Remember flying in the 90s?

[HVYMETALDRVR]

I grew up a 90s kid and took my first lesson in May of 2001 so I wasn't flying then... but one or twice a month in the mid 80s to the early 90s my grandpa took me to the airport to watch the planes come and go. Oh how bad I wanted to sneak through the gate and ride a long. I specifically remember the old viewing area at TF Green Airport above the terminal, because the view of the aircraft coming and going was better than the terminal itself. I remember a few years later after they renovated the terminal and got rid of the upper deck but it was okay because you could go through security in about 2 minutes and wait by the gate and watch just good from there.

I also remember the North side of ramp where all the old FBO buildings are at and seeing the 172s and thinking why would anyone want to waste they're time flying a little Cessna when you can fly a 727 or 737? haha

 

[MQAAord]

The Eagle ramp at ORD, October 1996. This view was taken about 20' outside the crew lounge door, looking down the odd side of the G concourse. Many memories this pic brings back. 012 in the picture there got sold several years back, crashed in the mountains in Italy, killed everyone onboard.

 

[trafficinsight]

I really miss seeing those guys around. It was awesome during the .com bubble when San Jose was just this super busy downtown airport. My mom's friend in San Jose used to take me out to the observation deck in the old terminal C or to a park by the runway, and I'd see these smokey MD-80s, 87s, and 90s screaming by. Loved those colors, they sort of made me proud since, other than United, it was the only airline with a real large hub operation out of the Bay Area. In fact, SJC even surpassed RNO in flights in the airlines last years, thus becoming the operational hub for the airline. Reno Air even had a regional for a while, Reno Air Express op. by Mid Pacific Air, that flew JS-31s on a bunch of routes out of SJC Skywest serves out of SFO. Sad to see the airport almost a ghost town now a days.

Shortly after I moved to San Jose my roomie and I went to the long term lot at SJC (Which was where the FedEx ramp is now) one day when they were departing on 12R which was the only long runway at the time. There were trees planted next to the fence and he climbed one as a United 757 was taxiing out. The crew saw us and waved and turned tail to us and powered the engines up... He damn near got blown out of the tree! After 9/11 the lot and the trees disappeared pretty quickly.

Luckily my favorite spotting location is still there at SJC, where this photo was taken:

The guy in the right seat with his thumb up? That's my roomie who almost got blown out of the tree

 

[Boris Badenov]

I remember walking in to the FSS on the field at KLOU with my instructor (circa maybe '93) and having the Specialist walk me through how to use all the sooper high tech weather gear (the screen was maybe 8 inches across, and the information was like a Commodore 64 version of WSI). The first 172Rs coming on line (still steam gauges, but the upholstery smelled AWESOME...my first little taste of SJS). Renting a 177 and feeling like Bill Badass amongst all the 152 and 172 scum. Flying a Warrior up to meet my (I now realize impossibly young) girlfriend in college for nights of (what I now realize were impossibly tame) drinking and debauchery. Trying to figure out how to work the incredibly high-tech and complex Garmin GPSIII Mom bought me for Christmas. And then, towards the end of the 90s, being a CFI and getting to try to explain how the GPS worked to kids who were much more intuitive with it than I was. Taking the same Warrior up in IMC when it was pretty obviously freezing in the clouds and asserting to the desk-chick who was my passenger that the ice on the wings was "no big deal" with a confidence I didn't feel as I fumbled my way through the VOR 24 to KLOU. Racing UPS 747s in to SDF during instrument training rides ("we're at redline, but he appears to be gaining on us!). Showing up an hour late for a rental and having the keys tossed to me with an admonition to "be back before 8pm tomorrow" and marvelling that they'd let me just take their airplane "wherever" in the interim. No "checking my work", no "let's look at the weather", just "don't break nuthin and get it back in time for the next joker". Renting said 177 for a three day Odyssey, picking up a buddy in VA, flying down to Ocracoke (W95) and then up the Outer Banks for a week with no supervision whatsoever (I think I had about 150 hours at the time) in all kinds of weather, including a fair amount of pretty hard IFR and thunderstorms on the way back. But no one thought anything of it...you're an instrument rated pilot, right? Get out there and do it. So you do. Best times of my life, the 90s.

 

[scramjet]

Many fond memories were forged on these ships.

 

[Pay2]

Sad to see the airport almost a ghost town now a days.

You need to check out the GA side of SJC. I fly in there for a tech company several times a week, and parking can be scarce.

 

[derg]

I feel old.

 

[A150K]

I flew on an old TWA 747-100 back in '95 from JFK-CDG. Actually, I still have the boarding card (my first plane ride), it was flight 800 one year before the crash. I remember the F/A's were really nice to me and gave me a set of those plastic wings and then I got violently ill due to all that North Atlantic turbulance and TWA brand Salmon.

 

[Apophis]

My first ever trip to Hawaii In 1997 was on a Continental B747-200. I loved it.

/sigh

 

[loubetti]

I've been flying on planes since 1963, and piloting them since 1975. Flying in the 90s? Ok....

I'm flying back (as a passenger) on BA 744 from LHR to JFK. I tell the FA that I am a pilot and would like to visit the cockpit. We're several miles over the mid-Atlantic at the time. The next thing I know I'm in the cockpit, and spent an hour there chatting with the captain. They had a towel wrapped around the door knobs to the cockpit so the door would not latch (!!!). The FA comes in and says, "would you like some ice cream"? We didn't say no!

I did similar in the mid-80s on on BA 742 on the same route, but no ice cream that time, but they did have some charts stuffed in the windows to block out the glaring Sun as we bucked 140kt head winds!

It was a different world back then, in many ways. Heck, even the US carriers wouldn't let anyone visit the cockpit in flight.

