Small Aircraft in the mid to late 90s
Apr 26, 2020, 9:23 am
#16
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Possibly a Saab 340?
I remember flying one of those on CoEx from, I think, Pittsburgh to Newark. I remember it was pretty unique since the back wall of the plane was 4-across. Thought that was a pretty cozy configuration at the time.... was very very grateful for my single seat on the port side.
Lots of those little planes back then - the Beechcrafts, and EMB-120's, and Saabs... I don't miss any of 'em.
I remember flying one of those on CoEx from, I think, Pittsburgh to Newark. I remember it was pretty unique since the back wall of the plane was 4-across. Thought that was a pretty cozy configuration at the time.... was very very grateful for my single seat on the port side.
Lots of those little planes back then - the Beechcrafts, and EMB-120's, and Saabs... I don't miss any of 'em.
Apr 26, 2020, 9:31 am
#17
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I flew the J31’s often in the mid 90’s (on TWA Express) from St. Louis to Joplin.
HATED those planes. They seemed to go out of their way to find air pockets. People around me often got sick.
That wing thing that ran throug the center of the cabin, necessitating stepping over it to get from back to front...
The tight seat pitch.
With regard to the comment above about security ... In the late 80;s, I worked for an airline in Nantucket. At the time, the rule was that if a flight had fewer than 30 seats, it didn’t require security. If the flights arrived into an airport within their security area, we would then do security locally. If the flight came into an airport outside the secure area, we didn’t do security. It was really a flawed system!
HATED those planes. They seemed to go out of their way to find air pockets. People around me often got sick.
That wing thing that ran throug the center of the cabin, necessitating stepping over it to get from back to front...
The tight seat pitch.
With regard to the comment above about security ... In the late 80;s, I worked for an airline in Nantucket. At the time, the rule was that if a flight had fewer than 30 seats, it didn’t require security. If the flights arrived into an airport within their security area, we would then do security locally. If the flight came into an airport outside the secure area, we didn’t do security. It was really a flawed system!
Apr 26, 2020, 12:27 pm
#19
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Apr 26, 2020, 1:37 pm
#20
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https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Ai...da_Dash_81.php
https://prijet.com/img/aircraft/Dash-8-100-int.jpg
Apr 26, 2020, 1:40 pm
#21
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Apr 26, 2020, 1:44 pm
#22
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Apr 26, 2020, 3:04 pm
#24
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The FA part is interesting - in my (possibly faulty) recollection there was an FA seated front left, but she didn't move out of her seat, she reached into the cockpit so the pilot(s) had first choice from the basket of biscuits, then it was passed around, she didn't come down the aisle with them.
I did have a look at the JS41 today, that doesn't seem a million miles away but seems too big. I've spent a lot of the day looking at interior pictures and seeing how they fit onto my memories, nothing quite fits which probably means my memories are faulty. JS31 is probably the closest so far, I don't think it was a Twin Otter (I've flown on both types recently).
I did have a look at the JS41 today, that doesn't seem a million miles away but seems too big. I've spent a lot of the day looking at interior pictures and seeing how they fit onto my memories, nothing quite fits which probably means my memories are faulty. JS31 is probably the closest so far, I don't think it was a Twin Otter (I've flown on both types recently).
Apr 26, 2020, 4:44 pm
#25
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The FA part is interesting - in my (possibly faulty) recollection there was an FA seated front left, but she didn't move out of her seat, she reached into the cockpit so the pilot(s) had first choice from the basket of biscuits, then it was passed around, she didn't come down the aisle with them.
Apr 26, 2020, 6:29 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2003
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UX at Dulles had a number of small Jetstream models in use. I used to fly them occasionally. No FAs, no door to the cockpit, and you had to step over the wingbox to get to the forward seats. US Air had BC 1900s - the flying box. I flew on Dornier 228s as well. None of them had FAs.
