Happy-flier From Canada, joined Dec 1999, 282 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 4 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 3379 times:
Hi everyone,
I'm posting this in the Tech Ops forum in the hope that some of our senior members might know the answer to this, as it relates to two very old jetliners: The Convair 880 and 990 "Coronado".
Has anyone ever seen or heard of video footage of these aircraft when they were still operating? I know that NASA had an -880 flying still in the early '90s, and that Spantax held on to their -990s up to something like 1988. I figure there may be a chance that some of these jets were filmed taking off, landing, and so on. I would love to be able to hear what those engines sounded like.
Nowadays, airliner videos are such a common thing that we often take for granted just how little video was made back in the days of the Glory Jets.
Many thanks in advance for any replies.
Cheers,
Happy-flier
May the wind be always at your back . . . except during takeoff & landing.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10019 posts, RR: 76 Reply 1, posted (6 years 4 months 2 weeks 16 hours ago) and read 3368 times:
Geez, you hurt my feelings when you refer to the CV-880/990 as "very old" airliners. I suppose you are right. The second airliner I ever rode on was
Dougloid From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (6 years 4 months 2 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 3292 times:
Quoting Happy-flier (Thread starter): Has anyone ever seen or heard of video footage of these aircraft when they were still operating? I know that NASA had an -880 flying still in the early '90s, and that Spantax held on to their -990s up to something like 1988.
No video but I've got a shot of a Ports of Call-Denver CV990 that I'll post one of these days if I figure out how to do it.....I thought it was the most beautiful jetliner I'd ever seen....later on I got a tour of Elvis Presley's CV880...it was not so bueno...
They had the aft fan GEs and they never really licked the temperature differential across the blades....this was an idea that the Brits tried in the late forties...the 990 had what were called Kucheman Carrots
OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (6 years 4 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 3278 times:
I recall seeing some video of one of NASA's two -880s burning up after an aborted takeoff out in California in 1980s.
I can't recall whether it was EDW or SBD. Wheel fragments hit the bottom of the wing at high speed and punctured a fuel tank, not unlike the Air France Concorde scenario. Everyone got out of this one...
474218 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 6340 posts, RR: 9 Reply 5, posted (6 years 4 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 3030 times:
Quoting Dougloid (Reply 3): No video but I've got a shot of a Ports of Call-Denver CV990 that I'll post one of these days if I figure out how to do it.....I thought it was the most beautiful jetliner I'd ever seen....later on I got a tour of Elvis Presley's CV880...it was not so bueno...
Elvis Presley's CV880 is just about a tacky as Graceland. By the way the CV990 was the fastest airliner till the Concord came a long.
SLCPilot From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 463 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (6 years 4 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 3015 times:
Wow, what a strange tie in.....
This week I spent some time with my folks, and a friend of thiers was a retired Ports of Call (Denver) flight attendent. She had some neat stories to tell with respect to her adventures. She commented that the plane was indeed loud on the inside and it didn't have beverage carts, which made serving drinks a pain. The FAs also handled all the gate and boarding procedures.
It was clear she had a good time though, and was very willing to talk about it. Another thing she commented on was the practice of the whole cabin applauding with every takeoff (!) and landing. The atmosphere must have been very special on those trips.
SLCPilot
PS. For those that don't know, it's my understanding the Ports of Call aircraft were owned by groups of people who loved to travel. They'd pay the crew a small wage, and picked several vacations a year to go on. It sounds like a good idea to me, but probably wouldn't fly in today's times, heck, would the TSA volunteer to screen everyone?
I don't like to be fueled by anger, I don't like to be fooled by lust...
Boeing767mech From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 951 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (6 years 4 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2994 times:
I have a 20 minute video of the last 880 for Delta airlines being delivered to the bone yard. There's no sound but some interesting shots of the cockpit and in flight shots. Also Delta's 747's in the background during one shot.
