USAIR TALES #8- KPIT - KCLT A History Lesson...

Our story begins as usual, in KPIT, in the early dawn hours... a regular flight to KCLT, no biggie... Barney and I have done this trip scores of times, we could practically do it in our sleep... which is good because Pedro (the bulldog I got for Lolo, whom I tried to name Big Ben but was shot down) decided he wanted to bark incessantly last night for no apparent reason.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a surprise awaiting me at the gate... Instead of good old N733UW (Steeler Air), I was met with this...



N745VJ... The Allegheny Air retro A319!!! WHO ORDERED THIS? Is Jordan playing a sick joke on me here? I am not flying this piece of crap! I decided to do my preflight walkaround and at least make sure it had no duct tape on the wings. I ran into the crew chief and he assured me this aircraft had a clean bill of health... unlike Steeler Air, which was in the shop for its 100 hour maintenance at the moment... sigh... I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to fly this "thing" to Charlotte.

Barney was needless to say surprised when he got in the cockpit and noticed my usual picture of Lolo and Jess was not in there. Then it dawned on him that this might not actually be the same aircraft we usually fly... his butt indentations in his seat were missing.

"Boss, we really flying this thing? Where's our usual plane?", he asked as I sat down for my cockpit check...



"Maintenance... they stuck us with this thing. I blame marketing... they are trying to make connections with the airlines of old that are long since dead."

No sooner I said it, a head popped through the doorway... and with it, a suit attached and a manila folder.

"Captain Bolton?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

"Hi there, Jack Minneo from marketing. This packet is for you. It's a history of Allegheny Airlines so you can get an idea of marketing's strategy with the Retro series. We're gonna start basing this aircraft in KPIT so you should probably get to know her. Thanks, bye!"

And with that he was out the door. I looked at the folder... I looked at Barney... Barney just shook his head. Well, if anything, it will pass the time I guess.



Ok, well I am barely awake enough for this... and now marketing wants me to read their propaganda... I made a mental note to carry it with me to the restroom when I reach KCLT, and our offices there. As we taxied out to rwy 28L, I glanced at the title staring at me from the back of the pedestal... "Allegheny Airlines and US Airways- A rich heritage"... snappy title... not. This thing better not read like an instruction manual. I had Barney do the callouts to the tower this morning and I briefed Tiffany that this would be the first of a four part leg we were doing, so she had better make sure the crew was up for it. I guess if they are not she can whip up some witches brew to give them superhuman stamina or something...

I wondered if Isaac or any of the other managers had to go through this crap... or maybe they did not get assigned any Retro aircraft. Who knows... I figured I would ask later. At least they made this one smell like new airplane again...



Not a lot of traffic this morning on the ground or in the air... it's still early yet. This should make for a relatively short flight, provided the weather up there holds out. One thing I like about flying to Charlotte is the timeframe is just right... not long enough for my butt to go numb, but just long enough to feel like I have flown my money's worth. Of course judging from the flight plan looks like we have to do a few zigzags just to get there... I cannot wait till we are cleared to fly direct GPS routes... some of these vroutes drive me nuts!

Hmmm... a rich heritage... I wonder just how rich it could be... what did Allegheny front the money for US Airways or something? Now that I think about it... I have been a pilot for this company a few years now, but I don't really remember the whole "history of USAir" thing... Must have been one of those times I fell asleep in orientation...



Well... it flies... that's a good start. Ok so there is no Steeler logo on the tail, and my girls' picture is not on the dash... if you flown one A319, you pretty much flown them all, so it was no big deal for Barney to take over the bulk of the departure, while I set us up for the cruise, and called out to the tower when needed. I quickly looked over the itinerary... KCLT, then KJAX, back to KCLT... then KPIT for the evening. Pretty straightforward.

If I am lucky maintenance will be done by time we get back to KPIT, and I can pawn this sucker off on someone more deserving...

OK, I admit it... I feel naked without Steeler Air!

Sheesh...



Just over 10,000... and we are well on our way for another routine flight. Tiff has orders to start serving when we close in on cruise... drinks and pretzels only of course... Barney is content to monitor things on the flight deck... and this folder keeps staring at me...

Well, probably would not hurt to take a look I guess... even if it is propaganda.

Page 1... the beginnings.

Says here Allegheny Airlines started life as the All American Aviation Company... a business founded by the du Pont family in 1939. Wow, du Pont? So while they were into chemicals I guess they tried their hands with airmail eh? Now that I did not know! I guess in 1949, the airmail thing was not working out so hot, so they decided on the way more lucrative airline business... and converted to a passenger airline designed to cash in on the growing market in the late 40s early 50s. Why'd they pick "Allegheny"... well this should be no surprise... they were based in PITTSBURGH! Home of the Allegheny river... Cool... probably the first and last time we ever had an airline based here...



Switch to Indianapolis center... roger...

