Eddie, you forgot about her swinging the gate open and dashing onto the tarmac to the plane! It seems beyond quaint.
For many years at SJC, this was how passengers boarded all planes, including large passenger jets. It wasn't until a new terminal was built in the '80s that there were jetways available, but it remained old-school at what had been the main terminal (long gone now), with walking on the tarmac and climbing stairs to board, rain or shine.
The sight of that DC-3 made me think back to the old Pacific Airlines, which when I was a kid pre-dated even PSA's service to SJC. Pacific used two types of aircraft, both being the short-haul variety: Fairchild F-27s and Martin 404s. This UC video prompted me to look up the Martin 404, which when used by Pacific (not the original owners by the mid-to-late '60s) seemed quite outdated even back then, and they were sooty and blew smoke, particularly when the engines were first fired up. It turns out that Martin (as in today's Lockheed-Martin) made some very nice planes that in many ways were superior and more modern compared to their tail-dragging DC-3 competitors, but they were produced in far smaller numbers. I have a better appreciation for the 404s after watching the linked 1990 video. FF through the parts of the nerdy narrative that can be drier than drought stricken California back country.
Another video I've linked to is far less exalting, comparing the 404 to the Wabash Cannonball. I have a feeling it's more accurate with regard to the final few years that these planes were still being used by scheduled airlines. What's left of them are museum pieces, or are just literally in pieces in aviation graveyards, as they're too expensive to keep flight-worthy and are too obscure to attract interest at air shows.
