I have had tons of fun going around the world and telling you my stories. I will soon be having more help. Malcolm Muir is seen in the bottom right of these photos on Qatar Airway’s 787 delivery flight.
Change happens — sometimes for the good.
I have spent the past four and a half years building this website and creating a brand that has become well respected around the world (still a shock). I have been very lucky having help along the way, but to continue growing, I will need more help.
Over the past few months, you might have noticed that some stories have been written by guest writers. As I move forward this will be more prominent and the site will move away from me being “the Airline Reporter,” to the site providing the same great quality of content, produced by multiple people. Do not worry, I am not going anywhere and will remain in charge and the main person creating content.
These won’t be major changes, but somethings to look out for in the coming weeks/months:
- I have (finally) made a Facebook fan page for AirlineReporter.com. I will slow down my blog postings on my personal account and be using the fan page much more — so be sure to like it.
- For now, I will operate my Twitter account as before and Tweets will only be made by me.
- In the next few weeks, you will start to see stories posted directly by the writers who created them (versus me re-posting them under my account).
- I will continue posting guest stories under my account to buildrelationships with potential future correspondents or to provide one-off stories.
- Additional correspondents will be introduced as I have been able to build a strong relationship of trust and quality.
- I am happy to say that Malcolm Muir (who has written multiple stories for the site and is currently publishing his series on the Qatar Airways 787 delivery) has become my first official correspondent.
- I have upgraded my server to allow for faster load times and less down times to handle the increased traffic and demand.
You will notice other names than just mine sitting at the top of stories.
If you are interested in trying to help out, I would like to hear from you. Either a story idea, a one-time guest blog or even trying to build a longer term relationship.
Writing stories takes quite a bit more than a passion for aviation (although that helps). I am looking for people who can show dedication, ability to write, can take fancy looking photos, has at least a basic understanding of social media, can network and will represent my brand well (aka can network and be professional).
If this sounds like something you might be interested in, send me an email (da***@ai*************.com) with a copy of your resume and give me a story idea or two and we will see where it goes. I can’t make any promises and since this is new, I am not sure how this whole process will work yet, so please have patience.
I feel that this will make AirlineReporter.com bigger, stronger and able to get you additional cool content (without making me go crazy). Change can sometimes be scary, but in this case I am very excited — I hope you enjoy the ride!
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and safe travels. I couldn’t help but use this photo.
Photo by Bob Garrard Info: N141PM Pilgrim Airlines
Fokker F-27-100 Friendship (cn 10114) A very early Friendship delivered in April, 1959 to Trans Australia Airlines as VH-TFD, Other regns carried include N1036P, and OB-1644. Seen departing DCA in June, 1983.
Bob’s other Pilgrim Airlines pics: Fokker F-28 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6-100 Twin Otter
Bahamasair Dash 8 300 at Fort Lauderdale.
Who wouldn’t be excited about taking a press trip to the Bahamas? Of course, for an AvGeek, getting there is half the fun. I wasn’t super excited about my red-eye from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). I was excited about flying on Bahamasair from FLL to Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS). This was the first time flying on Bahamasair and I hadn’t been on a Boeing 737-500 in quite sometime (note: The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, which also oversees the airline, covered the cost of my trip).
Before leaving Seattle, I did some research on the airline and found that many passengers have publicly complained about their flights being consistently delayed. Many of the reviews were older and the airline had recently upgraded from the very aged Boeing 737-200 to the newer (but still old) 737-500 and I was hoping most of these issues would have been resolved (foreshadowing? yup).
Trying to find an outlet and being able to hear announcements was not easy. I ended up sitting on the floor in a busy hallway, but whatever.
By the time my flight landed at FLL, I was pretty tired from getting three hours of sleep. It was about 7am and I was supposed to have a two hour layover before heading to the Bahamas and it was time for me to find my way to my new gate.
I had to transfer terminals at FLL, which requires a short shuttle ride that was supposed to run every 15 minutes, but I ended up waiting almost 30. This was not a huge deal since I had the time, but if my connection was close, that would have surely caused additional stress.
Once getting off the shuttle I had to wait in a short line to check in at the ticket counter since the airline does not currently have a web check-in option. I received my boarding pass and then had the “privilege” of going through security for the second time that morning.
After finding my gate, I moved down towards the end of the terminal to try to get a good photo of the 737-500 taxiing. The flight status board showed the arriving flight was on-time, but time passed and no plane showed. The status board continued to show “on time,” even after it reached 8:55am, when my flight was supposed to be departing. Odd.
How many Dash 8’s does it take to replace a Boeing 737? Two. The first one wasn’t as colorful as the second (this is the 1st). Notice the air stairs going up to the jetway.
I can handle flights being late. However, I have less patience for lack of communication. The fact that there was not even a gate agent present was pretty bad. Needless to say, there were quite a few passengers pacing around who were getting quite frustrated.
Time kept rolling along before the board finally showed our new departure time was at 11:30am. Our gate had also changed from E3 to E1 where amazingly there was a gate agent there. I had no connecting flights to make, so I wasn’t too worried about the delays. Unfortunately this was the time that I really started to regret my decision to put my laptop in my checked bag — I could have been blogging.
After a while, it was announced that our Boeing 737-500 had broken down and they were trying to get two Bombardier Dash 8 300s to FLL. Some passengers showed their anger that they now had to fly on a small prop plane instead of a jet. As an AvGeek, I was pretty excited for the wings being up high, flying lower, no middle seat, and tarmac boarding.
Not the most spacious, but for a 45min flight, it does the job.
At about 11:30am the first Dash 8 showed up. It was announced that people with connections, people with kids and those who needed additional assistance could board plane 1 and the rest would take plane 2.
