Man my heart sinks in me when I see USAir on the tails of the old Piedmont planes. Worked in CLT in the 1980's, hated to see Piedmont fade off into aviation history.

@TWA-km9wt

4 жыл бұрын

Yep. Piedmont was a great airline, that didn't deserve to be taken over by crappy outfit like Us Air. I remember those scratched windows very well.

I was 10 in 89. Hard to believe it was 26 (and some change) years ago. You know, the aircraft were more interesting in that time. Flights were less crowded (I was also smaller so leg room wasn't a problem), airports were more relaxed, and service was a little more personalized. It helped being small and just excited to fly no matter what. That said, flying in the 80's after de-regulation was hardly the good old days if you talk to people who flew in the 60's. If you asked me what decade I'd rather fly in, I would without a doubt say now, not then. Why? A. Flying is a hell of a lot safer now. We learned a lot in the 70's and 80's and despite the increased amount of flights, there are far less fatal incidents as a result. Some of the best piloting is happening right now. I'd be so scared to go back in time and fly because there were quite a few incidents that happened in those years. Far less now in the US. B. Those old planes smelled awful: Like kerosene, cigarettes, rusty metal, odd food and beer farts. A lot of people forget that but I remember plane smells sticking to your clothes to the point where you could be blind and tell which person just got off of a plane in a lineup. C. No dampening: most bounced around like mad in bad weather. Fun for an enthusiast but not so fun for a frequent traveler who got airsick. D. Flying is a hell of a lot cheaper now. I remember my mom paying the same amount per person in the 80's as I've paid 20 years later, no adjustment for inflation. They're packed but it's amazing that when you're traveling over 500 miles, flying is often cheaper than driving while saving time. E. While they are cramming more people and legroom suffers, there are better conveniences than they had 20 years ago. Wifi, entertainment systems, power outlets. In the 80's, if your plane had entertainment, they gave you something that looked like a stethoscope and you watched whatever was playing on the movie screen or a tiny CRT hanging from the aisle ceiling. It was really cool when they gave you actual headphones but people would steal those so instead you listened through freaking tubes and the speaker was in the armrest! Sure you pay for food in coach now but airplane food used to be disgusting at best, people used to hate it, now at least it's decent. Adjusted for inflation, you can buy a first class ticket for what coach would have cost int eh 1970's, you'll get a good meal and all the special treatment. F. A lot of people talk as though airplane interiors were vastly different from one another in the 80s. Really, the late 60s into the mid 70s had more of that going on. Planes had designer interiors, bars, lounges, etc. By the time the 80's hit, even the coolest planes like L10's all had the same ugly, uncomfortable seats, drab interiors the same old beige paneling. If you look at airlines today, most all classes of international flights are VASTLY superior to even the 1960s and 70s. Domestic is still more like a "bus" but let's face it, you're only on the thing for what? 5 hours tops? Fly JetBlue or Virgin America and you'll have an awesome experience, way nicer than the 80s. So well, yeah, it was fun to be on the old 727s, DC-9s, L1011s and 737s, I don't buy that the good old days are completely gone. Sure they all look alike and they've smoothed out all the edges but I'll take flying today and if I want to be pampered, I'll pay for it.

@brob-zy8zi

7 жыл бұрын

Evan J I flew on an older 737 one time before usairways got rid of them. every time the pilot would brake for any reason a loud, low pitch squeal would erupt from underneath. I've been on plenty of flights and never heard this before. it was a flight from PIT to FLL. seemed like it was probably normal for an older aircraft I suppose.

@wizardmix

7 жыл бұрын

Brian Roberts I hear the low end rumbles in some of the Airbus's I'm on and recently a CRJ had a grinding break noise. First flight I was ever on was from PIT to MCO, that was some time in 1982. Pretty sure it was an old DC-9...

