Pacific Air Lines
Encyclopedia
Pacific Air Lines was a regional airline
serving the West Coast of the United States
that began operations in the 1940s under the name Southwest Airways. The company operated as a feeder airline, linking smaller communities primarily in California
and Oregon
with major cities such as Los Angeles
and San Francisco.
Founded largely with money from wealthy investors from the Hollywood motion picture industry, the airline was noted for employing cost-saving operational procedures and safety practices that were innovative for the time. The traveling public responded positively, and as passenger volume increased and more locations were served, a need for bigger and faster planes eventually resulted in adding modern aircraft to the fleet during the 1960s. However, the mid-60s were a troubled period for the company; a fatal crash in 1964 caused by a suicidal gunman was followed by a sharp decline in net income two years later, and in 1967 an unconventional ad campaign caused discord between stockholders and executives. The controversy subsided after a management shake-up, but the name Pacific Air Lines passed into history in 1968 when market conditions resulted in a merger with Bonanza Air Lines
and West Coast Airlines
, forming Air West
.
veteran John Howard "Jack" Connelly and noted Hollywood agent/producer Leland Hayward
formed a business partnership that five years later would evolve into a scheduled commercial airline. Neither man was a stranger to aviation; Connelly was also a former test pilot
, airplane salesman, Civil Aeronautics Administration instructor pilot, and inspector for the 1930s-era Soviet Union. Hayward was an active private pilot and was on the board of directors of Transcontinental and Western Airlines
(TWA). The two men enlisted the support of commercial pilot and photographer John Swope
to oversee the training of aviation cadets. Together, they founded a maintenance depot for overhauling training aircraft, a wartime air cargo line, and a military pilot training complex consisting of Thunderbird Field No. 1
, Thunderbird Field No. 2
, and Falcon Field
in Arizona
. By the end of World War II
, Southwest Airways was the largest training contractor in the United States, and trained more than 20,000 pilots from over two dozen countries.
and Darryl Zanuck, to expand Southwest into the airline business, pending government approval. They were awarded a three-year experimental charter from the Civil Aeronautics Board on May 22, 1946 for their feeder service.
Scheduled passenger service under the name Southwest Airways began on December 2, 1946, using plentiful and affordable war surplus C-47s, the military version of the Douglas DC-3
, converted for civilian use. The initial routes were situated along the Los Angeles to San Francisco corridor, including stops in Santa Barbara
, Paso Robles
, Monterey
, and San Jose
, with Medford, Oregon
added later.
s became common.
To increase revenue the airline optimized ground operations
to the point where a DC-3 could discharge passengers, load new ones, and begin taxiing
to take off again 90 seconds after coming to a stop (adding six more minutes if refueling is required). In a cost-saving move, the airline had their own pilots do the refueling instead of paying airport personnel to do it. Time on the ground was reduced by keeping one engine running while a male purser
hurried passengers off the plane, and the DC-3s were modified to include an 'airstair
', a door that doubled as a staircase for the passengers. The airstair eliminated waiting for a ground crew to roll a wheeled staircase up to the plane.
made the world's first blind landing on a scheduled commercial airliner using Ground-Controlled Approach
(GCA) radar, Instrument Landing System
(ILS) devices and Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)
oil-burning units adjacent to the runway. By the following year the airline had made 1,200 routine instrument landings at the often fog-shrouded
Arcata airport
.
Southwest had a fleet of ten planes by 1948, all of them DC-3s, flying between 24 California and Oregon small towns, becoming the second biggest feeder airline in the United States.
and Santa Barbara. It was flying too low and struck a ridge in the Refugio Pass region of the Santa Ynez Mountains
at a height of 2740 ft (835 m), far below the minimum nighttime altitude of 4000 ft (1,219 m) prescribed for the plane's route over that rugged stretch of mountains. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board was unable to determine why the plane's altitude was too low.
s, which were faster and carried more passengers than the DC-3, and also had airstairs.The Martin 2-0-2s had airstairs like their DC-3 counterparts, but unlike the DC-3 the Martin planes used tricycle landing gear, making it necessary to position the airstair underneath the tail section, instead of on the side of the fuselage (photo). In the 1950s the airline's literature stated it was serving 33 California locales (i.e. about 24 airports), and flight timetables
published by the company in the mid-1950s boasted that Southwest Airways "serves more California cities than any other scheduled airline."
