Aerospace advances fairly quickly, and the day you took that flight became history…
If the conditions are right and configuration of aircraft entry systems coincides, then yes it is possible to open an aircraft door in flight. Ideally, this is not something that you should aspire to do. Nor, should you attempt this at home. There would be some stiff legal penalties for [...]
With so much capital spread through out multiple destinations, how did the airlines know where the aircraft were systemwide? Before the days of computers, GPS, and real time digital data, there had to be a system and in this article we will explore such systems. Until the 1950s, airlines used [...]
This is a continuation of the trip from Northwest Airlines flight 1061, the DC-9-40 flight. I was quite thrilled to get to ride one my favorite types, the Boeing 757-200. It appears that this day we rode the Boeing 757-251, the 51 being Boeing’s customer identifier for the type. The [...]
During a stopover in Detroit, I was able to snap some photos of aircraft that I do not normally see everyday. I was eager to see the 747-400, Airbus 330s, Avros, and other types. Detroit was a major hub for Northwest Airlines in those days. This would be the layover [...]
In a short quick answer the “rotunda” and all has been demolished according to Google Earth. As a young child growing up in southern California, I have visited that old terminal 3 on several occasions back in the 80s. When we were allowed to meet relatives at their gate, or [...]
In the early days of powered machined flight for mankind, propeller based propulsion systems were the norm. The limitation of the propeller was the speed and altitude it allowed aircraft to fly, its large diameter rotation zone, the complexities of the the combustion engine, and the feathering propeller systems for [...]
When me and my family took a trip in the late 80’s, I couldn’t help but to notice this device embedded into the seatback of the seat in front of me. Was it a game? – Was it IFE(In Flight Entertainment)? No. It was a phone! The number pad made [...]
It was the summer of 1985, and at the time I lived in Carson, California. I can remember from a young age being fascinated with aviation. I have flown numerous times before, but I was too young to understand or recall details of those trips. In the spring of the [...]
It was Saturday 10-September-2005. Vacation time, it was the end of summer and I was headed out to Minneapolis-St. Paul to see some of my friends. I booked flights on Northwest and at Philadelphia Gate E6, sits this fabulous classic of an aircraft, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-41. What a treat this [...]