@27GX76R

7 жыл бұрын

Spot on! Thanks for that great insight

@ryanstroup8379

6 жыл бұрын

Evan J I got a huge sense of throwback flying on a 767. (I was definitely not around in 1989 but I flew on it some time ago when I was about four or five.) they still had the ash trays, the overhead bins were boxy and the whole design was iffy, as was the flight. I thought the plane would fall apart the moment we took off. It shook more than it should have for both takeoff and landing and instead of three seats next to me there were two. It was just so late 80s early 90s. Thanks to your comment I'm glad I wasn't around when those planes were made, but I guess I just got bad luck flying on that old one.

@tpuckettjr

6 жыл бұрын

LMAO

Nice video! I loved seeing the old 727's. As others have said, you must have had a BIG camera taking that video. It wouldn't have been so easy to hide it. That video brought back so many memories though. It was nice to see the Piedmont colors still on some of those planes.

Amazing how well insulated those old 200's are. Those babies are deafening from the outside!

Wonderful vintage footage! Thanks for sharing!

On a lot of the older clips, I include the year in the title. It is my hope that the "vintage" or "antique" aspect that immediately comes to mind will trigger more interest.

Thank you for posting!!! I saw EASTERN when landing in RDU :-)

Back when not every flight was jam-packed.

Great video thanks for uploading!

I loved to see the old AA terminal at RDU. Great video!

A Charlotte to Raleigh flight is a really short flight

Love the sound of the older jet engines newer ones are so quiet time took some of the fun out of it

This was when flying was fun. Before the dark times. Before the bottom feeding regionals.....before the TSA :(

Great Video, Great times!

Great video! Love the b737-200. Was a workhorse in it's time.

i was 6 years old back in 1989, but I remember so much about when the airlines were cool. JT8s on 727/737/DC9 and the technological wonders were the 757/767 and 747-400 with EFIS and FMCs. Man how things have changed. These days the airlines are like buses, crappy customer service and cookie cutter aircraft. The unique days of flying are long gone. It makes me sad to think about really. I may have only been 6, but I miss my youth. L1011s, DC10s, B727s, B732s. Thanks for these videos SD.

Very well done, it sure doesn't seem as if it's been so long !

i love these vids

Nice Love those old vid's!

I love the windows semi destroyed! inspire confidence! haha Great bird , nice video!

Seeing the old American terminal (at RDU) brings back memories. That terminal was torn down completely starting in 2005, and took roughly six years to build a new one. Terminal 2 is very modern.

I love hearing the tray tables fall down when they landed. Very typical at the time.

@LogicalFantasy Yes...i remember those "Oh! So well..." i am from Brevard...and i used to fly Piedmont flight #58 from Asheville to Greensboro (727-200) alot...as well...

Wow thanks for the memories of a time when people could actually move and stretch out on a flight and enjoy a nice meal and no TSA security to deal with! Thanks

The good ol' days when 727s ruled the airports...those were the days.

@tericaclark4871

4 жыл бұрын

I liked the DC-10s better

haha that turn off the runway was pretty impressive...these guys are real throttle jockies...might even still be flying

That is an awesome sound on take off :)

When I was five years old I flew from Columbus,Ohio to Washington National then on to Raleigh-Durham. One leg was United Airlines and one was Eastern, but I can't remember which was which. Still have a picture of myself sitting in the cockpit either before or after the return trip. They probably don't let kids do that anymore.

First time I flew was in 1995 from PHL to PIT on a 737-200 USAir with the bucket back engine.. I was born in 1985 this is so exciting to me..

I LOVE Raleigh!!!!!!!! The 737-200 must have been fun!

There is the forward half of a 732 just like that @ the Museum of Flight near Seattle.

