Top Banana In the West

Growing up an airline brat prior to deregulation was the best way to live like a millionaire without actually being one. I mean, damn, I was so used to flying as a little kid that I thought a car trip was pretty exotic. I don't even remember my first flight. How could I? I was 9 months old!

Deregulation did put more butts in the seats, but it destroyed the protected world that the airlines lived in. With the controlled routes doled out by the CAB a thing of the past, the weaker ones went under or merged, including the one my dear old daddy worked with.

He worked for what had to have been one of the most, um, colorful ones. Hughes Airwest was famous for two things....first off, being owned by Howard Hughes (or as Dad referred to him, Uncle Howie), and for those bright yellow planes with the funky logo on the tail (a stylized "HH"). The route map stretched from Canada to Mexico, all along the west coast.

The airline merged with Republic Airlines in 1980, and those big yellow planes became part of history. But some of the airline's employees are still around and have set up their own website dedicated to all things RW.

Oh yeah, on the "In Memory" page.....the gentleman last on the list has a special place in the Jet Set Chick's heart.