jlemon

Now that looks like the way to travel by air! Was this photo taken on board an Emirates aircraft and if so what airplane?

As for Delta One and our A330-300 flight from ATL to AMS a couple of weeks ago, the service overall was wonderful - excellent cabin service and food plus the wine was a cut above. The aircraft even had individual fresh air nozzles above the Delta One seats which I think is great to have. However, the seat just wasn't all that comfortable when in the full lie-flat mode and also felt a bit confined. Couple this with the turbulence we experienced during most of the flight as well as noise from the galleys as the cabin crew repeatedly opened and closed storage lockers fore and aft of the Delta One cabin - I ended up not sleeping a wink.

BTW, in my post above, I mentioned seeing a Dassault Mercure in Air Inter livery as well as a Sud SE.210 Caravelle parked near each other at the Bordeaux Merignac Airport as we were departing from BOD last Saturday. Turns out these aircraft are part of the Conservatoire de l'Air et de l'Espace d' Acquitaine historical collection. Photos of these aircraft can be viewed at:

Accueil

Select "La Collection" and then "La Phototheque" and scroll down to "Avions de transport" for photos of the Mercure and Caravelle. I believe the Caravelle is a former French Air Force aircraft (registration "CQ" and "F-ZACQ") which was used for zero G experiments as well as zero G astronaut training.

Also BTW, besides manufacturing business jets as well as supersonic jet fighter aircraft (and once upon a time a commercial jet airliner), Dassault also has several wineries in the Bordeaux area including Chateau Dassault near St. Emilion:

https://www.dassaultwineestates.com

We thoroughly enjoyed our visits to a number of chateau wineries in the St. Emilion, Margaux and Pauillac areas and will hopefully return to Bordeaux one of these fine days.

And that engenders a BONUS quiz item......

What is the connection between Pauillac in the Medoc wine region and commercial transport aircraft? ANSWERED

jrl767

let's close these out:
8A- CID-ORD, UA, 737; ORD-MKE, MidState, Swearingen Metroliner
8B- CID-MSP, OZ, D9S; MSP-MKE, NW D10

9-
(1) SMF-SFO, PSA, 72S
(2) SFO-SJC, Wings West, Nord 262
(3) SJC-SBA, Apollo, J31
(4) SBA-LAX, Golden West, SH3
(5) LAX-IPL, Sun Aire, SWM
(6) IPL-PHX, Imperial, Cessna 402/404

10- EWR-MDT, USAir, Nord 298; MDT-PIT, USAir, D9S


I have recently seen a number of license plates where the letter sequence was actually an airport code ... it gets amusing when I string several together into a Quiz-like itinerary

jlemon

Ah....I don't believe Wings West ever operated the Nord 262. Could the air carrier actually be Swift Aire or was it Wings West with a Swearingen Metro (SWM)? Also, Apollo never operated the British Aerospace Jetstream 31 (J31)....but they did operate the Handley Page Jetstream (HPJ).

jrl767

well joejones was actually even closer than I first gave him credit for being
the source of the N26 problem was Swift Aire's code being "WI"; the source of the Jetstream problem was ... well ...

Seat 2A

And now if you'll excuse me, I've got a 16 hour long flight to board. I depart at 1000am local and, factoring in connection and connecting flight, I won't arrive at my destination until 1000pm local tonight - 24 hours later.

jrl767

jlemon

Correct! Last week we drove right by the dock on the Gironde River where an "Airbus on board" vessel was berthed on our way to several chateau wineries in the Pauillac area.

Here's a photo of an "Airbus on board" vessel:

https://www.projectcargosummit.com/n...rbus-on-board/

And we awoke to our first frost of the season this morning here in south Louisiana. We even had sleet and snow flurries in the area this past Monday and I am already merrily going through our firewood supply. We may have another interesting winter down south......

jlemon

Ah, sounds like you're on board Emirates 211, nonstop A380 service from DXB to IAH. And the weather is excellent today in southeast Texas, BTW.

You may pass over western Louisiana as you descend toward Houston so give us a wave and we'll wave back.

Seat 2A

Correct! I was indeed on EK 211, operated by A6-EUK, a 2.5 year year old A380. Flight time was 16:08 and we came into IAH from the NNE - alas, no Louisiana flyover, although I do vaguely recall flying right over Kapuskasing, Ontario. This was my 10th flight on an A380 - fortunately for me all of them in First Class. Coming up later this month - my 2000th flight on a 737, followed shortly thereafter by my 2 millionth mile flown aboard Boeing's ubiquitous twin jet.

So this morning I woke up after a 9 hour sleep at the same time I went to bed in Dubai 48 hours ago. Jet lag's bound to catch up somewhere over the Cascades later this afternoon aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder. Thankfully I'll have a big wide bed to sleep it off in aboard Amtrak's Superliner Bedroom Late tomorrow afternoon as we cross the Dakotas might be a good time to open that bottle of Jack Daniels and ponder the next set of quiz questions...
-

jlemon

And here's another photo of an "Airbus on board" vessel following a rather embarrassing incident.....

https://static.vesselfinder.net/ship...304d4c93e45e/0

That's the vessel Ciudad de Cadiz high and dry after experiencing a bit of a problem several years ago.

Seat 2A

I have returned to a beautiful Alaska Interior day - cloudy, light snow, temperature about 17°F... heaven on earth! I heard a Great Horned Owl out in the woods surrounding my place last night - call it a good omen - they keep the squirrels at bay. In any event, here's wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving on this side of the Atlantic and a great day everywhere else. Hopefully I'll have a new batch of questions up by this weekend. ^

jlemon

I'll second the above remarks from Seat 2A. Here's to a safe, warm and happy holiday for all! (pause for a sip on a Cajun Bloody Mary)

And we have an owl in our neighborhood as well that I hear calling on occasion at night (but I do not know if he has great horns). I keep a weather eye on our little pup Miss Bella when she steps outside at night in order to take care of her business. Not sure if the owl might make a move on her - I certainly hope not!

Seat 2A

Not sure what the Maximum Permitted Load Capacity is for a Louisiana Swamp Owl, but yes, best play it safe with little Bella.

And now with a little old news from Alaska ...

Business | Eagle Snatches Dog While Owner Watches | Seattle Times Newspaper

jlemon

Hmmmmmm.....well, I've never heard of a Louisiana Swamp Owl! So I checked in with the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries which informs me we have at least five different owl species here in south Louisiana including the Barn Owl, the Barred Owl, the Eastern Screech-Owl, the Short-Eared Owl....and the Great Horned Owl.

My neighbor (who has a considerable number of trees on his lot where we think the owl in question hangs out at times) believes we have a Barn Owl in the neighborhood.

And speaking of wildlife.......witnessed a flock of large geese last night overflying the house heading south and honking away merrily. It was a beautiful sight. Plus another wildlife sighting last evening: a group of Falcons not faring very well during a certain professional sporting event.....

Geaux 10-1 Saints!

Seat 2A

Who dat?! Saints looked like they put a gris gris on those Falcons. Once the 2nd quarter started, it looked like a big fais do do down on the field - for the Saints, of course! Falcons weren't invited.

The research portion of putting a set of quiz questions together is done. Now I've gotta figure out how I want to write them up.

Here's a bit more modern question for y'all to ponder in the ephemera of the Saint's victory -

What is the world's only airline to have all three variants of Boeing's 787 in its fleet?