To better reflect the coastal territory overflown by the majority of their flights, and having called themselves "the Pacific Air Line" for many years, the company name was changed to Pacific Air Lines on March 6, 1958. The corporate logo was also changed at this time from an earth-toned Thunderbird
reminiscent of a Navajo
sandpainting to a simpler, modernized design with bright colors. In a move possibly designed to prevent the flying public from confusing the newly named Pacific Air Lines for a brand-new airline, company timetables published in 1959 asserted that the company was in its "17th year of scheduled service".The airline may have been engaging in some creative license, overstating by several years the actual amount of time they had been in scheduled passenger service. This reminder to the public of the airline's longevity, accurate or not, continued until mid-1964, when it disappeared from the timetable covers.(see Collector's Guide to Airline Timetables)
their corporate headquarters and hub of operations, and at about this time operations outside of California were resumed, with flights to Nevada added to the schedule.
In 1959 the fleet of airplanes was increased with the addition of the first of fourteen secondhand pressurized
Martin 4-0-4
airliners, and Pacific's first non-piston-engined aircraft, the turboprop
-powered Fairchild F-27
(a U.S.-built version of the Fokker F27
Friendship.). The reliable but slow and unpressurized DC-3s were increasingly obsolete so in 1960 a gradual phase-out of the venerable planes began; the last of thirteen operated were gone from Pacific's fleet by mid-1964, and the last Martin 2-0-2s were retired in March 1964.
crashed near San Ramon, California
. All 44 aboard the Fairchild F-27 were killed when the aircraft dove into a hillside at a nearly 90 degree angle. Investigators found a gun in the wreckage, and the FBI determined that a suicidal passenger shot both of the pilots, and then himself, causing the plane to dive out of control.
On September 13, 1965, Pacific Air Lines announced that it would acquire six Boeing
jets, leasing two immediately and placing orders for the remainder, to be delivered in early 1968. The jets were ordered during a prosperous time for the airline, but by 1966 the West Coast market was contested by seven other airlines, and net income for Pacific dropped from $700,337 in 1965 to $150,716, chiefly because the three-engined Boeing 727
was uneconomical for Pacific's short routes. Two of the jets were removed from Pacific's flight schedule and temporarily leased to National Airlines
.
, a subject rarely emphasized by the commercial aviation
industry. The airline had hired award-winning advertising executive and comedian Stan Freberg
for the ad campaign, knowing that unconventional ideas were his forté. Under his direction print advertisements stated::
The copy from another ad said:
To complement the ad campaign flight attendant
s handed out "survival kits"
featuring hot-pink lunch pails containing a small security blanket, a "lucky" rabbit's foot
, the best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking, and a fortune cookie
containing the slogan "It could be worse. The pilot could be whistling "The High and the Mighty
." The attendants were also encouraged to exclaim "We made it! How about that!" upon landing. Freberg had unfulfilled plans to paint a Pacific Boeing 727
to resemble a locomotive, with wheels on the fuselage and a cowcatcher on the nose. Inside the cabin, passengers would have heard a recording of a steam locomotive over the loudspeakers.
Matthew E. McCarthy, Pacific's chief executive and biggest shareholder, explained the campaign: "It's basically honest. We spoof the passengers' concern, but at least we admit they have it." Philip H. Dougherty, writing in the Business and Finance section of the May 1 edition of The New York Times, described the advertisements as "rather shocking". Objections to the unorthodox campaign were raised at a May 1967 stockholders meeting, and two Pacific Air Lines executives resigned in the wake of the controversy.
was a factor in Pacific Air Lines joining forces with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines in a three-way merger, forming Air West in 1968. Air West, later Hughes Airwest
, merged into Republic Airlines
in 1980, which became part of Northwest Airlines
in 1987, and finally part of Delta Airlines in 2008. At the time of the Air West merger, Pacific's fleet included 11 of their workhorse Fairchild F-27s, five Martin 4-0-4s, and three Boeing 727s, one of which was still leased-out but returned to Air West in late 1968. The last of the increasingly obsolete Martins were not carried forward into the Air West fleet and were disposed of in August 1968.