Almost forgot to check in there... anyways, back to my reading.

Ok so 1952, official start of the airline known as Allegheny Airlines... with its DC3 fleet, and newly acquired Martin 202s... I can only imagine what those flights were like... says here passengers nicknamed it "Agony Air" due to the often turbulent flights hahahahaha. Good to know Pittsburgh weather did not disappoint even back then, when Allegheny Airport was the key hub to western PA.

Oh wow, this is cool Barney, listen to this... Allegheny was one of the first airlines to create an affiliate network of airlines... they called it the Allegheny Commuter System... somehow I think Star Alliance would have been a better name, but hey, I did not make it. Sounds like these guys were pretty ambitious at the time. I wonder what Juan Tripp and Panam had to say about these young upstarts?

Whatever it was, it probably wasn't good. I hear he hated everyone.

Even so though, the first real use of codeshare... that's pretty impressive...


Tiffany came in with some juice for me and a coke for Barney, and ever the nosy so and so, she of course asked me what I was reading and why I was not flying the plane.

I told her propaganda... She shook her head and excused herself.

So this Allegheny seemed like a pretty big mover and shaker regionally it seems. Nothing but growth from the mid fifties to the late sixties... but like every story, I expected this one would have its share of tragedy... On September 9, 1969 Allegheny Flight 853, a DC-9 from Cincinatti to Indianapolis collided with a GA plane, killing 83 people in both aircraft... Wow... Doesn't look like that was enough to stop Allegheny though, they brushed off and decided to press forward. By this time they had close to 200 planes!

As I got to the entry for 1979, I had to do a double take...

I looked out the cockpit window, then reread what had me in shock.

"As deregulation dawned on the industry, Allegheny — looking to shed its regional image — changed its name to USAir on October 28, 1979."

HOLY CRAP!!!!



Barney must have thought I meant the Southwest that flew over us. I had to explain to him I just had a revelation about this aircraft, and its meaning to us as US Airways employees... this is quite literally the grandpappy of US Airways! Well its livery is anyway...

Now there's something else I never knew. Looks like they kept the Allegheny name for the commuter section of the company, what would eventually be known as US Airways Express, and based that arm of the company in Harrisburg PA, keeping the main hub for the mainline fleet at Pittsburgh. Apparently Allegheny also branched out to have communter hubs in, you guessed it, Philly and Boston!

I often wondered how we got those hubs... now I know...

Somehow Barney did not sound as excited about this knowledge as I was.



Almost to Charlotte, and almost finished with the packet...

Fast Forward to 1992, and the official opening of KPIT- Pittsburgh International Airport... and one of the main hubs for US Air. Looks like around that time, the powers that be decided to integrate the commuter arm of the airline and it became US Air Express. From then on, looks like we had one united airline, under the US Air name, with several hubs in the northeast, at least till Piedmont came on board and gifted the company the hub at Charlotte... our destination.

Speaking of which, I better get ready to land this thing.



You know, I gotta admit, this was all information I did not expect to read. So Allegheny truly is the parent airline of US Airways... based in Pittsburgh no less... all of a sudden that puts this aircraft, and my station's history in a whole new light.

Of course I am still going to complain about KPIT's loss of hub status, and flights, but then I do not make the policy, I just fly the planes... I leave that to better beings than I.

At least now it is starting to make sense why marketing wants to base this aircraft in KPIT.

It's no Steeler Air, but I think I can grow to like seeing it at the airport, if not flying it every now and then.



Well here we are back on approach to runway 23 again... I made sure to set autobrake to High setting this time... I cannot stand this runway, too dang short... well short for my tastes.

Tiffany announced cabin secure and we began our final approach into Charlotte.

Maybe it was just me, but it seemed to me that this majestic little Allegheny retro just kinda glided in with pride! It may not have had a smile on its nose like the PSA aircraft, but it felt like this inanimate object had been given a dose of self esteem and respect as we made our way across the threshold and onto runway 23.

Just in time for breakfast too! I got a couple hours before we head to KJAX anyways...



We did our usual leisurely taxi into our favorite gate, B6, and I could not help but think, all these drab old US Airways navy liveries look pale by comparison to the regal aircraft we were guiding to the gate to end its first leg under my command.

What started as an ugly livery for me to even consider flying, all of a sudden became something to be proud of... an aircraft worthy of its name and indeed, its rich heritage!

I'm not one for propaganda... and I do not like marketing... but now that I know the history of this airline, and this livery in particular, I cannot help but feel a bit proud to have been selected to fly this plane.

The du Ponts did it right... yeah, they did it right...



And to think... all this because they decided they wanted to dabble in air mail!

After powerdown, I got out of the vistajet and just stood on the tarmac, looking at it...

Somewhere out of the corner of my eye, I could see the pilots of old who helped to build the airline I work for today...

... and they were smiling at me.