Seat 2A

Greetings all - just an update here on my absence of late - We've had ongoing IT problems here in the park that we're told will be corrected by the end of the week. Extremely slow connection speeds have allowed me to occasionally log on to Flyertalk but not access the quiz page or engage the Reply function to posts. At present I'm up the road in Healy where a better connection allows me this post.

Thanks to jlemon for his latest batch of questions and I look forward to rejoining the quiz at week's end.

Happy Contrails!

jlemon

5. Excellent guesses all! Here's how you did concerning AA's nonstop 747 service departing from New York JFK:

San Francisco (SFO) - Incorrect
Los Angeles (LAX) - Correct
San Juan (SJU) - Correct
Boston (BOS) - Incorrect

And as for the only one stop destination served by AA with the 747 departing from JFK:

Aruba (AUA) - Incorrect

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm the AA 747F freight schedules you've listed as I do not have access to American's all cargo service timetable.

6. Another excellent guess which, alas, is incorrect......but you're very close!

WHBM

I believe that it is Pacific Northern with 720s, Western, with 720Bs, and Pan Am, with 707s. Pan Am had given up by 1969, they progressively pulled back from their longstanding (since WW2) Alaska service. Pacific Northern merged into Western in 1967, so both carriers had served the airport prior to 1969.

The airport served the city of Ketchikan, some distance away, with a shuttle between the two by floatplane, I presume a Grumman Goose at the time. I wonder how they did it in winter, unless it doesn't freeze. Timetables were always very precise that the airport was separated from the city like this.

While referring to Pacific Northern, I wonder if anyone ever noticed the similarity between the PNA livery for their Boeings

http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1353852

and that of their neighbours over the border, Wardair, who were starting to build up their Boeing fleet just at the time that PNA disappeared into Western.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...FYaz2wodcCQAvg

WHBM

Last go at this one. Not a TWA L-1649A.

jlemon

1. Correct on all counts!

The earliest jet service I can find into Annette Island was operated by Pan Am with the Boeing 707 in 1963, followed by Pacific Northern with the B720 in 1964 or 1965 and Western with the B720B in 1967 following its acquisition of Pacific Northern which in turn had previously operated Lockheed Constellation aircraft into ANN at the same time Pan Am was serving the airport.

Annette Island is located about 20 miles south of Ketchikan, a fact that was noted in the timetables of all three airlines.

From the August 1, 1963 Pan American World Airways timetable:

"Ketchikan Airport is located on Annette Island, approximately 20 miles from Ketchikan proper. Connecting service between Annette Island and Ketchikan is provided via Alaska Coastal-Ellis Airlines only. Reservations for direct connecting passengers not required."

From the October 1, 1965 Pacific Northern Airlines timetable:

"Ketchikan proper is 20 miles from the airport which is located on Annette Island. Alaska Coastal/Ellis Airlines provides scheduled connecting service between Annette Island and Ketchikan proper. Additional flight coupons are needed for Alaska Coastal/Ellis flights. Fares $6.00 one way; $12.00 round trip."

From the August 1, 1968 Western Airlines timetable:

"Ketchikan proper is located 20 miles from the Annette Island Airport. Seaplane service is provided by Alaska Airlines to the seaplane docks at Ketchikan for an additional charge of $10.00 plus tax each way."

Alaska Airlines had acquired Alaska Coastal/Ellis Airlines by this time and was operating both Grumman Goose and Super Catalina (PBY) amphibian aircraft on the short hop between Annette Island and the Ketchikan seaplane base. And BTW, I believe the coastal waters in this area rarely froze, if ever.

Annette Island Airport began life as Annette Island Army Airfield during WW II. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) based various aircraft there, backing up the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) operating further north and west in Alaska. RCAF assets included the Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke maritime patrol aircraft, the Lockheed Ventura torpedo bomber and the Curtiss P-40 fighter.

Around 1947, the airfield was transferred to civilian control. And this same year, Pan Am was operating Douglas DC-4 service into the airport with a routing of Seattle-Annette Island-Juneau-Whitehorse-Fairbanks-Galena-Nome being flown twice a week in addition to daily Seattle-Annette Island-Juneau DC-4 service. Pan Am later operated Douglas DC-6 and Boeing B377 Stratocruiser aircraft into ANN before introducing 707 service during the early 1960's. By 1966, Pan Am was no longer serving Annette Island.

I've actually seen the Annette Island Airport from the air as I was inbound to Ketchikan on board an Alaska Air B727-200 some years ago. And speaking of KTN, here's a bonus question:

12. What type of aircraft did Alaska Airlines use to inaugurate the first jet service to Ketchikan (KTN) in 1973? ANSWERED

WHBM

I seem to recall that Alaska bought the former Western, and onetime PNA, small fleet of non-fan engine Boeing 720s in the early 1970s, so I will guess one of these returning to its old stamping grounds. Alaska didn't buy any new aircraft for many years around this time, just making secondhand purchases, and leasing aircraft in for the summer high season.

jlemon

12. Correct! Although I am unsure whether it was actually a Boeing 720 formerly operated by Pacific Northern.

Here's why....airliners.net has photos of three specific Boeing 720 types operated by Alaska Airlines: B720-022 (former United Airlines aircraft), B720-048 (apparently a former Aer Lingus aircraft which I believe was acquired secondhand by Pacific Northern) and B720-062 (which I believe two of which were acquired new by Pacific Northern). And I also seem to recall that AS may have briefly operated a B720-024B leased from Continental......

I also do not think Boeing 720 ops flown by Alaska Air into Ketchikan lasted all that long as AS began flying the B727-100 into KTN followed later by the B727-200 and B737-200 Combi.

WHBM

The former United 720 came to Alaska the following year, 1974. It was a time of big fuel price increases, and when the year after that Alaska was able to get a batch of five former Pan Am 727s, that was the end of these four-holers for them. They had all started off with their original registrations, but Alaska later neatened them up into a series N301AS-N304AS.

jrl767

I think AUA was actually a nonstop destination, with the flight continuing to Curaçao (CUR) ... as JoeDTW speculated, Santo Domingo (SDQ) was probably the fourth

6. AA departures from MSY: let's go with quantity one ... a 727 operating to DFW

Indelaware

7. MSP

9. Las Vegas, LAX, SFO, Eugene, Reno, Aspen, Grand Canyon.

10. Frontier with the CV-580.

jrl767

as expected, I discovered my four issues of "Airliners International" in the storage area of our Seattle house last week, so I brought them back with me to DC for some late-evening leisure reading (and, perhaps, some Quiz questions and answers ... )

what has me smiling right now is a Letter to the Editor in the #2 (Fall 1973), providing a correction to a list of nicknames of Continental Airlines aircraft that appeared in the Summer 1973 premiere issue ... the reader was from Ojai, CA, and if I am not mistaken I recognize his name as our illustrious Seat 2A

jlemon

Excellent information. I remember flying on Alaska Air not too long after the original Braniff International had gone out of business. I was on a 72S en route from Seattle to Burbank that made an intermediate stop in Ontario (routing was SEA-ONT-BUR-SEA). Parked adjacent to our aircraft at ONT was a 72S in the BN "Flying Colors" paint scheme (this one was red) with the Braniff International titles removed and Alaska Airlines decals slapped on....

jlemon

5. Correct! Complete routing of the nonstop AA 747 flight from New York to Aruba was actually JFK-AUA-CUR-JFK.

6. Correct! American operated only one departure a day from New Orleans at this time with this flight continuing on to San Jose (SJC) via DFW.

jlemon

7. & 9. & 10. All correct!

jlemon

These quiz items remain up for grabs.....