Seat 2A

Okay - so I landed back in Fairbanks late yesterday afternoon and the temperature was 12°F above zero. I haven't seen it that warm in almost a month and a half! Last night - it only got down to 5°. When I left 10 days ago it was 25-30°F below each night. Today, it's snowing lightly, however by tomorrow at this time we're expecting an additional seven inches. It's good to be home.

So I pulled out my OAG from late 1970 and here's what I found: No BAC-111 schedules were found for Aviateca, Lanica, TACA and Aloha. In fact, neither Aviateca, Lanica, TACA were even listed on the page with all of the 2-letter airline codes at the front of the OAG. In particular I checked New Orleans and Houston. Pan Am came into MSY from MID but no other airlines were listed. Aviateca used to come into Houston from MEX (Its 727 flight was once the subject of a question here) but there were no BAC-111 operated flights from anywhere in Mexico or the Caribbean that I could find. It wasn't hard to check as there were a lot less schedules into HOU/MSY back then.

I also checked Miami - which involved a bit more time. Alas, there were no scheduled flights involving BAC-111s there either except with LACSA coming up from Grand Cayman.

My guess here is that although 111s from the aforementioned airlines were probably seen in the aforementioned airports back in late 1970, the schedules reflecting those flights would likely have been found in the International OAG as they would have originated from Central American airports outside the coverage area of the North American OAG.

HOWEVER - I did find one error on my search which vindicates JL on one of the nine airlines he mentioned - that airline would be Cayman Airways. While formulating this question I was looking at Miami schedules and saw that all of the flights coming up from Grand Cayman were showing LR as the operator. As I recall, LACSA operated some of those on behalf of Cayman Airways. However, I went ahead and checked schedules out of Grand Cayman and - gasp! - there were a couple of B11 flights inbound from Kingston showing KX as the operator. So, add KX to the list.

As such, while I originally stated that flights from six BAC-111 operators could be found within the pages of my 48 year old OAG, the number is now seven. Those airlines are:

• American
• Braniff
• Cayman Airways
• LACSA
• LIAT
• Mohawk
• Quebecair

As always, I would be happy to research any further claims on this point. It should be noted here that I also did research Aloha's 111 fleet. Seems it was retired in 1969.

Seat 2A

On the page listing codes for aircraft types operated, I could find no references to FJF or Fan Jet Falcons. There was however a code for the Learjet, though I've yet to find which airline operated it. I seem to recall the operator and the airplane was once the subject of a previous question here at the OTAQ&D. Anyone remember?

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

Hey gang - maybe it's just me way up here in windy and snowy Alaska but I'm having a helluva time getting FlyerTalk pages to load. I'll take my laptop into town and see if there are any responses to the dozen or so questions remaining. I apologize in advance for any delay in responding. I don't know if it's an FT issue or the local community router. It's been windy and huge clumps of snow - and some branches - have been falling from the 50' tall black spruce surrounding my humble abode. Possibly one of the routers may have taken a hit.

jlemon

Bonus #1: First Air actually began jet operations back in 1986 according to their website. And the type was a Boeing with the model number ending in -100C. This aircraft was used in combi ops up to the Canadian Arctic.....and you now have 50/50 chance of guessing the correct equipment!

jlemon

Well, yes, I do know of an operator of a Learjet model in sched pax ops here in the U.S.....however, I planning to include this as a future quiz item so I'm not going to divulge the identity of the commuter airline!

KT550

Digging deeper, it was probably a 727-100C. Registered C-FRST, an old Alaska Airlines 727-90C which was delivered December 1985.
Seat 2A probably has a few hours in it (N797AS)

KT

Seat 2A

A quick check of the flight log reveals... that I have indeed flown aboard ship 797! Five flights and 3.5 hours while flying Alaska 65 northbound from Seattle to Juneau (SEA-KTN-WRG-PSG-SIT-JNU) back in June of 1984.

Seat 2A

Would that airline have been operating a few years later from a base on one of the Great Lakes?

jlemon

Correct!

jlemon

Nope! Which leads me to believe there may have been more than one Learjet operator here in the U.S. operating the biz jet in scheduled pax ops........

And by the way, you mentioned the OAG aircraft code "FJF" earlier. At one point, that was the code for the Fokker F28 Fellowship before the OAG switched to "F28".

Plus, :-: Happy Mardi Gras :-: everyone! The parades have now concluded here in the greater LFT area but the Fat Tuesday festivities are still underway in many parts of Louisiana this evening....especially over in New Orleans.

