MSR777Correct me if i’m wrong but weren’t those CAAC tridents assembled in China??
Definately not Steve, they were put together and flight tested at the bottom of my Aunts garden in Hatfield! well, over the fence at the HS airfield there anyway. I remember well one of the CAAC 3s having a very dramatic “hot start” one day:)
MSR777Fantastic – many thanks! That brings back memories of early trips to Heathrow when a little un! My earliest memories of Heathrow are the line up of Tridents and BOAC and Pan Am 747’s:D
Could not have put it better myself…….and not a Ryanair or easyjet insight…pure bliss!:D
MSR777TM, what a gem! One of the nicest liveries on one of the greatest jets of that era. I can remember being at Stansted which was just a couple of miles from home back in the 60s as a 7yr old seeing one of these (sometimes two) along with BAC1-11s and Viscounts all in that lovely scheme. More anytime please!:)
MSR777Robert, great pics If that SAS DC8-63 is SE-DBK then that was the very same aircraft that I had to load plan and do the loadsheet for to pass my SAS/Scanair load control examination at Stansted in the early 80s. You had to do your exam whilst the aircraft was on turnround……no pressure:confused: We used to see these 8s flying under Scanair flight Nos but carrying this SAS livery, although some were re-liveried in the similar “candy stripe” livery used by SAS in the mid to late 80s….different to mainline SAS in that it was mainly yellow markings with Scanair titles and a large yellow disk on the fin. TU134A LZ-TUK was occasionally seen thru STN on a Sunday, but I think I’m right in that it was usually a Govt aircraft…Happy days!:D
MSR777Nice to see! Same scheme we used to see on the PMI-STN-EDI-STN-PMI marathon on Sat nights when I was at Servisair Stansted in the mid 80s, ours were always DC8-63s:)
MSR777Robert, great pics and thanks for posting them, more anytime please. I was working in civil aviation at that time….very happy days. I never worked an Iberia DC8-63 but we used to do the Aviaco machines thru Stansted on a Saturday night sharing the flight with Edinburgh to Palma. The Bangladesh Biman 707s we used to see quite frequently on maintenance at STN, nice crews except on one rotation a combination of tech delays and the crew stopping for prayers stranded it overnight….Aw I do miss ’em:)
MSR777Basically, Yes, It is Ryanair having a dig at Sky Europe by insinuating that Sky Europe will disappear from the industry as Ryanair grows bigger and stronger.
They have also had a ‘dig’ at other airlines:
– Arrivederchi (Goodbye) Alitalia
– Bye Bye Sky Europe
– Bye Bye Latehansa (Lufthansa)
– Bye Bye Baby (BMI Baby)
– Bye Bye EasyJet
And interestingly enough all the above carriers are still here…..so much for MOLs wishfull thinking. And I suspect that Lufthansa will still be here when we shall be looking at pictures of Ryanair in one of those Airlife “remember when” picture books…along with Air Florida, People Express, Debonair etc etc. Just keep an eye on the fuel prices in the future
Skymonster….Right on target as usual:)
MSR777Good to see JAT rebuilding. Had many flights with them in the 80s and early 90s usually routing LHR to either BEG ZAG LJU or TIA on 727-200 DC9 737-300and one trip on the ATR into TIA, we also used to work the B707s sometimes through STN usually heading to the US with livestock I think (it was a long time ago!) Not too keen on the current livery though:)
MSR777Purser…Sorry that you have taken this so personally, that was not my intention, after all I don’t even know you. As for cabin crew contracts yes I know a fair bit about them, after all part of my previous job entailed that there were enough of you to legally crew our airliners…but thats history. As for the comment regarding the serving of tea and coffee at 38,000 ft well lets let that go. As far as what BA are proposing I possibly have no more information on that than what the aviation press is distributing along with the info from my friend mentioned previously, at our last encounter he thought the proposed strike very ill advised but maybe he has more to lose than you do.
I am the product of my own experiences just as we all are and I ended up in a situation where I nearly lost all because my job disappeared, along with a great many others. We too had strikes, O/T bans etc, though not in Ops and in the end we lost the lot…should you be grateful that you have a job? well think about that one. Imagine going from being a highly qualified operations controller, flight planner and load controller to delivering frozen food for a living which was what I had to do until the job I presently hold in aviation came along. Would you fancy a spell in a supermarket after a job like yours? Just pointing out that it COULD happen, there are many people out there doing a similar job to yours for a good deal less and mine too come to that, and their numbers are increasing all the time, your management will know this too, thats sadly the direction in which the industry is heading. So am I grateful for my job?…..you bet!
