Seat 2A

Long Train Runnin

This one seems pretty simple, so as a first timer I am nervous that I must be wrong. I believe Pan-Am started with flights from Key West to Havana and the plane would have been a Fokker F-7.

jlemon

9. Well, if you wanted to fly on a Convair 440 from HOU to MSY in the morning, you could do so on Eastern.....with a 5:00am departure that made intermediate stops at BPT, LCH, LFT and BTR.

Or you could have waited until 8:00am and then board a Lockheed L-188 Electra at Hobby Airport with a 9:05am arrival into New Orleans.

And should you have chosen this Eastern flight (which originated in Houston and then continued on to Mobile (MOB) and Birmingham (BHM) following the stop at MSY), you would have been served a full hot breakfast regardless of the class of service you were flying in (being A/T).....which is something that Delta and National did not offer on their respective first flights of the day from Houston to New Orleans.

jlemon

7. Nope, the destination was not Tucson (TUS). Nor was it DEN, ELP or PHX.

However, this small city does have something in common with Tucson as both are located in a desert environment......

WHBM

Hello Long Train Runnin, and welcome to the quiz. Do please carry on and have a shot at the other questions. I believe you are quite correct that the first Pan Am flight was from Key West to Havana, and that Pan Am had ordered Fokker F-7s (built in a Fokker plant in New Jersey) for the run.

However, the deadline was October 19, the Fokker F-7 was a landplane, and the runway at Key West was not ready, so the first flight was actually by a chartered Fairchild FC-2 floatplane that Juan Trippe, head of the new Pan Am, had managed to obtain the services of up in Miami. So the very first Pan Am flight was one of these. If the deadline had not been met Pan Am would have lost their air mail contract. Some days later the runway was ready and the Fokkers took over. They were a standard type on US airline schedules of the time.

There used to be what looked like a simple white-painted frame house on a back street in downtown Key West that had a board outside saying it was the original office of Pan Am. I've a photograph of it I took about 15 years ago, but when I revisited The Keys just a few years ago it had, alas, gone.

jlemon

Well, I thought I might get into trouble on this one....

So please permit me to quote from the 1979 Pan Am annual report:

"Pan Am: America's Leading International Airline"

"On October 28, 1927, a tiny Fokker trimotor airplane flew from Key West, Florida, across a narrow stretch of water to Havana, Cuba. It was Pan Am's first flight - and the first scheduled international flight by an American airline."

The above statement is accompanied by a photo entitled "Pan Am's first plane, a Fokker F-7"

So according to Pan Am and their annual report back in 1979, this was their first scheduled international flight.

WHBM

Perhaps Pan Am didn't want to talk about having to subcharter to cover their first service Even if Juan Trippe had fixed it up.

http://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/...ht-oct-19-1927

That's the Fairchild FC-2 aircraft in the picture.

It's always worth looking back on Trippe's life, that he started in aviation with aircraft like that and finished up, when Pan Am president, as the one who signed the first order for the Boeing 747 !

Seat 2A

Salt Lake City and Albuquerque come to mind as high desert cities (Great American Basin) but I don't recall Pan Am ever serving either. Desert cities... not a lot left to work with. El Paso and maybe Lubbock and Amarillo would qualify as such in Texas, but I'm sure PA never served those.

Hmm... Let's go with the Biggest Little City in The World - Reno, Nevada.

jlemon

Well, we are narrowing it down here...

However, Reno (RNO) is not the destination. And the small city in question was not located in Texas nor was it Albuquerque or Salt Lake City.

So here's another hint: this destination was served on a one stop, direct basis from Houston Intercontinental (routing was IAH - ___ - ___ round trip)

jrl767

Oklahoma City? Tulsa? not exactly "desert" ...

jlemon

Nope, it was not OKC or TUL.....although some folks might contend the cultural scene in these two Oklahoma cities is a bit "desert-like".......

Seat 2A

Hmm... So it wasn't in Texas, nor was it Tucson, Phoenix or Albuquerque. Pan Am already served Las Vegas via the National acquisition. It wasn't Reno, Salt Lake City, OKC or Tulsa. There aren't a lot of options left for "desert" cities...

Santa Fe? Probably not.
Yuma? Nope.
Elko? Nah.

