Hauling the mail

***Willy*** · February 26th, 2012, 19:50

Flight 19 has decided to subcontract to American Airlines to fly some mail on Air Mail route 21 from LaGuardia to Cleveland.

So we loaded up some Gooney birds and headed west to the first stop at Wilkes Barre PA. Nice leisurely flight going low and slow.

**Taco** · February 27th, 2012, 04:52

:salute: Howdy all,

Well, Flight 19 is off and running again! Now, carrying the mail, can you believe we are hauling legal cargo! Who in the world would believe this! hehe. One thing though, is that at least, we need not worry about the local law establishment meeting us at the airports while we are hauling this cargo.

***Moses03*** · February 27th, 2012, 15:36

I always wanted to be a mailman.

**salt_air** · February 27th, 2012, 16:33

This looks good,

Prolly too late now, but I've been waiting for a chance to use this set up (see link) over a path similar to what Flight 19 is running right now.

Only I wanted to use Ford Trimotors .... have a look.

http://www.dc3airways.com/flights/routes/night_mail.htm

Enjoy your trip!

***Moses03*** · February 27th, 2012, 17:48

Cool Austin. Will check it out.:salute:

***Willy*** · February 27th, 2012, 20:09

That looks interesting Austin. The route we're flying is from Ernest Gann's book "Fate is the Hunter". Gann flew for American back in the late 30s on AM21 first as a rookie copilot and made Captain flying it.

We left Wilkes Barre and headed north to Syracuse NY. Nice flight with good conversation. Even if the winds were doing anything but cooperating....

**Taco** · February 28th, 2012, 05:01

Hey There!

Just a few snaps showing before takeoff and after landing.

***PRB*** · February 28th, 2012, 05:26

Mail runs! Cool. I've almost got my truck ready. Will advise...

**AussieMan** · February 28th, 2012, 07:07

I find it hard to believe that Flight 19 is actually doing something legit. But if there is money to be made why not.

***PRB*** · February 28th, 2012, 08:12

Well, in addition to the mail, there is, after all, plenty of room in a DC-3 for other, more profitable cargo...

***Moses03*** · February 28th, 2012, 09:40

Originally Posted by AussieMan

I find it hard to believe that Flight 19 is actually doing something legit.

***Moses03*** · February 28th, 2012, 20:34

Nice flight in upper state New York to Buffalo via Rochester. The weather was much more calm today. Enjoyed watching all the Douglas airliners roll in loaded down with Sears Catalogs.

***Willy*** · February 28th, 2012, 20:39

Nice flight into Buffalo via Rochester. And the weather seemed to be cooperating for once. From what Gann said in his book though, that's the exception to the rule on this route in the winter.

**Taco** · February 29th, 2012, 04:55

Hi folks, here we are again.

Nice flight from KSYR to KROC where we all did a one engine stop to unload and load more mail, plus a few goodie which shall, well you know, unmentionables. hehe. As you have noticed we went kind of crazy with the photo taking, shucks, almost forgot about flying the Goon while watching the beautiful scenery. When #1 engine started to sputter then I realized that I forgot to switch fuel tanks, oops, a rockie mistake!

**Taco** · February 29th, 2012, 04:58

As I said; went crazy with the picture taking.

Note: pictures are not in order on both uploads.

***Willy*** · February 29th, 2012, 20:31

We left Buffalo and headed on west to Eire PA and Cleveland OH which is the end of AM21. But it looks like we're going to continue on.

**Taco** · March 1st, 2012, 10:41

Hot dog, we took off running for KERI and then onto KBKL. Well, at least we didn't go crazy with the picture taking this time!

***Willy*** · March 1st, 2012, 19:54

We put Cleveland behind us and heading northwest to Detroit. Nice flight in weather that could have been better.

***Willy*** · March 4th, 2012, 20:08

We made it on in to Chicago Midway. Nice flight no thanks to a bunch of foo fighters, but from here the idea is to find the Mississippi River and follow it down south...

**Tako_Kichi** · March 4th, 2012, 20:57

Originally Posted by Willy

We put Cleveland behind us and heading northwest to Detroit. Nice flight in weather that could have been better.

If I'd have known you were passing I'd have run outside and waved! You went just south of me when you passed Pelee Island.

***Willy*** · March 5th, 2012, 20:20

We put the windy city behind us and headed on west to Dubuque Iowa on the Mississippi River. Great flight with an interesting approach and landing due to the winds. Let's just say that I did things the hard way as usual.

From here's we'll start heading south, following the river...

***Willy*** · March 6th, 2012, 20:27

Made it to Keokuk tonight.

MM · March 7th, 2012, 07:10

Delightful flight over snow-covered Iowa. A refreshing breeze greeted us on arrival.

**Taco** · March 7th, 2012, 10:38

You bet, nice flight over the Iowa country side. Looking forward for heading south, if nothing else just to get out of this cold and snow!

***Willy*** · March 7th, 2012, 20:00

Nice flight from Keokuk down to St Louis with 45-50kt crosswinds all the way down. I'm starting to think that the airports could use log chains for windsocks.

Anyway it was still a great flight.