Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion.
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67. Only one airline was operating nonstop service from Aruba (AUA) to Houston (IAH) at this time with the service being operated three days a week. Identify the this air carrier and the equipment. The airline in question was not based in the U.S.
I'm going to go with Air Aruba. I honestly don't know if they flew to Houston, but they make the most sense, especially since the obvious suspect - Continental - seems too mundane. Also, the three day a week schedule is a hint. Speaking of which I see you've hinted that we're looking for a non-U.S. operator. Duh! I have a number of postcards of Air Aruba's aircraft (My collection numbers over 35000 cards) and now the guess is which aircraft did they use? A check at webflyer's mileage calculator indicates the nonstop mileage between Aruba and Houston is 2020 miles, well within the range of a variety of its aircraft. Still, let's go whole hog and say they ran a 767-200 on the route.
Bonus #1: What was the name of the front cabin found on Republic Airlines (RC) DC-9-30 equipment as well as on several other jet aircraft types in their fleet in the early 1980's? This name was actually created by the marketing department at Hughes Airwest.
Okay then, since nobody else wants this one, I'll swoop in. I had the good fortune to fly in Business Coach on both Hughes Airwest and Republic back in the day. Seating was industry standard 2-2 premium class aboard all of the various DC-9s and 727-200s that I flew upon. With the exception of free drinks, service was identical to what was offered behind the curtain. Best of all, the difference in fare was minimal. I remember once paying just $20 more (1980 value) to fly BC from Seattle to Denver on a three stop flight. This engenders a
BONUS QUESTION!!!: In July of 1980, what type of aircraft did I fly and what were the three enroute stops on my Hughes Airwest flight from Seattle to Denver?
I'm going to go with Air Aruba. I honestly don't know if they flew to Houston, but they make the most sense, especially since the obvious suspect - Continental - seems too mundane. Also, the three day a week schedule is a hint. Speaking of which I see you've hinted that we're looking for a non-U.S. operator. Duh! I have a number of postcards of Air Aruba's aircraft (My collection numbers over 35000 cards) and now the guess is which aircraft did they use? A check at webflyer's mileage calculator indicates the nonstop mileage between Aruba and Houston is 2020 miles, well within the range of a variety of its aircraft. Still, let's go whole hog and say they ran a 767-200 on the route.
Bonus #1: What was the name of the front cabin found on Republic Airlines (RC) DC-9-30 equipment as well as on several other jet aircraft types in their fleet in the early 1980's? This name was actually created by the marketing department at Hughes Airwest.
Okay then, since nobody else wants this one, I'll swoop in. I had the good fortune to fly in Business Coach on both Hughes Airwest and Republic back in the day. Seating was industry standard 2-2 premium class aboard all of the various DC-9s and 727-200s that I flew upon. With the exception of free drinks, service was identical to what was offered behind the curtain. Best of all, the difference in fare was minimal. I remember once paying just $20 more (1980 value) to fly BC from Seattle to Denver on a three stop flight. This engenders a
BONUS QUESTION!!!: In July of 1980, what type of aircraft did I fly and what were the three enroute stops on my Hughes Airwest flight from Seattle to Denver?
Bonus # 1: Correct! Here are links to the Hughes Airwest and Republic print ads concerning the Business Coach cabin and service. I believe Republic was offering Business Coach on the majority of its DC-9-30, DC-9-50, B727-200 and MD-80 aircraft by the end of 1981.....
RWbusinessbanana80
RCroomupfront81
And here's my guess concerning your Bonus Question: DC-9-30 operating Seattle (SEA) - Boise (BOI) - Pocatello (PIH) - Idaho Falls (IDA) - Denver (DEN)
Last edited by jlemon; Jan 21, 2019 at 2:21 pm Reason: clarification concerning Business Coach on Republic aircraft
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73. You are in Lafayette, Louisiana (LFT) and need to travel to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). You would greatly prefer to fly on board a jet on this trip. You then find a direct flight which makes one stop en route with this service being operated with jet equipment. Name the air carrier, the stop and the aircraft type. The equipment wasn't a regional jet.
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73- well, how about a -300 that put down (where else, duh?) In A Huge metropolitan area ~225 miles to the south-southeast of DFW
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73- only three more candidates in the CO fleet (727-224, MD-80, and DC-9-30) ... let's start with the 72S, and concede the tap-in if that's wrong
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As to jrl767's answer, in 1979 I flew from SEA to DEN on the following routing: SEA-GEG-LWS-BOI-TWF-SLC-DEN. It was a sunny day and a nice air tour of the American Northwest
Last edited by Seat 2A; Jan 21, 2019 at 2:08 pm
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CO 414: Lafayette (LFT) 6:10a - 7:00a Houston (IAH) 8:00a - 9:05a Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Freq: Daily except Sundays
Equip: MD-80
All of Continental's other service into Lafayette at this time was being operated by Continental Express with ATR-42 turboprops including the series 500 model. If one wanted to fly nonstop from LFT to DFW, American Eagle was operating Saab 340 and ATR-72 turboprops while Delta Connection was operating EMB-120 turboprops. And Embraer regional jet service flown by all three code sharing partners into LFT was imminent.
