As folks know, I’m “into” transportation: be it road systems,trolleys, busses, or airplanes. In particular, I’m into the history of systems. Thus, I read with interest an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal about US Airways and America West unveiling their new livery (i.e., aircraft paint job).
To quote the press release:
The fresh new look includes an updated version of the US Airways flag symbol and waving stripes that represent the stripes of the flag streaming across the sides of the plane.
The livery also includes a new symbol on each aircraft that shows most of the predecessor airlines that created the company (shown to the right). They also have an interesting FAQ on repainting airplanes: for example, did you know that it takes about seven days to paint and costs more than $50,000 in time and materials, plus out-of-service time, to paint a plane?
Of course, the new logo whitewashes history a little. Although America West has had no mergers (.doc file), US Airways (nee US Air, a/k/a US Scare, Useless Air) has had its share. The history of US Airways shows it to be a combination of three of the four airlines identified in the graphic: Allegheny Airlines (nee All American Air, later US Air), Piedmont Airlines, and Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA)… but also notes that it included Lake Central Airlines, Mohawk Airlines, and Empire Airlines. Most of these were East Coast airlines, but I sure have fond memories of PSA.
Speaking of PSA, one of the things that I like is that the new US Airways will be painting a small number of planes in historical liveries. America West has a tradition of doing this (as does Southwest). In particular, the bird with the smile will return, as one of the liveries chosen by US Airways is the PSA livery. For the record, the other “heritage” liveries will be America West, Allegheny, and Piedmont.
But it will be neat to see PSA colors in the air again. I don’t know if any of you are old enough to remember PSA, but it was quite an airline”. PSA was renowned for its sense of humor. Its slogan was “The World’s Friendliest Airline,” and its recognizable trademark was a smile painted on the nose of each plane. After PSA was bought by USAir, ex-PSA mechanics would occasionally paint smiles on USAir planes as a joke. PSA was also known for its brightly-colored and extremely short stewardess uniforms, as well as their sense of humor. Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher studied PSA extensively, and used many of the airline’s ideas to form the corporate culture at Southwest. There is actually even a PSA Oldtimers Page. A real good history of PSA, with some great stories, can be found here. My wife could tell you stories of PSA pilots doing “touch and gos”, just for the fun of it, on the runway at BUR in the 1980s. Do I like PSA? Look closely at the aircraft in my travel userpic.
So, what are your memories or stories of PSA (or any other of the “California Shuttles”), such as AirCal.
Note: This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by California Highway Guy. You may comment either here or there (where there are 