Okay, let's try Palm Springs. As for an enroute stop, let's go with Las Vegas.

jlemon

Palm Springs (PSP) is correct!!! However, the routing was actually Houston Intercontinental - Phoenix - Palm Springs.

Following its acquisition of National, Pan Am began building up service out of Houston. Back around 1981, PA was operating domestic nonstop service from IAH to JAX, JFK, LAS, LAX, LGA, MCO, MIA, MOB, MSY, SAN, SEA, SFO and TPA. Many of these routes, especially to California and Florida as well as to Las Vegas and New Orleans, had been previously flown by National, of course. Also back in 1981, PA was operating international nonstops from IAH to LGW and MEX. In fact, one of the routes may have been MEX-IAH-LGW flown with an L1011 if memory serves me correctly. In addition, Emerald Air was operating Pan Am Express service in the early 80's with DC9s from IAH to AUS, SAT and MFE.

And around this same time, Pan Am was operating an IAH-PHX-LAX route. This was changed in 1982 to IAH-PHX-PSP and the airline then announced that Palm Springs was "the newest Pan Am destination." However, apparently things didn't work out quite as planned and both Palm Springs and Phoenix were eliminated from the PA route system by the next year.

And that does it for yours truly with regard to submitting OTAQ&D quiz items at the present time.

It's time for a break....so take it away, Seat 2A!

jrl767

I have probably mentioned this once or twice in the time I've been participating in this thread: in November 1980, while employed as an avionics analysis engineer at Boeing Flight Test, I flew MEX-IAH on PA 90 (which then indeed continued to LGW) ... as I often did in those years, I made a left turn after boarding to chat with the flight crew for a minute or two, during which conversation I mentioned reading an Aviation Week feature article about the autoland capability of the L-1011-500 a couple months earlier (and, of course, also made note of my job) ... the captain gestured to the first observer's seat and said something like "Best seat in the house if you want to watch us shoot the ILS into Houston"

Seat 2A

And a very well deserved break at that! Many thanks to jlemon for the time and effort he put into both researching and responding to another fine set of questions. ^^

I will do my best to carry on with this new set of fifty questions. However, given the vagaries of work schedules and quality internet connections up here at latitude 65, I must beg your collective forbearance as to the alacrity of my responses from time to time.

Indeed, I'll start begging right now because as soon as I post these questions, I'm off to town for provisions - not to return until later this afternoon. Upon return to Denali, my best internet access will be during the morning hours (8-10 Alaska Daylight Time) and only occasionally later in the day.

Well alrighty then – on to the questions.

As one who’s always enjoyed perusing the odd OAG or airline timetable, the 1990s were a great time in American commercial aviation. The post deregulation frenzy evidenced through the 1980s continued with a multitude of new start-ups, many of which lasted no more than a year or two – if that. Meanwhile, established airlines continued to expand into new markets - both domestic and international. There’s plenty of interesting schedules to derive questions from.

By now it’s a well-known fact that quite a few people follow but don’t necessarily participate in these questions. As of a few minutes ago when I last checked, we had 550,040 views - many many times more than any other thread in the Travel Buzz forum. The level of interest in the OTAQ&D is most gratifying and of course it’s always a good day when someone new decides to take the plunge and join our quiz with an answer or two.

While our core participants are well familiar with this by now, please limit responses to no more than two or three questions at a time so that any and all – be they lurkers or regular participants - might have an equal opportunity to participate.


THE TIMELINE FOR THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IS MID-1992


1. Back in the early 1970s, New Haven, Connecticut enjoyed mainline jet service via Eastern Airlines DC-9-30s that flew up from Washington National. Through the eighties, propeller driven commuter aircraft provided the only lift out of the city. Now, in 1992, mainline jets have returned thanks to United Airlines which operates three daily flights with 737 jets ~ two from Chicago and one from ___________________.
PARTIALLY A N S W E R E D

2. By 1992, 727-100s were becoming an increasingly rare sight at North American airports. However, every Monday and Friday morning at 7:15am, a 727-100 departs Boston’s Logan Airport (BOS) bound for Cozumel (CZM) with one intermediate stop. A snack and a lunch are served enroute. Identify the airline and the intermediate stop.

