My country is finding itself in dire straits and foreign airlines have been – understandably – pulling out of CCS to the tune of Ten Little Injuns. Lacking any remarkable recent trips to report on, I dug very deep into the memory chest and found a couple of pictures of a flight I took exactly 35 years ago today.

One caveat though: Don’t expect this to be a TR in true fashion as both the flight and the photos were taken well before my trip reporting days here on A.net. No notes were taken, so, sorry, no hard facts on meals, actual times, seat comfort or lack thereof. In fact, the pictures are all scans from prints and these obviously show their age as they have taken on a pinkish hue.

I had spent the Christmas holidays at home enjoying the company of family and friends and soaking up the warmth of our tropical climate in preparation for the winter that lay ahead, and now it was time to return to Frankfurt to resume my internship.

The route:



The flight

I had taken advantage of the pre check-in service VIASA were offering at the time. During the morning for evening flights, and during the afternoon for flights departing the next morning, one could take suitcases to the airline’s city offices in a shopping mall in Caracas, check the baggage and get the boarding pass. In pre-Internet and pre-OLCI days this was a smart way to secure a preferred seat and have a hassle-free experience at the airport later.

14.01.1983
Airline: VIASA
Flight: VA708
STD: 21:15
STA: 9:55 +1 / 14:40 +1
Route: CCS-LIS-FRA
Registration: YV-133C
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Seat: 13J

Here’s a picture of the plane from the A.net database:




The following pictures were taken during our stop in LIS. Passengers continuing to FRA and AMS were requested to stay on board the aircraft, but could move freely around.

I asked the cabin crew if I could just go out at door 2L and re-enter the plane at 4L, which posed no problem at all. The first sight upon stepping down the stairs was the (then) massive GE CF6-50-C2 engine.


.



Who said that “Under the wing, you know! / UTWYK” is a fad of this decade?


.



With the walk-around done it was time to go on board again.


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The majority of passengers had disembarked in LIS and only very few remained for the legs to Frankfurt and finally Amsterdam. A few shots of the now nearly empty cabin:


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It all looks so ‘80s, and for good reason: it was the 80’s! I see that yours truly even made a cameo appearance in one on the pics…


After the stopover in Lisbon the flight continued to its next port of call: FRA. Here are a couple of photos from that leg. Initially there was still a solid cloud layer, but upon reaching the Pyrenees (or were it the Alps already?) it cleared up a bit.


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If you were lucky enough to get a window seat, rows 10 to 13 in Y afforded great views of the landscape below and the engine. I particularly enjoyed the gushing sounds the engines made when power adjustments were applied during taxi. And to me there’s nearly no match to the sound of these engines on take off, either sitting inside or standing at the airport fence.

YV-133C delivered me to FRA on time and into a very strong winter with temperatures of up to -20° C. Brrr!


Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end…

Yet they did.

In comparison to those days, we are now spoiled with IFE. Whatever the full service airline, there is a huge selection of movies, TV shows and music to choose from and keep ourselves entertained during flights, usually on pretty high resolution screens and on demand. And we complain if the selection isn’t comprehensive enough!

In those days IFE consisted of a maximum of 10 music channels running on an endless loop (please refer to the inflight magazine for the programming…) and one feature film, two if the flight was long, three if it was really long (think FRA-EZE for example).

Remember when those films were projected via a beamer suspended from the cabin ceiling, casting three different colored rays onto a pull-down screen or a flip-screen on the bulkhead that served as a wall decoration when not in use? The quality of those projections was a far cry from today’s hi-res seatback screens, but the films shown usually afforded bragging rights with friends at home, since they were featured on board long before they would eventually be released in Venezuela. “Ha, I already saw that movie on a flight from X to Y!” would be a smug comment back then…

A passenger taking a stroll on the tarmac during a stopover would be unthinkable today, with all the TSA craze and other security measures that have been implemented meanwhile. But in those days it was real fun!

Viasa’s YV-133C was the first DC-10 to leave the fleet in June of 1984, a year and a half after this trip took place. She went on to become N143AA in the livery of American Airlines and was finally broken up in Mojave in 2001, 28 years after entering service with KLM as PH-DTF.