The passengers flown by my present employers have wealth that probably would not fit on a cheque, it is a sad fact in life that those upstairs will always have more than us, fat salaries, fat pensions and nice stock options, thats capitalism and its our duty to ourelves in those circumstances that we get the best we can for us…all I’m saying it doesn’t always pan out the way you think and if putting my ‘two penneth’ in (oops shows my age!) upsets some, well I guess I’ll live with that. As I said earlier Purser, Good Luck with your intended action, I sincerely hope it works out.
MSR777Purser….If you’ll accept a response from a “spotter”, though whats wrong with them I don’t know, your response to my post is obviously wrought with anger…I remember very well how that felt when I got made redundant. However I stand by what I say. And Ren no, there is no harm in standing up for your values and conditions and I certainly don’t sniff at those who do but no one in this industry is immune from the huge changes sweeping through it. How are you all going to feel when you bring the whole framework within which you work crashing down in pursuit of these objectives? Purser, lucky that you have a company pension, I had one too once, I now have to buy my own, but thats fine I can deal with that and so could you. I have a friend who has been BA cabin crew on long haul for the best part of 20 yrs and even has his own medium sized boat, not bad I’d say, and like you he would not do anything else. As to being ill informed about cabin staff after some 25 yrs in the industry I don’t think that even warrants a response. I sincerely hope you all get what you want. Lets hope that in the long run it doesn’t end up costing you too much……..now where are those binos….:(
MSR777Very nice……look foreward to seeing one myself:)
MSR777Skymonster as ever makes common sense. Six years ago I was made redundant, ending for me a very enjoyable 22 year career in aviation, thanks mainly to the new “reality” of the so called “low cost” airline ethos. After a non aviation career break of 4 years I am now gainfully employed by a corporate Airbus operator usually outside of the UK (thankfully now safe from the grip of O’Leary et all) so for me the re-orientation of civil aviation has eventually had a happy outcome. For many of my former long term colleagues this has not been the case. Obviously like most of us on here, I don’t like to see anyone lose their job but as far as these cabin crew are concerned I have very little sympathy for this situation. At the end of the day none of us is forced to do these jobs, if they don’t want them then there will be many out there who do. Having suffered deteriorating pay and conditions in the latter part of my first aviation stint you have the option of sticking it out, although I did not have that option myself, or taking the route of moving on. Obviously there are important personal factors to take into account ie families, rent/mortages etc and I can understand that, six years ago I nearly lost my own home, I just feel that if certain people don’t wake up to the fact that its not the same industry it once was and certainly not as secure and adapt accordingly, then all the talk of strikes and futures could be irrelevant as the jobs and possibly even the airlines concerned will no longer be there…at least not in their present form. Its reality time folks…. sadly even BA is not immune:(
MSR777Nice work….more anytime! 🙂
MSR777Welcome back, Interflug62M. 😀
Thanks, nice to see some of “The Oldies” still here!….Still the best forum around for aviation. Work permitting I’ll get back as often as I can. 🙂
MSR777Well first night back in the UK for 3 months and a whole programme dedicated to my least favourite “airline”, it doesn’t get much better than that! Seriously though for me no great surprises in this show. Having worked close to, though thankfully not for, Ryanair- its all old news. But I am glad that C4 have highlighted some aspects of this enterprise, as old hacks on here will know I have never hidden my dislike for these kind of outfits, I never use them and never will. There are serious issues here especially in the current climate with ref to security….staff concocting references, seemingly meaningless exams relating to passenger safety, security passes laying around crew rooms, these were kept in a safe in our ops! . All in all a sad picture.. what has modern civil aviation come to. These “airlines” have done nothing to enhance the pay and conditions of the staff in our industry…those who think they have need to wake up and smell the coffee. In 22 yrs of an airline career I never thought I’d live to see the day when I would see the Captain of an airliner wimpering to a delayed passenger about the security of his job and family for handing over a few fizzy drinks.
It could be argued that as the people keep coming back for more then they actually have the “airlines” they deserve….But does it have to be this way?
All I can say is thank God for the VIP/Corporate Jet sector that I inhabit now.
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