SFB spotting 4-6-07 (Pics)

[SengaB]

A few shots from today while I was back-seating a flight.

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Senga

[Iberia A340-600]

Really awesome shots, Senga! I especially love that overview of the terminal showing the Thomas Cook and Travel City Direct, that's a keeper.

[G-BOAD]

Pan Am! Am i seeing things? :wink:

Great shots! i really like the terminal overview, and the one in the cockpit as you line up for final.

[INTENSS]

Senga,

Nice shots...especially like that PA United parts plane tucked away in the trees! I see Lady Thatcher (N346PA) actually moved out of its parking spot and you got it moving!! From the air the Pan Am ramp looked empty. Did they move all of their planes out of Sanford? Or was it just a busy charter ops day?

-Rich

[stuart schechter]

Lot's of Cooks! Especially love the two Southeast's Parked facing opposites.

[njgtr82]

So have you now conquered SFB?

[SengaB]

Thanks for the compliments,

Yes I was happy to finally get a shot of the EX UAL and South East Airlines aircraft that are at SFB. The only way to photograph them is by air.

Yes SFB is still used to based the Pan AM 727s. If you are at SFB on the right day you can see much of the fleet on the ground.
Bill,
SFB keeps changing. I don' think I will ever "own" it. I have all the main stuff now accept the "one monthers". It seems to come in once a month.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/paa.jpg

Senga

[Tom_Turner]

Senga - That 747-3 is fantastic.

The Southeast DC-9s are a gem too.

Funny about the decrepit 727 tree'd in now. Is it a law every American Airport needs a 727 rusting away in the corner? They've taken the place of DC-3s.... :-)

Tom

[SengaB]

Yes thats so true Tom,
Its like every city in the U.S with a sizable population and a runway longer than 6000 ft has either a American Airlines 727, Fedex 727-100 or a United Airlines 727!

MCO AAL 727
SFB UAL 727
SWF AAL 727
YIP AAL 727
IND UAL 727
JFK FDX 727
RME FDX 727
ACY FDX 727
Some of the airports I have seen them at.

Senga

[INTENSS]

Senga....you can add ATL to that list with a FDX 727 parked in a corner between north cargo and the Mercury ramp.

I was a little worried that Pan Am had up and left Sanford....your shots are the first time I hadn't seen ANY of their birds parked there. I've caught just about all of their planes at some point at SFB (you can see all of them on jp.net) but there might be a couple more parked up at Portsmouth.

It used to really be cool to see their operations a few years ago at SFB when they'd have about 7 727's running around the airport just about every day. Now you have to hope you're there at the right time to catch a position flight for a charter somewhere.

-Rich

[SengaB]

Welp there you go yet another airport (ATL) with a stagnant UAL, FDX or AAL 727. I would be cool to see someone put up a wall take on a US map to see where they all are.

Yes I see at least 1 oe 2 Pan Am 727s at SFB up when I am there. They usually are not flying though. In fact theres one here now. There is also that Last Miami Air 727-200 (Black with Silver Tiger Stripes) flying for Pan Am. So far it has just been sitting on the Pan Am ramp for several days now. It flew in SFB about 2 months ago and flies once in while. Pan AM doesn't use PSM as much as they used. When looking at fligth history of Pan Am they have only been one flight to New Hampshire.
They still are flying those J31s too. They seem to only operate those from FLM, TTN, BED and HVN. I remember when Pam Am started up again with their latest start up and theyt have they first route into Gary Indiana out of PSM with one aircraft. GYY built a small 2 plane terminal Building just for Pan Am.
Rich do you know how many Pan Am 727s they are flying right now?
If you are able to spend atleast 2 days at SFB you should be able to see one. I see them landing and hear them ont he radios a lot. I should be photographing them more than I have been.

BTW SFB had a Centurion Air Cargo DC-10 land here 3 nights ago or so and a USN P-3 Orion landed in front of me while I was taxiing short.
Senga

Senga

[hiss srq]

I flew Clipper Juan Trippe from Orlando to Aguadilla in 2005 . Good memories. TMA dominated that place when I flew out of there.

[SengaB]

What was the flight like flying on Pan Am?

Senga

[hiss srq]

It was very generic. There was a "first class" cabin on board but I suspect that was more relic from her days with UA than a product really. The flight attendants were very very nice overall though. There were no cabin announcements from the flight deck. Strictly the ten grand chimes and F/A prepare for arrival comments. We got chips and soda on board. I booked with them just to say I was able to fly a PanAm 727 and make a few friends jealous to be honest. We flew home on Spirit from SJU. I would have rather flown PanAm home though. I reccomend flying them though to anyone who wants to shell out 200 bucks. It is well worth it. Just for the experince.

