DC-6 G-APSA to visit Heathrow

I am destined never to see this aeroplane ( if it exists)

The ‘no shows’ started in May with Abingdon Fayre. The probability of a display act scrubbing is a direct function of the number of engines- think Vulcan!

Good chance of seeing her at Baginton Coventry this friday.
2nd chance will be on the 18th of this month also at Coventry.

I am destined never to see this aeroplane ( if it exists)

The ‘no shows’ started in May with Abingdon Fayre. The probability of a display act scrubbing is a direct function of the number of engines- think Vulcan!

Bl**dy typical :diablo:

Yes, typical of BAA to make a mountain out of nothing.. And to who may we ask has the slot been allocated, and at what price.?

Bl**dy typical.

I guess this is what you get if you let a bunch of Spanish property developers run our airports!

Trouble is what do we do, we can hardly boycott them?

I know, I’ll stop buying Costa coffees or something :diablo:

The AA official statement reads as follows and is remarkably conciliatory in the circumstances :-

HEATHROW REFUSES ENTRY

With great regret we must announce that we are no longer able to visit Heathrow this Friday, 7 November. We realise that this will be a bitter disappointment to many people.

Operation into London Heathrow, in common with many large airports, requires the allocation of a slot for each movement. Slots for our intended operation were allocated to us last week, at which point we confirmed with our supporters that we would be making the journey. Yesterday, however, we were advised by a representative of BAA, the airport operator, that these slots were to be withdrawn because they were concerned that the operation of the DC6 at Heathrow was potentially disruptive to normal operations. In the course of several commercial charters into Heathrow in recent years, and two previous commemorative flights (including one for BAA), our experience has been that the DC6 does not cause any inconvenience. Moreover, we were able to demonstrate to the relevant ATC unit that the normal approach speeds and operating procedures of this Public Transport certified airliner were in line with current standards and would require no special treatment. We have had the great pleasure over recent years to visit each of the other capital airports in Europe. Regrettably, this busy international airport felt unable, at the eleventh hour, to agree to our visit.

Our flight this Friday was intended to commemorate the last commercial flight, exactly forty years ago, of a British Eagle aircraft on exactly the same route from Rotterdam to Heathrow. The captain of that original flight was to join us. We had hoped that this would be an uplifting event in these turbulent times, to remind people that flying can still be a fun and romantic endeavour. Unfortunately it appears that commercial priorities, or perhaps a misunderstanding of the nature of the DC6, has caused BAA to decide otherwise. We are tremendously grateful to our handling agent at Heathrow, Signature Flight Support, who generously agreed to sponsor our ground arrangements, and to members of the BAA team who arranged that our landing fees would be waived.

The aircraft will return directly from Rotterdam to Coventry within the next few days. We will publish the times accordingly. This will conclude public flying for this season as the aircraft enters scheduled maintenance on 23 November.

We look forward to an exciting new season in 2009 and to meeting more of you throughout next year.

This should be a publicity nightmare for BAA if it received enough coverage. Anyone know some compliant reporters?:)

Apparently not :(. Apparently BAA, having issued slots for this flight last week, have withdrawn them, citing concerns that the DC-6 might disrupt normal operations. Odd, given that it used to operate into there commercially until recently.