ski-air travel stories

Southwest in the news again!
https://nypost.com/2024/07/26/us-ne...describes-flying-150-feet-over-old-tampa-bay/

I remember a similar thing in reverse in the mid-80s, flying on a completely full Continental DC-10 from LGA to DEN. We were taking forever to get into the air and could see the cold, dark water of the East River maybe 100 feet underneath us. I noticed it and the guy behind me did too. I remember him yelling "UP!! UP! GET THE NOSE UP!!" (definitely freaking out other passengers). After we'd reached altitude, I turned around and he said "I work for United and THAT (pointing out the window) was a close call!" Even though the FAA allowed it, they shouldn't have been flying DC-10s or TriStars out of LGA with its shorter runways.
 
Southwest in the news again!
https://nypost.com/2024/07/26/us-ne...describes-flying-150-feet-over-old-tampa-bay/

I remember a similar thing in reverse in the mid-80s, flying on a completely full Continental DC-10 from LGA to DEN. We were taking forever to get into the air and could see the cold, dark water of the East River maybe 100 feet underneath us. I noticed it and the guy behind me did too. I remember him yelling "UP!! UP! GET THE NOSE UP!!" After we'd reached altitude, I turned around and he said while pointing out the window "I work for United and THAT was a close call!" Even though the FAA allowed it, they shouldn't have been flying DC-10s or TriStars out of LGA with its shorter runways.
i had no idea they where were flying those behemoths out of lga... like you said, those are ridiculously short runways and the approach is difficult too
 
i had no idea they where were flying those behemoths out of lga... like you said, those are ridiculously short runways and the approach is difficult too

Yep, here's an Eastern TriStar preparing for takeoff at LGA back in the day along with an airline geek article about wide bodies that used to fly into and out of that airport.

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Family member finally got out of DCA on July 24. Flight was originally booked for July 21. This was on Delta, which apparently got the worst of the big windows glitch. Family member did get a free upgrade to 1st class, but that was small consolation.
 
Family member finally got out of DCA on July 24.
A friend just arrived back in Silver Spring MD from Mexico City on problematic Delta. Took an extra day + being rerouted through JFK on partner carrier Aeromexico, then the subway to Penn Station, then Amtrak to DC: 14 hours door to door.
 
here's an Eastern TriStar preparing for takeoff at LGA back in the day
That's pretty insane.


I also like the "Whisperliner" branding on the engine. Nothing quiet about those aircraft - at all!

Family member finally got out of DCA on July 24. Flight was originally booked for July 21. This was on Delta
Yuck. Did they try buying a one-way on another airline out of any of the other DC area airports? Delta usually has very good Ops, but something in their crew scheduling systems broke badly with the software bug (unlike the rest of the airlines).

Of course you could fly Southwest the whole time as almost all of their critical systems are still on Windows 3.1 servers (not kidding, how do you think they were the most profitable for all these decades).
 
That's pretty insane.


I also like the "Whisperliner" branding on the engine. Nothing quiet about those aircraft - at all!


Yuck. Did they try buying a one-way on another airline out of any of the other DC area airports? Delta usually has very good Ops, but something in their crew scheduling systems broke badly with the software bug (unlike the rest of the airlines).

Of course you could fly Southwest the whole time as almost all of their critical systems are still on Windows 3.1 servers (not kidding, how do you think they were the most profitable for all these decades).
Windows 3.1?? I thought they have been using Abascus 1.0?
 
Of course you could fly Southwest the whole time as almost all of their critical systems are still on Windows 3.1 servers (not kidding, how do you think they were the most profitable for all these decades).
This just in -- not Windows 3.1 but likely something from 2007:
 
Delta usually has very good Ops, but something in their crew scheduling systems broke badly with the software bug (unlike the rest of the airlines).
I read that Delta has a higher dependence upon Microsoft Windows than any other airline, so the Crowdstrike bug hit a high proportion of Delta's IT.
Yuck. Did they try buying a one-way on another airline out of any of the other DC area airports?
If you do that unilaterally you may not get refunded by the original carrier. That happened to Lonnie in 2023. He needed for his daughter Megan to come home from eastern Europe right away. Her flight on an American partner was cancelled. Lonnie spent 42K United miles to bring her home; they never got a refund from American.

I agree you should research alternate ways home, but within the same alliance. Then you call the originating airline and demand the specific alternative you found. We did this coming home from Sweden in 2022 when Finnair cancelled its nonstop return to L.A. and tried to put us on a flights the next day. Original booking was on American's website. I found a same day British Airways connection through LHR, then called American to make the change.
 
what a cool plane...
I flew the TriStar a handful of few times: as a kid in the mid-70s on Delta between Orlando and Atlanta (airlines also used it on short-hop flights) and in the late 80s/early 90s on TWA between the East Coast to Brussels and Frankfurt -- that was the period when I earned first-class status on TWA by flying to Europe three times in a year. The airline was in a doom loop at that point and using all sorts of oddball promotions to boost ridership.

They looked like this back then:
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But much better in the original twin-globe livery!
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There are many fanboy articles about it; this one is particularly well-done.

The DC-10 was a low-rent version of the TriStar. If not for Rolls Royce seriously screwing up the timeline for engine delivery, it would've been a success. Instead, it almost put Lockheed out of business, as Tony can attest.
:icon-mad:
 
Another smaller plane wreck is in the British Virgin Islands - Coral Gardens Airplane. This one is located in The Dogs Islands just off Virgin Gorda, which is home to "The Baths."

Diving to see the wreck can be fun, except when multiple barracuda hang out inside.

A recent addition to the dive site is the remains of Atlantic Air BVI's Shorts 360 airplane. In 1993, after an unsuccessful takeoff, their one and only aircraft landed in the water about 200 feet off the end of the runway.

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it almost put Lockheed out of business, as Tony can attest.
James is referring to my father, who was manager of government contracts for Lockheed Burbank from 1959 until he retired in 1973.
Details of 1971 government loan guarantee.
Fortunately my father was not involved with the L-1011 (commercial aircraft) or the C-5 (Georgia division), the money losing programs which precipitated the bailout. He was involved with the cancelled Cheyenne helicopter, of which I had a model at home. Most of his work involved the P-3 and S-3 anti-submarine planes and the F-104 fighter jet.
 
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