3. Way up north in Canada’s Northwest Territory, three airlines vie for your patronage on the fiercely competitive route between Yellowknife (YZF) and Cambridge Bay (YCB). Two of the airlines operate mainline jet equipment while the other utilizes a turbo-prop. Identify each airline and its respective equipment.

4. A thorough perusal of the schedules reveals that during the mid-summer of 1992, only one airline was operating mainline jet equipment into Tampa’s St. Petersburg International Airport (PIE), operating four flights a week from an unnamed American city. Identify the airline, the aircraft and the city of origin for these flights.

5. Further perusal of the 1992 summer schedule reveals a single airline providing the only all economy configured flights between New York area airports and Ft. Lauderdale. Three flights per day are offered, one each from Long Island’s MacArthur Airport (ISP), New Jersey’s Newark International (EWR) and New York’s Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Identify the airline and the single aircraft type it operates on these three routes.

6. In mid-1992, passengers desiring nonstop transport between Anchorage and Honolulu were limited to this once a week, Saturday only flight. Identify the airline and aircraft involved.

7. Identify the four U.S. airlines that serve Cancun, Mexico.

8. In mid-1992, American Airlines was big on San Juan, Puerto Rico, offering nonstop service from fourteen different mainland U.S. airports. Identify each of them.

9. The Oklahoma City to Kansas City route used to be Braniff country. Not anymore. In mid-1992 the only nonstop service is provided via this airline with six mostly daily flights. Name it. A N S W E R E D

10. If you wanted to take advantage of Fifth Freedom rights to fly foreign carriers within North America, Montreal probably offered more options than any other city on the continent. Let’s examine just a couple here: Identify the two foreign airlines operating between Montreal and Chicago. While you’re at it, go ahead and identify which type of aircraft each airline operated on the route.

11. Not so many years earlier, 747s were commonly seen on domestic services around North America. Los Angeles in particular enjoyed 747 flights from cities as diverse as Seattle, Phoenix, Detroit, Dallas and Denver to name just a few. Today – in 1992 – aside from Hawaii schedules - Los Angeles is served by just three 747 flights originating in North America. Each flight is operated by a different airline. Identify the airline and the route flown.

12. If you want to fly aboard a 737-400 out of Albuquerque, there’s only a single flight departing each day. Identify the airline and the destination airport.
US Air identified. Still looking for the destination

13. If you want to fly upon a DC-9-10 out of Phoenix, you’ll have to call this airline. Which airline is it?

14. Identify the only city in Montana receiving jet flights that does not have any nonstop interstate jet services.

15. Once upon a time, Nantucket, MA was the beneficiary of DC-9 jet flights from the likes of Northeast and New York Air. These days (1992), Nantucket is served by just a single jet flight. Identify the airline, the equipment and the route.


THE TIMELINE FOR THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IS 1994

16. At this time there are four foreign airlines that enjoy Fifth Freedom rights between Los Angeles and Mexico City. Identify each airline and the aircraft it flies on this route.

17. Speaking of Mexico, I’ve been able to find four Mexican airlines that fly mainline jets into the U.S. Don’t worry none about them jets – just identify the airlines.

18. Speaking further of Mexico, there’s an airline that operates a one-stop turboprop flight between Mexico City and San Antonio, TX. The flight stops in San Luis Potosi. Identify the airline and the aircraft used.

19. You are enjoying a nice late winter afternoon in Spokane, Washington when friends call and ask if you’d care to join them on a road trip along Route 66 through the Mojave Desert. The timing is a bit sudden – they’re leaving from their home in Santa Monica tomorrow morning – but as luck would have it the one and only nonstop flight from Spokane to LAX departs in a couple of hours at 6:35pm. Identify the airline and the aircraft operating this flight.

20. If you live in Milwaukee and want to fly nonstop to Florida over the winter, this airline offers the only daily nonstop flights to Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando and Tampa. Identify the airline.

21. If you live in Nashville and want to fly to West Palm Beach, there’s only one flight per day, albeit a one-stop flight. It’s got some vintage equipment though, and a cheap fare to boot. Identify the airline, the equipment and the enroute stop.

22. Identify the airline that – as of early 1994 - flies mainline jets into more Colorado cities than any other. While you’re at it, identify those Colorado cities as well.

23. Worcester, MA has enjoyed jet service from a variety of airlines over the years. Alas, in early 1994 there was only a single jet flight out of town. Identify the airline, the jet and the destination served.

