Got a regional flight for y’all today on a historic route, or at least part of one. Back during Delta Air Lines’s first years as a passenger airline, back when that was a side business to carrying the mail, back when it was still headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana (Delta held its annual shareholder meetings in the boardroom of the bank in Monroe where the airline was first chartered up until 1997), it connected the city with Atlanta, Georgia (to which it moved in 1941 and has been based ever since) via Jackson, Mississippi, Birmingham, Alabama, and Montgomery, the capital of the latter state. After the airline’s revival in 1934 with the awarding of a new airmail contract, the route resumed, continuing on from Atlanta to Charleston, South Carolina with the trusty tri-motor Stinson Model T. Since that time, Delta has been in Montgomery in some form or another, serving the airport with the DC-9, 727-100, 737-200, 737-300, and even the DC-8 on occasion. With the retirement of the 737 Classics from the Delta fleet, MGM has been a regional-only destination for Delta for around 2 decades now. Currently, service is provided five times a day on 76-seat CRJ-900s operated by Endeavor Air.
Server: Solo
Airline: Delta Connection (Operated by Endeavor Air)
Aircraft: Bombardier CRJ-900
Origin: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia (ATL)
Destination: Montgomery Regional Airport, Montgomery, Alabama (MGM)
Flight Number: DL5161
Route: KATL-KMGM
Seat: 13D (Main Cabin)
Time En Route: 47 Minutes
After being delayed around an hour due to some afternoon thunderstorms between Atlanta and Montgomery, we’re finally ready to board our aircraft at Gate D27 for the quick hop to Montgomery. Across from us is 757 Heaven, with a number of Delta Atari Ferraris going to or coming from Central America and the Carribean parked at the E Gates. The whole scene takes place under the watchful eyes of Atlanta’s air traffic controllers, situated in one of the world’s tallest ATC towers.
We’ve got a fairly long taxi as we join the evening rush out of Atlanta. Right now, it’s mostly flights to Europe and the West Coast, with regional jets like ours sprinkled throughout the mix. We’re in one of the exit row seats on this mostly-full CRJ-900, affording us a great deal more legroom than we’d otherwise have in the main cabin.
Takeoff from ATL by one of the fuel tank farms with one of Delta’s maintenance hangars mostly obscured by the wing. In the time since we pushed back, taxied, and begun our takeoff roll, the ATC tower has had its lights switched on. The dull pink edifice is a welcome nighttime sight to hundreds of weary aircrews, as it welcomes them home or at least to a hot shower and a warm hotel bed.
Rapidly climbing out of the Atlanta area to our very low cruising altitude of 12,000 feet. Despite our flight being as short at it is, we will have in-flight service by the cabin crew, to make up for the earlier delay. It’s not going to be much compared to mainline aircraft, as is typical for a regional jet, but it’s the thought that matters.
Cruising in the evening light just across the Alabama line. Cabin crew gave us a bag of Cheez-Its and a Coca-Cola, which was very much appreciated. Can’t go wrong with a light snack on quick regional flight!
Watching the Sun sink lower in the western sky in our descent near Alexander City, Alabama. Our captain was right earlier; we spent only around 20 minutes in cruise.
Evening arrival at Dannelly Field on Runway 28 with a F-35A Lightning II of the Alabama Air National Guard’s 100th Fighter Squadron, 187th Fighter Wing taxiing out for some pattern work. The squadron, nicknamed the “Red Tails”, continues the legacy of the world-famous 332nd Fighter Group, known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Taxiing clear of the runway with the F-35A, which turns out to be the lead element of a two-ship flight, holding short for a B200 King Air arriving behind us from Muscle Shoals. Hopefully we get to see the Lightnings take off once we’ve deplaned.
Looking at our jet at Gate 6 while the wingman of the F-35A flight gets airborne in burner. It’s always fun flying historical routes like the ones that Delta Air Lines got its start on and it’s also demonstrative of how far flying has come since the days of the tri-motor Stinsons. C.E. Woolman would probably be struck speechless if he were around today and was told that the crop-dusting operation to “fly this poison on this cotton where it’ll kill the boll weevils and won’t kill the farm”, as the late, great Jerry Clower put it, had evolved into an industry leader flying to 64 countries on more than 1,000 routes.
