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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2838.PDF
825 FLIGHT International, \2 November 1964 Airline Profile NUMBER TWENTY *N THE SERIES ALOHA AIRLINES By Captain L. Taylor THE Waikiki Beachpress is supplied free to the guests at all ofthe hotels along the famous Honolulu beach, and it runs aregular feature designed to persuade visitors to learn a few Hawaiian phrases. The assorted meanings given for the word Aloha are "love," "welcome," "goodbye," and "greetings"— which make it a useful acquisition likely to be used at least several times a day in various kinds of human encounter. It is likely that at the end of his stay in the Hawaiian Islands the visitor will have acquired a lasting impression of waving palms, blue skies, blue ocean, graceful surf-riders pitting their skill against the fearsome energy of the Pacific, acres of, human flesh at various stages of discoloration in the search for the even brown tan sported by the residents of the Islands, and—most impressive of all —a genuine, relaxed Aloha-style friendliness. If he is about to leave the island of Oahu to visit one of the other islands in the 50th state of the USA, it is likely that he is about to sample the highly individual and competent air service offered by Aloha Airlines, the carrier that boasts that all of its scheduled flights are Rolls-Royce turbine-powered. Aloha has operated from its own terminal at Honolulu Inter- national Airport since October 1961 and the passenger will quickly discover for himself the care taken to give him good service. Right where he unloads his baggage from his car or taxi in the welcome shade offered by the pleasingly designed terminal he will find a row of "self-drive" baggage carts which can accommodate both luggage and small children. A few steps through the always- open doors and he can push the cart on to the floor-level scales at the check-in-point appropriate to his flight. None of the "advant- ages" of the major US and European air terminals here; no long crocodiles of passengers shuffling along one step at a time lifting and lowering heavy suitcases countless times before being "processed." With 35-40 departures from the terminal each day there is plenty of activity for the waiting passenger to observe before his flight departure is announced and he walks the few steps to a smart red-and-white Fairchild-built F.27 or Vickers Viscount 745. Aloha operates three Viscounts and two F.27s on its scheduled flights, and also owns two DC-3s, one of which is available for charter and special aerial sightseeing flights. The RDa.6-powered Viscounts and F.27s are scheduled to fly no fewer than 485 sectors per week, with occasional extra flights being made when traffic demands. As almost all of these flights are made during daylight hours it can be seen that slick transit routines are required if schedules are to be maintained. Even as an arriving flight is being announced, passengers are disembarked and their baggage removed to a self-service baggage point. The joining passengers and their baggage are embarked, and in as little as 15min the aircraft is taxying away. Both the F.27s and the Viscounts are able to fly several stages without refuelling, and this helps Aloha to achieve these fast transits. A typical flight is to Lihue Airport, on the island of Kauai, flown by the F.27s in 37min and the Viscounts in 33min. I was recently privileged to fly as ACM (additional crew member) on a Honolulu - Lihue round trip on F.27 N5097A, and stopped-over in Lihue for Hhr while the aircraft and crew did another Lihue- Honolulu- Lihue round trip. The aircraft had an almost full passenger com- plement and the charming stewardess, Miss Oshima, was fully occupied serving soft drinks (usually fresh Hawaiian pineapple juice) during the short flight. The flight crew, Capt Feeney and First Officer Gibbins, made effective use of a neatly encased scroll- type check list-holder which reveals the list of "vital actions" on rotation of a knob on either side, and can later be folded down flat so as not to impair vision through the central area of the windshield where the device is mounted. Despite the short flight time, cockpit procedures were thorough and unhurried, and the use of a cockpit loud-speaker permitted Capt Feeney to dispense with the use of a headset. The public-address system was effectively used to make in-flight announcements to the passengers regarding the route to be flown, and details of the weather at destination. Unlike the Viscounts, the F.27 was not fitted with an autopilot,
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