Tag: CV‑580

026 – DCA, 1977-1987. Commuters

On By jaybirdaviationphotos@gmail.comIn 026 – DCA, 1977-1987. Commuters1 Comment

When I got out of the Air Force, I relocated to the Washington DC area, and Washington National Airport became my new “home airport”. The DCA of the late 70s was barely recognizable from the DCA of today. Back then, there was a short-term parking lot overlooking an open ramp in between the Piedmont Airlines terminal and the commuter ramp. I met a group of other airline enthusiasts and together, we formed the Washington Airline Society. It was not unusual for me to run into other members of the WAS up on that hill, which we christened Hill 13. From about 2pm on, Hill 13 was the place to be at DCA. There was really no good reason to go all the way out to Dulles Airport, a,k,a, “Dull-Ass Airport”, where “busy” meant TWO Pan Am 747s on the ground, parked far enough away from the observation deck to make photography pretty much useless anyway.

Then, in 1981, my life changed. I was hired by Piedmont Airlines at DCA and the door opened to a whole new world. Not only did I now have the capability to travel around the country, but I also gained ramp access at DCA. The world was my oyster, and I dove into my new world with both hands and feet. At the same time, I began my photojournalism career by growing the “Commuter Corner” section of Professional Pilot magazine. Life was pretty darn good.

As my interest in commuter airlines grew, I found myself focusing my camera on the commuter activity at DCA. Those were dynamic days, with the commuter industry stepping out of its 12,500 lb restrictions and rebranding itself as the regional airline industry. With the exception of the Allegheny Commuter system, the regional carriers were still unaligned, which made for a kaleidoscope of color at the commuter terminal.

Allegheny Commuter, where it all began.

In the beginning, there was Allegheny Commuter, a creative use of code-sharing to permit smaller regional airlines to sell their seats under the banner of the major airline partner, and fly in the colors of the major airline.

Henson Airlines was the original Allegheny Commuter carrier, offering replacement between Hagerstown MD and DCA with a Beech Queen Air. It was quickly replaced by the first plane designed for the commuter airline industry, the Beech 99.

N396HA, Beech 99A, Henson Airlines

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Southern Jersey was one of the smaller Allegheny Commuter carriers. Here is a DHC-6 sitting on the ramp just before heading off to Atlantic City.

N102AC, DHC-6-300, Southern Jersey Airways

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Crown Airways, based in Dubois PA, was one of the earlier operators of the Shorts 330. The company was bought by Mesa Airlines in 1994.

N241CA, Shorts 330, Crown Airways

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Once upon a time, the Fairchild F-27 was used by Allegheny Airlines. But by the late 1980s, the Fokker F-27 was used by Allegheny Commuter, leased from Air Wisconsin.

N272SA, F.27‑500

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Aeromech was an Allegheny Commuter based in Clarksburg, WV. It was an early operator of the Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante. Aeromech was also the first airline that I interviewed with for a job. In retrospect, I guess things worked out for the best.

N615KC, EMB-110P1, Aeromech, Allegheny Commuter

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The DHC-7 was one heck of an impressive plane. It can takeoff and land on a postage stamp! The FAA, in cooperation with Henson Airlines, developed a special STOL approach for DCA, which brought the Dash 7s on approach over the Potomac to land on Runway 15 and hold short of what was then Runway 18. If you haven’t seen it do its thing, you must!

N901HA, DHC‑7‑102, Henson Airlines,

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Allegheny acquired a fleet of Nord 262s when it merged with Lake Central Airlines. They found their way into the Allegheny Commuter system, operating with Pocono Airlines.

N26225, N.262A‑26, Pocono Airlines, Allegheny Commuter

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Here is another Pocono Airlines Nord 262 after being repainted in the updated Allegheny Commuter color scheme.

N26208, N.262A‑12

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In the 1975-77 time frame, Frakes Aviation converted nine Nords to meet United States FAR 298 regulation. The original Turbomeca engines were replaced with PT-6As, and the modified aircraft was called the Mohawk 298.

N29817, Mohawk 298

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New Haven Commuter was another early operator of the Embraer EMB-110 Bandierante

N711NH, EMB-110P1, New Haven Commuter Airlines

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Commuter Airlines served the Northeast with a fleet of Swearingen Metro 1s and ex-Allegheny Convair 580s

N5811, CV‑580, Commuter Airlines

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N5811 was eventually transferred to Freedom Airlines in 1981.