Man there ain't much in the world more boring to fly over and live in than central NC. Did a gig at RTP, was happy to get the hell out of there :)

@11/12 years of age Flew with US Air/ UsAirExpress summer of 1993 Seattle to Kansas City (mci) Missouri then down to old now retired Fayetteville Drake field (kfyv)Arkansas Boeing 737 301 connecting to a Beechcraft 1900D on the return flights same equipment back to Seattle, also got to fly with Mark Air on a 737 200 from Seattle to Anchorage via Juneau in 1994 summer

And here we are more than 3 decades later...

wow your plane took off really close to the previous one. They hardly left space between both planes!!

Damn how do you tear up a window like that? You're right, these late 80s 27a and 37s for USAir were probably the beaters of beaters from Piedmont.

Yooo I live in Raleigh and that's crazy how small it was back then... that shit is huge now

@SDMillis Love the jetBlue vid.

The "Three Shades of Rust" never mixed well with Piedmont blue!

I fly this route to see my family almost every other weekend. Its nice and short. JetBlue only though. :)

wow I remember the scratched up windows in the older planes..

I always flown USAir from Norfolk-Buffalo while I was in the Navy. I like the Military discount USAir had

@NinerGreen I totally agree. I used to go to IAD on a regular basis and watch planes on the observation deck up until I was a teenager. My parents always came with me to my gate to say goodbye. Now since 9/11 everything has gone to shit. I'm glad I was born in '80 to see how good things used to be.. well atleast for me anyway.

more like crystalized plastic windows...lol..my first plane ride was on a continental fan tail in 1978..what a thrill that was! from seattle to burbank...

Those were the days when you got meals on board. Not any more! I kinda miss the hum of the carbon brakes!

@htshoward definately a hot rod on take off and looks like a bullet when watching the take-off ...this is definately a "classic" aircraft...my last 737-200 flight was from Atlanta to Greensboro on Delta...and glad i got to fly on one...

CLT has changed so much!!

