Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737.
Sun Country, which is based out of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), has had an interesting history. They made headlines when announcing they would start flying from Minneapolis to London with a stopover in Gander using a Boeing 737 and once again when their owner Tom Petters turned out to be running a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme. Ever since the airline declared bankruptcy after Petters was removed, there has been speculation on if someone might buy the airline out. Now the airline is profitable and it looks like they are slowly looking for a new owner.
Sun Country CEO Stan Gadek told the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal that the airline, “will be sold, but a deal is not imminent.” Back in March a filing was made in the bankruptcy case of Petters. Gadek states that there have been interested parties, but they are waiting for the right buyer.
Godek stated that Sun Country is looking at the possibility of flying to Hawaii, but they are not fully committed yet. The airline is also hoping to expand their charter flights especially with the military. Sun Country is hoping their up coming flight to Germany will highlight to the US Department of Defense their ability to fly internationally. It is likely that Sun Country could undercut other charter operations, using the Boeing 737 instead of larger aircraft (like Omni International’s DC-10s). However, the military would need to be alright with the additional flight time, since the Boeing 737 requires a stop-over on the way to Europe. This also could be a move towards Sun Country bringing on larger aircraft types.
I am not really sure who could be a good buyer for Sun Country. I wondered if Southwest Airlines might be interested, but shortly after I hypothesized, Southwest announced their purchase of AirTran — so I was a little off. Who do you think would make a good buyer for Sun Country?
Thanks Rob for the tip!
Image: MSPdude
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It takes about 45-60min to charge for about 10-15 minutes of fly time.
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You can easily change channels on the Syma S107 and fly two without interference.
For many of us, we have a love for aviation, but do not actually have our own licenses. Although learning how to fly is on my to-do list, before I get there, I have the ability to fly things a bit smaller.
I was approached by Xenonproject.com and asked if I might review a remote controlled (R/C) helicopter and write about my experiences (disclaimer: they mailed the helicopter for free).
I have owned an R/C helicopter before, but it did not fly very well and it broke pretty quickly. I was hoping this one would be a bit better.
I received my yellow Syma S107 Mini Gyro quickly from XenonProject.com’s facility in El Monte, CA. Unfortunately I was pretty busy, so it took a few days before I could give it a spin. I was happy to find that the S107 is very easy to fly and darn fun. It is a perfect helicopter to learn how to fly. It stays pretty stable, even outside and you can beat the crap out of it and it won’t break.
Best part is if you it does break, you are only out $25. It seems to take about 45-60 minutes to charge (using USB) and you only get about 5-15 minutes of action. Wish it would last a bit longer, but it is a small helicopter with small batteries.
My friend liked mine so much that he ended up buying his own (the red on in the photos). You are able to change channels and fly two helicopters at the same time without interference. It turned into a game of bumper-helicopters (I think I won).
Xenonproject.com has much more than just helicopters, they also have planes and ground vehicles. I thank them for reaching out and getting me back into flying RC helicopters. Now time to fly.
Video of the Syma S107 R/C Helicopter.
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The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner for China Southern (B-2725)
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A nice collection of Dreamliners parked next to the Future of Flight at Paine Field.
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China Southern’s first 787 on the right (B-2725)
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JAL, ANA and China Southern 787 Dreamliners
Click any photo for larger version.
What a nice sunny day in Seattle today. Perfect to venture over to Paine Field to check out the newest livery on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner: China Southern. B-2725 is currently parked next to the Future of Flight with Dreamliners for JAL, Air India and ANA.
Air Greenland Airbus A330 (OY-GRN)
If I had to choose a color to represent the country of Greenland, red sure would not be it. If I had to choose a color to show up against the snow in Greenland, well… I might choose red. The airline Air Greenland has been around in 1960 and is a joint operation between the government of Greenland and the SAS group.
The have a unique fleet of aircraft: Airbus A330, Dash-7, Dash-8, Super King Air, S-61 and Bell 212. How awesome would it be to arrive in an Airbus A330 before swithing over to a Bell 212 — not too many airlines you can do that with.
The airline serves the vast land area and remote villages of Greenland as well as providing ambulance and other charter flights. In 2010 Air Greeland flew more than 427,000 passengers.
Buffalo Airway's DC-4, staring in their show Ice Pilots.
Earlier in the week I shared with you a TV show that I am very excited about (no, I am not getting paid anything to endorse the show).
Ice Pilots is airing for the first time in the US on the National Geographic Channel today and I had the times wrong. You can catch the show tonight (Friday) at 10:00 PM & 1:00 AM (EST) or 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM (PST).
Sorry for the confusion. If you are able to watch it (or have seen it in Canada) feel free to leave any comments here — I will forward them to the show’s producers.
Image from Ice Pilots via Flickr