N5811, CV‑580, Freedom Airlines

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N7099N floated around among several airlines in the Northeast before ending up with Ocean Airlines. This was the very first production Beech 99, MSN U-1

N7099N, Beech 99, Ocean Airlines

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Empire was a small commuter carrier with a hub operation in Syracuse NY. The carrier served DCA with its fleet of Metro IIs.

 

N104UR, Swearingen Metro II, Empire Airlines

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Empire started operations with a single Piper Navajo, N546BA. Tragically, this plane crashed on approach to Ithaca on 5 January 1982, killing both pilots.

N546BA, Piper PA-31-310,

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Empire also flew a Navajo Chieftain. Occasionally, these two Pipers would be pressed into service to replace a Metro.

Empire Airlines Chieftain

N27529, PA-31-350

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Air North was one of the very few airlines to fly one of the very few Gulfstream 1-Cs. In an effort to capture the fast-growing market for airplanes in the 35-50 seat market, Grumman took its original Gulfstream I and stretched it to seat 37 passengers. Unfortunately, nothing was done to stretch the baggage compartment, and the Gulfstream 1-C (C for Commuter) was not a success.

Having said that, N159AN has a special spot in my heart, since one of my photos was the first of my photos used by Professional Pilot magazine. I’ll never forget the thrill I felt the very first time I saw “Photo by Jay Selman” in a magazine!

N159AN, Gulfstream 1-C, Air North

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Altair began operations with Beech 99s, and soon moved up to Nord 262s. The carrier operated a busy schedule out of DCA.

N274A, N.262A‑27, Altair

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Along about 1982, Altair upgraded its color scheme.

N488A, N.262A‑21

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In 1981, Altair took a great leap and added Fokker F-28-4000s to its fleet.

N510, F.28‑4000

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As the regional airline industry started to explode due to raising the 12,500-lb limitation, airplane manufacturers rushed to fill that gap. British Aerospace elected to take the approach of upgrading a tried and proven aircraft. The original Avro 748 design dates back to the late 1950s, and Hawker Siddeley Aerospace decided that this aircraft  was just what the industry needed. The manufacturer’s optimism was short-lived.

N748AV, HS.748‑2B/FAA, Air Virginia

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Look for further posts that will cover the mainline airliners from DCA, from over 35 years ago.

025 – JFK, 1970-1981. Runway 13L – Part 2

On By jaybirdaviationphotos@gmail.comIn 025 – JFK, 1970-1981. Runway 13L – Part 22 Comments

As I discussed in Part 1, my favorite spot in the world for many years was the approach end of Runway 13L. By the mid 1970s, I was finally using color slide film, and a zoom lens. Both helped me to take better photos. It never really occurred to me that I was capturing history.

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Scandinavian Airlines System was well-represented at JFK by both its DC-8-63 (OY-KT, DC‑8‑63, SAS), and 747 (OY-KHA, B.747‑283B)

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Montana Austria was a frequent visitor to JFK using an ex-QANTAS Boeing 707

OE-INA, B.707‑138B,

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KLM used its DC-8-63 into JFK well into the 1980s

PH-DEH, DC‑8‑63, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

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LOT Polish Airlines flew IL-62Ms into JFK until 1980, when SP-LAA crashed near Warsaw in March 1980 after suffering an engine explosion.

SP-LAA, Il‑62M, taken just a few months before it crashed near Warsaw, forcing LOT to ground its remaining IL-62Ms

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I still remember my surprise as I was sitting in my favorite spot by 13L, I looked out at the approach path and, wow, that looks like a TU-154. Who in the world was flying TU-154s into JFK??

YR-TPJ, Tu‑154B‑2, Guyana Airways

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Trans International Airlines was a well-known supplemental carrier for both cargo and passenger service.

N4864T, DC‑8‑63CF

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Trans International was renamed Transamerica Airlines, and the DC-8s were re-engined with CFM-56s. The airline’s missions remained the same.

N4869T, DC‑8‑73CF

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It’s funny/sad to look back nearly 40 years ago and think that I regarded all those Boeing 707s as boring. I really had no concept of the history that my lens was capturing.