When my parents divorced in 1981 and my father remarried in 1985, he & my step mother moved to a Philadelphia suburb about an hour outside of the city (my younger brother and I lived in Buffalo NY w/ our then not even 30 yo single mother of 2 (in 1985 I was 14 & my brother was 6). Buffalo was the city both of my parents were born in and who's great grandparents (some not all) eventually settled in after arriving from Sicily, Scotland & Germany when Buffalo was the 5th largest city in the country and one of the wealthiest. Anyway when my Dad moved to Philly and after having had a very low key, non dramatic, and amiable divorce 4 years later, they agreed that our permanent home was to be in Buffalo and our second home would be my father and strep mother's home in Pa and that he'd have us from July 4th thru the week before Labor Day, our Christmas break week and our 2 week Easter breaks. I would finish my last 2 years of HS there and my brother would do all 4 of his there. So, how did we get from Buffalo to Philadelphia in 1985? Not UsAir I can tell you that. Why? Because in those days when an airline held a hub city and had no discount airlines competition in that hub city, they could make it very expensive to terminate your travel in that hub city. UsAir had 2 hubs, PIT & PHL and to fly to PHL and NOT connect to a final destination in 1985 would be considered expensive today let alone then. So we did not fly on UsAir to PHL which would have been VERY CONVENIENT, but the air fares , like NYC rents, find convenience a luxury worth making us pay thru the nose for. I remember discussions about People Express but my mother very quickly stomped on that idea, "they are the Greyhound of the sky, absolutely not!" What about UsAir but going through PIT to as a means to lower the cost? My mother again "Pittsburgh!? Have you been to Pittsburgh airport Peter!? It's a bus terminal! Absolutely not!" Mind you my father was in the early stages for spending many years fully paying for my brother and I to fly 4 times a year, and my mother was just trying to make his life a little more difficult lol. Around 1985 a southern based airline called Piedmont was rapidly becoming the next major airline and it's safety, on time & customer service records were unparalleled. And they flew non stop from Buffalo to their newest and secondary hub, BWI. Because we took the same flight almost every time I still remember it was flight 599, a 737-300, departure time was 2:25pm and it continued onto RDU. My father would drive the 2 hours to BWI and pick us up. And then at the end of stay drive us to BWI to usually catch their last flight to Buffalo, which was always exciting because it was BWI's final departures peek time and we were one of at least 20 flights on the runway waiting to take off. We usually left half an hour late but still ma aged to arrive on time. It was less than an hour flight. My brother and I loved Piedmont and so did my mother. We always flew unaccompanied and because this was pre 9/11 my mother was allowed to put us on the plane. A gate agent in Buffalo would walk us down, hand us off to the Senior Flight Attendant (who were always young, pretty, southern and the model of professionalism and genuine kindness, and their uniforms were jackets, knee length skirts, heels, matching blouse and scarves that had their logo stitched on them) and we got to board first. During our flight we were waited on by the same flight attendant and provided ACTUAL MEALS, and very good ones too! And let me tell you, they served a hot lunch with full beverage service on a jet that had up to 100+ people in it, on a flight that was 50 min. And that was with 4 flight attendants. In skirts & pumps. They were allowed to take their jackets off once the cabin door closed. They went back on before they buckled up to land. Only once were they behind, one of the flight attendants was literally 4 rows from the front galley doing the final trash pick up 2 min before we touched down on the runway. In fact her senior very politely pulled her into her jump seat and buckled her in while on her own seat, and the bag of trash on her lap. They laughed and neither a hair was out of place or a beed of sweat to be seen. When you called their reservation center you talked to southern women that you found yourself talking to for an hour. When you stepped up to the ticket counter you were the most valued customer they ever had. They were so good at defusing angry customers that the angry customers ofent found themselves feeling terrible for being so upset that their seat was sold to someone else. On Christmas Eve. And that was the last flight until Christmas afternoon. That's how good they were. But they also would have taken very good care of that customer, who would most likely fly for free the next 2 trips they took. My mother used to tell us "And if they over booked and ask for volunteers to give up their seats, do it!" And this was when we were still kids! Lol. Anyway when UsAir took over Piedmont we were depressed. I remember being 19 and my first USAir flight on a former Piedmont air craft , even the interior was still Pied my int, being very bitter. And not so friendly to the flight attendants. And they knew they would get treated not so kindly. And we're prepared for it. And USAir made a point esp to us frwq flyer's, to send us letters in the mail explaining how the Piedmont Way would not change. That they were there to make it better. It took awhile and we really had no choice, and flew USair all the way until their end. But seeing this video brought all that back. The livery, the way the USAir folks really tried to make their passengers as happy as Piedmont did. I am so lucky to have lived in a time when flying was a real treat. An adventure. We even got dressed up to fly. And you were spoiled all the way to your final destination. You trusted your airline. And they made good when things went wrong. And their kindness and smiles were genuine. And NEVER EVER DID ANYONE DARE TO MAKE A COMPLETE FOOL OF THEMSELVES ON AN AIRPLANE! People knew how to act. Because with all of that mushy kind ess and southern charm were professionals who took their job of keeping us safe seriously. There was no tolerance for nonsense. If you were concerned a possible problem and they knew before that door closed, you were quietly removed by the pilot in a very quick and orderly fashion so that most of the passengers were oblivious to what had just happened. I hate to fly now, I get so annoyed with everyone I almost become one of those passengers. So I just don't fly anymore. I don't have to travel if I Have to deal with these new generation of passengers.

2:54 USAir Express operated the Shorts 360? Never knew that.

@anthonym267 When did it get one? That must be a pretty modern city.

Only flew on a 737-200 once from TPA to IAD on MetroJet back in 1999. I remember it being worn out and noisy. Wonder if it was the same aircraft lol.

Sorry, i may have mistakenly flagged as inaaproprite. Otherwise, great vid!

How come a window can get soooo many scratches!

