Apolo Ohno taking a photo of his image on an Alaska Airline's Boeing 737...how surreal. Photo by me.
Back in March I blogged how you could win a trip to Hawaii for five days with Apolo Ohno on Alaska Airlines. Well, Alaska received almost 30,000 entries (one was mine) and four lucky people were selected (none of those were me, but I did get to be there…bonus). I always wonder, “does anyone ever win these things?” and sure enough they do.
Yesterday morning I got up at about 3:45am to head down to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to meet the lucky winners and of course Apolo Ohno. You know Mr. Ohno right? He is the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete of all time and he is also a cool dude. For some, being that talented has a way of going to someone’s head, but not for Ohno. He was more than happy to take photos with fans.
I spoke with one of the winners and his guest; Kevin LaChapelle and his new fianc Whittnee Chen. Even though they have known each other for years, Kevin just proposed and Whittnee said yes. What better way to celebrate than a free trip to Hawaii, with Apolo?
Apolo after he arrived in Maui. Photo by Alaska Airlines
Kevin told me he almost missed winning this trip. He saw the email and sent it to his spam folder. He then remembered signing up for the contest and took a second look. He had won! Kevin said if Whittnee didn’t say yes to his proposal, he had many friends saying they would take her slot to Hawaii.
I was also able to interview Apolo on video about his thoughts on having his image on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737. Well, long story short, I lost the video. Lame. It was really good too. Anyhow he told me it was very surreal. He explained how much he loves Alaska Airlines and is so happy they sponsored him. The silver lining of all this, I was Tweeting my frustrations on losing the video and Apolo responded over Twitter he would like to re-do it. Now, that is awesome!
Their special flight took off from Seattle at about 8:30am yesterday and arrived in Maui in the afternoon. When they arrived, they were greeted by the Lt Governor of Hawaii, James R. “Duke” Aiona Jr, the Maui Mayor Charmain Tavares and the Maui Surf Groms.
The groms are a group of young surfers who are looking to make surfing an official Olympic sport. The group helps disadvantage kids fly around the Hawaiian islands to compete and they were all very excited to meet Ohno.
It was fun to watch them all leave, but I wish I was going with them. Oh well, at least I can blog about it.
Check out all my photos (and a few from Alaska Airlines) of yesterday’s events – including a shot of the luggage processing area at SEA.
Hawiian Airlines brand new Airbus A330 next to their first plane, a 1929 Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker
GUESSING HAS BEEN CLOSED. I WILL POST THE ANSWERS TOMORROW (JUNE 8th) MORNING. I have locked it down so no more comments can be made.
Hawaiian Airlines is making a big change. They are adding an Airbus A330 to their fleet. On Friday June 4th the first passenger flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles will commence, starting a new era.
The new A330 is named Makali’˜i for the constellation Pleiades that helped guide ancient Polynesian voyagers across the Pacific.
This is one amazing photo and quite a few things are impressive. What got my attention (besides the fact this is Hawaiian’s newest and oldest aircraft together), is the Airbus A330 has a lei on it.
See it? Those purple/pink flowers right behind the cockpit? I wrote to Hawaiian PR guy Patrick Dugan and asked, “How many flowers does it take to lei an Airbus A330?” Guess what he told me? No, seriously guess…
CONTEST: How many flowers (they are dendrobium orchids, if that matters) did it take to create the lei (just the lei on the A330, not the stairs or other flowers) seen in the photo (bigger version) on the Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330?
The closest person(s) to the correct answer will win a prize (I have a few you can choose from). You can leave a comment or you can email me at da***@ai*************.com (don’t worry I am not collecting emails in any fashion). I will give you until Monday June 7th at 5pm PST, then I will give the answer and announce the winner(s)!
Hint? It is a lot more than you think…
Nine Qantas tails, can you do better?
I don’t really remember what I was looking at when I found this photo with nine Qantas Airline’s tails showing (the ninth is just the tip). I posted it on Twitter and @FlyInsider went and found this photo with 11 Lufthansa tails. Not too bad.
So I wonder. Can anyone do better? The catch is, it has to be a photo of airline’s tails when the airline is in business (ie no Mojave Desert photos of planes not being used — that would be cheating). The planes have to be at an airport or heck even in the air (if you can find that many in the air). Leave links to the photos in the comments or email me da***@ai*************.com with your find.
Contest over will be over by Wednesday at 5pm PST. No prize this time (those that won prizes for my Ultimate Livery Challenge — they are finally being mailed) but I will show the photo you find and say your name and link to a site (if you have one).
UPDATE: What a good eye! DCSpotter found there are actually TEN tails in the photo. Can you find the 10th? If not, check the comments.
Image: WAToday.com.au
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Here are the liveries in their full glory!
Yesterday I gave you guys what I thought was the ULTIMATE LIVERY TEST. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting many (if any) people to get them all right. I have once again underestimated some of my readers.
I got a lot of great feedback from people on this (even from those that didn’t win) that this was a fun competition. I also got suggestions to do it over the weekend next time, since it took so much time to guess these (while at work). Either way, you can expect some more of these in the future.
#1 Northwest Orient DC-10 (I would also have accepted just Northwest). Photo by Savvas Garozis via Flickr.
#2 London City Airways or Eurocity Express de Havilland Canada Dash 7. Photo by shamu28 via Flickr.
#3 RenoAir MD-80. Photo by LeafsHockeyFan via Flickr.
#4 Trump Shuttle Boeing 727. Photo by Mark Kopczak via Airliners.net
#5 Dan-Air Boeing 737. Photo by jordi757 via Flickr.
#6 Unifly Express MD-80. Photo by Olaf Juergensmeier via Airliners.net
BONUS Hispania Sud Aviation Caravelle. Photo by Ian Jack via Airplane-Pictures.net
I thought the Caravelle would be the hardest, since it is an old plane, but the livery looks pretty new age. However I heard from a lot of people that the Unifly Express was the most challenging.
Here are the uber airline livery nerds who emailed me all the correct answers. They will be mailed some cool stuff from me and from the Future of Flight (@FutureofFlight — Thanks Sandy):
* Alfred T.
* Patrick O.
* Chris J.
* Ron T.
* David R. (@aviationislife – AviationIsLife.com) — first one to get them all right!
* Liz M. (@ImperfectSense)
* Ben W. (@BenjaminWhalen)
* Gordon W. (@GordonWerner)
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Do you know these liveries?
I have had a few competitions before about airline liveries, but this time I am pulling out all the stops. I am making a contest, one I probably couldn’t even win. I am going to show you six 105 x 105 pictures of old airline liveries no longer used. It is your job to guess which airlines they belonged to AND what kind of planes they are (just the basic model ie “Boeing 747” not “Boeing 747-300”).
I think I made this so difficult, I am willing to actually give prizes this time. I am not exactly sure what the prizes will be, but I will mail you something if you get all six right. I am determined to give away at least one prize. So even if you do not know all six, take a few guesses and the one with the most will win.
You can send them via Twitter, comments, FaceBook or email me at da***@ai*************.com. You have until 5pm PST Friday the 16th. Use any resources you wish.
Bring it on!
UPDATE: Future of Flight has stepped up and said they will help me with prizes of anyone who wins this. So far, no takers!
UPDATE2: I have 6 people who have all the liveries right. SUPER impressed. Still have until 5pm today the 16th to get your answers in!
PS: if you can tell me what airline and what kind of plane this livery is from…you win a super bonus prize (which, again, I have no idea what that will be)!
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Picture credits will be given with the answers (otherwise you could cheat)
CHECK THE ANSWERS