[SOLVED] Historic / legacy B744 routes in the US?

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Hi all --

 

I hate to post this, because I feel like I should be able to find this information "out there" (and I even vaguely remember seeing another forum post about it recently!). But after numerous searches on the internet and here in the forum specifically, I can't seem to figure out the right search terms to point myself to it. I wonder if some kind fellow pilot would kick me in the right direction?

 

A couple of months ago I bought the PMDG 747, mostly because I wanted to be fluent in it before Cross The Pond, but then wasn't able to participate in the event due to a work conflict. However, I don't want to sit it on the shelf until March. But of course, the 747 is not used domestically in the US much anymore. I obviously can fly it between any two cities I would like using any callsign I want, but, I'm one of those that prefers to use real-ish callsigns whenever practicable. So I'm wondering if there's a source that I can look up historic 747 routes for United, Delta, TWA, maybe even PanAm, and others that used to use it here (did Continental have any?), so that if I want to fly it from New York to Chicago for example, I can do so under a callsign that a B744 would have used to fly between those cities.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, and apologies again if this is already sitting here in another post somewhere.

Edited October 23, 2017 at 11:15 AM by Guest

[1275389]

Hey Rob, I actually try to take my 744 on cargo routes that are still flown. My preferred company is Atlas Air. As I'm writing this, there's a 744 flying from JFK to ANC.

Good luck!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Hey Rob, I actually try to take my 744 on cargo routes that are still flown. My preferred company is Atlas Air. As I'm writing this, there's a 744 flying from JFK to ANC.

Good luck!

Yep, I'm familiar with GTI as they occasionally fly in and out of BWI (I have a video on YouTube of one of them arriving 250 feet over my head a couple years back). I also have found a couple CargoLux (CLX) flights that I've been emulating. Just wondering if there were any options between more populated east-coast destinations.

 

I also use this: http://flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744 ... but sometimes there's just not enough to choose from in the areas of the country I want to fly.

 

Thanks for the pointer, though!

 

EDIT: I will also fully admit that another solution would be to broaden my horizons and start doing some flying in Europe and elsewhere. I'm just always scared about being able to find the charts, heh. One day maybe I'll take the plunge...

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

Robert,

 

This article talks about the United Domestic Routes in the B747-200...

 

http://layoverhub.net/the-united-airlines-boeing-747-a-piece-of-american-aviation-history/

 

Another special United flight that just occurred in August, KORD-KSFO

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/08/01/uniteds-special-domestic-boeing-747-flight-party-38-000-feet/527905001/

 

Bookable and active International flights...Tokyo to Honolulu might not be bad...

 

https://airlinegeeks.com/2017/05/05/how-to-catch-a-ride-on-one-of-the-few-remaining-u-s-based-747s/

 

This one talks about a one-time LAX to DTW B744 flight, probably positioning flight since Delta launches almost all there B744 flights from there. Which is interesting because my boss once flew their T7 flight from KATL to FAOR and the aircraft, not the flight, but the aircraft, originated at KDTW, so check for positioning flights on flightaware out of KDTW for Delta.

 

http://travelskills.com/2017/06/15/routes-united-delta-virgin-america-southwest-frontier/

 

And finally, here's a pretty interesting thread in the airliners.net forums...

 

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1359479

 

None of them are really what you are looking for, the historic routes that used to be, but...

 

Randy

[Robert Shearman Jr]

I think I found it, finally:

 

http://www.departedflights.com/timetables.html

 

I'll have to comb through them to weed out the pertinent info, but just at a quick glance I did see at least one (Continental's) in which some flights list "747" as equipment type. Of course, I'll have to cross-check any that I find to ensure I'm not inadvertently using a flight number that was retired due to an incident (PanAm's over Scotland and TWA's over Long Island come to mind) -- I'll be sure to do that.

 

Thanks Josh and Randy for your pointers though!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Just in case anyone is curious, I did comb through the schedules on that site and I found quite a few interesting ones, including some that went to Detroit, Cleveland, and even Pittsburgh(?!). I flew the first one today as PAA104 from Detroit to Kennedy. I was begging for there to be any controller online that would call me "Clipper 104" but the only ATC in my path was the Tower controller at Kennedy, who logged off about 20 minutes before I got there...

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

That's awesome Robert. I bookmarked the page and briefly looked through it...wouldn't say combed...and saw some schedules I'd like to try in the future.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Randy