SimAirline.net - Viewpoint (Entries tagged as Pan American)

Wish List - Historic Voyages

nospam@example.com (Aaron Robinson) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:10:10 -0700

An early goal of Pan American Virtual was to recognize and share the airline's immense contributions to international airline development. Our means for doing this was Historic Voyages, of which we only ended up offering one. Here's a look at what we had planned:

The Fortuitous First Service
On 19 October 1927, Pan American was required to launch mail service between Key West and Havana or lose its contract. After the airline's Fokker F-VII was not delivered due to the new runway being washed out by storms, Cy Caldwell of West Indian Aerial Express was offered $175 to deliver seven sacks of mail on Pan American's behalf in a Fairchild FC-2, named La Niña.

Dawn of the Flying Clipper
The first of the great flying clipper ships was the Sikorsky S-40. Charles Lindbergh flew the American Clipper from Miami to Cristobal, Panama from 19 to 22 November 1931, with overnight stops in Kingston and Barranquilla. The aircraft's designer, Igor Sikorsky, was on board the flight.

Conquering the Pacific
After establishing a strong network connecting the Americas, Pan American looked westward to Asia. From 22 to 29 November 1935, the Martin M-130 China Clipper under the command of Edwin C. Musick flew mail service from San Francisco to Manila via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam. There was a mistake in flight scheduling due to confusion about the International Date Line, so the flight spent an extra day in Guam to arrive in time for the celebrations in Manila. Due to poor climb performance on the flight, Musick opted to fly under the not-yet-completed Golden Gate Bridge. The navigator on this flight, Fred Noonan, was lost in Amelia Earhart’s attempted flight around the world.

Transatlantic at Last
While the Pacific's obstacles were geographic, the Atlantic's were political. Pan American finally received permission from the British and French governments to serve their countries, and from 20 to 22 May 1939, the Boeing 314 Yankee Clipper flew from New York to Marseille via the Azores and Lisbon, also with mail only. The flight was timed to coincide with the twelfth anniversary of Lindbergh’s historic Atlantic crossing. A month later service to the U.K. began under the command of Harold Gray, who later became Chairman of the airline. Services lasted just a few months until the breakout of war.

Around the World
At the onset of the war in the Pacific, the Pacific Clipper found itself trapped in Auckland. With no safe way to reach home across that ocean, Captain Robert Ford opted to return the valuable aircraft to the States by flying the other direction for an entire month—via Australia, Indonesia, India, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. The saga was chronicled in the book The Long Way Home, and was the first round-the-world flight in a commercial aircraft.

Over the Hump
During the war, one of Pan American's affiliates, CNAC, was responsible for carrying cargo over the Himalayas to reinforce China in its DC-3s. Nicknamed "The Hump," this was the most dangerous such airline route yet flown.

First Flight 001
Starting on 17 June 1947, Pan American launched Flight 001, which would become a key international airline route for decades to come. Clipper America, a Lockheed Constellation, flew for 13 days from New York eastward back to its starting point.

Operation Deep Freeze
The last unexplored frontier in the 1950s was Antarctica. Pan American played a key role in man's conquest of the seventh continent when it flew Clipper America, a Boeing 377, from Christchurch to McMurdo Sound on 15 October 1957, carrying supplies to build a permanent station.

Dawn of the Jet Age
The one Historic Voyage we do offer was the first sustained commercial jet service, flown in the Boeing 707-120 Clipper America from New York to Paris on 26-27 October 1958.

The Ultimate Airliner
Just twelve years after launching the Jet Age, Pan Am did it again by launching the widebody era. Clipper Constitution, a 747-100, flew from New York JFK to London Heathrow on 22 January 1970. The flight departed in the early hours of the morning after replacing Clipper Young America, which had engine trouble at the last minute.

Double Polar Crossing
To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, Pan Am decided to set another record: polar crossings. From 28 to 30 October 1977, a Boeing 747SP Clipper New Horizons flew from San Francisco to London Heathrow over the North Pole, down to Cape Town, over to Auckland via the South Pole, and then back to San Francisco. The flight set a record for such a routing with 54:07:12 in flight time.

The Final Flight
Clipper Goodwill, a Boeing 727-200, flew the airline's last flight on 4 December 1991 from Bridgetown to Miami. Pan Am ceased operations that morning, but Captain Mark Pyle bought fuel for his aircraft to return the aircraft to its home base. The aircraft overflew Runway 12 prior to landing.

Other Famous Flights
-Lindbergh's two survey flights, across the Atlantic and Pacific
-Transporting President Roosevelt to the Casablanca Conference
-Carrying uranium from the Belgian Congo to the U.S. for the Manhattan Project

Pan Am 747 Replica

nospam@example.com (Aaron Robinson) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:03:00 -0800

A replica of a 747's Clipper Class, Pan Am's first class service, has been constructed in Redondo Beach, California. Anthony Toth, a United Airlines employee, created the replica to a late 1970s/1980s timeframe over the course of 20 years and at an expense of $50,000.

Toth, who flew on Pan Am as a child, hopes to some day turn the project into a museum. "There was no other aircraft I could walk on board that intrigued me more than the Pan Am cabin," he says. "Everything symbolized something. That meant something to me as a youngster." On those flights, he saved even the smallest items and photographed much of the aircraft interior and taped the inflight audio entertainment. For more details, you can read the article in the Wall Street Journal.

