Here is PanAm Boeing 747-200 N724PA taken in 1990, about a year before Pan Am went out of business.
A while back after I blogged a photo of a Pan Am Boeing 747-200 taking off at Seattle, an ex-pilot that flew for Pan Am emailed me and thought the registration number had to be wrong. He remembered quite clearly that N724PA was not for a 747, but it belonged to a Boeing 707-300 that flew for Pan Am. This was curious for me, since when I looked up photos of aircraft belonging to N724PA there was a photo of a Boeing 707 in Alaska Airlines livery. It is common for airlines to re-use registration numbers, but I felt a story involving a Pan Am Boeing 747 and 707 used by Alaska needed to be told.
It turns out he was right. N724PA a Boeing 707-300, which Pan Am called “Clipper Mercury,” went into service on December 8, 1959 and served Pan Am well, until 1971. Mercury was leased to GE, then Donaldson International Airways until being leased to Alaska Airlines for the summer of 1972. After Alaska’s lease was up it went back to Donaldson and the registration number was changed from N724PA to G-BAEL.
When Mercury’s registration number was changed, it allowed Pan Am to “re-use” the number and register a new aircraft. When Pan Am got a Boeing 747-200 in 1984 from Sinapore Airlines, they gave her the name “Clipper Fairwind” and the registration number N724PA, which previously belonged to the Boeing 707.
I can’t find where the Boeing 747 ended up, but based photos taken in 2005, I am guessing she is no longer flying (can anyone else confirm that?).
So, that explains the confusion of the registration numbers, but left me wondering why the heck Alaska was flying a Boeing 707 for only one summer. For that answer you will have to wait until tomorrow!
If you like wings, you are going to love the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. It had nine wings and was set to be a 100-passenger flying boat. To help get the 100-passenger aircraft and its nine wings off the ground, it had eight engines.
The plane was 30 feet tall – about three stories – and only 77 feet long. One would think the plane might not be the most stable and it wasn’t. It took flight one time, got up to 60 feet before crashing on March 4, 1921.
There was quite a bit of lead ballast in the aircraft and it is assumed they got lose and caused the aircraft to nose dive into the water. Luckily the test pilot survived.
The Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano might not have been successful, but it is one unique looking airplane.
Colby on a recent flight. Imagine if the seat were reclined. He can't even make the tray table go flat.
A while back Colby, a 7 foot tall man, emailed me asking to look into what airlines could do to make flying for tall people easier. At first I didn’t think too much about it. “Why should airlines be concerned about taller passengers?”
Then I got thinking. Why not? We have heard a lot recently about the passengers of size issue, where larger passengers are required to purchase two seats. Yes, it can be harder for some people, but for almost all, there is that choice (coming from someone who is larger myself). If someone can’t help their large size, they can get it documented and then the airline does have to accommodate them at no cost to the passenger. Now, being short is considered a disability, but not being tall. Our culture seems to love tall people. From athletes to people wearing taller shoes and even having surgery to get taller. People might look up to you (pun intended), but it doesn’t make flying an easy task.
So, I pose the question: Should Airlines Accommodate Tall Passengers? I say yes.
I am not talking about letting tall passengers get first class seats for free, but what about letting taller passengers have first dibs on exit row or bulk head seats? I believe there is a no-cost solution for airlines here and I really want to explore possible solutions more.
When flying, Colby tries very hard to try and get an exit or bulk head seat, but he doesn’t always get one. Every time he flies he arrives to the airport early to see if he can try and get a seat with additional leg room. He will first talk to the person at the ticket counter. If that doesn’t work he will try and see if someone at the gate can help him out. If that doesn’t work most times people sitting at the bulkhead or exit row seats are happy to change seats with him when they see him hunched over walking down the aisle. He flies quite a bit and sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard he tries, there are quite a few times he will end up in a normal seat and having to endure the flight.
It's not Colby's fault he is 7' tall. Should airlines help the little guy out?
So what could be done? Colby is looking for airlines to be a bit more consistent with with how they deal with tall passengers. Some are very accommodating others are not. Certain airlines charge passengers more to sit in the bulkhead or exit and giving up those seats for free to tall passengers would mean loss revenue. Others , you have to pay to get a seat assignment or it is open seating and it is mad-dash for prime seats.
