Free Flight Video Magazine

Aerial view of the DreamLifter and Future of Flight taken by Paine Field

Paine Field is in the process of building additional parking spots next to the Future of Flight. The hope is Boeing 787 Dreamliners will one day be parked there, but for a little over a week, a Boeing DreamLifter has been making it home. If you are in the Seattle area, this gives you a great opportunity to pretty close to a DreamLifter.

This photo was taken from the sky by the Paine Field Airport. Check out the shadow that the DreamLifter puts on the ground (zoomed in photo), it is quite impressive, just like the plane itself.

More:
* Larger version of image above
* Photos I took of the DreamLifter yesterday while at Paine Field

Source: David Parker Brown

Allegiant Airlines Boeing 757 (N901NV) with full livery

A while back I was able to get a hold of a photo of a Boeing 757 with only the winglet painted with Allegiant Livery. Today I was sent a photo of the whole (ok, minus the nose) plane decked out in Allegiant livery.

As reported previously, Allegiant is looking to fly the planes to destinations in Hawaii. To date, they have not announced where they will fly.

I do not know when or where this photo was taken, but I do know the Allegiant livery looks dang good on a Boeing 757 in my opinion.

SEE LARGER VERSION

Source: David Parker Brown

39 years ago on the 4th of September 1971, Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashed on approach to Juneau, Alaska.

The Boeing 727, carrying 104 passengers and 7 crew members, flew into the Chilkat Mountain range. There were no survivors.

Aircraft Accident Report, Alaska Airlines, Inc. Boeing 727, N2969G

The flight had been cleared for a Localizer Directional Aid (LDA) approach to Runway 8 and had reported passing the final approach fix inbound to the airport. This intersection is located 10.2 nautical miles west of the airport.

No further communications were heard from the flight.

Search and rescue found the wreckage 18.5 NM west of the airport. They had crashed into the slope of a canyon in the Chilkat Mountains. The wreckage was found around the 2,500 foot level, in “near-alignment with the Juneau localizer course”.

Witnesses said they heard a low-flying aircraft but couldn’t see the plane due to the fog.

They further stated that the engines sounded normal and that there was no change in the engine sounds from the time they first heard the aircraft until the sound of explosions was heard approximately 1 minute later.

The weather was not good: scattered cloud at 1,500 feet, broken cloud at 3,500 feet, overcast at 7,500 feet and light rainshowers. Visibility at Juneau Municipal Airport was given as 15 miles but the visibility on the ground near the crash site was estimated at 60-70 yards (55-65 metres).

Correlation between the CVR readout and the approximate flightpath derived from the flight data recorder traces shows that the first, unmistakable abnormality in the flight’s progress occurred at 1201:03 when the captain told the first officer; “‘kay, you’re Howard,” although the aircraft was actually about 9 NM west of Howard. Since prior cockpit conversation indicates that the captain had set the 3530 radial (Howard Intersection) into his CDI, it appears that the crew depended on a display of navigational information that seemed to be correct but was in error by about 450°. Similar erroneous indications of progress along the localizer course are evidence in subsequent intracockpit conversation with the conversation dealing with the passing of Rockledge and Earlow Intersections, although the aircraft, in fact, never progressed as far as Howard.

What this means is that although we don’t know what went wrong with the navigation, the cockpit recorder makes it very clear that the crew believed the plane was 11 miles (18.5 km) further along than it was and thus they descended below the safe altitude for the approach. The weather meant that they could not see the terrain below them nor the landmarks which would have alerted them that they were still in the mountains. There is no evidence that the crew ever became aware that they were flying into the mountain range.

The NTSB concluded that there were a number of different possibilities, ranging from malfunctioning equipment to signal interference to operational factions; however there was not enough evidence to support any one of them as the most probable explanation.

Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a display of misleading navigational information concerning the flight’s progress along the localizer course which resulted in a premature descent below obstacle clearance altitude. The origin or nature of the misleading navigational information could not be determined. The Board further concludes that the crew did not use all available navigational aids to check the flight’s progress along the localizer nor were these aids required to be used. The crew also did not perform the required audio identification of the pertinent navigational facilities.

That’s not to say that operational issues were the cause but that the crash could possibly have been avoided if the crew had used additional nav aids and especially that the cause could have been better identified if they had checked the audio identification of the VORs.

Neither the aircraft nor the navigational aids were found to have pertinent physical faults, so it does seem quite likely that human factors caused the initial issue. It is refreshing to see that the NTSB did not simply blame the crew. Although the report includes an in-depth analysis of the operational issues which could have led to a basic error being made, they clearly acknowledge that there is no evidence that crew error caused the crash.

