Seat 2A

Moving right along...

1. In early 1965, what was the longest flight United was operating with its Douglas DC-6 Mainliners?
A N S W E R E D

2. Back in the "Good Old Days" United used to operate nonstop DC-8 Jet Mainliner service between Los Angeles and Milwaukee. In early 1986 however, nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Milwaukee are nonexistent. United’s one-stopper through Denver is sold out, so you’ve booked yourself on a two stop flight aboard one of the new crop of airlines that sprung up after deregulation eight years ago. It departs LA at 11:30 am and arrives Milwaukee with plenty of time for dinner with your cousins. Identify the airline and aircraft you’ll be flying upon as well as the two intermediate stops.

3. If you were a plane spotter at Newcastle, England’s N.E. Regional Airport in the summer of 1972, you’d see just two jet types operated by two different airlines. Identify the jets and the airline that flew each type.
A N S W E R E D

4. Back in the good old days, if you wanted to get from Indianapolis to Ft. Myers, Florida you just called Eastern and hopped on a "Whisperliner" via Atlanta. All of the flights offered First Class back then, too. Now in 1998 there's a local Indianapolis based airline but they are an all-economy class operation. How gauche! Thankfully one airline flies nonstop from Indy to Ft. Myers that still offers First Class. You call them and book a First Class seat on the afternoon departure. Identify the airline and aircraft you’ll be flying upon.

5. In 1981 this U.S. airline’s complete time table shows a total of 28 flights, all of them operating in one direction or another between just two cities with one jet aircraft type. Identify the airline and the equipment it operates.

6. The winter of 1965 sure is a busy one. After three days of business meetings Mexico City, your services are now required in Bermuda. Thankfully this will be an easy trip as there is a single nonstop flight operating out of Mexico City each Monday night. Identify the airline and the aircraft you’ll be flying.
A N S W E R E D

7. It’s the summer of 1972 and you find yourself in Ibiza needing to get to Palma, Mallorca for a day and then on to Algiers. Due to a number of previously poor experiences, you refuse to fly the national airline Iberia. It is of no account however as Iberia doesn’t even fly to Algiers. Thankfully, you’ve found an alternative with an airline that can fly you to Palma and then three days later on to Algiers. The aircraft types – both jets – are different for each flight. Identify the airline in question and the aircraft types specific to the IBZ-PMI flight and the PMI-ALG flight.
A N S W E R E D

8. You’re in Miami about to board a 3 stop flight to Anchorage, Alaska in autumn of 1981. This is an interchange flight involving two airlines. Identify the routing flown as well as the two airlines involved. Feel free to identify the aircraft as well if you wish.
The airlines involved are not AS, BN, CO or WA

9. You just got a call from an old college roommate to ask if you could make it out to the Grand Opening celebration of his new guitar shop San Francisco. Well sure, why not?! When is it? Saturday evening at 6:00pm. Right on! A quick check of the March 1988 schedules reveals two airlines offering nonstop service from Kansas City to SFO, one of which offers First Class, the other only coach. You quickly book a First Class seat to San Francisco departing on Saturday morning. Identify the airline as well as the aircraft type to be flown.

10. You live in Montreal and want to take your family to Disney World sometime in early 1986. Although Miami and Tampa have always been well served with nonstop flights from Montreal, Orlando has not. Thank goodness your travel agent managed to book you all in First Class on a direct one-stop flight to Orlando. Unfortunately, it departs from way out at Mirabel International Airport. Surely you know the drill by now: Identify the airline, the aircraft and the single enroute stop.

11. In 1972, Aer Lingus dominates most of the markets served from Dublin. Surprisingly, the Dublin – Manchester market is served by two airlines you would expect – Aer Lingus and BEA – as well as three continental European airlines, all of which fly twin engine jets on the route. Identify each of the three European carriers (one of which offers First Class) and the aircraft they operate.