24. Despite the short distances involved, US Airways operates intra-state mainline jet service to five North Carolina Cities from Charlotte. Identify those cities.
Raleigh, Fayetteville and Asheville identified so far...

25. Identify 8 state capitols that once had mainline jet service but as of mid-1994 no longer do.


THE TIMELINE FOR THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IS EARLY 1996


26. Aspen, Colorado was receiving nonstop flights from four different cities, each operated by a different airline. Identify each airline, the city it served Aspen from and the aircraft it used for that service.

27. If you want to fly upon a jet between Miami and Jacksonville, only one airline will fit the bill with four daily or almost daily flights. Identify the airline and the aircraft utilized.

28. These days, American Eagle will fly you nonstop between Los Angeles and Eugene, OR aboard a CRJ-700. Back in early 1992, this route was serviced with a single nonstop flight aboard a different airline and aircraft. Identify both, please.

29. Back in 1976, I flew between Fresno and San Francisco aboard a United DC-8-61. Sixteen years later, the only jet service on this route is via a single flight aboard this airline. Identify the airline and the equipment.

30. If you want to fly aboard a Fokker 100 out of Winnipeg, you’ll have to do so with this airline on this route. Identify both.

31. Per the North American OAG referenced for this question, there are four foreign airlines serving Miami with 727-100 equipment. Interestingly, only two routes are involved, i.e. two airlines per each route. Given the regions covered by this OAG, identify the four airlines and – if you like – you may also have a go at the relevant routes.

32. This airline operated twice weekly flights routing MIA-STT-STX-MIA utilizing 727-200 equipment. Identify the airline.

33. The fiercely competitive route between Colorado Springs and Las Vegas is the beneficiary of nonstop service from three airlines. Identify the airlines and the equipment each operates on this route.

34. This airline offers more jet flights into Birmingham, Alabama than any other. Which airline is it?

35. If you want to fly out of Bullhead City, AZ on a jet, you have to fly on this airline. Identify the airline, the equipment and the city served from IFP.


THE TIMELINE FOR THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IS LATE 1997


36. Bloomington, Illinois was served by a total of two jet flights – one each operated by a unique airline. One flight went west, the other southeast. Identify each route as well as the airline and aircraft that served each route.

37. Lots of airlines provide service between the three Washington DC area airports and Chicago. However, only one airline provides nonstop service between Washington’s Dulles International and Chicago’s Midway Airport. Your mission – should you decide to accept it – is to identify both the airline and the aircraft utilized on this route.

38. Awright then, so here you are enjoying a pleasant spring evening at your shack in Frog Holler, Virginia when an old cellmate calls and asks if you’d be willing to marry him and this biker chick he met last weekend. The wedding will be next weekend at a “quiet” ceremony on Montara Point, just over the hill from SFO and not too far from your old digs at San Quentin, either. He’s even found an outfit that’ll quickly ordain you as a minister (the Church of the Sub-Genius, no less) and better yet, he’s even come up with the means to pay for your airfare out and back aboard a post deregulation carrier that offers a single almost daily one stop flight between IAD and SFO aboard an aging 737-200.

Whaaaaat? A 737-200?! You explain that a reformed hijacker like yourself would never consider crossing the country on anything less than a 757-200, even for a wedding! Your protestations carry no sway with him though, especially after he reminds you that he had your back on more than one occasion during the occasional yard scuffle as well as those two prison riots. Besides, he was unable hack into the systems of any of those larger airlines that fly big planes like 757s. Well… alright then.

Now then, can you identify the airline and the intermediate stop before you finish your bottle of Old Crow and teeter off to bed? G’wan, now…
A N S W E R E D

39. In most cases, travel during the “Good Old Days” was vastly superior to what passes as quality air transport these days. An exception however might be made on the Pittsburgh to Montreal route. At least in late 1997, that is. In the old days this route was flown aboard a Nordair 737-200. Nowadays you have the option of flying between Pittsburgh and Montreal aboard a foreign airline that’s taking advantage of its 5th Freedom rights. A snack is even served - if you’re in First Class. Boy oh boy – this sure beats a US Air DC-9-30! Identify the airline taking advantage of 5th freedom rights on this route as well as the aircraft it flies.

