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PBA's YS-11 ferry flights from Malta to Miami
Photos courtesy of Nancy Zeglin, taken in May 1984.
I was very happy to win a
large collection of 1980s-vintage PBA Flyer
newsletters on Ebay in the Spring of 2011. The PBA Flyer
was published quarterly by Provincetown Boston Airline and
detailed the operations of the company including news about the latest
routes and destinations, aircraft acquisitions, traffic statistics,
station news as well as employee profiles. One particularly interesting
article in the Summer 1984 issue detailed the ferry flights 4 YS-11s (3 ex-Pyramid Airlines and 1 ex-Gabon Air Force) from Malta
to Miami in May '84. A related article profiled one of the
YS-11 pilots, Captain Nancy Zeglin. (The articles can be found at the
bottom of this page.)
Much to my shock, a few days after reading about the YS-11s, I received an email from Nancy! While I had been looking through the old PBA newsletters, she had simultaneously discovered my website and offered to send several photos of the ferry flight. I still can't believe the timing of this coincidence. Nancy's comments appear in italics.
Nancy wrote: I flew for PBA from 1982-1988. I was a sightseeing pilot in PVC the first summer and than flew F/O on the EMB-110, DC-3, Martin 404 and YS-11. I flew Captain on the C-402, DC-3 and YS-11. I have some fun old photos of the YS-11 in the Pyramid Airline paint. I was lucky enough to be one 4 PBA pilots who went to Malta and ferried the 4 YS-11's back to the US in May of 1984. I'm not sure what type of photos you may be interested in, if any, but I'd be happy to scan a few and send them to you. I'm a 757/767 Captain now for UAL, living and based in Chicago. Love your website, thanks for keeping the PBA history alive.
The above photo shows 3 of the 4 YS-11s on the ramp in Malta. I flew as F/O in N219P. The other three were N187P, N159P and N924. They all got new N numbers for PBA. The P probably stood for Pyramid Airlines, but it worked just as well for PBA. We departed on May 26, 1984 from Malta to Ciampino, Italy. Over the next five days, we stopped at Zurich, Switzerland - Southend, England - Stornoway, Scotland - Reykjavik, Iceland - Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland - Frobisher Bay, NWT - Septile, Canada - Bangor, ME - Salisbury, MD - Jacksonville, FL, and finally landed in Miami on May 31. 33.4 hours total.
N219P (msn 2109) made its first flight on June 18, 1969 and was delivered to Piedmont Airlines as "Golden State Pacemaker" on October 1st. Pyramid Airlines owned the aircraft from 1982 until it was purchased by PBA in early 1984.
N159P (msn 2057) first flew on January 31, 1968 and joined the Piedmont fleet as "York River Pacemaker" on August 19, 1968. Pyramid leased the aircraft in 1977 and purchased it a year later. These aircraft are pictured at Malta shortly before the long ferry flight across Europe and the north Atlantic.
N219P at Malta in May 1984, still wearing the basic Piedmont color scheme.
N924 (msn 2129) on the ground in Greenland. Despite the color scheme, it was never operated by Piedmont. It had previously flown with the Gabonaise Air Force, registered as TR-KIA.he ground in Greenland.
PBA pilot Tom Ashby (he died in the E-110 accident in JAX) on the right, and Larry from Pyramid Airlines on the left. Salisbury, MD.
Thanks again to Nancy Zeglin for the great photos and information! Here's the aforementioned article from the Summer 1984 issue of the PBA Flyer.
RETURN TO INDEX
If you would like to share photos, stories or additional information about any of the airlines or aircraft on this site, please CONTACT ME I would love to hear from you!
Updated November 28, 2011
Much to my shock, a few days after reading about the YS-11s, I received an email from Nancy! While I had been looking through the old PBA newsletters, she had simultaneously discovered my website and offered to send several photos of the ferry flight. I still can't believe the timing of this coincidence. Nancy's comments appear in italics.
Nancy wrote: I flew for PBA from 1982-1988. I was a sightseeing pilot in PVC the first summer and than flew F/O on the EMB-110, DC-3, Martin 404 and YS-11. I flew Captain on the C-402, DC-3 and YS-11. I have some fun old photos of the YS-11 in the Pyramid Airline paint. I was lucky enough to be one 4 PBA pilots who went to Malta and ferried the 4 YS-11's back to the US in May of 1984. I'm not sure what type of photos you may be interested in, if any, but I'd be happy to scan a few and send them to you. I'm a 757/767 Captain now for UAL, living and based in Chicago. Love your website, thanks for keeping the PBA history alive.
The above photo shows 3 of the 4 YS-11s on the ramp in Malta. I flew as F/O in N219P. The other three were N187P, N159P and N924. They all got new N numbers for PBA. The P probably stood for Pyramid Airlines, but it worked just as well for PBA. We departed on May 26, 1984 from Malta to Ciampino, Italy. Over the next five days, we stopped at Zurich, Switzerland - Southend, England - Stornoway, Scotland - Reykjavik, Iceland - Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland - Frobisher Bay, NWT - Septile, Canada - Bangor, ME - Salisbury, MD - Jacksonville, FL, and finally landed in Miami on May 31. 33.4 hours total.
N219P (msn 2109) made its first flight on June 18, 1969 and was delivered to Piedmont Airlines as "Golden State Pacemaker" on October 1st. Pyramid Airlines owned the aircraft from 1982 until it was purchased by PBA in early 1984.
N159P (msn 2057) first flew on January 31, 1968 and joined the Piedmont fleet as "York River Pacemaker" on August 19, 1968. Pyramid leased the aircraft in 1977 and purchased it a year later. These aircraft are pictured at Malta shortly before the long ferry flight across Europe and the north Atlantic.
N219P at Malta in May 1984, still wearing the basic Piedmont color scheme.
N924 (msn 2129) on the ground in Greenland. Despite the color scheme, it was never operated by Piedmont. It had previously flown with the Gabonaise Air Force, registered as TR-KIA.he ground in Greenland.
PBA pilot Tom Ashby (he died in the E-110 accident in JAX) on the right, and Larry from Pyramid Airlines on the left. Salisbury, MD.
Thanks again to Nancy Zeglin for the great photos and information! Here's the aforementioned article from the Summer 1984 issue of the PBA Flyer.
RETURN TO INDEX
If you would like to share photos, stories or additional information about any of the airlines or aircraft on this site, please CONTACT ME I would love to hear from you!
Updated November 28, 2011