12. A trip down to your local travel agency has rewarded you with the most recently expired OAG from early 1986. As you excitedly peruse the pages, you are surprised to discover that it’s still possible to fly aboard a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle – departing from a U.S. airport no less. Identify the airline, origin and destination of this rare Caravelle flight.
This flight operates to a Caribbean destination, but not Santo Domingo

13. It used to be that Boeing 707s were a common sight across the azure blue waters of the Caribbean. By 1986 however, just one airline still flies the venerable 707 between the U.S. and a Caribbean destination. The flight departs New York’s JFK each Saturday morning at 9:00am, flying nonstop to its destination. Identify the airline and the Caribbean destination served.

14. It’s early 1986 and you’re ready for some fun in Las Vegas. Although you usually fly out of Detroit aboard one of the major airlines, this time you’ve booked yourself a direct one stop flight to Vegas aboard an airline that you’ve never heard of. As an added bonus, you’ve splurged and booked a seat in First Class. Identify the airline, the aircraft and the single enroute stop.

15. It’s 1988 and you’ve been living and working in Milwaukee for three years now. Your job involves a fair bit of travel, and this time your services are requested in Tucson, Arizona. Although there are no nonstop or even direct flights between Milwaukee and Tucson, your travel agent has found an interesting on-line connection involving two twin-engine jets – one of them foreign built, the other American made. Unfortunately no First Class is offered on either of these flights but it’s a quick connection and as an added bonus there are two snacks served enroute. Identify the single airline, the connecting city and the two aircraft types utilized.

16. Remember back in 1986 when you were planning to drive from your home outside Sacramento to have lunch with your sister in San Francisco, but given the morning traffic and the paucity of parking spaces, you decided to fly instead? Best of all, instead of the usual single aisle jet or prop, you managed to book yourself a seat aboard an honest to God widebody aircraft. That was a great flight for such a short route. Identify the airline and aircraft you flew upon.

17. It’s early 1973 and you’ve been living in the Bahamas for five years. Your job has you commuting regularly between Nassau and Freeport. Your favored schedule has you flying from Nassau to Freeport on one airline and back to Nassau on another. Both airlines operate turboprop equipment. Identify the two airlines and the respective turbo props each operates.

18. The year is 1998. You’re in Mexico City and you’re looking to fly up to Winnipeg, Canada. Now here’s where it gets fun – You’ve come up with a fairly straight-line itinerary (no wildly zig-zagging routings – they don’t count and never will with my questions) utilizing four flights aboard four different airlines, all of which will be operated with the DC-9-10. Thinking about the airlines that still operate the DC-9-10, here are some additional hints:

• One of the connecting cities is in Mexico, which means a domestic Mexican flight, which means a Mexican airline out of MEX.
• The flight from the Mexican connecting city has one intermediate stop enroute to Dallas where you’ll overnight.
• From Dallas you’ll fly nonstop to the next connecting city. The flight from that city to Winnipeg has one intermediate stop.
• We know that the first connecting point is MTY. Aeromexico and Midwest Express are not airlines of record. Northwest is involved at some point.

Alright then, fire up your sense of adventure and show us what you’ve got!

19. Awright now, here’s your challenge: It’s 1998. You live in Montreal, Quebec and you want to fly to Los Angeles, California with all of the flights being aboard 4-engine jets. The problem is there just aren’t all that many 4-engine jets left flying around these big broad countries we live in. Even so, you’ve found a routing utilizing two airlines involving a single connection, although you will have to overnight at the connecting point. The flight to the connecting city has one enroute stop. Can you figure out the airlines, aircraft and the routing? I’m pretty sure it is the only way to fly all 4 engine jets between Montreal and LA.
The enroute stops are in North America. No 747s are involved. First Class is available on one of the airlines...