N8409, B.707‑323C, American Airlines

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I was much more intrigued by the shiny new 747s, that boasted piano bars and lounges…for a short while, anyway. Before long, the bean-counters realized that those lounges could be replaced by 30-40 more seats worth of revenue. It is also interesting to consider the domestic routes on which 747s were used, routes that are now served by twice as many aircraft holding half as many seats.

N9669, B.747‑123, American Airlines

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United Airlines had a large fleet of DC-8-61s, which were used on high-density routes, as well as the longer-range flights.

N8077U, DC‑8‑61, United Air Lines

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Formerly Aeronaves de Mexico DC-8-50, Aeromexico kept its DC-8s in service into the 1980s

XA-DOD, DC‑8‑51, AeroMéxico

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From the time that the Concorde was first designed, I would dream of the day that I would be able to snap a photo of one landing by “My Spot”. It was worth the wait!

G-BOAF, Concorde 102, British Airways

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Seaboard World Airlines was one of the largest cargo carriers at Kennedy, and enjoyed a long and colorful history. The company’s 747s were among the more colorful 747s at JFK

N705SW, B.747‑245F(SCD) , Seaboard World

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Evergreen International flew several DC-8s under the banner of Emery Air Force.

N8246U, DC‑8‑33(F)

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After “my spot” at the end of 13L, my next favorite photo spot was the top of the old Pan Am terminal. This was back in the good old days, when you could spend all day up there and nobody would bother you at all. True, you were looking into the sun for most of the days, but you still had a commanding view of Runway 13R/31L, the international ramp, and the taxiways coming around the corner of the Eastern Air Lines terminal.

Here is an Air Jamaica DC-8-50 rotating off Runway 31L.

6Y-JGE, DC‑8‑51, Air Jamaica

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BWIA eventually replaced its 707s to JFK with Tristar 500s

9Y-TGJ, L.1011‑500

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Hybrid color schemes are always interesting. Here is a Convair 580 belonging to Great Lakes Airlines of Canada, on lease to Air New England.

C-GJRP, CV‑580

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Iberia Airlines was one of the original operators of the Boeing 747. It was easily photographable as it approached the International Arrivals Building.

EC-BRP, B.747‑156, Iberia

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Swissair was another early operator of the 747, and they stayed in the fleet long enough to wear a revised color scheme.

HB-IGB, B.747‑257B, Swissair

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Global International Airlines was one of dozens of “Deregulation Airlines” that sprung up as the legacy airlines shed their older aircraft types. GIA, which was rumored to be tied to the Central Intelligence Agency

N15713, B.707‑331C, Global International Airways

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There were no two ways about it. The 747SP was NOT an aesthetically pleasing airliner!

N540PA, B.747SP‑21, Pan Am

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Flying Tigers DC-8-63 lifts off of Runway 31L

N795FT, DC‑8‑63CF, Flying Tigers

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Air Atlanta began operations with a handful of ex-United 727-100s.

N7083U, B.727‑22, Air Atlanta

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As late as the early 1980s, American Airlines was still operating their Boeing 707-100s.

N7554A, B.707‑123B, American Airlines

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It’s nice to reminisce looking at a Delta DC-8-50, but this is not any ordinary Delta DC-8-50. N8008D is, in fact, the first production DC-8, which was originally delivered to Delta as a DC-8-11 and later converted to a -51

N8008D, DC‑8‑51, Delta Airlines

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In the early jet airliner days, several major airlines, including United Air Lines, operated a fleet of pure-cargo DC-8F-54s

N8053U, DC‑8F‑54, United Air Lines

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American Airlines was another US carrier to operate a fleet of all-cargo aircraft. In this case, they were 707 Freighters.

N8417, B.707‑323C, American Airlines

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Montana Austria eventually added a small fleet of 707-300s to its -138Bs.

OE-IDA, B.707‑396C, Montana Austria

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If you look very closely at XA-DOE, you will see that it is the former N8008D, the prototype DC-8. When Delta was ready to retire it, Aeromexico bought it and used it on North American routes for several years. It was finally retired to Marana, where it was eventually scrapped.

XA-DOE, DC‑8‑51, AeroMéxico

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I still enjoy going to JFK, and there are still some good spots for photography. Unfortunately, New York tends to be a bit of a hostile environment toward airplane photographers, and most of the old spots are long gone. I’m glad I was able to experience and enjoy Kennedy Airport back in the good old days, before 9/11, before hijackings to Cuba, and before airplane photography was viewed as a dangerous hobby.