Boeing767mech From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 951 posts, RR: 4 Reply 9, posted (6 years 4 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2983 times:
Boeing767mech From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 951 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (6 years 4 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2983 times:
NASA has video of the CV-990 used to test the shuttle wheels, interesting watching the full destruction video if you watch close you can see the wings flapping as the tire is ripping apart. YOu can download it from the NASA.gov I have also seen it on the History Channel on a program about runaways.
One side note the CV-990 NASA lost on take-off from a tire burst was in Riverside CA or March AFB.
David
American Airlines Boston
Formerly of Team Convair 880
Vc10 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 1326 posts, RR: 19 Reply 11, posted (6 years 4 months 22 hours ago) and read 2951 times:
Past a Swissair Convair [990?] over the North Atlantic with a VC-10. Talking to the Swiss crew we asked as to how we were over taking the Fastest jet airliner, only to be told that it might be fast but not if you wanted to have any range. Lovely looking aircraft though.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10019 posts, RR: 76 Reply 13, posted (6 years 4 months 21 hours ago) and read 2940 times:
Quoting SLCPilot (Reply 6): For those that don't know, it's my understanding the Ports of Call aircraft were owned by groups of people who loved to travel.
Quoting SLCPilot (Reply 6): would the TSA volunteer to screen everyone?
They were indeed a "travel club" and not an airline. Everyone on board was an owner of the plane. They operated under FAR Part 125 instead of Part 121. Don't know if that option is still around.
At the time (say, late 70s and early 80s) it was only necessary to screen regular airline passengers. If you had a group, or "entity charter" you did not have to screen them. Sounds like a blessing and most of the time it was, but it led to all kinds of potential problems.
One example, if you had to drop the passengers off through a sterile area the passengers had to be screened just to enter, then exit. In such cases it was sometimes worthwhile to screen at origin and be a sterile arrival.
Another one, happened to me: A guy needed to get a package to a friend of his. He was going on a casino junket and the friend was flying out on United the next morning. They figured out that he would be arriving at about the same time his friend was departing so they arranged to meet and make the pass then. Problem was the guy with the package was arriving non-sterile and he walked across the ramp a short distance and handed his package to his friend who had been screened and was about to go up the airstair on the United flight. Everyone off the United plane! Back through security! We got threatened with a fine but that never happened.
Least resistance anymore just to have all flight sterile.
Ports Of Call had a very nice terminal (sorry - clubhouse) of their own on the south side of Stapleton.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 8950 posts, RR: 45 Reply 14, posted (6 years 4 months 17 hours ago) and read 2904 times:
The CV-880, My First Jet. Cathay Pacific, Singapore - Bangkok - Kai Tak, 1969, superb. Flew over 'Nam during the war - a few months later one of those came down in the mountains there. Someone was charged with planting a bomb but was acquitted (a Thai policeman, I think). There were unconfirmed rumours of the pilots reporting a lot of "activity" in the area.
I've got the Heathrow DVD so I'll need to watch again for the Convairs.
JHSfan From Denmark, joined Apr 2004, 469 posts, RR: 3 Reply 15, posted (6 years 4 months 14 hours ago) and read 2882 times:
Only found 1 movie. NASA footage of their Convair 990: http://www.buczynski.com/~don/Galileo/galileo.shtml
No sound - but good picture quality The small ones are showing the same as the big one, but in a lower quality (though not bad at all).
Hope that you are pleased Happy-flier.
Yours in realtime
JHSfan
Look at me, I´m riding high, I´m the airbornmaster of the sky...
Dc863 From Denmark, joined Jun 1999, 1547 posts, RR: 3 Reply 17, posted (6 years 4 months 7 hours ago) and read 2851 times:
I have some quick footage taken by ITV(on VHS) back in 1969 at Chicago O'Hare showing Delta 880s taking off. Also shown a NA 727-200, and an EA DC-8-32. The footage has sound and all the planes shown are real smoke wagons.