20. Back in the fall of 1981, there were two airlines operating propeller powered aircraft between Burbank and Lake Tahoe. One airline operated turbo-props while the other operated piston engine equipment. Can you remember which airlines they were and the aircraft type(s) each airline operated?
A N S W E R E D

Bonus Trivia Question: What is the combined mileage of all of the taxiways and runways at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport?

Seat 2A

jrl767

1- well, there are only four other UA destinations in Florida that meet the over-1000-miles-from-Buffalo test ... per Great Circle Mapper, three of them are actually beyond 1100 miles, so for now my guess is Orlando

20- Aspen ran the venerable Convair 580, but I'm at a total loss for a piston-powered airliner on BUR-TVL ... maybe Swift Aire with a deHaviland Heron?

jlemon

If at first you don't succeed......

1. I see that jrl767 has correctly guessed Buffalo as one of the cities served by this UA operated DC-6 flight. And I thought this might be a former Capital Airlines route as well (thus my HSV-EWR guess). So let's go with nonstop Buffalo - Miami.

6. Let's try Iberia operating a DC-8 with MEX-BDA-MAD being the complete routing.

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

jrl767

8- the logical interchange point is SEA; my first thought was American/Alaska with a 72S, but I couldn't think of a stop between MIA and DFW ...let's say Continental/Western with a DC-10, the other stops being the two CO hubs at IAH and DEN

KT550

Sterling Airways of Denmark used to fly Caravelles from Copenhagen to Miami, but they had 727s from the late 1970s, so can't believe Caravelles lasted that long.

If not Sterling, how about Aerotours Dominicana from Santo Domingo to Miami.

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

KT550

Originally Posted by KT550
12. A trip down to your local travel agency has rewarded you with the most recently expired OAG from early 1986. As you excitedly peruse the pages, you are surprised to discover that it’s still possible to fly aboard a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle – departing from a U.S. airport no less. Identify the airline, origin and destination of this rare Caravelle flight.
Well we know it's not a U.S. domestic flight, so it must be...

Sterling Airways of Denmark used to fly Caravelles to Florida but they had 727s from the late 1970s, so can't believe Caravelles lasted that long. If not Sterling, how about Aerotours Dominicana from Santo Domingo to Miami.

Hey there, KT - It's good to hear from you again. I was hoping some of those European based questions might entice some of you folks from across the pond to emerge, but it's nice to see this question has worked as well. You're definitely in the right neighborhood with regard to the airline we're looking for, but it was not Aerotours Dominicana and the Caribbean airport we're looking for was not Santo Domingo (though it was nearby). Please, guess again!

******
I've been away for a few weeks using up some American miles. Back to the misery of a U.K. winter.

How about an Air France Caravelle, from Miami, flying to somewhere like Fort-de-France or Pointe A Pitre

WHBM

And it is a particularly miserable one, has rained every single day for I don't know how long. have been meaning to fix something in the garden but it's all saturated there - and I don't want to get saturated myself fixing it !

Now then.

Quote:

3.

Have to say that Newcastle in 1972 would have been a bit of a thin place for a plane spotter, especially in winter.

In 1972 the trunk route from Newcastle to London Heathrow was in the hands of Yellowbird tri-jets operated by Northeast. But not the one you maybe first thought of running 727s from Boston to Miami. This was the longstanding operator on the route BKS, who after the departure of the three founders it was named after, had recently changed its name to Northeast (which is what that part of the UK, their base, is known as), and emulated, to quite an extent, their American namesake's yellow livery. They had a handful of Tridents from the old Channel Airways (them again !) order, a couple new after Channel couldn't pay for them, and the others secondhand after Channel went under. Behind the scenes, by 1972 Northeast was owned by BEA, who of course looked after the Tridents.

The One-Eleven operator would be British Caledonian, who did an oddball operation from Glasgow, through Newcastle to Amsterdam, and also from Edinburgh, through Newcastle to Copenhagen, the two aircraft being on the ground in Newcastle together and offering connections. They returned after lunch doing the same thing. A strange arrangement, but if you wanted to get from any of GLA, EDI or NCL to AMS or CPH, that was all there was unless you went through London.

