The DC-9 was, like many airliners designed in the early 1960’s, a bit of a revolution. It was the airliner that allowed airlines to serve smaller markets and small airports just as the BAC 1-11 and even the Sud Aviation Caravelle was.
Today, we would regard the original DC-9-10/20 as unusable in today’s markets but there exists another airline that is servicing the same markets and, remarkably, very similar specifications.
Hint: David Neeleman likes it.
Question: Can you name the airliner and tell which was/is faster?
Take a look at this video of the 787 landing in Paris for the airshow. It was shot with a FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) camera and at various points it switches to infrared. At the very end, while taxiing, you can see just how hot the wheels and brakes are compared to the rest of the airframe. Only the engines are hotter.
There have been two passenger airliners that were designed and built for supersonic travel. The Concorde, an Anglo/French adventure and the Tu-144, a Soviet design.
Question: Which airliner did Boeing participate in?
There are 4 “oldest” airlines still in existence today. Two of these should be fairly well known for being such. One may be a bit of a stumper for many and one is surely a surprise for almost all.
Question: Can you name (without any research) the 4 oldest airlines in existence today?
The GE90 engine, found only on Boeing’s 777 aircraft, has the highest bypass ratio of any commercial turbofan engine made at 9:1. It also has the world record for the most power ever produced by a single commercial engine at 127,900lbs of thrust.
Can you name the first commercially available turbo-fan and it’s bypass ratio and thrust?
A lot of airliner firsts happened in the 1950s when it comes to jet travel. First came the Dehaviland Comet, then the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. The Russians had the Tu-104 which kind of resembled the Comet but which was really derived from a bomber aircraft. Avro Canada even produced a airliner, the C-102 Jetliner which got killed in favor of a fighter development by Avro. The airliner that often goes completely unnoticed in that crowd is the Convair 880.
Question: Why was the Convair jetliner named the 880?
Airline hubs are often surprising and, if you are an airline enthusiast, you already know that Atlanta is the world’s largest airline hub. Others are obvious but do can you name the top 10 airline hubs in the world by traffic? Answer after the fold:
Everyone is aware of the KC-135 tankers and they’re often thought of as 707 tankers but they are not. The KC-135 has the slightly narrower original fuselage and was developed in parallel with the 707 but it is not a 707.
Some may even know of the KC-130 tankers used which refuel aircraft through a chute/drogue system.
And there are the mighty KC-10 tankers which are prized both for their ability to offload fuel as well as carry cargo.
But can you name the other three tankers developed from US made commercial airliners? The answer is after the fold. . . (more…)
jetBlue has this most excellent commercial for making its point on baggage fees. Far better than even what SWA has done so far. It’s notable, however, that while jetBlue doesn’t charge for the first checked bag, it does charge after that. It charges $35 for the second bag and $75 for the third bag.
The Dallas Fort Worth area has a number of operating airports including DFW, Dallas Love Field and Alliance Airport. All busy commercial airports.
Long before DFW International was built, Dallas was served by Love Field and Fort Worth was served by Meacham Field. The FAA grew weary of funding two airports for the city and Fort Worth was tired of being second fiddle to Dallas.
Question: Can you name the first airport built between Dallas and Fort Worth and and where it was built?
Happy Mother’s Day. Know how to get back at a hostile mother in law?
Book her a flight on American Airlines to come visit you.
Airport codes identify airports around the world. In the United States, airports are identified with a 3 letter code (smaller airports sometimes have letters and numbers.) There are many that are legendary.
JFK: John F. Kennedy (NYC)
ORD: Chicago O’Hare
LAX: Los Angeles
SUX: Sioux City
Airline workers know these codes by heart and many of you aficianados know them just as well.
Question: (without looking it up, of course) What airport is FFA?
In the early 1960’s, two aircraft manufacturers made special performance versions of their initial aircraft models that ultimately were only sold to one airline each respectively.
One of those airliners was the DC-9-21, a special performance version of the -10 which combined the -10 fuselage with the -30 wings and engines. Scandinavian Air Systems (SAS) was the only buyer.
Question: What was the other aircraft and airline to receive this kind of special performance aircraft in the 1960’s?
The SUD Aviation Caravelle airliner was the first short/medium range twin engine jet aircraft produced. The original models carried just 80 passengers but the final model, the Caravelle 12, carried as many as 140 passengers. It was also unusual in that the first models did not have reverse thrust and used brake parachutes to help slow the aircraft upon landing. All Caravelles had rather unique looking triangular passenger windows.
Question: This airliner shared DNA with what other “first” jetliner and what did they share?
Airbus has been in existence in one form or another for roughly 40 years. It’s first aircraft was the A300 which was designed as a large capacity, short haul aircraft. It was well designed for European routes but US airlines regarded it as a bit undersized and too short ranged for their uses. At that time, US airlines were using Douglas DC-10s and Lockheed L-1011s for those needs.
Finally, Airbus got a toehold here in the US with one major US trunk airline. Can you name the airline and the CEO who agreed to give the A300 a try? The answer is after the fold:
Some photographer taking an 11 hour flight to Paris from San Francisco via the polar route took time lapse photos of his entire trip. During the “night time” portion of the trip, he caught the aurora borealis in its glory. It is all well worth watching.
