The Toy Airport Set

Looking back, there have been so many things in my life that could have kickstarted a lifelong interest in aviation. For one thing, I had planes fly over my house every day, and still no interest was sparked until I was 15. My dad used to take annual business trips to Frankfurt and the whole family would go pick him up at the airport, and still no interest. I only flew for the first time when I was 8. But my favorite missed opportunity, if thats what you want to call it, was my toy airport set.

When I was about 5, I had a little toy airport set complete with a control tower, "gates", and planes. It even had little baggage trucks with the AA logo on the side. I had three little model planes, and although I don't remember the type, I do remember that there was an American, a Continental, and a Northwest jet. I would play with the set all the time, but somehow the fun never translated to the real ones. Only now, being an AvGeek, do I really wish I had it. But, of course, as with most of the toys I loved as a kid, I have no idea where it is.

I've come to realize that almost everyone has a favorite or cherished aviation related memory from when they were young. Maybe it's seeing a special plane fly overhead, or visiting an air and space museum. Maybe it's a first flight or a favorite toy. What sparked your inner AvGeek? Maybe the memorable event happened after you became an aviation enthusiast. Leave a comment below and tell your story of what fueled your interest in aviation.

What's Behind a Flight Number

Everybody, both occasional travelers and seasoned frequent fliers alike, notices a flight number at one point or another. Whether they're trying to check the status of their flight or identifying an odd or special sequence of numbers, fliers encounter flight numbers all the time as part of the travel experience. But what goes into the selection of those flight numbers? While the selection is a little bit random, the selection of flight numbers is not a completely arbitrary assignment as some may think. Each airline has its own numbering system, and while some have complex conventions, many have much simpler ideas for how to give flights their numbers.

A large number of airlines follow the traditional standard of eastbound and northbound flights receiving even numbers and westbound and southbound flights receiving odd numbers. Other airlines will have an odd flight number for outbound flights from the hub airport, and the return flight have an even number. In almost all cases, airlines chose to have the flight that returns to the hub airport have the next sequential number that follows the flight number that left the hub airport. If an airport has more than one flight per day, they will often have all flights have sequential flight numbers. Airlines also have a range system in which the range of numbers a flight number can be is determined by where the flight goes or if it is operated by a codeshare partner or regional affiliate. For example, Air Canada has flight numbers 0-99 operate to Asia Pacific, 100-199 is for domestic transcontinental, 200-299 for western domestic and so on.

Airlines will also assign special flight numbers to certain flights. For example, JetBlue's flight from New York to Bogota, Colombia (via Orlando) carries flight 1783 in honor of Simón Bolívar, the leader of Colombia's independence movement. One of Southwest Airlines' flights from San Antonio to Las Vegas flies as flight 711. Air Canada flies flight 88 to Shanghai because the number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese folk culture. While JetBlue and Southwest are the primary users of this method of special flight numbers, all airlines have some sort of special flight within their flight numbers. Almost all airlines operate a flight 1, a flight they operate as their flagship flight. Many international airlines operate their flagship between their home airport and London or New York.

Ethiopian Resumes 787 Flights Early

Christmas came early for Washington area plane spotters as Ethiopian flight 500 flew as a 787 from Addis Ababa to Washington via Rome, replacing the 777-200ER that had operated the route for more than four months. Previously, Ethiopian said they would resume 787 flights to Washington Dulles beginning May 17, but instead, on Tuesday of last week, they an announced the Dreamliner would be flying to Dulles starting the next day! Ethiopian will continue to connect Addis Ababa to Washington (via Rome) using their 787s until June 16, when they will switch the route back to 777-200ERs, with no word on when, if ever, the 787 will return to Dulles. But until then, Dulles is once again the only airport in the world to process daily flights by all three of the major new airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner, operated by Ethiopian, the 747-8 Intercontinental, operated by Lufthansa, and the A380 Whalebus, operated by Air France.

All Dreamliners Set To Return Flying

Two weeks ago, the FAA officially gave its approval to Boeing's redesigned battery system and lifted the grounding order on the 787 Dreamliner, and already, airlines are rushing to put their planes back into service. Since then, all eight airlines who fly the jet have announced schedules for resuming commercial service, two rushing to do so so fast that they are already flying passengers. Boeing has already dispatched teams to help airlines with the installation of the new system, and they say each fix takes approximately 5 days per aircraft. Boeing still expects to make good on its promise of delivering 60 aircraft by the end of the year.

Ethiopian was the first airline to restart flights, resuming service on a short route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday the 27th, just 8 days after the grounding was lifted. Since then, the airline has resumed service to Dubai and Frankfurt, with London Heathrow to follow. Lusaka, Harare, and Mumbai are also expected to see service within the month of May.

The two Japanese carriers, JAL and ANA, are expected to resume commercial flights starting on June 1st, after both airlines complete several airworthiness tests on their aircraft. JAL's service is expected to be primarily international, while ANA will focus on its domestic network.

LOT Polish, the airline that needed its 787s the most, will not resume flights until June 5th on it's Warsaw-Chicago route. Two days after that, Warsaw-Toronto will be launched by the airline on 787 equipment.

Qatar Airways has also already resumed flights, first operating them between Doha and Dubai from May 1st, before operating long haul routes to London Heathrow on May 15th and Frankfurt on May 26th. Munich will also see Qatari 787s starting May 20th, with Zurich, Switzerland expected to see service June 1st.

United Airlines will run domestic flights beginning May 20th between Houston and Chicago, May 21st between Houston and Denver, and May 24th between Houston and Los Angeles. The airline will resume its international service beginning June 10th between Houston and London Heathrow, and between Denver and Tokyo Narita.

LAN Airlines will resume flights from Santiago de Chile and Los Angeles via Lima, Peru beginning June 1st. This was the only route LAN was operating using the 787 before the grounding. Santiago de Chile to Lima will begin July 8th.

Air India is expected to resume their 787 commercial flights on May 22nd, between Delhi and Kolkata, and between Delhi and Bangladore on the 24th. The airline's international service will resume June 1st to London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle.