Small plane discussion

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Bob Dylan

50+ Year Amtrak Rider
AU Supporting Member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
26,751
Location
Austin Texas
Thanks for your reply. I have never flown on that small of a plane. My smallest was on an Air Canada turbo(?) prop plane that seated not many with just a pilot and co-pilot; no flight attendant. There were, I recall, 5 or 6 passengers on the plane and we were "social distancing" even then. The co-pilot came into the cabin to space us out even more due to balancing issues. (My seat ended up just forward of the sliding door restroom at the very back of the plane.)
Rode many a mile in that type of Plane! Called them TTA, Tree Top Airlines!😄
 
Rode many a mile in that type of Plane! Called them TTA, Tree Top Airlines!😄

They did not fly very high; don't think they were pressurized. I remember a Summer trip between Dayton and Toronto when it was HOT on the ground and flying above Lake Erie, I could have used a sweater at whatever altitude we were at.

Air Canada's service was always great. I enjoyed my flights because they were "different". And Toronto's International Airport (Pearson?) is an airport that I enjoyed arriving and departing.
 
They did not fly very high; don't think they were pressurized. I remember a Summer trip between Dayton and Toronto when it was HOT on the ground and flying above Lake Erie, I could have used a sweater at whatever altitude we were at.

Air Canada's service was always great. I enjoyed my flights because they were "different". And Toronto's International Airport (Pearson?) is an airport that I enjoyed arriving and departing.

That would be an Air Georgian Beech 1900D operating as Air Canada Express. They flew from Dayton to YYZ Pearson.

Some of my most enjoyable flights have been on small aircraft. Here's my trip report from several years ago....flying into an Indigenous Community along the Labrador coast for work on a 19 passenger Twin Otter.

Airport Hopping Along The Coast - 2 - Airliners.net
 
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Didn't "Treetop" AKA Trans Texas, become Southwest? Or is that just urban myth?

Never heard that one before. Nonetheless, it isn’t true.

Southwest was a brand new airline started from scratch by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King, neither of whom, as far as I can tell, had any connection to Trans Texas.

Trans Texas became Texas International, which eventually became part of the multi-airline conglomerate in the 80s that wound up as Continental Airlines and, today, United.
 
I wouldn't say became United, as much as merged into, as Continental existed pre Texas Air and pondscum Frank Lorenzo (remember "The Proud Bird With the Golden Tail" or We Really Shake Our Tails For You" ad campaigns) and in the case of the Continental United merger, the larger unionized United was the "surviving entity" Actually, UAL bought CO in a stock deal.
 
Here is what I flew.

One of my brothers had a lot of time in a 402, Flying National Cash Register personal from Hawthorne to Palomar airport. I got a couple of rides in it, first turbo charged small plane I’d been in. It was a earlier model, had wing tip tanks. No mask required back then.
 
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That would be an Air Georgian Beech 1900D operating as Air Canada Express. They flew from Dayton to YYZ Pearson.

Air Georgian was the Air Canada affiliate. I looked up information about the plane on Wikipedia with pictures and checked the SeatGuru site for seating plan. The seating plan looked familiar; the photos of the plane did not. But, it has been several years ago since I was able to fly a DAY-YYZ non-stop. My memory probably is faulty.
 
I happen to have a timetable in my collection from just after the parent company of the former Trans-Texas (rebranded as Texas International) took over Continental, and the operations hadn't yet been combined under the Continental name. (I realize this still doesn't have anything to do with face masks, but I'm not sure there's much else to say about face masks that wouldn't run afoul of the "no politics" rule.)

PQA02im.jpg
 
I get deleted posts for "not related" but an AIRLINE Thread...not so much!?!?!?!?!!? So let me talk about my old DC-3 flights to Key West in the old days before they started jet travel there.
 
Yes. The Pilot is right there with you. There is no cockpit.
I fly Cape Air from Boston-to-our P-Town condo....someone actually sits in the "co-pilot" seat. I know this has nothing to do with Amtrak, but doesn't seem to be an issue here!
 
Southwest was begun in Dallas by Herb Kelleher and others as a Start up. TTA was a seperate,earlier Texas Airline that became Continential, and eventually United. Braniff was the other Texas Airline.
I was a loyal Southwest customer while Herb was running the show. Many people refused to fly them due to the lack of premium cabins and assigned seating, but nonstop flights that bypass hubs are their own kind of luxury. Contrary to their reputation Southwest rarely sold the cheapest excursion fares but last minute travel was easily half the cost of a walk-up legacy ticket. I liked what I saw of Continental but didn't fly them enough to have a strong opinion and never flew Braniff.
 
Some 40 years ago, during my electrical apprenticeship I had a second job as manager of a roller skating rink. The primary owner was an experienced pilot, both fixed wing and helicopter. He wanted to get some time in, and rented a Cessna 172. There was a tiny airport near the rink called Flushing Airport that had a tiny sliver of a corridor through a very busy TCA. Went for a ride up to Middletown (Orange County) and back. Having all that LaGuardia traffic around us coming back in was to say the least "disconcerting"
 
Some 40 years ago, during my electrical apprenticeship I had a second job as manager of a roller skating rink. The primary owner was an experienced pilot, both fixed wing and helicopter. He wanted to get some time in, and rented a Cessna 172. There was a tiny airport near the rink called Flushing Airport that had a tiny sliver of a corridor through a very busy TCA. Went for a ride up to Middletown (Orange County) and back. Having all that LaGuardia traffic around us coming back in was to say the least "disconcerting"
Reminds me of my first Solo Cross Country as a Student Pilot when I had to go through the DFW TCA to land @ Redbird Airport!
 
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