On top of being an airline geek, I am also a fan of cars. I think many have interest in all things transportation related. When I saw this new BMW 5-series ad via Autoblog, I just had to share. Very cool ad, but they might have to re-do it soon with the new Boeing KC-46A tanker.
CAMAIR-CO Boeing 767-300ER (TJ-CAC)
Cameroon Airlines Corporation (CAMAIR-Co) is a brand new, yet old airline that just started service last month in Africa.
Camair Version 1.0 was founded in 1971 and was headquartered out of Douala, Cameroon. The airline was owned 96.43% by the Cameroon Government and 3.57% by Air France. The airline had difficulty and stopped service in 2008.
Camair Version 2.0 was founded in 2006 before version 1.0 officially went under, but never started operations. The first flight of the new Camair just occurred on March 28, 2011 from Douala to Paris. Camair currently has a fleet of one Boeing 767-300 ER (TJ-CAC) and one Boeing 737-700.
The new airline was created by a decree of the President and he hopes it becomes an inspiration to other airlines in Africa. The new airline has a much cleaner livery than the old Camair livery. Although I am a fan of the classic cheat-line look, the Euro-white body with colorful tail always looks good.
Image: shanairpic
It just doesn’t seem to matter how much time passes for the new United Airlines livery. Every time I post something positive about the new United livery, I have lots of folks give their opinion about how much they do not like it. So, today I am posting something for all you new livery haters out there. The video is a bit raw, but doesn’t stop me from laughing.
You can hate me all you want, but with all three liveries together, I am actually liking the newest one the most. Yes… it has grown on me, what can I say?
Found via @JetCheck and @danwebbage
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA001 at Paine Field.
What is in a name? Well a lot actually. Could you imagine the Boeing 787 not being called the Dreamliner? Well, it almost happened. The 787 was almost called the Global Cruiser instead.
When the Boeing 787 was first discussed, Boeing named it the 7E7. Randy Tinseth, Vice President , Marketing for Boeing Commercial Planes, describes the naming process on his Randy’s Journal Blog.
Tinseth explains how there were many different naming sessions and workshops to come up with a proper name. After many different sessions and post the trademark and legal teams it seemed that the name Global Cruiser was leading the pack.
Boeing decided to hold a contest to see what the name would be. The finalists were: Dreamliner, Global Cruiser, Stratoclimber, and the eLiner.
Almost 500,000 votes came in from 160 different countries and it was a close race. Counting just votes in the US, the name Global Cruiser would have won. But with all the votes world-wide, the name Dreamliner won by only 2500 votes.
I couldn’t imagine the Dreamliner being named anything else — it fits the aircraft well. Although if Global Cruiser would have won, the DreamLifter probably would have been called the Global Lifter which sounds pretty sweet.
Do you think something would have been lost or gainedwith another name?
The Flagship Detroit's American Airlines DC-3 (NC17334) at San Francisco.
During my last trip down to San Francisco (SFO) and their showing off of Terminal 2, I had the opportunity to check out the Flagship Detroit Foundation’s DC-3 (NC17334) with classic American Airlines livery.
The foundation is a nonprofit organization made up of 1500 members whose main goal is to keep the DC-3 travelling across the country promoting the history of aviation — what a great cause.
The aircraft was built in 1937 and was the 21st DC-3 that American Airlines received. American ended up operating 84 DC-3s until they went out of service in 1949. NC17334 is the oldest DC-3 still flying today.
The DC-3 was purchased by the Flagship Detroit Foundation in August 2004 and was restored. Today it is flown around the country to remind people of the history of flying. It is surely one of the most impressive DC-3s that I have seen that still flies.
Check out the other goodies:
* 12 of my photos of the DC-3 (check the sweet B757 seen through the cockpit)
* 73 photos of NC17334 on Airliners.net
* Video taken from the DC-3 over Niagara Falls
* Photos from the Flagship Detroit’s site