And, since we are talking about those days, here are a few pictures of the ramp action at CCS in the early to mid ‘80s, when there was still a freely accessible (and free) observation terrace on top of most of the terminal building:

After taking over the route from B-Cal (another one from those days), BA commenced service to CCS initially with the Lockheed Tristar L1011-200 and later switching to the L1011-500, of which the airline had two frames on a temporary lease from AirLanka, G-BLUS and G-BLUT. Pictured here at CCS is G-BLUT, Dunnet Bay:



Blut meaning blood in German, we couldn’t help but make some jokes about this “bloody” reg.


A couple of years after the flight I’m reporting on here, VIASA revised their livery slightly, got rid of the seven stars between doors 1 and 2 (which stood for both the then 7 stars in the national flag and the ‘seven star’ service VA claimed to provide), lowered the cheatline to below the windows changing it from a solid blue to three different shades of blue, and painted the nacelles of engines 1 and 3 white with a blue trim line. Although only a minor change, I think it was for the better, as seen here on YV-138C and YV-135C:


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In those days Air Panama International was also still around. Here is B727-100 HP-610-API being towed to the gate in preparation for the daily service to PTY:



Back then COPA were a small me-too airline, and look where they are now – and where Air Panama is now…


And LACSA from Costa Rica, serving Caracas for a long time with the strident BAC 1-11, had just started to use larger equipment, as exemplified here by B727-27 N803SC, about to taxi out to the active for its flight to SJO:



LACSA are no more. They became part of TACA which in turn became part of Avianca…


The domestic market was shared between then state-owned Aeropostal - Línea Aeropostal Venezolana (LV), currently languishing in their umpteenth re-incarnation, and privately owned Avensa - Aerovías Venezolanas S.A. (VE). Shown here are DC-9-32 YV-23C and B727-22 YV-89C:


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The DC-9 was delivered factory-fresh from the manufacturer to Aeropostal in 1976 while Avensa’s B727 began her service life in 1965 with United as N7044U. Avensa are now long gone.

And VIASA went bankrupt 21 years ago as well. Some three years after that, in 2000, a blue maiden in a red robe took to the air at the opposite end of the world, but it would take another nine years until that maiden Down Under took up Viasa’s original IATA code VA.

Those were the days, my friends…

Cheers,
C.

Previous trip reports:
Checkin’ on Robinson and Friday – on a Wednesday: Aerocardal
TAP. Why not? CCS-LIS-HAM vv + LAN 787-9 interlude
#4: Eldorado by day: AV B787/A321 SCL-BOG-CCS Y
#3: Twotters & a narrow gauge train in Patagonia
#2: “The LAN guy” gives Sky a try: H2 SCL-PMC-SCL
#1: Eldorado by night: AV A321/B787 CCS-BOG-SCL J
Joining the Club - 20 years late: AA LAX-MIA
Venturing beyond: AS SEA-LAX
Sleepless in Seattle: In the Beaver’s lair
HAM-CCS:The first LH and a ride in J - sort of
Chasing Zulu: 4U HAM.LHR-HAM
Moving on: LH ZRH-FRA-HAM
LH CCS-ZRH: Flashbacks along airway UA550
Deep Chile II: Ham, monkeypuzzle trees & a culprit
Deep Chile I: To the hut with the power outlet
Return from Mt. Pleasant – Not so pleasant: LAN
Island-hopping on, well, an Islander: FIGAS
LAN wishes you a pleasant flight to Mt. Pleasant
Another day, another Lufty – HAM-FRA-CCS
Off to Oman 4: Return MCT-FRA WY A330
Off to Oman 3: Of spices, dhows and frankincense
Off to Oman 2: ICE in F and WY in Y
Off to Oman 1: Positioning commute LH CCS-FRA.HAM
LANning back up again: PUQ.PMC-SCL-LIM-CCS
LANning down South Americas backbone: CCS-PUQ
South, farther south, southernmost! PUQ-WPU on DAP

capicua wrote:

Who said that “Under the wing, you know!

Wasn't that Markus (Flieger67 or similar)? At one time it semeed that he was in competition with Planehunterto see who could upload their weekly trip report first. But is is great that in those days you were able to move around so freely.

What a wonderful trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting. I love old trip reports. I worked N143AA many times. I remember that it retained its Viasa galleys for about a year after delivery to AA before getting retrofitted with AA galleys. In those days, some DC-10 operators, including Viasa, had the life vests stowed in the seatback rather than underseat. Alternating seat backs contained life vests while others contained oxygen masks. The seats with the two little viewing windows in the seatback compartment contained the life vests for two seats.