@TWATWA-qy4zn

5 жыл бұрын

Tiny particles in the air at high altitude. Us Air was always a crappy airline. I had many a flight with scratched windows. It was just one of those maintenance issues that they severely neglected due to cost. Not a safety issue though. Some of their old 737's were so bad, you could barley see out the window.

@marks6663

4 жыл бұрын

@@TWATWA-qy4zn tiny particles in the air at high altitude? Those scratches are huge and they are at all angles. Anything it hits while flying would be perfectly horizontal. And unless there are stones just floating in the air, those big scratches are not caused by that..

@TWA-km9wt

4 жыл бұрын

@@marks6663 It is caused by particles. The reason why you see large scratches, is because Us Air waited until the window was completely covered, before they replaced it to save money,.

@rtpatrick2000ify

4 жыл бұрын

The phenomenon is called crazing.

ahh the days where you were allowed behind security whether you were flying or not....the good days. things have changed so much since then.

By chance, do you remember what your cruising altitude was?

It actually hasn't changed a lot since then..

At 2:00 is that by any chance Sully Sullenberger? I know he was a pilot for US Air in 89' and it kind of sounds like him!

@Tools240

7 жыл бұрын

Yes it was!

@Dana_Danarosana

6 жыл бұрын

It sounds kind of like his voice but I thought in '89 he was flying 727's for USAir as he was a 727 pilot up until USAir bought PSA in late '88... that is to say he came over to USAir with the 727's from PSA when USAir bought them out... I could be wrong... I've been wrong lots of times before...

@DannyGoldingTV

2 жыл бұрын

@@Dana_Danarosana Could he have just flown both?

There was meal service in Economy on US Domestic in the 80s right?

I like the 727 in front of you for takeoff!

I miss those days, the worst part about 9-11 for me was not being able to be beyond the security checkpoint without a ticket

Wow, is so fast begine 727 for takeoff.

Listen to the roar on TAKEOFF! They ain't that noisy any more .

@jacobfetzer715

7 жыл бұрын

Damn eco Nazis

It have a dent in the nose or something?

I was 18 when this was shot. I'm now 48. I miss flying like that and I miss being 18. Sort of.

What did you fly from Charlotte to Raleigh for?

I want to return in 1989, and it does not matter that I was born in 2001

The day Useless Airways took over Piedmont was like a funeral at CLT. The planes were very tatty (carpet held down with duct tape) and their personnel were snotty.

Takeoff with 0° flaps

@ViperFace That's what she said!!!!

long 40 sec t/o run

1:07 Curved panels on a 737-200? Now i think thats whacko since those werent invented until the 737-NG...

Hahaha when the plane was pushing back in the 80s they didn’t have push back trucks they used reverse thrust 🤣

Loved flying the USAIR 737-200s and DC-9s from Pittsburgh to Binghamton NY back in the 80s & 90s. Flying was much more fun, just RJs now. Cramped and boring....

@masonm1124

6 жыл бұрын

twrldr1 Have you flown any other airline except us airliners?

Those are some abused windows lol...

this flight was likely a whopping 20 min at most

What happened to this airline?

@texascountryball6499

7 жыл бұрын

It became US Airways in 2003ish then merged with American Airlines in 2013.

@tpuckettjr

6 жыл бұрын

Texas Countryball it became US Airways in 1997.

@TWATWA-qy4zn

5 жыл бұрын

@Councilman Les Wynan UsAir was always a crappy airline. They got even worse when they took over PSA, and PIEDMONT, which was a fantastic airline.

a 737-200 is my idea of a regional jet

@joelt4416

6 жыл бұрын

it never was.

anyone smoking on those flights

@masonm1124

6 жыл бұрын

michael sharp Smoking was banned from flights when they figured out what happened to air canada 797

This was before the Muslims made it difficult to fly. I miss those days when you could go into the gates to meet your family members.

@nickpatterson492

3 жыл бұрын

CORRECTION YOU MEAN RADICAL MUSLIMS ☪️ !

UsAir was such a crap outfit.