Just an observation, but a planespotter would see more jets than that, as Newcastle was one of the down-country bases for the holiday airlines of the era. Britannia Airways had an early 737 based there, doing two or three round trips a day to the Mediterranean, and likewise Dan-Air always had a Comet 4 there doing the same thing. Northeast also did these flights with their Tridents, which despite seeming to have just a handful of schedules were pretty intensively used. They would set off from Newcastle at 0700 for a round trip to Heathrow, be back by 0930, do a 1030 to say Palma, back in the afternoon, a 1700 scheduled round trip to Heathrow and back again, and then finally leave at around 2230 for Malaga, returning at say 0500. Quick clean out, and start again the next day.

I'll go for Aviaco, as Palma to Algiers had been one of their original routes years beforehand. However by 1972 they were owned by the same Spanish government organisation that owned Iberia, and the board of directors were the same. There were a few aircraft in their own colours, but as likely as not an Iberia aircracft would turn up, or one in half an Iberia livery as the two interchanged aircraft. Oh, the types. One would be a Caravelle, and the other a DC-9.

Aviaco (generally an Iberia aircraft) would also be one of the regulars turning up at Newcastle at this time on holiday flights to Spain. Most such flights used UK airlines, but of the Spanish-based ones, who operated especially to the UK secondary airports, Aviaco was the leader for years, until an extraordinary incident had the UK authorities tell the UK tour companies, whose charter operations they licence, that Aviaco was "unlikely to be favourably considered" (a good bit of British understatement) again. Did I ever write about it ? It wasn't a safety incident, as such.

jlemon

8. I remember the interchange partners concerning the through service between Alaska and Texas changed from time to time over the years. Alaska, American, Braniff, Continental and Western were all involved in various two air carrier arrangements for these flights which primarily featured Seattle as the interchange point. So in 1981, I believe we are talking about Alaska Airlines and Braniff International. Routing may have been Miami (MIA) - Houston (IAH) - Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Seattle (SEA) - Anchorage (ANC) and the equipment would have been either a B727-100 or B727-200. I'll go with the 72S.

20. Well, I believe we can safely say that Swift Aire never served Lake Tahoe (TVL) and certainly not with the Heron. Who knows.....they may have considered doing so with their new at the time Fokker F27 equipment but I do not think they ever tried going into TVL. I do remember that Sierra Pacific served the Mammoth Mountain ski resort via MMH located down the Sierra Nevada mountain chain from Lake Tahoe with the Convair 440 at one point. So perhaps we are looking for Sierra Pacific here with a CV-440 operating TVL-BUR.

jlemon

Ah, the weather.....and we are currently under a flash flood watch here in southern Louisiana. We could see up to half a foot of rain by tomorrow morning as our El Nino weather pattern continues to assert itself this season. As some of you know, our home flooded back in August of 2016, so these NWS forecasts and advisories capture our attention. Hopefully, we will not experience any flooding issues as the ground is fairly dry and the water level in the coulee (known as a creek in other parts of the world) is low. Our little pup and I just checked out our coulee located adjacent to our back yard in order to confirm this (and once again I failed to see our resident alligator which apparently everyone else in our neighborhood has seen - perhaps he's on vacation at a warmer location).

And speaking of the weather, I did not think the U.S. Navy was going to be able to perform a "missing man" aircraft formation fly-by yesterday afternoon in honor of our late President George H.W. Bush who was being laid to rest at the Bush Presidential Library as it had been raining with low ceilings in the College Station, Texas area. However, our Navy did show up for this fly-by.....with no less than 21 F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter aircraft. One of the CNN commentators on-site made the remark to the effect that "they sure seemed to be flying very low!"..... It was a fitting tribute to Bush 41 and may he now rest in peace.

Seat 2A