Pan Am
Joined: Oct 2002
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 8,201
Likes: 347
From: London UK
In 1966 PA77 departed Tegel 1330, Hamburg 1415/1450, Prestwick 1625/1715, JFK 1925. That's 11 hours elapsed.
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 238
Likes: 0
From: UK
The show does have its compensations, such as the divine Colette (Karine Vanasse)
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: planet earth
Loved the Pan am show, those were the days! Glamorous, poise, fun.
Agree depends on what country you are in, but am also surprised which airline you worked for as recently a very revealing flight attendants bikinis calendar, sale for charity? That definitely gives an immediate impression of what the airline is all about! Say no more!
Agree depends on what country you are in, but am also surprised which airline you worked for as recently a very revealing flight attendants bikinis calendar, sale for charity? That definitely gives an immediate impression of what the airline is all about! Say no more!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,858
Likes: 18
From: SW England
I'm like Redhill Phil - I don't know much about airline work either, and I lack the specialist knowledge to pick out technical mistakes, nor do I think they are particularly important for 95% of viewers (but hear Phil and I shout at the screen if, for example, Poirot travels from Paddington to Bristol on the Southern Railway!)
However, like him I do recognise complete c**p when I see it, and this is, without doubt, the genuine article. Total tosh!
However, like him I do recognise complete c**p when I see it, and this is, without doubt, the genuine article. Total tosh!
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,155
Likes: 112
From: There and here
The flight deck crew seem so young, especially the captain, who looks no more than 35 yrs old......
I might be wrong, but wouldn't such captains be in the 50-60 yrs old range bearing in mind seniority and the status involved with the international routes (well that means all the routes 
) ?
SHJ
I might be wrong, but wouldn't such captains be in the 50-60 yrs old range bearing in mind seniority and the status involved with the international routes (well that means all the routes ) ?SHJ
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 238
Likes: 0
From: UK
SHJ - you have struck on one of the storylines; both the skipper and the FO have histories that require this connundrum be explained...
Just to get a tasteful glimpse of the delicious Colette you have to wade through those histories.
Just to get a tasteful glimpse of the delicious Colette you have to wade through those histories.
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 755
Likes: 26
From: Dublin, Ireland. (No, I just live here.)
This article has some comments on the show, from a Pan Am pilot and stewardess who have been together since 1969.
Question: What do you like about the TV show?
Jan: I especially like seeing the large old Pan Am logo and the interior set of the 707 jets. It's more or less correct. The show is set five years into the beginning of the jet age for commercial airlines.
Q: What's hokey about the show?
John: They spend way too much time on the different exotic layovers of the same crew. That would never have happened. The captain also looks like he's 28 years old; in real life our captains were all 45 or older. We had to work our way up. Captains in their 20s were unheard of.
Jan: In those days, Pan Am did not fly domestically - there were regulations - and those eight-hour trips overseas were hard work! We (the stewardesses) were so tired we would just fall into bed. And there's no way the same crew would fly to Paris, Rio, Hong Kong. Nobody flew to three continents that way.
Jan: I especially like seeing the large old Pan Am logo and the interior set of the 707 jets. It's more or less correct. The show is set five years into the beginning of the jet age for commercial airlines.
Q: What's hokey about the show?
John: They spend way too much time on the different exotic layovers of the same crew. That would never have happened. The captain also looks like he's 28 years old; in real life our captains were all 45 or older. We had to work our way up. Captains in their 20s were unheard of.
Jan: In those days, Pan Am did not fly domestically - there were regulations - and those eight-hour trips overseas were hard work! We (the stewardesses) were so tired we would just fall into bed. And there's no way the same crew would fly to Paris, Rio, Hong Kong. Nobody flew to three continents that way.
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: London
The comment you missed out......
John: I have a friend who was a pilot and he considers the show a comedyRead more: 'Pan Am' TV show rings true, and a bit hokey, for retired Bellingham stewardess and pilot husband - Entertainment News - bellinghamherald.com
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 150
Likes: 0
From: UK
Shame about the apparent technical errors. The episode showing JFK's visit to Berlin showed a LH B707/720 tail in a view from the Terminal Building, don't think that LH were permitted to operate into Tempelhof?