40. You want to fly from Chicago to Las Vegas – but man oh man – the fares sure are expensive! But hey! Further investigation reveals that if you’re willing to depart out of Midway Airport – located on the city’s south side – there are two airlines that offer substantially cheaper fares. Identify both airlines as well as the aircraft that each airline operates.

41. Spirit Airlines hubs at Atlantic City and from there flies to a variety of destinations in Florida and the Northeast. Identify the only city Spirit flies to that’s south of Atlantic City and is NOT in Florida. As to the aircraft - Who cares? It’s probably an old DC-9-30, anyway.

42. You’re having a great time with your buddies watching the Packers whoop up on the hapless Bears while enjoying copious samples of Sprecher’s premier and limited edition microbrews at Milwaukee’s famous Oriental Theater. Just as Brett Favre hits Antonio Freeman on a deep post pattern for his third touchdown of the game, the boss calls and sez you gotta be in Baltimore by tomorrow night. Dammit! You’re gonna miss the Broncos – Raiders game on Monday Night Football!

Sigh… Awright then. Ever the faithful and obedient servant of the corporation, you return home to check your trusty OAG and discover that there are no nonstop between Milwaukee and Baltimore and only a single direct one-stop flight through an airport you’ve never flown through before. Hmm… You thought you’d flown through every airport in the east but NO! Well alrighty then. This’ll be fun. Book it, Danno!

Now then, can you identify the airline, the intermediate stop and the aircraft utilized? Of course you can! Go for it!!!

43. Here’s a flight that operates uniquely between this airline’s northernmost and southernmost points. And here’s a hint: The northernmost point is Fairbanks, Alaska. The southernmost point is just up the road from Mexico. Along the way four enroute stops are made. Based upon the fact that this is 1997 and we’re not talking about Alaska Airlines; can you identify the airline, the destination, the intermediate stops and the aircraft utilized?

44. It’s a damp, wintery afternoon in southern Ohio when you get a call from an old friend requesting the pleasure of your company for a weekend of scuba diving in the Cayman Islands. You’re already thinking of how to get there before she’s even completed her request. Thankfully an ad in the Travel Section of last Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer shows you the way – a Saturday only nonstop departure straight from Cincinnati to Grand Cayman. Right on! Identify the airline and the aircraft you’ll be flying upon.

45. Only two airlines fly jets into Lincoln, Nebraska. Don’t worry about what kind of jets they are or where they come from. Just name the airlines.

46. Every Saturday morning between 9:15am and 9:30am, four Continental Airlines jetliners depart Newark International Airport bound for four airports in Colorado. One of the airplanes is an MD-80, another is a 737-500 and the other two are 757-200s. Can you identify which airport each of these aircraft flew to?
A N S W E R E D

47. A big Nor’easter is bearing down on The Cape bringing wicked cold and up to 5” of snow. You quickly decide to flip the tables on Mother Nature and fly down the coast to Tampa where sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s are projected for the weekend. Unfortunately, with less than seven days advance notice, you soon discover that airfares on all the usual airlines are way too expensive given your meager wage as an Anchovy Trainer out at Woods Hole. Sigh… guess you’ll be putting on snow tires and shoveling snow this weekend after all…

The next day, while casually perusing the sports section of the Boston Globe, (Awright! The Bruins won!!!) you come across an ad for an airline you’ve never heard of but one that nonetheless promises low fares to both Tampa and Orlando from Boston. A quick call to their -800 number reveals that the airline offers a direct flight between Boston and Tampa but that two intermediate stops will be made enroute. The price is right – even for an Anchovy Trainer – and so you quickly make a reservation and then start packing your bags.

Identify the airline, the aircraft and the two intermediate stops that you’ll make enroute to Tampa.

48. This airline provided a less expensive option to Air Canada and Canadian Airlines with twice daily one stop service between Calgary and Toronto. Identify the airline, the aircraft and the intermediate stop.

49. Who’d’ve ever thought that there would be sufficient demand to offer not one but three nonstop flights between Nashville and Colorado Springs? Not me. But yes, it turns out that in 1997 there are three almost daily jet flights between these two cities. Identify the airline and the aircraft utilized, please.

50. Three airlines provided nonstop service on the fiercely competitive route between Orlando and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Identify each airline and – if you feel up to it – the aircraft type each airline was operating.