I was a passenger on that very same 747-400, when it made its inaugural international flight. It was <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> to <acronym title="Tokyo - Narita International (New Tokyo) (NRT / RJAA), Japan">NRT</a...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/Mortyman" class="quote" target="_blank">Mortyman</a> (<a href="#53" class="quote">Reply 53</a>):<br/><i>Norwegian intends to continue hiring hun...
Jump to postI'm the "Cockpit Confidential" author quoted in that story. For the record, I was not contacted by news.com.au to comment on this incident. The quote they used was from an EARLIER article that I contributed to, discussing turbulence in general. The Thai Airways encounter involved unusually severe tu...
Jump to postI'm old enough to remember when DC-10s, L-1011s and 747s were the norm on transcon routes. Not all that long ago, the idea of non-widebody plane on a transcon flight was unheard of!
PS
The following is taken from chapter five of my book: Q: I’m old enough to remember when passengers used to applaud on every landing. Does this ever happen anymore? A: Clapping upon landing was still widespread as recently as the late ’70s and early ’80s. No surprise that it scarcely happens anymore....
Jump to postI was just looking at the ATBD.aero site. Does anybody know how accurate their data is? The site itself, aesthetically, is horrible, and makes you wonder.
And either way, what's needed is a HARD COPY annual or semi-annual listing, not simply an online source.
[Edited 2015-09-19 17:09:25]
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/trex8" class="quote" target="_blank">trex8</a> (<a href="#6" class="quote">Reply 6</a>):<br/><i>Changes are so frequent these days that anything...
Jump to postI can't believe they chose to cease publishing the <acronym title="Adria Airways (Slovenia)">JP</acronym> Fleets yearly volume. This is really sad. The book was around since I was adolescent airplane buff 35 years ago. Yes, it's true that people seek out a lot of this data online, but the book itsel...
Jump to postI was fortunate to visit the boneyard at Mojave several years ago. There's a photo essay from that visit on my website if anybody wants to see it. Some cool pictures of an old TWA Convair and an Eastern DC-8. I was with a film crew, and our guide was the inimitable Mike Potter (RIP), the former TWA ...
Jump to postDid I miss something, or did nobody mention the Dassault Mercure?
You could put the Concorde on this list, and the little old VFW-614 as well. That was the 70s-era European-built regional jet that had the engines * on top * of the wings.
-- PS
The most beautiful observation deck in the country, and maybe the world, was the old 16th floor deck in the control tower at <acronym title="Boston - General Edward Lawrence Logan International (BOS / KBOS), USA - Massachusetts">BOS</acronym>. I wrote an essay about this deck. It said, in part: "......
Jump to postThe latest post at Ask the Pilot is called "Homage to the Ticket Wallet: Postcards, Timetables, and Other Airline Collectibles. If Only I Hadn't Thrown Them All Away." Here's most of it... YOU KNOW WHAT I MISS? Airline ticket wallets. Once upon a time airline tickets were issued by hand, and were of...
Jump to postNeat.
I did a post on my website that includes several photos from the final DC-10 flight.
I can't post a link here but if you click on my profile you can find it.
- PS
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/LPDAL" class="quote" target="_blank">LPDAL</a> (<a href="#1" class="quote">Reply 1</a>):<br/><i>No. More like, "Remove your rose tinted specs." ...
Jump to postI've written up a rather damning "report card" grading a bunch of the most recent airline livery makeovers. "From Etihad to Southwest, Several Airlines Have Unveiled New Looks. Is Any Airline Safe From the Dreaded 'In-Motion' Theme? The full post and pictures are up on my website (I won't post a lin...
Jump to postI'm an airline pilot. There is nothing remotely unusual about a 3000-plus fpm rate of descent in any jetliner.
-- Patrick Smith
Horrifyingly ugly. More than that, it's ANNOYING. Annoying because it's yet another example of designers trying to prove how clever and crafty they can be, instead of using their talents to establish some genuine BRAND IDENTITY. One person above describes the new look as "elegant." No. The JAL crane...
Jump to postI was at the airport in Monrovia just yesterday. Delta, Brussels Airlines, and Kenya Airways all were there.
Many of the apron workers were wearing gloves and masks, but otherwise the "feel" of operations there wasn't terribly different from how it normally is.
PS
I am working with a documentary film company producing a show for National Geographic about the final days and hours leading up to the September 11th terrorist attacks. I am looking for anybody with a previous affiliation with the now defunct COLGAN AIR, here in the U.S.. Perhaps you know somebody w...
Jump to postCrazy. <acronym title="Bangkok - Suvarnabhumi International (BKK / VTBS), Thailand">BKK</acronym> is one of the biggest and most important hubs in all of Asia. (And its main terminal is arguably the most architecturally stunning airport terminal in the world.) It's hard to believe only a single US c...
Jump to postFunny, how once upon a time domestic widebody wasn't the least bit unusual. And this continued well beyond the years just after Deregulation. Routes that used to be L-1011s or DC-10s are now flown by regional jets. I live in Boston, and I remember when Eastern had A300s on the Shuttle to <acronym ti...
Jump to postSome of these observations are very intriguing, but it's also true that Korea spent a great deal of time and money overhauling its entire civil aviation system after that spate of accidents in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, ICAO determined that Korea had the safest civil aviation system in the entire...
