Methinks they were many of the same airplanes. Pan Am got 'em when they bought up National, then a few years later started the "every hour on the half-hour" DCA-LGA shuttle, which DL eventually acquired.

 

I remember coming out of Santiago, Chilli, one night in a heavy 72 headed for Campinas. As the S/O I reached up to adjust the EPRs. Captain said they were just fine and don't even think about pulling them back until we cleared the Andes. I never did understand why FedEx didn't put the Valsans down there.

 

OK... I would love to fly a 72.. Where can I get that opportunity?


Bill

 

IFL group.

 

Pretty hard to qualify, being deaf, a drunk and a wife-beater helps a little.

 

Followed U.S.AIR out of ORD, said to them "I see you have ship 445."[445NE]. Their reply : "We'll get you for this."

 

Couldn't agree more - beautiful profile, a colorful history, every high-lift device known to man. It'd come down like a stone as well - the World guys who flew the Stars & Stripes run in SE Asia really appreciated that. Anyone who hasn't seen the Last Flight Out of Danang video should take a look on Youtube - a real testament to Boeing sturdiness.

 

Neither. They were ex-PSA birds that EAL flew on the Shuttle. High density and low power. Great setup...ugh...

They usually weren't bad since the Shuttle only carried a fuel load for a DCA-LGA, LGA-BOS trip or vice versa, and very little if any baggage. That particular night, we were doing DCA-PBI with a -15 bird and it went down with an mechanical...so they gave us a Shuttle bird. The Captain was opposed to it and told System Control it was a bad idea...but the TAC "managers" knew better.

We had weather all along the route that night and because we didn't have offshore gear, the AR's were not an option. So his directive was to keep a close line on the fuel and if we got ANY holding, we were diverting for fuel.

Sure enough, south of JAX we get holding instructions. Nothing in FL was available so off we went to the planned alternate, Nassau.

We landed and gassed up and the agent ran up with papers for us; and the Captain said, "you need to find about 142 hotel rooms right now." The agent wanted to know why and accused the Captain of being a troublemaker.

He smiled...I remember his smile to this day...and said, "no...they cancelled a LGA-PBI flight and put them on the Shuttle to DC to go on this flight. The majority of our passengers are Jewish, it's Passover and the sun sets in one hour. I will not force them to violate their religion because System Control wouldn't listen."

They guy turned grey. And EAL bought the rooms.

 

I remember when we were still getting brand-new 727s. One former DC-9 CA remarked: "In ground school they told us about this little yellow light that comes on to let you know if you've lost an engine. I knew right then I was going to like this airplane."

 

Truly an incredible machine. If you could see the runway, you could make it.

340 KIAS to 18 dme and land no problem. No jet bridge available? who cares.

American had the APU wired to the TO warning horn, a great idea which should

have been standard.