I still have the tickets from those TWA flights I made from JFK to MXP in the late 60s / early 70s on those "Star Stream" 707s. They used to put up a movie screen between the overhead racks (no bins back then) and then lowered a 16mm movie projector from the ceiling. The head phones for audio were pneumatic.

I'll never forget my first flight to Italy in 1965, on an Alitalia DC-8 from JFK to MXP (service was not so great back then too). I went just with my mother, and as we get on the plane she points out this plaque on a forward bulkhead. Turns out the plane was the one Pope Paul used on his visit to the US the year before.

Hey, I'm only 53!

 

[04JETTA]

I miss being able to walk people to the gate

 

[Bandit_Driver]

I started flying in '97. $60 an hour wet for an all steam powered 172.
RNAV, LORAN, and OMEGA were still being taught. GPS was just starting to make its way into training aircraft and GPS's approaches were just starting.

Northwest was still flying 727's on some regional routes

Airline hiring sucked during that time and if you didn't have 1500 and 500 forget even a shot at a regional...

 

[rframe]

The head phones for audio were pneumatic.

I'm pretty sure they still had pneumatic headphones into the 80's, I'm almost certain I remember them on some domestic flights I took.

 

[Pablo]

I flew on an old TWA 747-100 back in '95 from JFK-CDG. Actually, I still have the boarding card (my first plane ride), it was flight 800 one year before the crash. I remember the F/A's were really nice to me and gave me a set of those plastic wings and then I got violently ill due to all that North Atlantic turbulance and TWA brand Salmon.

This reminds me of a trip to MAD with TWA in 1994 - got my first and only ride on an L-1011 on the way over, and my first ride on a 747 coming back. I miss hanging out by JFK to watch the 707s, DC-8s, Concordes coming in - not to mention those wonderful Delta and TWA Tristars. Great times!

 

[ATOflyer]

I really miss seeing those guys around. It was awesome during the .com bubble when San Jose was just this super busy downtown airport. My mom's friend in San Jose used to take me out to the observation deck in the old terminal C or to a park by the runway, and I'd see these smokey MD-80s, 87s, and 90s screaming by. Loved those colors, they sort of made me proud since, other than United, it was the only airline with a real large hub operation out of the Bay Area. In fact, SJC even surpassed RNO in flights in the airlines last years, thus becoming the operational hub for the airline. Reno Air even had a regional for a while, Reno Air Express op. by Mid Pacific Air, that flew JS-31s on a bunch of routes out of SJC Skywest serves out of SFO. Sad to see the airport almost a ghost town now a days.

That picture brings back great memories. That was one great airline. I still remember after they were bought out and AA was in transition phasing out the Reno Air logo and all the ex-Reno Air planes were in an off white scheme for a year or so. Sad sight. American can suck it. Also remember those Hawaii flights out of SFO......American Trans Air L1011/Delta L1011/Hawaiian all metal DC-10 and then the National 757s during the late 90s.....you must have been that other kid who was always plane spotting on the days I was out there.

 

[DE727UPS]

I got hired at UPS in 1990. Why? Cause I got turned down by Continental and World. UPS was a much better job than my other offer which was a Shorts 360 class at West Air (later to be merged with Mesa) in Fresno. UPS was hiring warm bodies. Half my class was ex-Brannif II. I'd guess about a third of the class left in the first year for "real airline" jobs. United, SWA, USair, and even one dude who went to America West only to get furloughed. I didn't have any jet time and only about 300 PIC turbine, so my options were limited. The seniority list was growing so fast back then that it really kept me from thinking of moving on. Good choice. Capts were making 80K on a DC8 or 727. But then the IPA was born and we slowly got our share of the wealth we created for the company.

 

[ricecakecm]

This reminds me of a trip to MAD with TWA in 1994 - got my first and only ride on an L-1011 on the way over, and my first ride on a 747 coming back. I miss hanging out by JFK to watch the 707s, DC-8s, Concordes coming in - not to mention those wonderful Delta and TWA Tristars. Great times!

Any Red Tail TWA airplane was a good one, L10, 74, or Diesel 9. You just can't argue with anything that puts out tons of noise and miles of black smoke. What a great airline with a great group of people. I miss the ol' Hometown Airline. A buddy of mine once said that if you compared working at airlines to restaurants, American was the Five Star snooty French place, United was the down-home family restaurant, and TWA was like going to the biggest redneck bar in town. There's something about redneck pilots that makes me smile. Southwest has since replaced T-Dub as my favorite airline, and the redneck thing still holds true.

 

[///AMG]

I'm gonna miss this city a lot......pic already makes me sad.

I wasn't really a pilot in the '90's (first dual time was the day after the 9/11 restrictions were lifted), but I enjoy the stories. I guess the old guy stories really weren't from as far back as I thought. MikeD was only like 40 then after all

 

[Pépé le Pilot]

Got my PPL/IR in SJC. It was a great airport. Overflying the Lexington reservoir, checking the whales off of Monterey, dinner flights to Half Moon Bay, Livermore... No TSA whatever, 1998-1999... the Bay was magical. First 100% IFR flight was from SJC to Santa Rosa. I'll never forget it. Those were the days.

 

[ChasenSFO]

I remember back then, the GA ramp near the SJSU building was busting at the seems with GA planes and it seemed there were always a few GA planes in the pattern for 29. As soon as the parking fees were introduced, all but a hand-full of the pistons disappeared overnight it seemed. SJC still sees a lot of biz jet action, but its pretty much just become the Southwest and Alaska show as far as commercial ops. I also remember back then Moffet still had airshows every year, sometimes with the Blues or the Thunderbirds. In the years that it was a Navy show, it was free. Once handed over to NASA, the shows went on for another few years but they were short lived.