#n292ue

It’s sometime in the late 90s and an Air Wisconsin BAe-146 is readied for it’s milk run from Denver to Aspen. Though flying into Aspen even in good weather may not exactly be most pilots’ definition of a milk run! For years, the BAe-146 was the only passenger jet that could fly into Aspen/Sardy Field (ASE). There are noise sensitivities in the area, naturally, and aircraft are restricted in wingspan to 95 feet or less due to the non-standard displacement of the parallel taxiway from the runway. But most challenging, ASE sits in a box valley at 7800 feet elevation with mountains on three sides rising to 13,000 feet. For the longest time, the BAe-146 was the only commercial jet that could meet ASE’s most stringent restriction, being able to execute a missed approach with one engine out seeing as to how an engine out in a 146 is only a 25% loss of total thrust. Air Wisconsin (flying as United Express) and Mesaba (flying as Northwest Airlink/Northwest Jetlink) were for quite a time the main operators at ASE. Newer aircraft now serve Aspen that have more powerful engines that can safely accommodate the engine out requirement, but many miss the BAe-146’s four engines and STOL capability that was once a staple of ASE passenger services. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #airlines #planeporn #TheChickenport (follow this tag to see more of my collection) #airlines #aerosanctuary #BritishAerospace #BAE #BAe146 #UnitedExpress #AirWisconsin #N292UE #400Scale #GeminiJets #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #Avgeekery #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge

Feels a bit like sunset at Denver International in the late 1990s with a United Express Bae-146 getting unloaded after arriving from Aspen while a Boeing 727-200 is prepared for its evening departure to Los Angeles……. United’s “Battleship Gray” livery debuted in January 1993, the first aircraft painted in these colors was a Boeing 747-400. They were part of a rebranding under CEO Stephen Wolf to project a more professional business-like image over the earlier Saul Bass-designed livery. Joke then was that Stephen Wolf had a thing for dark liveries as before he came to United, he was at US Airways and was at the helm there when they rebranded from the bare metal/red/blue US Air colors to the dark blue colored US Airways livery. I’d read that ATC and United crews disliked the Battleship Gray livery as it was hard to see at night and on a gray winter/rainy day. From a historical perspective, these colors cover a turbulent time at United- from the massive losses in 1991-92 following Desert Storm/Gulf War that resulted in the ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) that gave the employees 55% control fo the airline which made United the largest employee owned company in the world at the time. The livery was superseded by the United’s final pre-merger livery in 2003 after United filed for bankruptcy and the ESOP was terminated. When United cancelled its pension plan in 2005, I believe it was the largest pension default in US history. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #airlines #planeporn #TheChickenport (follow this tag to see more of my collection) #airlines #aerosanctuary #BritishAerospace #BAE #BAe146 #UnitedExpress #AirWisconsin #N292UE #Boeing #727 #United #N7291U #400Scale #GeminiJets #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #Avgeekery #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge