''PAN AM''

The Pan American World Airways, better known as Pan Am, was the leading U.S. airline from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. To her many innovations were credited that shaped the airline industry worldwide, such as large-scale use and spread of jet aircraft, jumbo jets and the computer reservation system. Identified by its logo and the traditional use of the "Clipper" in the names of its aircraft, Pan Am was a cultural icon of the twentieth century. The company is currently in its third "incarnation" as the Pan Am Clipper Connection, operating in destinations in the northeastern United States, Florida, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.



Pan Am was one of the first airlines in the world to offer regular flights. Began operating on 18 October 1927 with a small plane borrowed, called "La Niña", which flew 90 miles from Key West, Florida and Havana in Cuba. The first building of the headquarters of the Pan Am still exists, and is now a restaurant.

The following year, Pan Am aircraft was operating with trimotores with eight seats, their property, between Havana and Miami. The new headquarters of the Pan Am, was installed in Dinner Key, which is currently the mayor of Miami.
At the Miami airport (which has been called the field of Pan Am) happen the biggest events in the history of Pan Am its beginning to the end.
In 1930, Pan Am operated with regular service throughout the Caribbean. This also helped form another airline that still exist, the Mexicana. Pan Am was also associated with W.R. Grace to form another airline called PANAGRA (Pan American Grace Airways) which established regular service to the west coast of South America, which operated until 1968, and NYRBA (the line New York, Rio and Buenos Aires) who flew to east coast. This was acquired by Pan Am in 1930. The first "Clipper" Pan Am was a Sikorsky S-40 seaplane, that Pan Am used on routes to South America
On November 22, 1935, a Martin M-130, known as "China Clipper", entered the postal service on the route of the Pacific Ocean. The passenger began the following year. The trip began in San Francisco, California, had six stops and ended in Hong Kong. This flight lasted a few days, and the intermediate stops along the route (where there were several small islands), the Pan Am built hotels for passengers, and beyond that the Martins were also dormitories and dining room. With all this the plane was about a third of the length of a Boeing 747, and often carried fewer than a dozen passengers on this route painful.
In 1939, Pan Am crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The Boeing 314 flying boat was bigger than Martin and could carry 74 people at full capacity. On June 28 of that year the "Dixie Clipper" carried 22 people from Port Washington, New York to Marseilles, France. The fare was $ 675 back then, today would be roughly equivalent to $ 4,000.
During World War II the staff and the "clippers" Pan Am served the U.S. military, and thus many were slaughtered.
After the Second World War, the Pan Am aircraft acquired several Douglas DC-3 and DC-4. These aircraft carrying 30-40 passengers, and the standards of today's journey was noisy and uncomfortable, but they were cheap and robust, and easily made the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

A Sikorsky S-42, one of the first Pan Am seaplanes
The Lockheed Constellation was a breakthrough, with the pressurized cabin and transcontinental range. As was the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, which was the civilian version of the B-29 bomber. This plane was large and had an awkward appearance, but showed its advantage with its bar and lounge in its lower deck.
The aircraft continued to grow, and competition among aircraft manufacturers and airlines, which they supplied was fierce. The DC-4 gave way to the Douglas DC-6 and DC-7, the latter started the service "nonstop" between New York and London in 1957. But the world had not seen anything yet in 1955, Pan Am shocked the aviation industry when it ordered 45 jet aircraft: 20 Boeing 707s and 25 Douglas DC-8. This was a surprise as the Pan Am bought hundred turboprop Douglas. When the DC-8 were ready, the Pan Am aircraft received only 18 and thus were eventually ordered 130 707's in various models. Pan Am never ordered another aircraft of Douglas, though he acquired some DC-10 with the purchase of National Airlines. ---- The Boeing 707 could carry twice as many passengers as the Douglas DC-7C and was twice as fast. Suddenly, a trip that took a week on a cruise ship could be done in less than seven hours. The jets were silent, flying above the storms, and people worshiped them. Thereafter, to fly across the Atlantic Ocean was no longer considered a daring, was common. This practically determined the end of travel by ship, ocean liners and put many out of service.

The first route of the Pan Am jet was aboard a 707 in 1958, a nonstop flight to Idlewild (now JFK) to Paris. In 1960 the clippers jet were flying all over the world. This was the heyday of the airlines, and the thing would never be as good again.
Later Pan Am ordered smaller jets, the Boeing 727 and 737 for domestic routes. The 737 were also used on domestic routes in West Germany.
In 1966, Pan Am shocked the aviation world again. She and Boeing announced plans to build a jet that could carry more than three hundred people. The Boeing 747 was the largest passenger plane that has flown.

Twice as large as the Boeing 707, with a range of 5,550 miles, the 747 was and still is, really monumental for its size. The fuselage of the first 747 was 68.6 meters long, its tail was as tall as a six-story building. Pressurized, it carried a ton of air. The cargo compartment had a capacity of 3,400 pieces of luggage, and could be unloaded in seven minutes. The total area of ​​the wing area was larger than a basketball court. "Something that big can actually get off the ground?" They not only could, as taken off. A Pan Am Boeing 747 was about 40 and they flew around the world.
Until the day December 21, 1988 when a piece of plastic explosive inside a Sony Walkman, in a suitcase exploded in a 747 clipper called the Maid of the Sea in the town of Lockerbie in Scotland.