Thing is Colby is a pretty out going guy and has no problem asking a bunch of people if he can get a seat with more legroom. He sees other, not as outgoing tall people, who don’t ask and are constantly stuck crammed in a seat during their flight.
I plan to try and help out Colby and others that are in his same situation. At 6’1″ I am not a short person, but am still able to make sitting in standard seats work. I plan to talk to people in the industry to see what solutions airlines might be able to offer tall passengers and hopefully get some feedback from you, my readers.
What are your thoughts on this? Should airlines provide solutions? If so, what solutions should they provide?
Hanging out with two awesome United Airlines flight attendants on the tarmac at LAX. That's a sweet Boeing 747-400 behind us.
I am an airline advocate. There are lots of media sources and people that love to bash the airlines. If an airline does something major enough to deserve a good bashing, then I will give it to them, but mostly I try to find the positive even in a negative situation.
When I recently connected with Rahsaan Johnson with United Communications while in Chicago earlier in the month, I was dead honest with him. I told him that I feel as though many are under the impression that United Airlines is lacking spirit. Being one who always wants to find the silver-lining with airlines, I wanted him to help let me show people that there is spirit within United.
It wasn’t long before Johnson thought of an idea to help me see, first hand, the energy and spirit most United employees have. I was invited for a day trip down from Seattle to Los Angelas (LAX) to see United connect with some of their best customers, experience some unique things and witness the delivery of Emmys.
United Airlines pilots talking to customers about what they do before flight.
After interacting and connecting with so many United employees and customers through out the day (on and more importantly off record), I honestly feel United is heading in the right direction. A lot of people I spoke with will openly admit they know that United has had their ups and downs, but everyone I spoke with feels positive with the direction United is heading and pumped about the likely merger with Continental.
Two United Airlines pilots welcome the Emmys to LAX
Things have changed a lot for United Airlines in the past forty years. From deregulation, to a few spikes in oil prices, to strong competition from low cost carriers and of course bankruptcy in 2002, United has persevered through it all.
There are a lot of hard working employees who are there to treat their customers well. During my visit to LAX, United invited important customers and showed them how they operate. This was to share what they are looking to do in the future and get feedback from customers on how they can improve their performance. They were able to get helpful feedback on schedules, and service, even down to having the proper ratio of cheese to crackers.
United Airlines Boeing 757 and Continental Airlines Boeing 737 get close at LAX. Two airlines will (most likely) become one soon!
Not only was United able to share what they are up to with special customers, they were also able to share the Emmys with everyone. Later in the afternoon, the Emmys were flown from Chicago to LAX on United Airlines. They had nice comfy seats up front and were welcomed by a crowd of people in the terminal. Being the huge airline nerd I am, when I was told the Emmys were being flown in, the first thing I asked is, “What kind of plane they will be flying in?” (It was an Airbus A320). Hey I am an airline reporter, not TV awards reporter! Yet it is always cool to see not only customers, but employees get really excited about an event like this. It does show there is some great spirit alive and ready to grow at United!
The people that I spoke with are very excited about the merger with Continental. Changes like this inject a feeling of motivation (for those not losing their jobs that happen in any merger) about the future. Continental and United both have interesting histories and will most likely make a solid future together.
Over the next few weeks I will share some of the very cool things I got to experience on my full day at LAX… a tour of the upper deck and cockpit of a Boeing 747-400, riding on a tug while pushing back a Boeing 757 and having an amazing view of LAX from the old FAA tower. Stay tuned!
The same day that Frontier announced it would stick around at least through the winter, United announced it would add additional service.
Frontier was planning to be rid of their fleet of Q400’s that fly into Aspen, but due to leasing issues, three aircraft will remain available to fly for Frontier.
Who is this good for? Well surely the employees for Frontier who were told they were out of a job starting September 30th and now have work until April. It also is good for passengers, since the competition will surely keep fares lower. Probably United is the only one who comes out of this in a worse position. They assumed that they would become the only airline in town and started to increase flight accordingly.
