Yesterday I talked about tracking down the history of N724PA and how it was used on two different airplane types. Today, I look at why the heck was Alaska Airlines flying a different Boeing 707 over the summer, for four summers in a row. I was able to learn from Ron Suttell, Alaska Air Group director of facilities planning and administration and company historian (can that title even fit on a business card?) about Alaska and Boeing 707s. He... 

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... 

Colby on a recently 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... 

A Frontier Q400 at Aspen. Check the Delta and United planes in the background. Remember that one time, when I told you that Frontier and Delta would pull out of Aspen , leaving only United Airlines? Yea, now that is only partly true. Delta is still out of there, but Frontier will be sticking around for at least a while. The same day that …  Read More →

Kulula Airline's This Way Up livery on a Boeing Boeing 737-800 (ZS-ZWO) This is the third time that Kulula Airlines has made it to my airline livery of the week. A unique honor for them, but they just keep coming up with such clever liveries! Previously I looked at their Flying 101 livery and their swirly livery . Where I think the Flying 101 is better, this one is easier to get and read. Image: Sean Mowatt  Read More →

The first Boeing 747-8 completes taxi tests at Paine Field Not that long ago Boeing entered  into the world of social media and I wanted to take a moment to see how it is going. Personally, I have seen huge changes in the past six months in regards to Boeing and social media. They have come an extremely long way when it comes to connecting with regular people like me and you since I started this blog just over two years…  Read More →

Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA003 at Paine Field Boeing tonight announced another delay in the 787 Dreamliner program. Normally this means comments on new sites will fill with frustration on Boeing inability to get this plane to market. I have some opinions of my own, but before I give them, here is the press release that Boeing released tonight: The Boeing (NYSE: BA) Company said today that it now expects delivery of the first 787 in the middle... 

United Express CRJ-700 on the tarmac at Seattle This flight was something special for me. My first CRJ-700 flight ever and my first United Express flight in quite some time. As I just discussed recently , even though my plane might have “United” on the side, the flight is actually operated by SkyWest under the “United Express” brand. My flight left early…7am. That meant getting up before I think people should be... 

Two Horizon Air Q400's at Seattle Last week I wrote a post about regional airlines and their legacy counterparts and explained how Horizon and Alaska Airline’s relationship is different. Some flights Alaska does pay Horizon to fly, called capacity purchase agreement (CPA), but other flights Horizon flies under its own brand and not being paid by any outside airlines. Now, it looks like things are changing and Horizon Air will stop... 

Two Horizon Air Q400's at Seattle Last week I wrote a post about regional airlines and their legacy counterparts and explained how Horizon and Alaska Airline’s relationship is different. Some flights Alaska does pay Horizon to fly, called capacity purchase agreement (CPA), but other flights Horizon flies under its own brand and not being paid by any outside airlines. Now, it looks like things are changing and Horizon Air will stop... 

Pan Am Boeing 747-200 (N724PA) taken in May 1987 This Pan Am livery is not my favorite, but what an awesome photo from the past. Reader Dave H . was excited to share this photo he took from 1987 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Check out that DC-3 in the background. More: * Full sized version of image * Other photos of aircraft on Airliners.net  Read More →

What a beautiful morning to fly. United Express (with white nose – N708SK) CRJ-700 with a United Boeing 757 and moon in the background at SEA. Back to Seattle Tacoma International Airport probably the last time before they install body scanners . Waiting for my United Express flight down to LAX for a special event that United holds for all their VIP passengers to connect and get feedback. Be sure to follow me on Twitter …  Read More →

The old and new combined livery for Continental and United Airlines When United and Continental announced their new combined livery, a lot of people were not happy about the font used for “United.” Well, they must have heard, b/c they have changed the font and I like it! From their merger site : “The new logo displays the combined company’s brand  Read More →

New British Airways Boeing 747-8F at Paine Field Late last night I got word from Jon Ostrower (aka FlightBLogger ) that a nicely new painted Boeing 747-8 in British Airways colors was out in the open. So, this morning I headed over to Paine Field (KPAE) to check it out. I found her, but it wasn’t so easy. First she was parked a bit off from the rest of the Boeing 747-8′s and she is not in full British Airways livery. She is painted... 

An American Airlines Boeing 757 and Airbus A300 line up for take off at Miami International Airport Airlines have to start getting pretty creative to come up with new fees to help increase their revenue. Even though I get frustrated to have to pay the fees myself, I at least understand why I am paying them. American has started charging a new fee and I am not sure if it is worth it. Depending on the length…  Read More →