Thank you! Fantastic trip report, very original and nostalgic. I often watched VIASA´s DC-10s operating in MEX and MAD, and they were aircraft with personality! Plus, your very 80s description of how things were inside the plane in that time, reminded me of my flights in those days on Aerolineas Argentina´s 747s, Even in F, you got these "headphones" that looked more like earplugs for music and (if you were lucky) 2 films played on a screen after the main meal service. Usually films nobody had ever heard of. Those were the days. If you have more pictures I would love to see them.

great to see how you could recreate quite a few memories after all these years.....nice TR

Thank you for posting this vintage report. Your photos from VIASA are much appreciated.

Love the vintage stuff. The last time I wasn't spoiled was on an 11 hr flight in 2011 on a DL 767 with the pull up screen. That sucked since I thought they had installed PTVs on their 767s (didn't know they had many 300ERs aside from their 400ERs)

capicua wrote:

My country is finding itself in dire straits and foreign airlines have been – understandably – pulling out of CCS to the tune of Ten Little Injuns. Lacking any remarkable recent trips to report on, I dug very deep into the memory chest and found a couple of pictures of a flight I took exactly 35 years ago today.

Thank you for this report !

Especially for the details and a/c reggos.

You have brought back many Eighties memories to me.

Roy,

What a wonderful trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

Wasn't that Markus (Flieger67 or similar)? At one time it seemed that he was in competition with Plane Hunter to see who could upload their weekly trip report first.

Yes, but not only these two. There used to be quite a group of under-the-wing shot chasers.

But is is great that in those days you were able to move around so freely.

This is something unthinkable nowadays. I wouldn't even attempt to ask, although the opportunities to do this have all but vanished with nonstop flights and air bridges connecting the terminal building with the aircraft's door.


Millions of miles,

Thanks for posting. I love old trip reports.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply. Recently there have been a number of very good and interesting TR's on flights taken way back.

I worked N143AA many times. I remember that it retained its Viasa galleys for about a year after delivery to AA before getting retrofitted with AA galleys. In those days, some DC-10 operators, including Viasa, had the life vests stowed in the seatback rather than underseat. Alternating seat backs contained life vests while others contained oxygen masks. The seats with the two little viewing windows in the seatback compartment contained the life vests for two seats.

I suppose AA needed to put the aircraft in service right away and didn't have the time to retrofit the galleys first. Interesting remark about the life vests. I didn't know that and only just now checked the cabin pics for the alternating seat backs and the two little viewing windows in some of them.


Hola AR385,

Thank you! Fantastic trip report, very original and nostalgic.

My pleasure! I'm glad you liked it. Let me see if I can come up with a few more pictures to add to the report - no guarantees though.


Gr8circle,

great to see how you could recreate quite a few memories after all these years.....nice TR

The memories were there all the time, it was just a matter of writing them down. Just don't ask me what the meal service was or which movies were shown on that particular flight. Those recollections faded away.


gte439u,

Thank you for posting this vintage report. Your photos from VIASA are much appreciated.

Thank you for reading and leaving your feedback. VIASA ceased ops so long ago that I'm afraid there aren't any other reports on them.


bgboiflyer,

Love the vintage stuff.

Yes, there seems to be a new sub-category of trip reports on flights taken long ago. I love them too.

Spectacular! What a great thing to be able to travel back in time and read trip reports like this one... I remember Viasa well with its MD-80s coming to my home country Barbados with the CCS-POS-BGI flights... later we had CCS-PMV-BGI flights with Aeropostal using anything from the DC-9-10s up to the MD-80s.

These classic trip reports are great. While the stock standard 737-800/A320 reports are still great, it's awesome to see classic planes from the past.

millionsofmiles wrote:

Thanks for posting. I love old trip reports. I worked N143AA many times. I remember that it retained its Viasa galleys for about a year after delivery to AA before getting retrofitted with AA galleys. In those days, some DC-10 operators, including Viasa, had the life vests stowed in the seatback rather than underseat. Alternating seat backs contained life vests while others contained oxygen masks. The seats with the two little viewing windows in the seatback compartment contained the life vests for two seats.