I can't recall when they were discontinued. I do know that at at least one airport - Santa Fe - we did no actual security check to get on one, on a flight to Denver. I guess the assumption at the time was, who cares. I vaguely recall something similar going from Omaha to Kansas City on a USAir puddle jumper back when they had a bunch of subsidized flights out of KC to a bunch of small airports in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. No metal detector or anything. I had a flight out of Monterey CA once when the one metal detector was broken so they just made us make our beepers go off.
Pre 9/11, security was pretty reasonable. Nothing like when I was a kid and there were no metal detectors anywhere and you boarded planes like you would a train today. You have a ticket for the flight, that's all they cared about. No ID, no metal detector, no bag search. They didn't care.
I can't recall when they were discontinued. I do know that at at least one airport - Santa Fe - we did no actual security check to get on one, on a flight to Denver. I guess the assumption at the time was, who cares. I vaguely recall something similar going from Omaha to Kansas City on a USAir puddle jumper back when they had a bunch of subsidized flights out of KC to a bunch of small airports in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. No metal detector or anything. I had a flight out of Monterey CA once when the one metal detector was broken so they just made us make our beepers go off.
Pre 9/11, security was pretty reasonable. Nothing like when I was a kid and there were no metal detectors anywhere and you boarded planes like you would a train today. You have a ticket for the flight, that's all they cared about. No ID, no metal detector, no bag search. They didn't care.
Apr 26, 2020, 7:02 pm
#27
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UX at Dulles had a number of small Jetstream models in use. I used to fly them occasionally. No FAs, no door to the cockpit, and you had to step over the wingbox to get to the forward seats. US Air had BC 1900s - the flying box. I flew on Dornier 228s as well. None of them had FAs.
I can't recall when they were discontinued. I do know that at at least one airport - Santa Fe - we did no actual security check to get on one, on a flight to Denver. I guess the assumption at the time was, who cares. I vaguely recall something similar going from Omaha to Kansas City on a USAir puddle jumper back when they had a bunch of subsidized flights out of KC to a bunch of small airports in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. No metal detector or anything. I had a flight out of Monterey CA once when the one metal detector was broken so they just made us make our beepers go off.
Pre 9/11, security was pretty reasonable. Nothing like when I was a kid and there were no metal detectors anywhere and you boarded planes like you would a train today. You have a ticket for the flight, that's all they cared about. No ID, no metal detector, no bag search. They didn't care.
I can't recall when they were discontinued. I do know that at at least one airport - Santa Fe - we did no actual security check to get on one, on a flight to Denver. I guess the assumption at the time was, who cares. I vaguely recall something similar going from Omaha to Kansas City on a USAir puddle jumper back when they had a bunch of subsidized flights out of KC to a bunch of small airports in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. No metal detector or anything. I had a flight out of Monterey CA once when the one metal detector was broken so they just made us make our beepers go off.
Pre 9/11, security was pretty reasonable. Nothing like when I was a kid and there were no metal detectors anywhere and you boarded planes like you would a train today. You have a ticket for the flight, that's all they cared about. No ID, no metal detector, no bag search. They didn't care.
Apr 26, 2020, 7:50 pm
#28
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It also sounds like a Dash-8, which had the 5-wide bench seats on the rear bulkhead. The middle seat as the end of the aisle so by the far the most legroom of any seat in the sky.
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Ai...da_Dash_81.php
https://prijet.com/img/aircraft/Dash-8-100-int.jpg
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Ai...da_Dash_81.php
https://prijet.com/img/aircraft/Dash-8-100-int.jpg
a couple of times I flew CVG-CLE, when that route still existed. Both times, there were less than 5 pax on the plane. in one instance, I was asked to sit in the back bench for weight.
then I remember doing YYZ-EWR on it too, and we were delayed due to MX. Finally, they announced that we would go, but there was a pressurization, issue, and so we had to fly below 10,000 feet. That was a long flight for that route.
Apr 26, 2020, 11:12 pm
#29
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Apr 26, 2020, 11:20 pm
#30
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Maybe a Mokulele Cessna Caravan? I don’t recall Island Air running something that small (could be mistaken).