Jump to postA bullet. People, we're talking about a tiny metal object carried by one of the TWO MILLION PEOPLE who fly in the United States each day. It made it through? <acronym title="Transports et Travaux Aériens de Madagascar">OF</acronym> COURSE <acronym title="Kingfisher Airlines (India) AND Irtysh-Avia (...
Jump to postDoes anybody know the answer to this... When the Beatles landed at <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> in '64, is it true that the press conference during which John Lennon made the famous/infamous quote about the Beatles be...
Jump to postAt long last. Thursday will be the last day of regular operations at <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym>'s terminal 3! On one hand the occasion is melancholy, but I am NOT among those who feel that <acronym title="Eastern Ai...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/tonystan" class="quote" target="_blank">tonystan</a> (<a href="#2" class="quote">Reply 2</a>):<br/><i>Mate, it's in their agreements and it happ...
Jump to postNobody is more of an airport romantic than I am. Yet I cannot wait for the day that <acronym title="Eastern Airways (United Kingdom)">T3</acronym> is torn down. I'm sorry, but this building simply doesn't belong in the same class with, for example, Saarinen's TWA building. <acronym title="Carib Expr...
Jump to postAnyone remember "Smokers' Express" ? No joke, it was going to be an all-smoking class carrier, based out of <acronym title="Newark - Liberty International (EWR / KEWR), USA - New Jersey">EWR</acronym> if I remember right, flying 737s. This was only about ten years ago. The plan was to get some kind ...
Jump to postUm. That trailer made my brain hurt.
Jump to postWhat!
That's the Metroliner. I have 1,100 hours as a captain on that beast. There's even an essay in my new book that talks about flying "the Metro," as we called it.
Patrick Smith
I miss the Aer Lingus 747s that used to make daily calls here at <acronym title="Boston - General Edward Lawrence Logan International (BOS / KBOS), USA - Massachusetts">BOS</acronym>. It's amazing how many routes/markets have fragmented, with carriers operating smaller and smaller planes. At one poi...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/OA260" class="quote" target="_blank">OA260</a> (<a href="#0" class="quote">Thread starter</a>):<br/><i>Will PAN <acronym title="Aeromexico">AM</...
Jump to postYou have to remember that a short runway, in and of itself, doesn't preclude widebody flights. A lightly loaded 747 will require less runway than a heavily loaded 737. And it wasn't that long ago that <acronym title="New York - La Guardia (LGA / KLGA), USA - New York">LGA</acronym>, to pick just one...
Jump to postLong live Air Portugal! I remember TAP's 707s and occasional 747 here at BOS in the late 1970s.
If you would, though, please do something about that ugly livery.
PS
I've been flying the North Atlantic, albeit on and off, since 1997. Things are * already * different from how they were 10 or 15 years ago. Thunderstorms on the NAT tracks, in February ??? I've seen it. You climate change deniers can keep on denying all you want. Things will continue moving with or ...
Jump to postFrom a pilot's perspective, there is nothing unusual about the landings at <acronym title="Philipsburg / St. Maarten - Princess Juliana (SXM / TNCM), St. Maarten">SXM</acronym>. The glide angle to the runway is roughly the same as it is at any other airport. What's different is that the BEACH is so ...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/Yukon880" class="quote" target="_blank">Yukon880</a> (<a href="#3" class="quote">Reply 3</a>):<br/><i>I'm struck by the supreme irony of this qu...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/flyingturtle" class="quote" target="_blank">flyingturtle</a> (<a href="#18" class="quote">Reply 18</a>):<br/><i>Hmm... which one do you mean? I ...
Jump to postYou can also get it from the JP Airline Fleets listings (if you're willing to spend the $80 or so for the book).
Why do you care?
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/Maverick623" class="quote" target="_blank">Maverick623</a> (<a href="#85" class="quote">Reply 85</a>):<br/><i>As was said before, their are two ...
Jump to postIn his outstanding book about Kennedy Airport (it's called "The Airport," and it's the single best book about commercial flying that I've ever read), author James Kaplan describes the Airbus name as, "a capitulation to the inevitable."
I've always loved that line.
PS
I remember USAir / Allegheny One-Elevens quite well, roaring off (god they were LOUD little planes) from BOS for such exotic destinations as Albany and Rochester and Buffalo.
- PS
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/spacecadet" class="quote" target="_blank">spacecadet</a> (<a href="#37" class="quote">Reply 37</a>):<br/><i>Again, I'm not saying I want to give...
Jump to postSeveral movies feature key scenes that were filmed at airports. But the heck with 'Argo,' give me 1975's 'Dog Day Afternoon' any day. Now that's a movie. Plenty of drama and tension, with no goofy chase scenes or half-assed special effects. I'm sure many of you have seen it: the final scene unfolds ...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/Braybuddy" class="quote" target="_blank">Braybuddy</a> (<a href="#28" class="quote">Reply 28</a>):<br/><i>I find it hard to fathom that the OP w...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/Braybuddy" class="quote" target="_blank">Braybuddy</a> (<a href="#28" class="quote">Reply 28</a>):<br/><i> The production team went a long way t...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/phxa340" class="quote" target="_blank">phxa340</a> (<a href="#8" class="quote">Reply 8</a>):<br/><i>Because .0001% of the viewing public dont ca...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/EricR" class="quote" target="_blank">EricR</a> (<a href="#4" class="quote">Reply 4</a>):<br/><i>The main plot of Argo was about helping 6 people...
Jump to postFor what it's worth, it would have been a -200, not a -100, I believe. Is this correct?
Jump to post