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 32 Reply 19, posted (6 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2781 times:
Quoting SlamClick (Reply 13): They were indeed a "travel club" and not an airline. Everyone on board was an owner of the plane. They operated under FAR Part 125 instead of Part 121. Don't know if that option is still around.
I wish I could remember where I saw this, but recently there was a photo floating around somewhere of an aircraft in the new colours of Ambassadair.
Ambassadair was the forerunner of American Trans Air.
It is my understanding it was spun off many years ago and no longer is affliated with ATA, but they are indeed still around.
Someone will surely have more accurate information than this...I don't like posting things I'm not sure of....hopefully the answers will be forthcoming!
I tried to locate a pic in the A.Net database...none.
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 8950 posts, RR: 45 Reply 21, posted (6 years 3 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 2795 times:
Quoting GDB (Reply 20): I once saw a postcard of an AF CV-880
Thanks. I'd better take another look at that DVD straight after the football. But it's fair to say the 880s weren't as common a sight in the UK as the 990s?
HangarRat From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 623 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (5 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1650 times:
As I posted in a thread a few months ago, there is a nice shot of a CV-990 taxying in the film Dog Day Afternoon. The film is based on a true story about a bank robbery in NYC during the 70s. The robbers, the leader of whom is played by Al Pacino, demand a jet to take them to Cuba (or somewhere) and in one of the final scenes, we see a Modern Air 990 taxying across the ramp at JFK. Other classic airliners in the background. Decent movie even without the airliner interest.
KELPkid From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 5515 posts, RR: 5 Reply 24, posted (5 years 1 month 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1539 times:
Quoting SlamClick (Reply 13): They were indeed a "travel club" and not an airline. Everyone on board was an owner of the plane. They operated under FAR Part 125 instead of Part 121. Don't know if that option is still around.
At the time (say, late 70s and early 80s) it was only necessary to screen regular airline passengers. If you had a group, or "entity charter" you did not have to screen them. Sounds like a blessing and most of the time it was, but it led to all kinds of potential problems.
One example, if you had to drop the passengers off through a sterile area the passengers had to be screened just to enter, then exit. In such cases it was sometimes worthwhile to screen at origin and be a sterile arrival.
Another one, happened to me: A guy needed to get a package to a friend of his. He was going on a casino junket and the friend was flying out on United the next morning. They figured out that he would be arriving at about the same time his friend was departing so they arranged to meet and make the pass then. Problem was the guy with the package was arriving non-sterile and he walked across the ramp a short distance and handed his package to his friend who had been screened and was about to go up the airstair on the United flight. Everyone off the United plane! Back through security! We got threatened with a fine but that never happened.
Least resistance anymore just to have all flight sterile.
Ports Of Call had a very nice terminal (sorry - clubhouse) of their own on the south side of Stapleton.
This particular Convair 990 (the last known airworthy example) ended up in ELP around 1996 or so, last I heard the airport gave the aircraft owners an ultimatum that they didn't meet, so the aircraft got auctioned off to someone who was going to break her up for scrap There's a database picture of her (painted up for a failed African startup called "Ciskei Airways", but obviously still in the "Ports of Call" paint).
TheCheese From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 167 posts, RR: 0 Reply 25, posted (5 years 1 month 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1375 times:
I bought a videocassette off of eBay several years ago of Convair 880 and 990 footage. It's mostly Convair sales promotional videos, but there is one Delta promo on it that's pretty comical to watch.
Lots of beautiful take off, landing and air-to-air shots, though... with those CJ805s smoking like a three-pack-a-day habit. Plus sales footage of Convair Metropolitans as well.
"Convair Liners: From Piston Engine to Jet Power" by CAV Video Productions it the name, and they have a website at www.aviationvideos.com where you can purchase this one and others.
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- but good picture quality 
The small ones are showing the same as the big one, but in a lower quality (though not bad at all).
From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, 
There's a database picture of her (painted up for a failed African startup called "Ciskei Airways", but obviously still in the "Ports of Call" paint).
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