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 247
Likes: 0
From: Aberdeen
Tankertrash, for the same reasons l don`t watch Sky`s aircrash investigations.
The last 2% of facts, always wrong, kills it.
Apologies for the hijack.
p.s. lt does look as though the cabin crew gave up, doesn`t it ?
The last 2% of facts, always wrong, kills it.
Apologies for the hijack.
p.s. lt does look as though the cabin crew gave up, doesn`t it ?
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 883
Likes: 0
From: Rugby
I think some of you guys are taking this show too seriously. It is not a documentary, it is basically a soap opera based in the 60's. I take the points about the same crew working together on all routes at all times is not realistic, but it is a PLAY. There would be little continuity if the crews changed every week even though that would be more realistic.
As in any soap, the happenings are telescoped into a short period and perhaps more of them occur than in real life, such is the way of a TV series. Those of you in the UK will know the British soap, "Emmerdale" ostensibly about a small village in Yorkshire. There have been more people killed in one way or another in that small village than in many a large city.
Just sit back and enjoy it for what it is a bit of light entertainment.
As in any soap, the happenings are telescoped into a short period and perhaps more of them occur than in real life, such is the way of a TV series. Those of you in the UK will know the British soap, "Emmerdale" ostensibly about a small village in Yorkshire. There have been more people killed in one way or another in that small village than in many a large city.
Just sit back and enjoy it for what it is a bit of light entertainment.
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,344
Likes: 80
From: Bedford, UK
Well my last (and only) recollection of Pan Am was flight from LAX on a standby ticket in 1979. Even then their CC had the reputation of being the oldest in the business (one would like to think that they equated experience with quality of service.....)
However, that trip was memorable for a 'Dirty Harry' type LAPD officer sporting some sort of long barreled magnum whilst trying to chat up the check-in staff (he clearly thought size did count) and a disgruntled US customer jumping on to the desk to shout that he would never use Pan Am again. Can't remember what caused the mayhem (having spent the day in the bar waiting) but glamorous it certainly wasn't.
However, that trip was memorable for a 'Dirty Harry' type LAPD officer sporting some sort of long barreled magnum whilst trying to chat up the check-in staff (he clearly thought size did count) and a disgruntled US customer jumping on to the desk to shout that he would never use Pan Am again. Can't remember what caused the mayhem (having spent the day in the bar waiting) but glamorous it certainly wasn't.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,656
Likes: 0
From: fort sheridan, il
Pan Am Error
I might have missed it, but no one seemed to notice that in the images of the plane, the navigation lights are incorectly installed. In most, not all, but most of the scenes of the plane, the LEFT WING (PORT) has the GREEN LIGHT, and the right wing, (starboard) has the red light.
AS we all know, the correct way is PORT WING =red light, Starboard Wing = green light. AS a pan am pilot told me in ground school in 1975...just think: PORT WING PORT WINE.
I did call the production company and in some later episodes the problem is rectified.
I agree that the little french girl, Colette, sure is nice. I also agree that the short one with the large forehead annoys the hell out of me. the two sisters are nice and I think the best looking one is the one that is being turned into a spy. (Kate).
natrually, I think of myself as Ted...the copilot...he is the better pilot between the two and at least is complying with seniority.
AS we all know, the correct way is PORT WING =red light, Starboard Wing = green light. AS a pan am pilot told me in ground school in 1975...just think: PORT WING PORT WINE.
I did call the production company and in some later episodes the problem is rectified.
I agree that the little french girl, Colette, sure is nice. I also agree that the short one with the large forehead annoys the hell out of me. the two sisters are nice and I think the best looking one is the one that is being turned into a spy. (Kate).
natrually, I think of myself as Ted...the copilot...he is the better pilot between the two and at least is complying with seniority.
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,339
Likes: 0
From: earth
Ahh, P.C. has destroyed the males expectation of having a Stew fitting the show's example, it's success is an honest example of a real market desire. Asian and S.A. airlines still have expectations of appearance that extend beyond your uniform, hell as a guy I like it.