The two co-founders of Southwest Airways died within nine months of each other in 1971. John Connelly was 71, and Leland Hayward was 68.
Regional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
serving the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
that began operations in the 1940s under the name Southwest Airways. The company operated as a feeder airline, linking smaller communities primarily in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
with major cities such as Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and San Francisco.
Founded largely with money from wealthy investors from the Hollywood motion picture industry, the airline was noted for employing cost-saving operational procedures and safety practices that were innovative for the time. The traveling public responded positively, and as passenger volume increased and more locations were served, a need for bigger and faster planes eventually resulted in adding modern aircraft to the fleet during the 1960s. However, the mid-60s were a troubled period for the company; a fatal crash in 1964 caused by a suicidal gunman was followed by a sharp decline in net income two years later, and in 1967 an unconventional ad campaign caused discord between stockholders and executives. The controversy subsided after a management shake-up, but the name Pacific Air Lines passed into history in 1968 when market conditions resulted in a merger with Bonanza Air Lines
Bonanza Air Lines
Bonanza Air Lines was an international and domestic regional airline in operation from 1945 to 1968, with routes in the Western United States and Mexico...
and West Coast Airlines
West Coast Airlines
West Coast Airlines was a U.S. domestic and international regional airline linking smaller communities with larger cities in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, California and northward to southern Canada...
, forming Air West
Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest was an airline that was backed by Howard Hughes. Hughes Airwest flew routes around the western United States and to certain points in Mexico and Canada. The airline was purchased by Republic Airlines on October 1, 1980...
.
Southwest Airways era (1941–1958)
Founding and wartime operations
In early 1941 Air ServiceUnited States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...
veteran John Howard "Jack" Connelly and noted Hollywood agent/producer Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward was a Hollywood and Broadway agent and theatrical producer. He produced the original Broadway stage productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The Sound of Music.-Early years:...
formed a business partnership that five years later would evolve into a scheduled commercial airline. Neither man was a stranger to aviation; Connelly was also a former test pilot
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
, airplane salesman, Civil Aeronautics Administration instructor pilot, and inspector for the 1930s-era Soviet Union. Hayward was an active private pilot and was on the board of directors of Transcontinental and Western Airlines
Twa
The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....
(TWA). The two men enlisted the support of commercial pilot and photographer John Swope
John Swope (photographer)
John Swope was a photographer for Life Magazine, and a pilot.He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1908.He attended Harvard University in 1930...
to oversee the training of aviation cadets. Together, they founded a maintenance depot for overhauling training aircraft, a wartime air cargo line, and a military pilot training complex consisting of Thunderbird Field No. 1
Thunderbird Field
Thunderbird Field was a military airfield in Glendale, Arizona, used for contract primary flight training of Allied pilots during World War II. Created in part by actor James Stewart, the field became part of the United States Army Air Forces training establishment just prior to American entry...
, Thunderbird Field No. 2
Scottsdale Airport
Scottsdale Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located nine miles north of the central business district of Scottsdale, a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Although most U.S...
, and Falcon Field
Falcon Field (Arizona)
Falcon Field is a public airport located five miles northeast of the central business district of Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011, it is categorized as a reliever airport.Although most U.S...
in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. By the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Southwest Airways was the largest training contractor in the United States, and trained more than 20,000 pilots from over two dozen countries.
Start of scheduled service
After the war Connelly and Hayward raised $2,000,000 (in 1946 dollars) from investors, including Hollywood notables such as James StewartJames Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
and Darryl Zanuck, to expand Southwest into the airline business, pending government approval. They were awarded a three-year experimental charter from the Civil Aeronautics Board on May 22, 1946 for their feeder service.
