jrl767

2- this certainly sounds like the "Top Banana In The West" -- Hughes Air West -- with a DC9 (probably a -30) out of Burbank via Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Boise ... as for the fourth stop, I'm doing mental coin flips between Spokane and Las Vegas (of course that would have actually been the first stop) which have gone about 7:4 in favor of GEG, so I'll go with that as my official guess

Icecat

Think Twin Falls, Idaho...

jrl767

I like that TWF idea ... +1 for teamwork

jlemon

jrl767 and Icecat are correct! It was indeed Hughes Airwest, the "Top Banana in the West".

Here's the sched.....

RW 866: Burbank (BUR) 9:55a - 10:54a Phoenix (PHX) 11:25a - 1:44p Salt Lake City (SLC) 2:10p - 2:47p Twin Falls (TWF) 3:05p - 3:34p Boise (BOI) 3:55p - 3:59p Portland (PDX)
Op: Daily
Meal service: Lunch PHX-SLC
Equip: Well, the RW timetable does not indicate whether the aircraft was a DC9 or D9S; however, I suspect it was a series 30 model. BTW, I flew Hughes Airwest in the past between Burbank and Denver via a stop in Salt Lake City in either direction and the equipment was always a DC9-30.

Speaking of Twin Falls, interesting to note that Hughes Airwest promoted its service to the Sun Valley ski resort in Idaho during the winter months but never actually operated jet equipment into SUN. The flights would land instead at Twin Falls and passengers would then be taken by ground transport to Sun Valley (a distance of around 90 miles). This from the Sept. 1, 1980 Hughes Airwest system timetable under the Sun Valley/Hailey/Ketchum listing: "Please Refer to Twin Falls - Gateway To Sun Valley. Limousine Service On Selected Flights Only Provided By Sun Valley Stages."

BTW, another airline that operated jet service into Twin Falls from California during the winter ski season was Western with B737-200 equipment. And jet service would arrive directly into the Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN) some years later with flights operated by Horizon Air with the F28 Fellowship followed by America West with the B737-300 as we have previously discussed.

jrl767

call me a curmudgeon if you will, but DCA doesn't have a middle name, and its only first name is "Washington" ... and this was CERTAINLY the case in 1987

back on topic --
​5- Jet America (SI) operating a MadDog (MD80) DCA-SNA via Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland

jlemon

Now, now jrl767...no reason to get excited there, especially since such ranting can raise one's blood pressure, you know, which is certainly not good for us Old Timers!

And, of course, I stand corrected as I believe the name Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport* was not applied to DCA until 1998.

You are also correct with regard to Jet America. Here's the sched.....

SI 407: Washington National (DCA) 11:00a - 12:45p Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) 1:15p - 2:50p Seattle (SEA) 3:30p - 4:10p Portland (PDX) 4:40p - 7:00p Orange County (SNA)
Op: Daily
Meal services: Lunch DCA-MSP, Lunch MSP-SEA, Dinner PDX-SNA
Equip: MD82

Also in 1987, Jet America was acquired by Alaska Airlines. And I'm willing to bet that AS paid quite a bit less to buy SI when compared to the agreed upon amount concerning their recent purchase of Virgin America.

* - We flew out of DCA this past Saturday and I believe this is the official name for the airport.

jlemon

:-: HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-: to the Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion!

On this date in 2011, Seat 2A began this thread inspired by a BBC documentary. He did not think it would last.....but it has and I know all of us hope it continues to do so! And it has also led to several participants getting together in person for visits which would not have happened had the OTAQ&D not been created five years ago. With over 10,000 replies and nearly 620,000 views, there certainly has been a continuing interest in the good ol' OTAQ&D.

Seat 2A

Thanks to jlemon for the birthday wishes with cheers and many thanks to all of you who've ever taken time to participate and contribute to the Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion. Special thanks to our core participants who've hung in there through thick and thin throughout it all. Here's to the next five years and beyond!

Here in Northern Colorado we recently received our first snow of the season. Wednesday was sunny and mid-seventies. Yesterday was snowy with a high of 36. I took advantage of Wednesday's warm weather to walk down to the end of the block without a cane. That's a far cry from a month ago when I was strictly on a walker. Next up is to get out of this bulky hard collar.

The welcome news that accompanies such progress is that I'm good to fly back home in a couple of weeks. As such I've booked a seat aboard a pair of Alaska 737-900s back up to Alaska. After a two month absence, it'll be good to get home. ^

BTW, I always thought DCA was known as Washington National Airport until the Reagan appellation was applied. jrl767, are you saying it was called just "Washington Airport"? If so, how did people like travel agents ever differentiate between DCA and Dulles when describing the departure/arrival airport to their clients?

jrl767

indeed, indeed ... thanks to all who participate regularly (and those who only join in on occasion as well; always good to hear from new folks as well as alumni)

in particular I'd like to extend my thanks to Seat 2A -- the first FTer I met in person -- for starting this thread up in the first place (and btw that is VERY good news on your recovery sir!), as well as to jlemon for being an equally enthusiastic co-leader, and to WHBM for providing a host of enlightening and entertaining stories/questions/answers (and again for that most enjoyable meetup in the LCY area this past summer)

let's leep 'em flying!

no; to the locals, it was always "DCA" or "National" ... just like, while you occasionally hear "New York LaGuardia" or "Chicago Midway" or "Boston Logan" or others, in most cases the city name is implicit

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

MADPhil

I always knew it as "Washington National" but that seems too easy!

jrl767

the original terminal building (vintage 1941) says "WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT" on both the road side and the ramp side

I'm guessing the photo dates from ~1959: while I can't make out any cars that appear to be 1960 model year, Wikipedia (not necessarily 100% authoritative, but rather less subjective) says EA received the last of their 40 Electras that August, and the one in the photo is N5533; further, it also says the last of EA's Martin 404s left the fleet in 1962

jlemon

I think the name that is prominently displayed in gold letters on the front of Terminal A (which indeed opened in 1941) tells the tale:

WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT

This name also still appears on the airside of Terminal A. We saw it this past Saturday as our brand new AA operated A321 taxied out for departure. And BTW, very nice service in the front cabin of this afternoon flight to DFW.

jrl767

allow me to be pedantic ... the 1941 building in the photo, that bears the original name, is the Main Terminal; Terminal A is the finger pier addition at the south end that opened in 1955

the airport website has the full story