And the dream began to die.
Many people cried. What kind of person could do such a thing, blow up a packed 747 in midair.
All Pan Am blamed for what happened, but aviation technicians admitted that there is not much you can do to prevent such a thing.
But for an airline that was already struggling, this was the last straw. Pacific routes to United Airlines were the routes of the Atlantic were for Delta and American Airlines. There was a plan to keep Pan Am operating on routes to the Caribbean and South America, as a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, but this plan soon collapsed.
In December 1991, Pan Am made its last flight, with a 727 to Miami.
The terminal "Pan Am Worldport" at JFK airport in New York became the "Delta Flight Center." In 1995, Martin Shugrue, a former executive at Pan Am, and Charles Cobb, who was ambassador to Iceland, joined to form an airline.
Martin knew where they could rent some Airbus A300 flights. As liquidator of Eastern Airlines, was in their interest to keep some aircraft operating from Eastern. The new company was the new owner's name and logo of Pan Am
And so, in September 1996, an Airbus A300 named Clipper Fair Wind resumed regular service from Miami to New York (JFK). Check-in was in a small booth in front of the booth of the IAB, and was shared with Icelandair and ALIA. The food was hot, the aircraft were large and clean, the film was funny and the price was reasonable. The next day, the Clipper America flew from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles.
Pan Am has grown rapidly. In one year, they were flying to Santo Domingo, San Juan and also for Chicago. Two Pan Am aircraft had grown to five (two leased Boeing 727) and two vice presidents they had 17.
The small window in front of the quiche of the IAB was not enough. And Pan Am leased half of Terminal 6, the former National Airlines Building that belonged to the first Pan Am in the past.

Pan Am also acquired Chalk's International Airlines, an operator of seaplanes that operated in the Bay of Biscayne.

The next plan was to incorporate the Carnival Airlines, a low fare and that was on the verge of bankruptcy, which competed with Pan Am in the number of routes. Some said that the owners of the Carnival found a convenient way to take their name from the aircraft before the inevitable happened. This is the route map of the three companies together, and this was their fleet. The result was a disaster. The level of service has deteriorated, the integrity of the order was terrible and the crowd was displeased.
The accident with the ValueJet plane helped to make the public realize how it really was an airline that operated at promotional rates. Major airlines were determined to wipe out small businesses, which had nothing more to offer besides low fares as an incentive.
In September, just one year after its founding, the new company was in trouble. They began to lose the Airbus and soon nothing was left.
The Pan Am declared bankruptcy in early 1998 and thus ceased to operate its scheduled routes. Martin Shugrue died in 1999, a broken man. His family and friends said he never recovered because he failed in his dream of restoring the glorious past of the Pan Am In late 1998, the remains of Pan Am was sold to Guilford Transportation, led by Timothy Mellon member an influential family in Pittsburgh, and pilot. The deal, which saved the Pan Am's bankruptcy, was facilitated by a bankruptcy judge too buddy, and I wanted to do everything in their power to keep the name of Pan Am flight.
Currently there are seven Boeing 727 flying, and was baptized with the name of the judge very comrade, Clipper A. Jay Cristol. And another called Clipper Walt Helmer in honor of the first flight instructor Timothy Mellon.
The new company is now a profitable company, and plans to expand slowly, starting to operate scheduled services out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Gary (Chicago) and Sanford (near Orlando), Florida on October 7, 1999. Pan Am has flown sub contracted by Air Aruba, Kiwi and other airlines, and recently demonstrated its intention to buy the kiwi, but the deal did not go.
Pan Am is currently based at Pease International Tradeport, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where with a subsidiary also performs repairs on Boeing 727s to other companies, with the name of Pan Am Services. Another subsidiary provides services in Casa 212 aircraft, Pan Am and also operates two of these aircraft with the secondary name of Boston Maine Airways.

This is one of Pan Am 727 with the new "winglets."
The 727 is being adjusted to meet the noise standards III.



Tenerife air disaster!!!!!!!!!



The Tenerife Air Disaster occurred on March 27, 1977, a Sunday, the Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands (Spain), when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets, one belonging to the Dutch company Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the other the U.S. Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), crashed on the runway of the airport, causing the death of 583 people and wounded 61 others.
It is considered today the largest number of accident victims in the history of world aviation.

Lockerbie bombing!!!!!!!



The Lockerbie bombing was a terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. The Boeing 747-121 departed from London Heathrow Airport in London to New York, and exploded in the air just above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people (259 on the plane and 11 on the ground) of 21 different nationalities. Of this total, 189 victims were citizens of the United States of America.
The explosion of Pan Am Boeing 747 was one of several terrorist attacks planned by the government of Libya. In 2002, Muammar Gaddafi pledged $ 2.7 billion in compensation for the families of American victims, 40% of the money freed when UN sanctions were suspended, 40% when U.S. trade sanctions were suspended, and 20% when Libya was removed from the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism. A year earlier, the Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison, accused of being responsible for the explosion.