Continental did operate a number of its mainline jets into Lafayette at various times over the years including DC-9-10 and DC-9-30 aircraft formerly operated by Texas International (in 1979, TI was operating ten departures every weekday from LFT with DC9 and D9S equipment) as well as B727-100 and B727-200 aircraft followed by B737-300 and B737-500 aircraft in addition to the aforementioned MD-80 service.
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I stood between the second observer's seat and the flight engineer as we took off to the north at PAE ... we maintained runway heading for the duration of the test condition (which put us at maybe 7500 feet), and then turned to the southeast ... it was a beautiful clear evening, and the approach to BFI brought us right down Lake Washington, pointing directly at Mount Rainier at sunset, at 6000 feet
three weeks later I started work in the Structures Analysis group at Flight Test
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Here are all of the remaining unanswered quiz items....and I have now added even more hints.
The following two quiz items both have a time line of the fall of 1993....
36. There was only one airline operating Boeing 747-400 service nonstop from Brussels (BRU) to London Heathrow (LHR) at this time. The flight only operated once a week. Name the airline that operated this service. This flight originated in Asia. The air carrier wasn't Thai Airways International.
39. You are in Caracas and need to travel to Seattle. Ah, what's this? A direct one stop flight and first class is available! You will depart CCS at 10:00 am and arrive into SEA at 7:05 pm. Name the airline, the stop and the equipment. This was a same plane service with no change of equipment and the stop was made in the U.S.
The next two quiz items both have a time line of the fall of 1994....
41. You are in San Francisco and need to travel to Port of Spain in Trinidad on business. To your great surprise, you find there is a direct flight from SFO to POS which operates daily. Four stops are made en route by this service which departs San Francisco at 6:10 am and arrives into Port of Spain at 11:57 pm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on this flight. Identify the airline, all four stops in order and the aircraft. The airline is United with stops being made at DEN, MIA and CCS. Equipment wasn't a B727-200 or DC-8-71 and we are still looking for the missing stop which wasn't IAD.
50. It's now late spring in 2001 and your long term project work from an office near La Guardia Airport in New York City has almost concluded. There's just one more meeting to attend and it will involve a lunch at a location near San Francisco International Airport. You've grown accustomed to flying out of La Guardia during this work assignment as the airfield is very conveniently located to the office and your apartment. So you find a direct flight departing LGA at 6:50 am that will get you into SFO at 11:30 am with one stop being made en route. You're not familiar with airline operating the flight but you've been informed you will be flying on an aircraft type which the air carrier has recently introduced into their fleet. Name the airline, the stop and the equipment. The air carrier in question was a recent start-up which had been in operation for several years at this time.
The time line for these next two quiz items is the fall of 1993.....
52. Only one airline was operating Boeing 747-400 service from Zurich (ZRH) nonstop to London Gatwick (LGW) at this time. The flights were operated twice a week. Identify this air carrier. This flight originated in Asia. It wasn't Air China or EVA Air.
56. Only one air carrier was operating Boeing 747-400 service from Frankfurt (FRA) to London Gatwick (LGW) at this time. The flight was operated once a week. Identify this airline. ANSWERED
The following two quiz items both have a time line of the fall of 1994.....
71. This airline was operating the only direct service from New Orleans (MSY) to Portland, Maine (PWM) at this time with two stops being made en route. Identify the air carrier, the two stops and the equipment.
United operating a B737-300 on a routing of MSY - ORD - ___ - PWM. Still looking for the second stop which was located east of the state of New York in a nearby state.
72. This air carrier was operating the only direct service from West Palm Beach (PBI) to Bangor, Maine (BGR) at this time with two stops being made en route. Name the airline, both stops and the aircraft type. It wasn't USAir or Midway, the equipment wasn't a B737-200 or Fokker 100 and the first stop wasn't CLT or RDU. The second stop was made at Newburgh, NY (SWF).
Last edited by jlemon; Jan 22, 2019 at 4:27 pm Reason: answer updates
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67. Only one airline was operating nonstop service from Aruba (AUA) to Houston (IAH) at this time with the service being operated three days a week. Identify the this air carrier and the equipment. The airline was VIASA. The equipment wasn't a DC-9-80 (MD-80) or a B767-200.
Last edited by jlemon; Jan 22, 2019 at 4:07 pm Reason: answer update
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41. You are in San Francisco and need to travel to Port of Spain in Trinidad on business. To your great surprise, you find there is a direct flight from SFO to POS which operates daily. Four stops are made en route by this service which departs San Francisco at 6:10 am and arrives into Port of Spain at 11:57 pm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on this flight. Identify the airline, all four stops in order and the aircraft. The airline is United with stops being made at DEN, MIA and CCS. Equipment wasn't a B727-200 and we are still looking for the missing stop.
71. This airline was operating the only direct service from New Orleans (MSY) to Portland, Maine (PWM) at this time with two stops being made en route. Identify the air carrier, the two stops and the equipment. First class was available on this flight which was operated with a twin engine jet.
72. This air carrier was operating the only direct service from West Palm Beach (PBI) to Bangor, Maine (BGR) at this time with two stops being made en route. Name the airline, both stops and the aircraft type. The second stop was made in the state of New York at an airport that had a total of four airlines operating jet service.
Last edited by jrl767; Jan 22, 2019 at 1:33 pm