Seat 2A

jlemon

I'll go ahead provide the answer for this bonus quiz item: the year was 2011.

And I see I'm now back up to bat here! Lady K and yours truly have just returned from a road trip that took us to the Vicksburg National Battlefield Park in Mississippi as well as to the B.B. King blues music museum located north of Vicksburg in the Mississippi "Delta" region (which also stretches west to Monroe, Louisiana which in turn was where a certain major U.S. air carrier began operations including crop dusting services). The Vicksburg National Battlefield Park, which commemorates the siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War and is operated by our National Park Service, was especially interesting as I am the direct descendant of a Major General in the Union army who served on Major General Ulysses S. Grant's staff during the siege.

So I will now began preparing a new set of quiz items to submitted later today....

jlemon

And here we go......as always, please limit your response to two or three quiz items per day so that all may have the chance to participate. Thanks!

1. In 1957, this airline was operating a direct, no change of plane flight from Dusseldorf to Singapore once a week. Five intermediate stops were made en route. Identify the air carrier, the equipment and all five stops in the order in which they were made.

2. It's 1962 and you are in Nassau in the Bahamas. You need to travel to Toronto and have found a weekly service that departs every Saturday. One intermediate stop is made en route. What airline will you be flying with? Also name the aircraft type and identify the stop.

3. In 1968 this U.S. commuter air carrier made the following statement on the cover of its timetable:

Now flying 600 mph Lear Jetliners

The airline in question was operating Learjet service to five destinations, three of which were airports serving larger cities. Name this commuter air carrier as well as the three larger airports.

4. Now it's the spring of 1969 and you are in Birmingham, Alabama. You've been invited to a lunch symposium at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Much to your surprise, you've found a morning nonstop out of BHM to the closest commercially served airport to the lab. This flight operates daily departing at 7:20 am and arriving at 9:05 am. Identify the airline, the equipment and the city you will arrive into. ANSWERED

5. It's a beautiful spring morning on a Saturday in Bermuda in 1970. You are lounging around your sailing buddy's catamaran at the local marina when a message is delivered: can you travel to London for a Sunday dinner meeting? "No problem", you think, "I'll jump on the BOAC nonstop to London". However, you are then informed this BOAC nonstop service won't be operating on this particular Saturday. So what to do? Ah ha! There's a convenient connecting service! Your first flight will depart from Bermuda at 5:15 pm and arrive at the connecting city at 9:00 pm. You'll then have 2 hour and 20 minute connecting interval before your next flight operated by the same airline departs at 11:20 pm with an arrival into London at 8:40 am. You''ll be flying in first class on board two different aircraft types. Name the air carrier, the connecting city and the equipment operated on each leg. ANSWERED

6. Now it's 1971 and you are in downtown St. Louis. You have been urgently summoned to a meeting in downtown Chicago and have found a nonstop flight departing from the closest airport to your location which arrives at the closest airport to your destination in downtown Chicago. You will be flying on board a turboprop aircraft that is larger than other equipment operated by commuter air carriers at this time. And you will not be departing from STL or arriving into ORD. Identify the airline, the airport you will depart from, the airport you will arrive into and the aircraft type.

The next three quiz items have a time line of 1974......

7. You've just finished having dinner with friends in Boston when you receive a message asking you to travel to San Francisco as soon as possible in order to review contract documents for a new project you will be undertaking as a consultant. However, a quick review of schedules reveals no nonstop red eye flights from BOS to SFO. So what to do? Ah, here's a direct flight offering first class which departs BOS at 12:10 am. Then you discover this service makes five intermediate stops en route, arriving into SFO at 10:32 am. Well, what the heck.....you'll be up front! Name the air carrier, all five stops in order and the equipment. ANSWERED

8. Your meeting in San Francisco has gone very well as you were actually able to get some decent sleep on the flight out from Boston in spite of all of the stops. Then you are informed you will have to meet with the owner of the company to finalize the project details. So where is he? "Oh, his private yacht should be sailing into Acapulco harbor the day after tomorrow......think you can make it down there by then?" Well, of course you can! There's daily flight from SFO to ACA which departs at the civilized time of 12:27 pm and arrives at 10:21 pm with two stops being made en route. This means you can relax the rest of the day, join friends over in Marin County for dinner and then catch an SFO Helicopter Sikorsky S-61 down to SFO for your flight. Identify the air carrier you'll be flying on to Acapulco, both stops in order and the aircraft. ANSWERED