God I forgot about the oxygen masks being in the seat backs on the DC-10s! Plus, United's were certified with supplemental oxygen bottles with the masks attached. Only airplane in the fleet where you didn't plug the masks in to start the flow. I started at United in the late 90s and worked the DC-10s quite a bit in their last couple years of service. Did the VIASA airplanes have the lower lobe galleys or the main deck configuration? United converted its own series 10s to main deck galleys by the time I started. But we had the ex-British Caledonian and one ex-National series 30s that had the lower lobes. I thought they were so hard to work, but that is only because I was really new and didn't get the chance to get confident on them.

Overall thanks a billion to the OP for such a fantastic trip report. I knew all about VA from my airplane books as a junior high kid in the 80s, and dreamed of leaving my home in Minnesota to fly around Latin America on carriers such as VA. Please post more if you have them!

capicua wrote:

In those days IFE consisted of a maximum of 10 music channels running on an endless loop (please refer to the inflight magazine for the programming…) and one feature film, two if the flight was long, three if it was really long (think FRA-EZE for example).

Don't forget that the headphones used pneumatic lines rather than 1/8 plugs, I tried explaining this to my nieces, they gave me the "Uncle Jet has lost his mind look"

And thank you for taking the time to post this trip back in time.

Schweigend,

Your post came in while I was writing my last one.

Thank you for this report! Especially for the details and a/c regos.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad I could bring back some fond memories from the '80s.


Turk223,

Spectacular! What a great thing to be able to travel back in time and read trip reports like this one...

I agree. While it is always nice to read about the most recent technical and service innovatios, it is also interesting to look back in time and see where it all came from.

I remember Viasa well with its MD-80s coming to my home country Barbados with the CCS-POS-BGI flights... later we had CCS-PMV-BGI flights with Aeropostal using anything from the DC-9-10s up to the MD-80s.

I don't even know if the CCS-BGI route is serviced nowadays. Maybe only with a stop and plane change in POS.


brucetiki,

These classic trip reports are great.

Thanks! Maybe I should from now on concentrate only on vintage reports. If only I had the photographic material to accompany them!


TW870,

Overall thanks a billion to the OP for such a fantastic trip report.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Did the VIASA airplanes have the lower lobe galleys or the main deck configuration?

No, they had the galleys on the main deck. I didn't even know that there existed a configuration with lower lobe galleys for the DC-10. I thought only the L1011 had them in those days.

I find it interesting that several technical/configuration issues came up on the basis of just this vintage report. Amazing!


jetwet1,

And thank you for taking the time to post this trip back in time.

You're very welcome. My pleasure! I can virtually see the expression on your nieces' faces. Youngsters tend to believe that it was always the way it is now.

Cheers,
C.

I vaguely remember the DC10 centre bulkhead coat closets, here visible in 2 of the pictures. I think you hung your coat on a hanger and drags it up into a ceiling storage area?

Fantastic trip report! Absolutely superb pictures of all planes, and the cabins!
For sure - not everyone appreciates a good view out of the window (especially when its cloudy out), but I suppose not everyone realizes what a boon IFE is today.
G-BLUT, LOL!

I enjoyed this trip down memory lane quite a bit. Thank you.

Splendid! The cabin shots are great and the empty interior really reminds me of a VA flight I took in 1987 to SCL. After the Lima stop it went from packed to deserted and I could choose from many empty rows to get window views. I seem to recall that the return to CCS was non-stop; a different routing which gave never bettered views of the Andes; all the volcanoes, salars, green lakes and Chuquicamata until clouds soon after, over Bolivia. The colour scheme was as you describe; three colour blue cheatline and white engines.

Excellent blast from the past. Thank you! Those were indeed the days.

Amazing! I absolutely loved this TR. Any other trip reports you can do from the past?

xtra1,

xtra1 wrote:

I vaguely remember the DC10 centre bulkhead coat closets, here visible in 2 of the pictures. I think you hung your coat on a hanger and drags it up into a ceiling storage area?

Now that you mention it and I see it in the picture I seem to remember this as well. I'm just not sure if the coats/jackets were pulled up electrically or manually.


CollegeAviator,

CollegeAviator wrote:

Fantastic trip report! Absolutely superb pictures of all planes, and the cabins!