Scheduled passenger service under the name Southwest Airways began on December 2, 1946, using plentiful and affordable war surplus C-47s, the military version of the Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
, converted for civilian use. The initial routes were situated along the Los Angeles to San Francisco corridor, including stops in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, Paso Robles
Paso Robles, California
Paso Robles is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Paso Robles is the fastest growing city in San Luis Obispo County: Its population at the 2000 census was 24,297; in 2010 it recorded some 29,793 residentsLocated on the Salinas River north of San Luis Obispo, California,...
, Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, and San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, with Medford, Oregon
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
added later.
No-frills spirit and quick turnarounds
Connelly, president, and Hayward, board chairman, were the majority owners of the airline, and as such could hold sway on how the company would operate. Running on slim operating margins, Southwest Airways was a no-frills airline decades before low-cost carrierLow-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...
s became common.
To increase revenue the airline optimized ground operations
Aircraft ground handling
In aviation, aircraft ground handling defines the servicing of an aircraft while it is on the ground and parked at a terminal gate of an airport.-Overview:...
to the point where a DC-3 could discharge passengers, load new ones, and begin taxiing
Taxiing
Taxiing refers to the movement of an aircraft on the ground, under its own power, in contrast to towing or push-back where the aircraft is moved by a tug...
to take off again 90 seconds after coming to a stop (adding six more minutes if refueling is required). In a cost-saving move, the airline had their own pilots do the refueling instead of paying airport personnel to do it. Time on the ground was reduced by keeping one engine running while a male purser
Purser
The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...
hurried passengers off the plane, and the DC-3s were modified to include an 'airstair
Airstair
An airstair is a passenger staircase that is built in to an airliner — often, though not always, on the inside of a clamshell-style door. The stairs can be raised or lowered while the aircraft is on the ground, allowing passengers and ground personnel to board or depart the aircraft without the...
', a door that doubled as a staircase for the passengers. The airstair eliminated waiting for a ground crew to roll a wheeled staircase up to the plane.
Pioneering instrument landings
The airline's innovative spirit extended into air safety as well; in December 1947 a Southwest Airways DC-3 flying into the coastal town of Arcata, CaliforniaArcata, California
-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...
made the world's first blind landing on a scheduled commercial airliner using Ground-Controlled Approach
Ground-controlled approach
In aviation a ground-controlled approach , is a type of service provided by air-traffic controllers whereby they guide aircraft to a safe landing in adverse weather conditions based on radar images...
(GCA) radar, Instrument Landing System
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
(ILS) devices and Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)
Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)
Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation was a system used for dispersing fog from an airfield so that aircraft could land safely...
oil-burning units adjacent to the runway. By the following year the airline had made 1,200 routine instrument landings at the often fog-shrouded
June Gloom
June Gloom is a southern California term for a weather pattern that results in cloudy, overcast skies with cool temperatures during the late spring and early summer. June Gloom in southern California is caused by the marine layer effect common to the West Coast, and is enhanced by the Catalina eddy...
Arcata airport
Arcata-Eureka Airport
Arcata/Eureka Airport , also known as Arcata Airport, is an airport located north of Eureka in the unincorporated town of McKinleyville, California. This regional airport serves Humboldt County, including the two primary regional cities that compose its name: Arcata and Eureka. The airport is a...
.
Southwest had a fleet of ten planes by 1948, all of them DC-3s, flying between 24 California and Oregon small towns, becoming the second biggest feeder airline in the United States.
Crash of Flight 7
The airline flew without any fatal mishaps until the evening of April 6, 1951, when Southwest Airways Flight 7 crashed, killing all 19 passengers and 3 crew members aboard, including 12 military personnel. The DC-3 was flying a 20-minute route between Santa Maria, CaliforniaSanta Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...
and Santa Barbara. It was flying too low and struck a ridge in the Refugio Pass region of the Santa Ynez Mountains
Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America, and are one of the northernmost mountain ranges in Southern California.-Geography:...
at a height of 2740 ft (835 m), far below the minimum nighttime altitude of 4000 ft (1,219 m) prescribed for the plane's route over that rugged stretch of mountains. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board was unable to determine why the plane's altitude was too low.
