Re: trivia questions re PSA

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If PSA served Half Moon Bay (HAF) it would need to have been a  
smaller piston or turboprop, since the runway, which is now 5,000',  
was formerly 3,500'.  It's a small strip on the coast side of San  
Mateo County. There is a famous story about the first flight of Air  
California (not PSA), an Electra, diverted to HAF when SFO and  
Oakland were below minimums, but I did not know it had actual service.

Lake Tahoe (TVL) service was Electras, and briefly 727s.  I took the  
Electra service from SFO to TVL a number of times.  It's an exciting  
approach - it's a left hand pattern, you come in on a downwind leg  
over the lake, really close to a ridge, then make a really sharp left- 
hand turn, not much of a base leg, then another sharp left turn, and  
land.  TVL is in a relatively narrow valley between mountains.  727s  
could not execute that approach, and were restricted to straight-in  
approaches over the lake, and departures over the lake. I think 727s  
were eventually banned due to noise issues, and were uneconomical in  
any case.  I miss the Electra flights, though.  Air California  
operated them to TVL as well.

-- 
Michael C. Berch
mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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