Thanks!
I'm still catching up on your epic Xmas trip of a year ago! A start as bad as it gets but vastly improving along the way.


N62A,

N62NA wrote:

I enjoyed this trip down memory lane quite a bit. Thank you.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Your user name reminds me of a single DC-10-30 PanAm used to have around that time, N84A. For a certain time it came to CCS every day from MIA as, if my memory isn't all that rusty, Clipper 445.

avion660,

avion660 wrote:

Splendid! The cabin shots are great and the empty interior really reminds me of a VA flight I took in 1987 to SCL. After the Lima stop it went from packed to deserted and I could choose from many empty rows to get window views.

Thank you, avion660. Yes, once the flights continued from the cash-cow, cabin-filling first stops the continuing segments used to be very comfortable for the remaining passengers.

avion660 wrote:

I seem to recall that the return to CCS was non-stop; a different routing which gave never bettered views of the Andes; all the volcanoes, salars, green lakes and Chuquicamata until clouds soon after, over Bolivia.

You must have been very lucky then, or this was a common routing for VA in those days. I've flown this route several dozen times but never got to fly over land to see the features you were able to catch. Those views are sometimes possible on Chilean domestic flights though.


coyoteguy,

coyoteguy wrote:

Excellent blast from the past. Thank you! Those were indeed the days.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.


ogre727,

ogre727 wrote:

Amazing! I absolutely loved this TR.

My pleasure, ogre 727. Thanks for dropping by.

ogre727 wrote:

Any other trip reports you can do from the past?

Unfortunately not!
I still recall a report of yours on a flight from IPC to SCL, also some years ago.

Cheers,
C.

capicua wrote:

xtra1,

xtra1 wrote:

I vaguely remember the DC10 centre bulkhead coat closets, here visible in 2 of the pictures. I think you hung your coat on a hanger and drags it up into a ceiling storage area?

Now that you mention it and I see it in the picture I seem to remember this as well. I'm just not sure if the coats/jackets were pulled up electrically or manually.


CollegeAviator,

CollegeAviator wrote:

Fantastic trip report! Absolutely superb pictures of all planes, and the cabins!

Thanks!
I'm still catching up on your epic Xmas trip of a year ago! A start as bad as it gets but vastly improving along the way.


N62A,

N62NA wrote:

I enjoyed this trip down memory lane quite a bit. Thank you.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Your user name reminds me of a single DC-10-30 PanAm used to have around that time, N84A. For a certain time it came to CCS every day from MIA as, if my memory isn't all that rusty, Clipper 445.

avion660,

avion660 wrote:

Splendid! The cabin shots are great and the empty interior really reminds me of a VA flight I took in 1987 to SCL. After the Lima stop it went from packed to deserted and I could choose from many empty rows to get window views.

Thank you, avion660. Yes, once the flights continued from the cash-cow, cabin-filling first stops the continuing segments used to be very comfortable for the remaining passengers.

avion660 wrote:

I seem to recall that the return to CCS was non-stop; a different routing which gave never bettered views of the Andes; all the volcanoes, salars, green lakes and Chuquicamata until clouds soon after, over Bolivia.

You must have been very lucky then, or this was a common routing for VA in those days. I've flown this route several dozen times but never got to fly over land to see the features you were able to catch. Those views are sometimes possible on Chilean domestic flights though.


coyoteguy,

coyoteguy wrote:

Excellent blast from the past. Thank you! Those were indeed the days.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.


ogre727,

ogre727 wrote:

Amazing! I absolutely loved this TR.

My pleasure, ogre 727. Thanks for dropping by.

ogre727 wrote:

Any other trip reports you can do from the past?

Unfortunately not!
I still recall a report of yours on a flight from IPC to SCL, also some years ago.

Cheers,
C.

The elevating coat closets were usually found at the 3 L/R crossaisle. There was a pull- up door, and just beneath the lower edge of the upper closet frame, there were buttons that controlled the up/down of the mechanism that raised/lowered the garments and garment bags. There was a mechanical release in the back of the closet. You would depress fhe toggle and the mechanism would come down.

Some fellow crew reportedly experienced failures of the mechanism. I never had one in the 15 years I flew the DC-10 almost exclusively. The worst thing I recall was when several bulky garment bags became stuck in the up position due to getting caught on something.

