全部
← Back to Squawk list
United Airlines fleet through the years
Photos of United's jets over the past decades (www.chicagotribune.com) 更多...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Was an air controller at So Lake Tahoe airport 1975-76 - Harrah's used to run junkets there in the summer months - usually United 727s... but a CV990 was used a couple of times- 8600 foot runway at 6200 altitude... the plane was owned by a charter club out of Denver... was a sight to see landing and departing on that smallish runway -- noise? whew!
The 990 was owned by Ports of Call, whose first plane was a United DC-7 that eventually was scrapped and the fuselage was turned into a playground fixture a Denver pre school. I believe on or two of the Ports of Call 990s were abandoned at Stapleton after the move to Denver Intenational. Ports of Call replaced the 990s with 707s before going out of business.
Yeh. I remember the first time they landed a newly-bought empty 990 into FMY, longest runway 5000'. They got it stopped, but barely. Over the fence for that bird was about 165-170 kts., equivalent to a fighter. Gulf American paid for putting an additional 1000' there at Page, but even that didn't help. Density Altitudes in FL go UP on warm days, and they could not carry more than a very light load. So, they wound up flying the 990s into TPA. ---This was in 1967, I think. Fade out, fade in. I wound up working for Flying Tigers at ORD in 1974, and what did I see resting by one of the alert hangars alongside The Naked City's Comet? One of the 990s.And it sat there for several more years. :-)
Love the picture of the man with the cigar...How times have changed...
The 990's were sleek and beautiful (and fast!) However, their narrow cabins made them uneconomical to operate, which unfortunately led to their early retirement..
Hm. I don't recall UA ever flying the Convair 990s. (That WAS the plane you meant, right?) American flew them for a while, as did SwissAir.Delta flew the 880s. I worked for Modern Air, a Part 121 supplemental, who flew prospective customers to FMY for land purchase at Cape Coral.Only trouble was Page Field runways not long enough for this hot airplane.They were billed (and capable of transonic speeds, but seldom operated. Fuel consumption so high that SwissAir stopped using them for transatlantic routes. Other airlines followed for same reason.
I flew as a passenger once on an AA 990 from San Diego to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. By then, the handwriting was on the wall. Was fortunate to see an occasional Delta 880 at LAX. Luckily, TWA had many scheduled out of LA. The noise and smoke was incredible. Miss those days!