Shortest flight: Boston to Boston, via the airspace over Montreal just in time for our intended destination of Dorval to close due to an ice storm. Dunno why we even took off - they have forecasters in Canada too. Next choice: Philadelphia to Millville, NJ (who else here has even heard of it, much less been there?).
Smallest airliner: A Britten-Norman Islander, on Princeton Airways shuttle between Princeton and Newark.
Shortest was Kansas City, MO to Topeka KS on a tiny turbo-prop - I think it was a 12-seater? This was around 1985, and I wasn’t expecting that tiny little plane for the last leg of the trip. I learned that day that I never, never, never, never, never again want to fly on a small plane if I can help it.
Quickest is probably the several times I’ve taken flights from the airport in Savannah, Georgia to anywhere - the first leg is always to Atlanta, and it seems like it’s all ascent and descent on a jet. There’s no time to take off your seatbelt! The flight from KC to Topeka may actually have been quicker, but it seemed like it took forever, thanks to my abject terror!
I’ve ridden that route. But the time I did it the aircraft was a Piper Navajo Chieftain w 9 seats. Still a fun & very pretty ride.
I grew up in northeastern New York. There’s a small local airport in Plattsburgh, NY and a larger airport in Burlington, VT. Lake Champlain is a long thing lake that divides New York and Vermont.
So a few times when I was flying I would take a flight from Plattsburgh to Burlington to catch a flight going somewhere else. Taking the fifteen mile flight across the lake was a lot quicker than making the sixty mile drive around the lake.
The flight only took about ten minutes and it was in a small plane that only sat ten or twelve people.
When I was a kid I flew 26 miles across the sea to Catalina Island on board
a Grumman Goose amphibious airplane. The plane held about eight passengers with
the baggage carried in the nose of the aircraft. We boarded the plane on
the land in San Pedro. After starting the engines the plane taxied to a ramp
and then went down the ramp into the water. The landing gear was cranked
in by hand and we taxied out in the middle of the channel. The pilot opened the
throttle and we went racing across the water until we lifted off. The time in
the air was probably about 15 minutes. The landing was the reverse of
the take off - after landing on water just off of Avalon the pilot lowered
the landing gear and ran up a ramp back onto the land. I’ve flown many times
since then but this short trip has always been the most exciting.
Smallest plane and shortest flight was one and the same for me… Belize City (BZE) to San Pedro (SPR) on Ambergris Caye aboard a Cessna Grand Caravan. When you can clearly see out the windscreen from the back row of seats then you know it is a small plane. Capacity of 8 or 10 perhaps, including the pilot. Flight time scheduled at 15 minutes to cover 34 miles.
I am planning an even shorter flight soon, between Cayman Brac (CYB) and Little Cayman (LYB), a mere 10 minute flight time to cover a bit less than 14 miles. The route is served by a Twin Otter aircraft.
A while back. 1973 I think.
Springfield, Illinois to Saint Louis, Missouri, a distance of ~100 miles. IIRC it took about 20 minutes. I couldn’t tell you what kind of aircraft it was, but it held about 20 passengers, with the port side having one seat and the starboard side having two seats, in about six rows, and an aisle in between them.
In the late 70s, United Airlines had their DC-10 (or L-1011) fleet grounded because of problems. When the fleet was allowed to fly again, United had a promotion where you could get a free round trip ticket when you purchases, and flew, a round trip on United. There were no milage restrictions. Many people, including myself, flew from San Francisco to Oakland (as mentioned above about 10 or fewer miles) and earned a round trip flight anywhere Untied flew.
My smallest airliner was a DC3. I’m not sure how many passengers it held but it was a Brannif World Airways (or International) from Denver to San Antonio Texas to begin my exciting life as an Air Force member.
Bob
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to Muharraq, Bahrain, around 25 miles. Gulf Aviation, Ltd Fokker F27 Friendship (32 passenger, counting goats). This was in 1970. Also flew in a C47 from Kenitra, Morroco to Rota, Spain once in 1968, but that was about 200 miles.
John
I’ve been on flights between JFK(NY) and LGA(NY) a few times. It’s about 10 miles between the airports. It was always a decent size jet though 757 or such. I just looked up the flights and didn’t find one. I assume they probably don’t have room for it at LGA anymore so force people into ground transportation instead.
One of my friends lives in Santa Barbra. Traveling from Boston depending on pricing I’ll fly through LAX with a connection to SBA. LAX to SBA is about 80 miles. It’s always a turbo prop plane. Don’t know the make, they hold about 20 people.
Not a thing I’ve experienced first-hand; but the world’s shortest scheduled commercial flight is allegedly between two neighbouring islands in the Orkney island group (north Scotland). It’s 1.7 miles long, and has been known to take as little as 47 seconds.
I flew from DC (Reagan National) to Seattle once and was surprised by a stopover at Dulles, maybe 25 miles from National. It was on the itinerary, but I didn’t read it very closely.
The shortest flight I ever took on purpose was in Korea, Daegu International to Jeju Island, probably 50 miles. South Korea is about the size and shape of Indiana and most of my travel needs are easily met by Train (KTX, a Bullet train, is kind of awesome). But Jeju is an island too far to build a bridge, so…
Smallest plane? I’ve been on a few propeller-type planes with fewer than 50 seats, but I forgot to count them. A lot of people on this thread have me beat by quite a bit.
Shortest commercial flight was from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. The pilot said it was about 70 miles, although it has to be farther than that by road. 21 minutes from rotation to touchdown, I timed it. No beverage service. Equipment was an ERJ-135, small but not tiny.
Smallest commercial aircraft was an Embraer 120, a once-ubiquitous turboprop airliner in the 25-30 seat range.
Miami to Key West on a “puddle jumper”. I don’t remember the exact size of the plane. I blocked it out.
The next time, I drove.
Those were DC-10s. L-1011s were pretty trouble-free.
Lots of 757s fly in and out of LGA every day. As do A321s which are about 90% the size of a 757.
L-1011s & DC-10s used to be commonplace at LGA, although they were a tight fit. I don’t think I’ve seen a 767 come through in the last few years though.
The shortest one I’ve been on was yesterday: Detroit to Grand Rapids-- about 150 miles. Twenty-five minutes from wheels up to wheels down.
I always liked the L-1011. For one thing, it was built near where I used to live. Also, I thought it was prettier than the DC-10. But ISTR that they were less successful than the DC-10. Is that correct? If so, why?
LAX to Palm Springs, which is I think about 125 miles? I remember there was drink service which I thought was absurd…by the time the flight attendants got down the aisle, we were ready to land.
Took a puddle jumper one time from Key West to Miami. It is 150 miles by road but took about 40 minutes from take off to landing. I think there were about 8 or ten seats on the plane.