At AA, our DC-10 Series 10 and former Pan Am -30s had elevating coat closets on either side of the Service Center at 2 L and R, aisle side. We hung the coats and jackets belonging to FC passengers there. Our Series 10 had elevating closets at the 3L/R crossaisle prior to the reconfiguration in 1985-1986 which brought a completely new interior including centerline overhead bins in Zones B and C. The crossaisle closets were removed during the reconfiguration and replaced with standard closets.

Our Series 30s with Main Deck galleys had elevating coat closets only at the 3 L and R crossaisle until the reconfiguration of 1986 during which the interiors (including galleys) were completely replaced. The closets on these aircraft were also replaced with standard closets.

N84NA was the last remaining DC-10 in the Pan Am fleet after the rest of the DC-10 fleet went to American in exchange for some of AA's 747-123s. N84NA remained the sole remaining DC-10 at Pan Am for a little over a year until its sale to UA in early 1985. N84NA was a Series 30 (with lower lobe galleys) as were N80-N83. I've always wondered why either A. Pan Am chose to retain one DC-10, or B. AA chose not to take N84NA. Given how eager AA was to standardize on the -10, and how aggressively they were sourcing aircraft from other carriers, my guess is that Pan Am CHOSE not to include N84NA in the deal.

millionsofmiles wrote:

N84NA was the last remaining DC-10 in the Pan Am fleet after the rest of the DC-10 fleet went to American in exchange for some of AA's 747-123s. N84NA remained the sole remaining DC-10 at Pan Am for a little over a year until its sale to UA in early 1985. N84NA was a Series 30 (with lower lobe galleys) as were N80-N83. I've always wondered why either A. Pan Am chose to retain one DC-10, or B. AA chose not to take N84NA. Given how eager AA was to standardize on the -10, and how aggressively they were sourcing aircraft from other carriers, my guess is that Pan Am CHOSE not to include N84NA in the deal.

At least one of Pan Am's DC-10-30s did a stint with LAN Chile in the early 80s before going to AA (and then Hawaiian) as N140AA. It was N81NA (46712/106) that carried Chilean reg CC-CJN. Together with other -10s from other sources, they flew the milk run EZE-SCL-MIA-JFK. The DC-10s left LAN around 1986, when the first 767-200s arrived.

capicua wrote:

as seen here on YV-138C and YV-135C

Until not that long ago, and long after Viasa's bankruptcy, one could see YV-135C @ EZE. It was written off during a landing accident in Nov. 1993. It sat at EZE's corrosion corner for at least 15 years until it was finally sold for scrap.

dcajet wrote:

millionsofmiles wrote:

N84NA was the last remaining DC-10 in the Pan Am fleet after the rest of the DC-10 fleet went to American in exchange for some of AA's 747-123s. N84NA remained the sole remaining DC-10 at Pan Am for a little over a year until its sale to UA in early 1985. N84NA was a Series 30 (with lower lobe galleys) as were N80-N83. I've always wondered why either A. Pan Am chose to retain one DC-10, or B. AA chose not to take N84NA. Given how eager AA was to standardize on the -10, and how aggressively they were sourcing aircraft from other carriers, my guess is that Pan Am CHOSE not to include N84NA in the deal.

At least one of Pan Am's DC-10-30s did a stint with LAN Chile in the early 80s before going to AA (and then Hawaiian) as N140AA. It was N81NA (46712/106) that carried Chilean reg CC-CJN. Together with other -10s from other sources, they flew the milk run EZE-SCL-MIA-JFK. The DC-10s left LAN around 1986, when the first 767-200s arrived.

capicua wrote:

as seen here on YV-138C and YV-135C

Until not that long ago, and long after Viasa's bankruptcy, one could see YV-135C @ EZE. It was written off during a landing accident in Nov. 1993. It sat at EZE's corrosion corner for at least 15 years until it was finally sold for scrap.

Incorrect. N81NA (CC-CJN) served LAN Chile on lease from Pan Am between June 1981 and June 1982. It returned to Pan Am in 1982, and went to AA in 1984. It was not in service with LAN Chile until 1986, as you suggest.

