CHA-TPA-CHA July 2010 pt.1.

It was time for my annual Summer trip to Tampa.  Usually, I prefer to fly Allegiant Air, becuase I love direct flights.  However, departures out of PIE were, at the time, at 7am.  I did that once and once was enough.  Delta Air Lines was offering awesome fares from CHA to TPA.  This gave me a great chance to fly on a Mesaba Saab, which are being phased out.

Flight #1:
Delta Connection Flight 3006 (Operated by Mesaba Airlines) 7/6/2010
N439XJ (delivered 4/29/1998)
Seat: 6A
CHA- 5              RWY: 20
ATL- D31          RWY: 8L
ETD: 10:10am  ATD: 10:05am
ETA: 11:20am  ATA: 10:54am
Crew: F/A- Rita  C/A- Cass  F/O- Lamont
Base: MEM
I/B:   3005 ATL
O/B: 3028 HHH
Load Factor: 34/34= 100%
Cruising info: 13,000ft @ 267kts.
5th flight on Saab 340B+
1st flight on aircraft
Map: DL 3006

Boarding happened about 20 minutes before ETD.  Even though it was a full flight, boarding took no time.

Pictures at CHA:

N333EN- US Airways Express flight 4510 to Charlotte.

My flight having just arrived from Atlanta.

N408NV- Allegiant Air flight 745 from Orlando-Sanford.

Boarding my flight, Delta Connection flight 3006 to Atlanta.

My view for the next 32 minutes

Look at the General Electric CT7-9B!

Picture by my dad: Rotating from Runway 20

Picture by my dad: Just off 20

Picture by my dad: Gear up

The takeoff video can be found here: Delta Connection (Mesaba Airlines) 3006 Take-off CHA

Despite the short flight-time of 32 minutes, Rita did two water runs!  Very impressive.

On our way up to cruising altitude.

The cockpit of my flight from Chattanooga.

On time: 10/10
Aircraft: 10/10
Crew:    10/10
Seats:      8/10 (Missed the side armrest on this gal -2)
Service: 10/10
Avg:      48/50=A

After a short 32 minutes, we were down on runway 8L, 7 minutes over the estimated flight-time.

The landing video can be found here: Delta Connection (Mesaba Airlines) 3006 Landing ATL

This being my first time at ATL on my own, I wasn't quite sure how long it would take me to transfer.  My nerves weren't relieved after parking at the gate, because they made us wait until the tagged-bags were out of the cargo-hold. Finally at about 11:10, the door opened.  I was directed, by the television monitors, that my gate was in Concourse A. 

My ride to Tampa, N3741S- Delta Air Lines flight 2191.

N549US- Delta Air Lines flight 1082 to Detroit.

Wing view.

The takeoff video can be found here: Delta Air Lines 2191 Take-off ATL

Flight #2:
Delta Air Lines Flight 2191 (Stubbed to 9834) 7/6/2010
N3741S (delivered 1/27/2001)
Seat: 18A
ATL- A16         RWY: 9L
TPA- E64          RWY:18R
ETD: 12:15pm  ATD: 12:14pm
ETA:   1:37pm  ATA:   1:30pm
Crew: F/A's- Samuel, Jean, Patricia, Franklin  C/A- UNK  F/O-UNK
Base: ATL
I/B:   1516 DEN
O/B: 1772 ATL
Load Factor: 16/16F + 135/144Y= 151/160= 94%
Cruising info: FL370 @ 463kts.
2nd flight on B737-832
1st flight on aircraft
Map: DL 9834
 
Boarding was 10 minutes late, at about 11:55.  Boarding was utter chaos!  People were strewn about at the gate.  Finally when they called my zone, I think it might have been Zone 4, I zipped into line and boarded my second 738.  We had an aircraft swap in ATL, prior to my arrival.  The original aircraft was N390DA, however the aircraft was cancelled in COS due to a maintenance problem.  I was hoping that 3741 would have IFE, but alas it was not so.  It was pretty busy at this time.  After 13 minutes of taxiing, which isn't bad for ATL, we were off of 9L.

My flight on it's way up to 34,000 feet.

Approaching the west coast of Florida.

All crew members were very friendly.  Cabin service was the usual soft drink and snack, Biscoff cookies.  Since there wasn't IFE, I just looked out the window and snoozed.  After 58 minutes, the captain planted the aircraft firmly onto runway 18R.

The landing video can be found here: Delta Air Lines 2191 Landing TPA

N947DL- Delta Air Lines flight 66 to Atlanta.

The front office.

N3741S waiting to take more people to Atlanta as flight 1772.

On time: 10/10
Aircraft:   5/10 (Scratchy windows -5)
Crew:    10/10
Seats:    10/10
Service: 10/10
Avg:      45/50=B

More pics from my trip can be found on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rokinryan/
I will put part 2 up soon!  Please tell me what you think and if, and where, I can improve.