[INTENSS]

Senga,

That last Miami Air 727....what colors is it in right now?

They are only able to operate 3 aircraft right now. They have requested from DOT to add an additional 4 a/c to their operating certificate...but that has been hung up for over a year now. DOT is not too happy with Pan Am's financials and their suspect reporting of these figures.

It's tough to figure out exactly how many 727's they have left. There are at least 5 that are operational including the 3 that had been operating all of the sked/charter work; N342PA, N348PA and N349PA. N343PA and N346PA had also been flown into SFB within the past year and are presumably operational. Your shot of N346PA was actually the first time I had seen it moving. N361PA, N363PA, and N367PA were parked at SFB last year, but last I saw they had their engines yanked, maybe they were in heavy check and were flown back up to Portsmouth....don't know. I think there are still a couple of 727s in PA colors parked up there....these 3 included. N369PA and N364PA were in full colors 2 years ago but I believe both have been sold and are now operating for other carriers. Sooo...I think the quick answer is 7 aircraft in PA colors that could operate. They just can't do that right now until the DOT gives approval. There are also about a half dozen ex-UA parts planes scattered between SFB and PSM.

I flew on Pan Am Clipper Connection last year between Sanford and Atlanta. I found the inflight service pretty good compared to other domestics. I actually got a full can of soda and a decent size bag of Cheeze-Its. F/A's were very nice and flight operated on time. I'm definitely glad I took the flight while it still operated.

Senga - Pan Am has a quick sale on their web site for SFB-ELM for tomorrow and Thursday if you want to hop on a 727 while they last.....$79 each way. You could ride up and come right back. :)

As you can see I'm a fan of the meatball..... :wink:

-Rich

[SengaB]

Wow thats pretty cool.
Other than Champion I think the only other operator that flies 727s is PAN Now.

I wonder how long this current Pan Am will last.
Senga

[HPNPilot1200]

Awesome pictures, Senga. Very sharp.

[SengaB]

Rich this is the 727 (Shot at TOL)
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You certainly know your Pan Am stuff. I now have someone to go to about any questions I might have about the current operations.
I didn't know they Pan Am had a cap on how many aircraft they could fly.

You are right about PSM having some 727s. They have the bulk of the fleet stored up there. If this current operation cease operations I wondre if someone will start themm again. I hope they don't use the name unless someone really has what it takes to give the name dignity again.

Senga

[INTENSS]

Senga,

So where is that 727 parked? Over on the Pan Am ramp?

About 3 years ago they moved the entire airline (Pan Am) over to the Boston-Maine operating certificate (Pan Am Clipper Connection). This was done to rid the airline of the pilots' union. It suceeded in getting rid of the union, however it backfired when they were then initially restricted with the number of aircraft they could operate.

When they requested to increase the number of a/c to operate, the pilots' union fired back with injunctions stating that the company was not financially viable and had shady accounting/financial record keeping. As the DOT investigated, they discovered that Pan Am's General Counsel had falsly inflated the company's cash and assets in the written requests to the DOT. Pan Am subsequently fired the General Counsel and swore that they had no knowledge of the inaccuracies. The battles continue between Boston-Maine/Pan Am and the government (DOT, General Accounting office). The union has been relentless in its assault on the company for dissolving it through the transfer of operations.

The company stated that because of their inability to operate more a/c and thus increase frequences its then small route system, they would have to drop scheduled service. This was 2 1/2 years ago...since then they've only operated subsidized operations: Tunica-Atlanta and Atlanta-Sanford, which were subsidized by major casinos in Tunica and Vacation Express, respectively.

Since then the airline has begun to increase its J31 operations in the northeast in addition to a very sparse 727 service betweem Elmira and Sanford. The company continues to make decent money on charter operations so there is apparently no hurry with just the 3 727s. I was beginning to think that the airline was going to get rid of all the 727s (many engines, equipment, and Sanford flight sims are all for sale).....but this ex-Miami Air 727 is interesting. If it is indeed Pan Am's plane, then they might actually be rebuilding for future operations.

Your last comment about someone using the name after this company ceases operations is interesting. I'll say this.......there are definitely plans in the works even before the company ceases operations to acquire that name and logo. :wink:

-Rich