Fleet expansion
To handle the post-war increase in passenger travel, by late 1952 the airline's inventory had grown to include include eight secondhand piston-engined Martin 2-0-2Martin 2-0-2
The Martin 2-0-2 was one of the first modern airliners. The twin-engined piston aircraft was designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company.-Design and development:...
s, which were faster and carried more passengers than the DC-3, and also had airstairs.The Martin 2-0-2s had airstairs like their DC-3 counterparts, but unlike the DC-3 the Martin planes used tricycle landing gear, making it necessary to position the airstair underneath the tail section, instead of on the side of the fuselage (photo). In the 1950s the airline's literature stated it was serving 33 California locales (i.e. about 24 airports), and flight timetables
Airline timetable
Airline timetables are booklets that many airlines worldwide use to inform passengers of several different things, such as schedules, fleet, security, in-flight entertainment, food menu, restriction and phone contact information....
published by the company in the mid-1950s boasted that Southwest Airways "serves more California cities than any other scheduled airline."
Pacific Air Lines era (1958–1968)
Thunderbird (mythology)
The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength...
reminiscent of a Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
sandpainting to a simpler, modernized design with bright colors. In a move possibly designed to prevent the flying public from confusing the newly named Pacific Air Lines for a brand-new airline, company timetables published in 1959 asserted that the company was in its "17th year of scheduled service".The airline may have been engaging in some creative license, overstating by several years the actual amount of time they had been in scheduled passenger service. This reminder to the public of the airline's longevity, accurate or not, continued until mid-1964, when it disappeared from the timetable covers.(see Collector's Guide to Airline Timetables)
Turboprop transition
Before the advent of the 1960s, the company had made San Francisco International AirportSan Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
their corporate headquarters and hub of operations, and at about this time operations outside of California were resumed, with flights to Nevada added to the schedule.
Cabin pressurization
Cabin pressurization is the pumping of compressed air into an aircraft cabin to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for crew and passengers when flying at altitude.-Need for cabin pressurization:...
Martin 4-0-4
Martin 4-0-4
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Andrade, John. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicester, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979, pp. 95, 217. ISBN 0-904597-22-9....
airliners, and Pacific's first non-piston-engined aircraft, the turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
-powered Fairchild F-27
Fairchild Hiller FH-227
The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States...
(a U.S.-built version of the Fokker F27
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...
Friendship.). The reliable but slow and unpressurized DC-3s were increasingly obsolete so in 1960 a gradual phase-out of the venerable planes began; the last of thirteen operated were gone from Pacific's fleet by mid-1964, and the last Martin 2-0-2s were retired in March 1964.
Skyjacking attempt
The first U.S. skyjacking attempt was aboard a Pacific Air Lines plane on the ground at the Chico, CA airport on July 31, 1961. The pilot and a ticket agent were shot, however the assailant was overpowered by the copilot and passengers while the plane was still on the ground.Crash of Flight 773
On May 7, 1964 Pacific Air Lines Flight 773Pacific Air Lines Flight 773
Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 was a Pacific Air Lines Fairchild F-27A airliner that crashed at 6:49 a.m. on May 7, 1964 near San Ramon, California, USA...
crashed near San Ramon, California
San Ramon, California
-2010 census:The 2010 United States Census reported that San Ramon had a population of 72,148. The population density was 3,991.1 people per square mile...
. All 44 aboard the Fairchild F-27 were killed when the aircraft dove into a hillside at a nearly 90 degree angle. Investigators found a gun in the wreckage, and the FBI determined that a suicidal passenger shot both of the pilots, and then himself, causing the plane to dive out of control.
Turbojets prove uneconomical
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
jets, leasing two immediately and placing orders for the remainder, to be delivered in early 1968. The jets were ordered during a prosperous time for the airline, but by 1966 the West Coast market was contested by seven other airlines, and net income for Pacific dropped from $700,337 in 1965 to $150,716, chiefly because the three-engined Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
was uneconomical for Pacific's short routes. Two of the jets were removed from Pacific's flight schedule and temporarily leased to National Airlines
National Airlines (NA)
National Airlines was an airline founded in 1934 and was headquartered on the grounds of Miami International Airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States near Miami.- History :...
.
Controversial ad campaign
In 1967 the airline embarked on a controversial advertisement campaign, including a full-page ad in the New York Times on April 28, 1967, that highlighted the fear of flyingFear of flying
A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane , or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia....
