jrl767

2- PI jet service: partially (2 out of 3) correct; see below

jrl767

these are the only two that I think I have a reasonable shot at guessing:

I joined Boeing in Jul 1978, which I'm pretty sure was not long after the last delivery of a 707 to a commercial customer; it seems to me that it was a -300C that went to an African carrier ... I want to say Royal Air Maroc, but I may have that confused with the 707-700 flight test jet with CFM56 engines (I actually logged a handful of flights on N707QT as a test engineer; the jet was ultimately restored to -300 configuration and delivered to the Govt of Morocco) ... how about Sudan Airways?

I started work at Edwards AFB in the summer of 1984, when the last few L-1011-500s were still on the ramp at Lockheed's Palmdale facility (along with N1011, the #1 jet) ... I recall several dark-grey or black tails which were most likely Alia Royal Jordanian aircraft, and if I had to guess I'd say N1011 was there by its lonesome early the following year

jrl767

well I stand (sit) corrected ... I mis-informed everyone as to the accuracy of jlemon's answer to Q2

he has correctly guessed two of the three PI destinations that had all-jet service in June 1974, namely MEM and BNA; however, according to my timetable, ORD actually saw one turboprop flight

original q updated

WHBM

In the hours since posting these questions yesterday, a pleasant BAe146/RJ has brought me 300 miles westward to Dublin, departing London City in an absolute monsoon (as we waited at the gate the others were fascinated by seeing the water clouds blown up behind jets departing in such conditions) to Ireland, where in a reversal of the weather stereotype it's a pleasant summer day. Good for Cityjet, who have been a bit financially challenged in recent times, and reducing routes, that every seat was taken, first time I can recall that on the route. And a nice UK-built aircraft, not quite the last of production but towards the end.
Very good shots, jrl. In my records the last 707 was indeed a 320C to an African airline, although not Sudan. It was delivered in 1978. Just 11 years old, it went to an overhaul contractor in Dublin in 1989 for a D-check, that the carrier then didn't have funds to pay for the interim payments, so it sat there half-done with no engines for years afterwards and in the end was scrapped. Rather a short life. This wasn't the only time such happened with this airline, a widebody overhaul at Amsterdam in later years went the same way.

Regarding the Tristars, the Alia aircraft were indeed towards the end of production, and seem to have been delivered throughout 1983, but there was one more went to an airline at the start of 1984. It probably turned up in The Americas most days thereafter.

Were the Alia aircraft actually still at Palmdale in 1984 ? Most of their tails were red, although there does seem to have been one grey one

jlemon

2. Hmmmm....perhaps ole PI slipped in a YS-11 out of ORD when I wasn't looking.....

So let's go with New York LaGuardia (LGA) instead.

jrl767

2- yes, LGA was the third airport where PI only operated the 737 in June 1974

as for a YS-11 at ORD, are you offering that as either a partial answer for q3 or as a guess for q4?

jlemon

Well, no, that was not a response to a quiz item....it was more of an aside.

But what the heck.....

Wild guess time:

4. Piedmont operating both the Boeing 737-200 and the Fairchild-Hiller FH-227 into Newark (EWR).

WHBM

WHBM's plane home in hangar destroyed by fire

"Ms O'Donnell said two whisper jets were in the hangar, but it is understood there was no damage to either aircraft, and said they would be fully inspected.

It is understood one of the short-haul 146 aircraft was operated by CityJet"

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0826/723589-dublin-airport/

jlemon

Yikes! And speaking of conflagrations and the BAe 146.....

It appears there are now six (and possibly seven) converted BAe 146 aircraft plus two Avro RJ85 aircraft currently being used as firefighting air tankers as large fires continue to burn in the western U.S. These aircraft are operated by private contractors.

The U.S. Forest Service as well as the California Dept. of Forestry & Fire Protection are both reported to be pleased with the performance of the 146 and RJ85 in aerial fire suppression operations.

WHBM

Suffered considerable ribaldry from colleague yesterday, given they were returning by Aer Lingus to Heathrow, that I'd be flying home on a wing and a cinder ... IF I actually got away today ... etc.

As we stepped from the taxi at the terminal the disorganisation arising from the earlier closure was continuing. Some Ryanair were over 4 hours late. You always know it's bad when the FIDS arrivals screens have so many previously delayed flights shown that they run out of space to show the current arrivals. So there was a moment of quiet satisfaction to find his EI flight was departing 90 minutes late, while mine ... was on time

What does this have to do with the thread ? Well the hangar involved, belonging to the big maintenance contractor long based at Dublin, appears to be the same one that the last airline 707 got it's first (and last) D-check in, all those years ago, as described above.

Here's a nice shot of a Cityjet 146 accompanying the press release about the fire. Don't open it if your wife is looking over your shoulder.

http://www.cityjet.com/news/statemen...-airport.shtml

and some nice shots of their 146/RJs in action

jrl767

in the last day or so, it occurred to me that the way I posed these two questions was setting up a lot of back-and-forth with respect to getting to the answers ... and I was right (!)partial credit to jlemon, but challenging to allocate: he has identified both turboprop models in the 1974 PI fleet, and correctly listed EWR as one of the three airports (in q3) that saw just the 737 and the Fairchild ... this of course gives away that in q4 there was only one city -- but not ORD -- that saw PI's YS-11 and 737

original questions updated

jlemon

Last call for this quiz item as my lady and I will be departing this weekend on board the one and only daily mainline flight from LFT (a DL operated B717) in the front cabin on the first leg of our journey to Jamaica.

And the hint for the above question is: this flight was operated by a U.S. air carrier that was not based in the lower 48 states.

jlemon

Last call for this quiz item as well.......

jlemon

And last call for these quiz items, too. I'll provide answers this Saturday morning should there be no takers.

Seat 2A

Good Morning from chilly Alaska! After spending an extra four hours on the road yesterday while two landslides and a washout were dealt with, I returned home late last night to find that FINALLY our IT problems appear to have been successfully addressed. This morning I have a good strong connection allowing me to once again dart about the web with vim and vigor.

As for the coming days' forecast:

http://www.wunderground.com/us/ak/denali-national-park


16. What type of aircraft was Alaska Airlines operating into Gustavus, Alaska (GST) in early 1976?

I'm going to guess they were operating a Grumman Goose. Alaska also operated some Twin Otters around the southeast, but let's go with the Goose...

17. Also in 1976, this U.S. based airline was operating daily service into Guaymas, Mexico (GYM). Name the airline and identify the aircraft type used by this air carrier to serve Guaymas. And here's a hint: this service was not operated by a commuter airline.

I'm reasonably certain this was Hughes Airwest, operating a DC-9 from Phoenix. I always had an interest in Guaymas because we vacationed there in 1967. We did not fly there on that trip, though. Instead we loaded up the family station wagon - complete with Sunfish sailboat strapped to the top - and drove from Colorado all the way down. I also had a long standing interest in Hughes Airwest and its bright yellow airplanes, having flown into or visited many of the airports it served around California and Arizona.