights from these smaller communities, a number of which had multiple DC9-50 departures per day, sometimes in addition to DC9-30 and/or CV-580 service.....

Icecat

29. In 1985, this airline was flying scheduled intrastate operations in Texas with service to five different destinations, one of which was an "alternative" airport. The aircraft used for this service was configured with over 50 passenger seats. Identify the air carrier, all five airports and the equipment.
Let discuss Forth Worth Airlines; Serving Fort Worth-Meacham, Both Houston-Hobby and IAH, then AUS and SAT with a YS-11 obtain from Mid-Pacific.

Icecat

Well from my Air Force days, I can tell you that the planes filled up at Green Bay "hub" to the final destination of MSP, ORD, DTW. I can state for sure at MQT it took quite the winter storm for NC to cancel the flight.

jlemon

29. Correct! Fort Worth Airlines advertised their YS-11 aircraft as having "56 full-sized reclining seats". Typical one way fare between Fort Worth Meacham Field (FTW) and AUS, HOU, IAH and SAT was $47 peak and $32 off peak. I believe the YS-11, which is equipped with Rolls-Royce Dart engines, was manufactured by Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Company (NAMC) which was a consortium of Japanese companies.

jrl767

that would be as I recall as well

I flew on a couple of Piedmont's YS-11A "Pacemaker" birds in the 1973-74 time frame (DCA-ROA and SDF-LEX-ROA) ... what I remember most is that the window location seemed to be an inch or two lower than on other airliners

Seat 2A

37. You are in San Francisco and need to travel to Salt Lake City. There are a number of nonstop flights you could choose from. However, there is only one flight from SFO to SLC which makes one intermediate stop en route and since you enjoy landings and takeoffs, you book a seat. However, first class is not available as the jet aircraft has an all coach configuration. Identify the airline, the equipment and the intermediate stop.

How 'bout a Western 737-200 with a stop in Reno?

kochleffel

I flew PLN-ORD on a Simmons YS-11 in the 1980s. I don't remember the window location but I vividly recall that it seemed lumbering in flight, compared to other aircraft. The Shorts 360 on the return flight seemed to fly a lot better, even though it felt like riding in a piano crate with wings.

Simmons had a sign in the PLN terminal reading "Fly the Wide-Body 360!"

jlemon

37. Western is correct and the intermediate stop in Reno is correct as well.

However, aircraft type was not a Boeing 737-200. Please guess again!

jlemon

I flew PLN-ORD on a Simmons YS-11 in the 1980s. I don't remember the window location but I vividly recall that it seemed lumbering in flight, compared to other aircraft. The Shorts 360 on the return flight seemed to fly a lot better, even though it felt like riding in a piano crate with wings.

Simmons had a sign in the PLN terminal reading "Fly the Wide-Body 360!"


Question from passenger: "What's a Short 360?"

Answer from commuter airline gate agent: "Oh, it's the box our new Twin Otter came in......"

Seat 2A

jlemon

37. You are getting closer, sir! However, the aircraft was not a Boeing 707-320.

And as for the game in the Steel City yesterday, miracles have been known to occur concerning "dem Saints"......

jrl767

37 - I flew LAX-SMF on an all-Y-configured WA 720B (N3165) in early 1978, so perhaps that jet was in the fleet a couple years before

jlemon

37. Correct! And hats off to Seat 2A as well! Here's the sched....

WA 344: SFO 2:30p - 3:15p RNO 3:45p - 5:48p SLC
Op: Daily
Equip: Boeing 720B
Class of service: Y

BTW, The only other mainline service from RNO to SLC at this time was a daily United flight operated with a Convair 580 via intermediate stops in Elko (EKO) and Ely (ELY). Of course, this flight (which had a round trip routing of SFO-RNO-EKO-ELY-SLC) was actually operated for United by Frontier and was the only turboprop service being flown in the UA system at this time.

And here's a Western Airlines two part bonus question:

In the spring of 1977, what was the total number of Boeing 720B aircraft operated by WA and what was the major concern voiced by Western in their annual report at the time with regard to the B720B? ANSWERED

JoeDTW

Hello 727! And fond farewell to our Convair 580 aircraft, no longer part of Allegheny's fleet.

There have been a lot of weird airline slogans...but "The big airline with the hometown touch" was one of the weirdest. Allegheny was trying to be "big but not impersonal", or "friendly but not small" with this slogan, I guess....