I do not have any particular like or dislike of journalists but that response is somewhat immature.

I had exactly this situation happen at Malaga yesterday morning. Nearly sucked the poor little bugger into the RB211’s!

John Simpson was injured in a friendly fire incident this morning.

Don’t know anything about the insurance set up.

Charter airlines have routes that they ply on a regular basis, eg Mediterannean, Canaries, North Africa, etc. Whenever we are in these places it is rare to have fuel problems as the arrangements are frequently used. Occasionally we get chartered for ad hoc flights to places where we are an unknown quantity and people tend to be suspicious of you as they have never heard of you before. Some of these places can be notorious for dodgy dealings and will treat you with comtempt regardless of the quality of the plastic in your wallet. Alternatively you may have to divert into somewhere remote due to a variety of things (eg medical diversion) and now you need to get fuel from someone who has never heard of you at a moments notice. Having a BP,etc card is all well and good when you are trying to buy a car tank full of unleaded but it’s a bit of a different kettle of fish if you want 100 tonnes of go juice and your free glasses vouchers from Mustafa in the desert!

What I am trying to say is that the office minions cannot prepare for every eventuality (particularly in the case of an unscheduled diversion) so a lot of commercial aviation has to take place on the hoof and we make it up as we go along. The passengers rarely know what we go through to get them from A to B. I have even had a gun aimed at me by a security guard trying to bribe us at Cairo International. I think there is a valid point in raising the credit limit on a company issued Captains credit card to an amount that can buy enough fuel to get the aircraft home (but dare I mention it, that is perhaps a lack of awareness by the accountants! 😉 )

There is an issue here that has not been raised that is very significant. As soon as we divert another sector is added to the total number for the day. This brings down the available amount of duty hours we are permitted to perform so the need to refuel quickly is imperative in order to be able to get out quickly and return home. Negotiations between a fuel company and an airline’s home base will consume time that could cause the crew to have to stop and rest for a period that will effectively ensure a minimum of 13 hours delay before the flight can depart again. If this is the case I’d rather borrow a money from the passengers, get home and sort out the finances later, wouldn’t you?

regards
wys

mmm…more pictures please

Yes it was Spirit of Sir Freddy after Freddy Laker and was registered G-VMIA. Virgin did also purchase a 200 G-VOYG of the leasing company although both these aircraft were subsequently broken up at Bruntingthorp and Kemble as far as I know.

Here’s a picture of the Highland Express aircraft being scrapped.

Don’t know exactly about the 737 types but I can give you some 757 figures if that’s any use.