As our flights (plural now) became more delayed, some passengers got very angry and unfortunately took it out on the gate agents. It is best to judge an airline’s employees not when things are going smoothly, but when things are going wrong. Yes, they dropped the ball by not being at the gate during the initial delay, but their ability to handle the angry passengers in a calm manner was quite impressive.
The four gate agents worked non-stop for hours trying to help while keeping their cool, manually boarding passengers one-by-one for the first flight and then they re-booked everyone for the second flight. They also had to work with those who would miss their connections getting them on alternative flights.
At around 12:15pm (3hrs 20min after original departure time), when the first Dash 8 left the gate, most of the remaining passengers were calm. Those who were previously upset has already missed their connecting flights and were finally ready to accept reality and chill out.
After a short 45min flight (made shorter by sleep), we were flying close over the blue waters and landing at NAS.
At about 1pm (4hrs 5min late) I boarded the second Dash 8 (which had the more colorful livery). Most people boarding with me felt like they just had one of the most horrid experiences known to man. By no means is sitting around in E-Terminal, at FLL for almost six hours, enjoyable, but this stuff happens and getting angry doesn’t make things any easier.
I had a window seat secured on the original 737 flight and got another one for the Dash 8 — seat 8A. I was hoping to get some amazing photos with the high-wing and flying low, but was disappointed to see that the windows were dirty (I assume from salt water). At 1:20pm, we (finally) took off from FLL, heading to paradise.
Previously, I have flown on Alaska Airlines and Porter Airlines Bombardier Q400s (the newest version of the Dash 8) and the difference in age and cabin interiors showed. The only carry-on that I had was my camera bag and it even had a hard time fitting in the crazy-small overhead bin (it is free to check in your first bag on Bahamasair).
Yes. A pirate in the airport welcomed me to The Bahamas. How cool is that?
I was hoping to enjoy the blue waters during the flight, but with my lack of sleep I quickly passed out and woke up just in time to enjoy the view during landing.
I deplaned on the tarmac and was able to walk through the new international terminal at NAS. Before hitting customs, I was greeted by a pirate (yea, a frek’n pirate) who was more than happy to have his photo taken.
When dealing with a challenging travel scenario, I find it always important to find the positives. I was now in the Bahamas, I just met a pirate and my bag had made it on the first Dash 8, so it was waiting for me when I arrived at baggage claim.
My original schedule was to interview the man in charge of the airline, Van Diah, 4.5 hours earlier and I wasn’t sure if he would still was able to meet with me. I felt very privileged that he was able to work me into his packed schedule to sit down and talk about his airline. Obviously one of the big questions on my mind at the time was the airline’s reliability and on-time performance. Surprisingly, he was more than happy to discuss these and other aspects that I will share in a future story.
I have to say that just a few short minutes of getting away from the airport and seeing the beautiful blue ocean quickly made me forget the long journey it took for me to get there. I felt like the difficulties might have been worth it and I was looking forward to exploring Nassau (which will also be shared in future stories).
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF MY BAHAMASAIR FLIGHT
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner and a 2012 McLaren MP4-12C at Paine Field. Photo from Road & Track Magazine.
This story was written for AirlineReporter.com by Travis Griffith, who blogs for CarGurus.com, Enjoy… David.
How does a car guy fall in love with aviation? Perhaps it’s actually the other way around. Maybe I’ve always been an aviation guy, briefly grounded by the allure of the automobile.
Allow me to explain.
For the first six or seven years of my life, my lone obsession came in the form of Superman. I wore the outfit three Halloweens in a row. I remember leaping off the couch in the blue costume so my red cape would flutter, ever so briefly, as my feet touched neither couch nor floor. In those moments, I flew, just like the Superman I’d see in the movies.
Looking back, I realize my interest in Superman was actually a budding interest in flight. Superman embodied the freedom to travel wherever and whenever, unbound my human limitations. I wanted that.
At about seven years old, on a trip to the Oregon coast, my parents surprised me with a trip in a seaplane. I vividly remember the feeling of walking toward that plane as it gently rocked in the waves. I remember climbing through the door and being greeted by the cockpit and its array of buttons and gauges. My heart leapt when I received instruction to sit in the empty seat next to the pilot.
’œYou’ll be my co-pilot today, okay?’
I’ll never forget those words.
The plane took off and I saw the world beneath me shrink as the sky grew. I virtually climbed the windows trying to see everything outside, but kept getting drawn back in by the pilot’s motions on the equipment inside the plane.
’œWould you like to fly it?’ he asked me.
I don’t even remember how I responded but before I knew it I held the yoke in my small hands and the pilot held his hands in the air.
’œYou’re flying an airplane,’ he said.
It became one of those childhood moments that defined me as an adult.
Flying and airplanes were the focus of the rest of my childhood. I remember meeting captains on board 737s on family vacations and I remember going to the airport and sitting in the terminal as a teenager just to see the planes take off and land (back when that was allowed). As an early adult I bought a flight simulator and all the accessories and practiced landing a Cessna at O’Hare. I even took another trip to Oregon to fly in a seaplane, where I again took the front seat and relived that defining childhood moment.
As tends to happen in life, I grew up, went to college and got regular jobs. I became a writer. The adult me became fascinated with cars and car culture, and I’ve spent a good portion of the last five years blogging about cars and the car industry. I still love it.
But I haven’t forgotten about airplanes and never stopped following the industry.
It doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination to wonder why other car-loving people would fall in love with aviation, too. Check out that picture on top of this story. The one with four wheels is a McLaren MP4-12C, a $240,000 supercar capable of 205 miles per hour and a 0-60 mph time of 3 seconds. That’s as close to flight as any car will ever get (well, unless you count the Terrafugia Transition, but that’s another topic for another time.)
A passion for aviation, though, can take over when at 200 mph you find yourself wishing for just one thing:
Liftoff.
