Island Air and the Q400
06-16-2008, 09:35 PM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2007
Position: B737 CA
Posts: 1,518
You know, I thought Skittles/The Party Barge was ugly as sin when it came on the line...but it grew on me. 425 did have some reliability issues in the early days though...two of my first three flights in that ended up being mx cancellations.
I'm flying the E175 now and the difference is astounding. I haven't had a single mx cancellation in 7 months of flying the 175 (in brand new airplanes, at that). I averaged around 2 a month on the Q400.
The Q400 was more fun to fly, though. No sissy autothrottles and you could turn a 10 mile final at 7000' and make it down ok!
I'm flying the E175 now and the difference is astounding. I haven't had a single mx cancellation in 7 months of flying the 175 (in brand new airplanes, at that). I averaged around 2 a month on the Q400.
The Q400 was more fun to fly, though. No sissy autothrottles and you could turn a 10 mile final at 7000' and make it down ok!
06-17-2008, 11:07 AM
#14
Guest
Posts: n/a
You know, I thought Skittles/The Party Barge was ugly as sin when it came on the line...but it grew on me. 425 did have some reliability issues in the early days though...two of my first three flights in that ended up being mx cancellations.
I'm flying the E175 now and the difference is astounding. I haven't had a single mx cancellation in 7 months of flying the 175 (in brand new airplanes, at that). I averaged around 2 a month on the Q400.
The Q400 was more fun to fly, though. No sissy autothrottles and you could turn a 10 mile final at 7000' and make it down ok!
I'm flying the E175 now and the difference is astounding. I haven't had a single mx cancellation in 7 months of flying the 175 (in brand new airplanes, at that). I averaged around 2 a month on the Q400.
The Q400 was more fun to fly, though. No sissy autothrottles and you could turn a 10 mile final at 7000' and make it down ok!
06-17-2008, 05:35 PM
#15
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2007
Position: B737 CA
Posts: 1,518
Yeah... much cooler destinations, plus greatly superior scenery-viewing. And now that I'm doing the first east coast flying of my career, I'm suddenly appreciative of west-coast ATC...direct everywhere and not changing freq every 3 minutes!
06-19-2008, 06:39 AM
#17
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2007
Posts: 60
Island Air bailed on the EAS they were awarded in the midwest citing that they now had a market back in Hawaii. The letter they wrote to the cities basically said there was over capacity in Hawaii when they bid and now with Aloha out they could not start midwest service in a reasonable time period.
06-19-2008, 09:52 AM
#18
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2007
Position: CEO
Posts: 152
Any idea why Island Air discontinued using the Q400 for their inter-island Hawai'i operation? I'm guessing at the time it was too much capacity. Now that Aloha is no longer with us, any idea if they will try to fly the Q400 again as they now fly some of the primary interisland flights (HNL-OGG, etc)?
06-22-2008, 05:36 PM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Posts: 109
With so many ex-Aloha pilots in Hawaii looking for a flying job, I'm sure competitive mins are much higher and you'd also have to consider the political connections. I heard some pilots from Aloha already went back to Island Air where they were previously employed.
Side topic: Hawaiian hired ex-Aloha guys. The state of Hawaii also gave out $8,000 to those laid off by Aloha's closing to get their CFI certificates renewed.