N140AA did not go directly from AA to Hawaiian, as you also suggest. It was leased to Transaero between 1996 and 1998 before its lease to Hawaiian, serving the Moscow-LAX route, amongst others. It operated in a bare metal livery with a modified AA cheat line and Transaero tail logo. Her sisterships, N141AA and N142AA, also flew for Transaero.

millionsofmiles wrote:

dcajet wrote:

millionsofmiles wrote:

N84NA was the last remaining DC-10 in the Pan Am fleet after the rest of the DC-10 fleet went to American in exchange for some of AA's 747-123s. N84NA remained the sole remaining DC-10 at Pan Am for a little over a year until its sale to UA in early 1985. N84NA was a Series 30 (with lower lobe galleys) as were N80-N83. I've always wondered why either A. Pan Am chose to retain one DC-10, or B. AA chose not to take N84NA. Given how eager AA was to standardize on the -10, and how aggressively they were sourcing aircraft from other carriers, my guess is that Pan Am CHOSE not to include N84NA in the deal.

At least one of Pan Am's DC-10-30s did a stint with LAN Chile in the early 80s before going to AA (and then Hawaiian) as N140AA. It was N81NA (46712/106) that carried Chilean reg CC-CJN. Together with other -10s from other sources, they flew the milk run EZE-SCL-MIA-JFK. The DC-10s left LAN around 1986, when the first 767-200s arrived.

capicua wrote:

as seen here on YV-138C and YV-135C

Until not that long ago, and long after Viasa's bankruptcy, one could see YV-135C @ EZE. It was written off during a landing accident in Nov. 1993. It sat at EZE's corrosion corner for at least 15 years until it was finally sold for scrap.

Incorrect. N81NA (CC-CJN) served LAN Chile on lease from Pan Am between June 1981 and June 1982. It returned to Pan Am in 1982, and went to AA in 1984. It was not in service with LAN Chile until 1986, as you suggest.

N140AA did not go directly from AA to Hawaiian, as you also suggest. It was leased to Transaero between 1996 and 1998 before its lease to Hawaiian, serving the Moscow-LAX route, amongst others. It operated in a bare metal livery with a modified AA cheat line and Transaero tail logo. Her sisterships, N141AA and N142AA, also flew for Transaero.

I did not say N81NA stayed with LAN until 1986. I stated that the DC-10s (as a fleet) stayed with LAN until the 767s arrived. Also nowhere did I say that it went straight from AA to HA.

The elevating coat closets were usually found at the 3 L/R crossaisle. There was a pull- up door, and just beneath the lower edge of the upper closet frame, there were buttons that controlled the up/down of the mechanism that raised/lowered the garments and garment bags. There was a mechanical release in the back of the closet. You would depress fhe toggle and the mechanism would come down.

Thanks for explaining the coat closet mechanism, millionsofmiles.

N84NA was the last remaining DC-10 in the Pan Am fleet after the rest of the DC-10 fleet went to American in exchange for some of AA's 747-123s. N84NA remained the sole remaining DC-10 at Pan Am for a little over a year until its sale to UA in early 1985. N84NA was a Series 30 (with lower lobe galleys) as were N80-N83. I've always wondered why either A. Pan Am chose to retain one DC-10, or B. AA chose not to take N84NA. Given how eager AA was to standardize on the -10, and how aggressively they were sourcing aircraft from other carriers, my guess is that Pan Am CHOSE not to include N84NA in the deal.

Could it have to do with competition and seating capacity? VA had the DC-10-30 on the MIA route and maybe PA kept that frame for the MIA-CCS run until they received their A300's. N84A did just that one daily flight and stayed at CCS overnight.

I remember once flying JFK-CCS in the late 70's. The route was usually served with a B707 (VA used to send DC-8-63's in those days) but that particular flight was exceptionally performed by a B747. While en route we were informed by the cockpit crew that a stop had to be made in MIA because the 747 had more seat capacity than VA's DC8s and a nonstop flight was seen as unfair competition by Venezuelan authorities. Initially the crew performed just a touch-and-go on MIA's runway 27R, but they were then instructed to do a full stop, i.e., land, taxi back to the threshold and take off again. It was all very odd, but a fun way to land a MIA for the first time.

Until not that long ago, and long after Viasa's bankruptcy, one could see YV-135C @ EZE. It was written off during a landing accident in Nov. 1993. It sat at EZE's corrosion corner for at least 15 years until it was finally sold for scrap.

There are a few pictures of YV-135C in the sorry state it was left in @ EZE right here in A.net's photo database.