, a subject rarely emphasized by the commercial aviation
Commercial aviation
Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for hire to transport passengers or cargo...
industry. The airline had hired award-winning advertising executive and comedian Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
for the ad campaign, knowing that unconventional ideas were his forté. Under his direction print advertisements stated::
The copy from another ad said:
To complement the ad campaign flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
s handed out "survival kits"
featuring hot-pink lunch pails containing a small security blanket, a "lucky" rabbit's foot
Rabbit's foot
In some cultures, the foot of a rabbit is carried as an amulet believed to bring good luck. This belief is held by individuals in a great number of places around the world including Europe, China, Africa, and North and South America. It is likely that this belief has existed in Europe since 600 BC...
, the best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking, and a fortune cookie
Fortune cookie
A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy...
containing the slogan "It could be worse. The pilot could be whistling "The High and the Mighty
The High and the Mighty (song)
"The High and the Mighty" is a song by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin from the movie of the same name.At the start of the film's production late in 1953, veteran film composer and musician Dimitri Tiomkin was commissioned to write the film's Academy Award winning score...
." The attendants were also encouraged to exclaim "We made it! How about that!" upon landing. Freberg had unfulfilled plans to paint a Pacific Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
to resemble a locomotive, with wheels on the fuselage and a cowcatcher on the nose. Inside the cabin, passengers would have heard a recording of a steam locomotive over the loudspeakers.
Matthew E. McCarthy, Pacific's chief executive and biggest shareholder, explained the campaign: "It's basically honest. We spoof the passengers' concern, but at least we admit they have it." Philip H. Dougherty, writing in the Business and Finance section of the May 1 edition of The New York Times, described the advertisements as "rather shocking". Objections to the unorthodox campaign were raised at a May 1967 stockholders meeting, and two Pacific Air Lines executives resigned in the wake of the controversy.
Merger
When the Boeing jet order was optimistically announced by the airline in 1965, it was unforeseen that a change in the business climate was on the horizon, and economic realities would dictate that some of the jets would not actually end up flying under the Pacific Air Lines banner. Stiff competition from large rival Pacific Southwest AirlinesPacific Southwest Airlines
Pacific Southwest Airlines was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States and is considered a precursor to Southwest Airlines...
was a factor in Pacific Air Lines joining forces with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines in a three-way merger, forming Air West in 1968. Air West, later Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest was an airline that was backed by Howard Hughes. Hughes Airwest flew routes around the western United States and to certain points in Mexico and Canada. The airline was purchased by Republic Airlines on October 1, 1980...
, merged into Republic Airlines
Republic Airlines (1979-1986)
Republic Airlines was an airline formed on July 1, 1979 by the merger of North Central Airlines, Southern Airways, and Hughes Airwest. Its headquarters were located on the grounds of Minneapolis-St...
in 1980, which became part of Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
in 1987, and finally part of Delta Airlines in 2008. At the time of the Air West merger, Pacific's fleet included 11 of their workhorse Fairchild F-27s, five Martin 4-0-4s, and three Boeing 727s, one of which was still leased-out but returned to Air West in late 1968. The last of the increasingly obsolete Martins were not carried forward into the Air West fleet and were disposed of in August 1968.
The two co-founders of Southwest Airways died within nine months of each other in 1971. John Connelly was 71, and Leland Hayward was 68.
External links
- Period photographs from the Arizona Memory Project - including a photo of the airline co-founders, Connelly and Hayward
- The Ed Coates collection - pictorial history of U.S. Airlines, including photos of Southwest Airways and Pacific Air Lines aircraft
- Photographs of Pacific Air Lines aircraft - airliners.net
- Gallery of timetable covers for Southwest Airways and Pacific Air Lines - timetableimages.com
- Southwest Airways and Pacific Air Lines timetable covers from the 1940s 1950s 1960s - airtimes.com
- Southwest Airways / Pacific Air Lines aircraft fleet - lists registration numbers, aircraft types, dates of service
- Southwest Airways / Pacific Air Lines historical records - inventory of artifacts stored at the Minnesota Historical Society