9. What a nice sailboat! And it's not every day you take a meeting on board a 100 foot yacht in Acapulco. The follow up meeting on a beautiful Saturday morning with the company owner has gone well. And then he says, "I want you to meet with my business partner up in Omaha before we get going on this project. He's an up and coming financial investor you may have heard of. Normally I'd make my Gulfstream available to you but it's currently flying my wife and daughters back from Europe. I know one of your hobbies concerns the airline industry so I figure you'll have no problem getting up there on a commercial flight." So off you go back to ACA. There's a direct flight from Acapulco to OMA which operates on Saturdays only departing at 2:00 pm. Four stops are made en route and you'll arrive into Omaha at 9:45 pm. Name the airline, all four stops in order and the equipment. ANSWERED

10. In the winter of 1977-1978, this commuter air carrier was flying an exclusive service utilizing a turboprop with three daily round trip flights between a major airport in Florida and a posh resort located on an island. Passengers had to be members of the resort or invited guests in order to travel on the service. Identify the airline, the major airport, the resort destination and the aircraft.

11. It's 1981 and you are in Spokane. You've been invited to a Leon Russell concert in Tulsa and your friends have back stage passes. You discover there is a daily direct flight departing GEG at 7:00 am that will get you into TUL at 2:26 pm - plenty of time to get ready for the show. Three stops will be made en route and you will also be served lunch on one of the legs. Identify the air carrier, all three stops in order and the equipment.

12. In the fall of 1983, this U.S. based airline ran a print ad with the following message:

Our Happy Hour Is All Day Long On Our _____(turboprop aircraft type)________ Free Cocktails 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Name the aircraft type and the air carrier.

13. Now it's the late summer of 1984 and you are in Reno. An old friend who has a de Havilland Canada Beaver float plane has invited you on a fishing trip on Kodiak Island in Alaska. You're in! You book a business class seat on a daily direct flight which will make three stops en route to Kodiak. Identify the airline, all three stops in order and the equipment. ANSWERED

14. In early 1986, Northeastern International was operating jet service into four airports in the U.S. Name all four. ANSWERED

15. How many BAC One-Eleven aircraft was USAir operating in early 1988? ANSWERED

That should get us started. And now to the lawn mower for the first time this year.......

Seat 2A

I had an interesting chat earlier this year with an Alaska based FlyerTalker. He was aware of the OTAQ&D and he had a couple of questions that stood out: The conversation went pretty much like this:

"How do you guys know all that stuff?"
"We don't. A lot of times it's an educated guess. And even if we're wrong, it's still fun to work it all out based on what we do know."
"Yeah, but how do you even make an educated guess?"
"Well, the airline interest has always been there, I guess. Schedules and destinations and aircraft types is part of it all. It's like a hobby. People who collect stamps know a lot more about them than most of us."
"Okay, but doesn't it get old after a bit? Trying to remember all those airline schedules?"
"In the context of the quiz? No. It's no different than tuning in to the puzzle page of your newspaper for your daily sudoku or crossword puzzle."
"Amazing... You want another beer?"

Thanks, JL, for yet another excellent set of well crafted brain teasers. Let's have a go at a couple:

4. Now it's the spring of 1969 and you are in Birmingham, Alabama. You've been invited to a lunch symposium at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Much to your surprise, you've found a morning nonstop out of BHM to the closest commercially served airport to the lab. This flight operates daily departing at 7:20 am and arriving at 9:05 am. Identify the airline, the equipment and the city you will arrive into.

I had to look up Oak Ridge National Laboratory since I had no idea where it was, much less its purpose. In any event I see it's near Knoxville and in that case the airline that immediately comes to mind is United operating off the old Capital Airlines route network. If so, I reckon I'll go with the ubiquitous 727-100.

13. Now it's the late summer of 1984 and you are in Reno. An old friend who has a de Havilland Canada Beaver float plane has invited you on a fishing trip on Kodiak Island in Alaska. You're in! You book a business class seat on a daily direct flight which will make three stops en route to Kodiak. Identify the airline, all three stops in order and the equipment.

This sounds like Wien Alaska. In 1980 I flew them nonstop into Kodiak from Seattle but in 1984 I'm going to guess that they flew a 737-200 on the following routing: RNO-PDX-SEA-ANC-ADQ. Wait! It was Business Class so that would make it a 727. The -200 seems a bit big so let's go with the -100 variant.

By the way, I heard from our old friend miniliq recently. He and his wife are alive and well, still enjoying the good life down in Louisiana. He has however sold off his collection of OAGs and used up most of his airline miles. He looks forward to his next trip and says he may drop by the OTAQ&D someday to say hello and maybe even have a go at a question or two.