Source: Sylvia

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 explained that Alaska has operated four different Boeing 707s, which were all leased over the summers from 1970-1973 to provide chartered flights to Russia and provide additional capacity for passengers and cargo for regular domestic flights during the peak summer season.

The photos above (which you can click on to see a larger version) shows three of the four Boeing 707s used. Here is a little  history on each of the four aircraft:

Boeing 707-321 (N724PA) leased from Pan Am sporting Donaldson Airways (a non-scheduled charter airline) dark green / gold stripes scheme and Alaska-added Eskimo on the tail blended in.  Suttell says, “I remember this plane very well while working as an air freight agent in JNU.  In fact, I took a couple photos myself right from the freight shed as it taxied by.” N724PA brought much needed lift of cargo backlog SEA-KTN-JNU on flight 69 about three or four times a week in the summer of 1973 and provided the same needed capacity for passenger volumes at peak season. Unlike the other three Boeing 707′s, N724PA didn’t actually fly to Russia due to the poor economy. As discussed yesterday, N724PA was given back to Donaldson Airways and given a new registration number. Pan Am, then gave N724PA to a Boeing 747-200.

Boeing 707-331 (N705PA) leased from Pan Am with Air Florida reddish-orange stripes scheme and “Alaska” in black helvetica letters on the tail and sides. The aircraft was flown during the summer of 1972 for Alaska. After being with Alaska N705PA went to Globe Air and then hit the road and traveled the world. Last record I can find of her is a photo in 1981 of her being stored in Kuala Lumpur.

Boeing 707-321 (N727PA) leased from Pan Am.  Red stripe with familiar “Golden Nugget Service” logo on the tail.  This was the 707 that Alaska used on the inaugural charter flights to Russia beginning on June 6, 1970.  There was great fan-fare in the local Seattle media news media about the whole Russia ground-breaking flights.   This Boeing 707 flew until 1980 when it crashed on landing in Bogota. Like N724PA, the registration number was used by Pan Am again and given to another Boeing 747-200.

Boeing 707-320 (N793SA) the odd one of the bunch. This aircraft was not leased from Pan Am and Alaska had no information other than it was listed as an aircraft they have previously used. I did find some information on the aircraft on AussieAirliners.org and it shows it started life with Qantas. The aircraft was leased by Pacific Western Airlines before going to Alaska during summer of 1971. The plane flew until 1979 when it was used for spare parts for KC-135, so it might be the only one of the four with part of it still currently flying. The registration number is now being used on a Southwest Boeing 737.

Alaska Airlines also operated the Boeing 720 for a number of years in regular service on their route system until about 1975. Even though the Boeing 720 looks very similar to the 707, it is not as well suited for international flights and was used for a few years until 1975 on domestic routes.

You guys were rock stars providing more information on N724PA yesterday, so if you find any more about these four aircraft, please share them in the comments!

Source: David Parker Brown

Here is PanAm Boeing 747-200 N724PA taken in 1990, about a year before Pan Am went out of business.

A while back after I blogged a photo of a Pan Am Boeing 747-200 taking off at Seattle, an ex-pilot that flew for Pan Am emailed me and thought the registration number had to be wrong. He remembered quite clearly that N724PA was not for a 747, but it belonged to a Boeing 707-300 that flew for Pan Am. This was curious for me, since when I looked up photos of aircraft belonging to N724PA there was a photo of a Boeing 707 in Alaska Airlines livery. It is common for airlines to re-use registration numbers, but I felt a story involving a Pan Am Boeing 747 and 707 used by Alaska needed to be told.

It turns out he was right. N724PA a Boeing 707-300, which Pan Am called “Clipper Mercury,” went into service on December 8, 1959 and served Pan Am well, until 1971. Mercury was leased to GE, then Donaldson International Airways until being leased to Alaska Airlines for the summer of 1972. After Alaska’s lease was up it went back to Donaldson and the registration number was changed from N724PA to G-BAEL.

When Mercury’s registration number was changed, it allowed Pan Am to “re-use” the number and register a new aircraft. When Pan Am got a Boeing 747-200 in 1984 from Sinapore Airlines, they gave her the name “Clipper Fairwind” and the registration number N724PA, which previously belonged to the Boeing 707.

I can’t find where the Boeing 747 ended up, but based photos taken in 2005, I am guessing she is no longer flying (can anyone else confirm that?).

So, that explains the confusion of the registration numbers, but left me wondering why the heck Alaska was flying a Boeing 707 for only one summer. For that answer you will have to wait until tomorrow!

Thanks Nick Y for pointing this out!

Also check out:
* Photos of Fairwind Clipper Boeing 747 through the years on Airliners.net

Source: David Parker Brown