20th Anniversary of Lockerbie Bombing

nospam@example.com (Aaron Robinson) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:19:24 -0800

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The 747-100, Clipper Maid of the Seas, was flying from London Heathrow to New York JFK. All 259 people on board were killed in addition to eleven people on the ground, making it the worst air disaster in U.K. history, and the largest terrorist attack against the U.S. at the time. Memorial services attended by families, friends, and employees are being held in Lockerbie, Heathrow, Syracuse, and Washington.

The Jet Age Turns 50

nospam@example.com (Dennis Negrón) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:29:00 -0700

Maybe some parents and grandparents remember how flying was in back in the days when only piston powered planes graced the skies. They would never imagine that in 1958, a new era of aviation would begin: the Jet Age.

In 1949 de Havilland began work on the world's first jetliner, the Comet. By 1957 Boeing, Tupolev, and Sud Caravelle had all developed their own. The Comet by then had already entered service, but the one plane that truly ushered airlines into this new era was the Boeing 707, with Pan American World Airways being the first to fly it, from New York to Paris, on 26-27 October 1958. This flight can be flown at Pan American Virtual.

Rapid developments in the aircraft manufacturing industry led to other companies such as the U.S.S.R.’s Ilyushin and Yakolev; America’s Convair and Douglas; the Netherlands’ Fokker; the U.K.’s BAC, Hawker Siddeley, and Vickers; and others to produce different variants of jets. However, Boeing secured its leading position in aircraft manufacturing by introducing what was the biggest airliner yet, the 747, just twelve years later.

Aéropastiale-BAC and Tupolev pushed in a new direction when the Concorde and the Tu-144, pushed the jet age into supersonic travel several years later. The Tu-144 (referred by Westerners as Konkordski) never saw service outside the Soviet Union and was retired after just three years of service. Concorde saw more (but still limited) success, with only Air France and British Airways operating it.

By this time, aviation companies were either folding or uniting, as was the case for European manufacturers who united and formed what is now today Airbus. Airbus introduced the A300 after airlines asked for a “jumbo twin,” smaller than the 747. At first orders were slow but began pouring in after airlines considered the cost of jet fuel and began downsizing their fleets. Airbus really achieved its success when the A320 was introduced, making Airbus an equal challenger to Boeing.

At the start of the 21st century, more new developments are underway. The 747 has been in surpassed in size by Airbus’ A380, supersonic travel ended in 2003 when both Air France and British Airways retired their Concorde fleets. Due to recent sharp rises in jet fuel prices, manufacturers are testing a new development for the jet age, powering planes with biofuel.

Since the start of the Jet Age half a century ago, the airliner industry has come a long way. Still, there's room for more developments for this industry. So here's to fifty glorious years and to another fifty years of continuous evolution.

(Kitchen) Shelf Life

nospam@example.com (Aaron Robinson) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:56:54 -0700

Where do airplanes go to die? For most, the desert, but not for N747PA, the third 747 ever built, and named after longtime Pan American head Juan Trippe. It's now located in Mokpo, South Korea, where it's been turned into a restaurant with 150 tables. You can view more photos of the aircraft (since repainted) here.

Pan Am Historic Sceneries Now Available

nospam@example.com (Fraser Jeffery) — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:16:00 -0700

I’m very excited to announce that Pan American Virtual now offers historic sceneries for nineteen of its destinations. Courtesy of California Classic Propliners, all the sceneries are set around the early 1960s, which fits in closely with our 1967-centered schedules. California Classic Propliners creates sceneries for this era to go along with the propeller aircraft, panels, and sounds that they offer. The sceneries for Pan American destinations are available through the Flight Manual at Pan American Virtual. New scenery is also available for Historic Voyages airports.

Unfortunately, some of these sceneries will replace the default FS2004 airports. When flying for a different virtual airline, you will need to turn off the add-on scenery for the most realism. If you need any assistance regarding this issue, don't be afraid to ask on the Message Boards.

Some of the highlights in the sceneries we now offer:
Berlin Tegel
Hong Kong (Kai Tak)
Honolulu
London Heathrow
Paris Orly
San Francisco

Latest Pan Am Incarnation Closes

nospam@example.com (Aaron Robinson) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:44:55 -0800

The most recent airline to operate using the Pan Am name, Boston-Maine Airways operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection, ceased operations on 29 February after the Department of Transportation concluded that the carrier's certificate should be revoked because of poor financial fitness, questionable management competence, and unwillingness to follow federal laws, rules, and regulations. The airline flew 727s and Jetstream 31s primarily within the Northeast U.S., and was the fourth airline incarnation of the Pan Am brand.

The company was owned by Guilford Transportation Industries, which bought the Pan Am brand in 1998 and, sadly, still uses it in the form of Pan Am Railways. The Portsmouth Herald has a good article on some of the background of the airline's grounding.

Does the name Boston-Maine Airways sound familiar? It should. The original Boston-Maine Airways was founded as a Pan Am contract carrier, flying for them from 1931 to 1933. It later evolved into Northeast Airlines, which was bought by Delta Air Lines in 1972. Of course, Delta later bought Pan Am.