NORTHWEST A LEADER IN AIR TRANSPORT FIRSTS

“We’ve come a long way” the national newspaper USA Today said in a recent story wherein it listed “the 25 pivotal changes that transformed the way we travel” during the past quarter century.

            Interestingly, three of these 25 changes, actually three of the first 13 listed, were inaugurated by Northwest Airlines.

            Number 4:  “Working out of his garage in 1987 Northwest Airlines pilot Robert Plath affixed wheels and a pullout handle to a suitcase, creating the first rolling vertical carry-on.  Available only to the airline industry at first, he mass-produced his ‘Travel Pro’ rollaboard in 1991.”

            Number 5:  “Smoke-free flights.  Northwest Airlines became the first major U. S. carrier to ban smoking on its North American flights in 1988.”  (In 1995, Delta was the first carrier to ban smoking on all flights).

            Number 13:  “Seat-back entertainment systems.  When Northwest tested the first in-seat video system in 1988 it launched an arms race in seat-back entertainment that continues today with the rollout of video-on-demand and live TV.” 

            Another Northwest “first” which the Wall St. Journal later attributed to another carrier was the first air-ground telephone service ever offered in a commercial plane.  The system was installed by
AT & T engineers and Northwest’s Communications people in Stratocruiser No. 704 in 1957.  The system worked as long as the plane was within a 175-mile radius of two special ground stations in Chicago and Detroit.  A $1.50 charge covered the air-ground connection after which regular land-line rates prevailed.  AT & T farmed out six units.  The other five went to private and business planes.

            And Northwest most certainly can be credited with one of the very first “firsts” in commercial aviation.  Early in 1927 it obtained three three-passenger Stinson “Detroiter” ships from famous aircraft designer and builder Eddie Stinson.  Northwest’s “Detroiters” were the first closed-cabin passenger planes used anywhere in the United States in commercial aviation.

            Other items listed in the article were - #1 On-line Booking - #2 Transportation Services Agents (TSA) of Homeland Security, and #3 E Ticketing.  Some lesser noted items - #19 Flights without meals and #25 End of SST traveling with the demise of the Concord. 

            Initially, Stinson’s first three “Detroiters” were destined for another airline.   But Northwest’s founder, Col. Lewis H. Brittin, convinced Stinson that Northwest should have them.

            We came across an interesting tidbit about those Stinsons. The following is an excerpt from a story in “Aviation” magazine dated March 14, 1927.

            “While the financing was in progress, an order was placed with the Stinson Aircraft Corporation for Stinson planes, equipped with Wright Whirlwind engines. These planes are of the enclosed cabin type, heated for winter flying, equipped with brakes on the wheels and hand starting. Balsa wood is used to insulate the cabins of these planes, because of the cold weather conditions that prevail in the Northwest. The planes are also equipped for night flying.

            On Oct. 31, a fleet of three planes left Detroit and flew in formation to Chicago in 2 hr. 40 min, and from Chicago to Milwaukee in 50 min. Twelve people were carried on this trip. Edward A. Stinson, president of the Stinson Aircraft Corporation, Capt. Raymond B. Collins, vice-president of the United