In honor of the 4th of July, I did this flight from where the War of Independence began, in Massachusetts, to North Carolina, where the Battle of King’s Mountain took place, a battle where one of the commanding officers on the American side was a future governor of my home state of Tennessee, John Sevier.
Server: Solo
Airline: American Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 (Astrojet)
Origin: General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, East Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)
Destination: Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)
Flight Number: AA1348
Route: KBOS-KCLT
Seat: 17F (Main Cabin Extra)
Time En Route: 2 Hours 9 Minutes
Boarding at Gate B17 in Boston. American has had 3 “Astrojet” aircraft, although only two of them, both 737-800s. have worn the actual 1964-68 Astrojet livery featured prominently on the Boeing 707, 720, 727, and Convair 990. N905NN is the second Astrojet 737, replacing N951AA in 2017 after the latter airframe was repainted in the standard American livery. A 757-200, N679AN, wore the pre-1964 red “Lightning Bolt” livery originally on the 707s, 720s, and Convair 990s, as well as on a wide variety of propeller-driven airliners.
Taxiing out for takeoff. This particular aircraft has been parked at Philadelphia for several months following a collision on the ground with a company A321 and it’s currently unknown when it’ll return to service.
CFM56-7Bs spooling up at the end of Runway 15R
Leaving Logan
Climbing out of the Boston Area
Cruising over North Jersey
Descending over southern Virginia into North Carolina’s largest city
Landing on Runway 18R at CLT. If memory serves me right, that mountain in the background is the actual King’s Mountain from which the town in Cleveland and Gaston Counties and the battle named for the town, take their name. Cleveland County is more famous today as the birthplace of banjo great Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) , whom I had the opportunity to see live at the Ryman Auditorium almost 20 years ago.
Taxiing into the A Gates at Charlotte, American’s Mid-South hub
Deplaned from N905NN at Gate A2, which will be continuing in a couple hours to Cleveland as AA1562
