JERSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS

[LEWIS APPLEBY]

One of the guys where I work commutes to and from Jersey each weekend, and a couple of years ago at Christmas due to weather problems he said that a 757 was used instead of the usual BA 737 at the time. Recently he brought up the subject again, saying that the aircraft was in fact a 767 and that he had been worried the plane was too big to land at jersay. Does anyone know if a 767 did ever visit Jersey?

[Wycombe]

Not sure about a 767, but an L1011 did once :eek: - I was in Guernsey on holiday at the time (would have been late 70's) and I remember it being all over the CI local news.

It had been a foggy day and it was brought in to clear a backlog.

75's were of course pretty regular at JER during the days when there was a BA LHR route.

[J-Guy]

Britannia operated a 767-200 down to the Island on a few charters back in the early 1990s. I've seen pictures on the Internet somewhere. BA also operated a training flight to the Island with the 767 a couple of years ago as well, but think it was just a fly-over or a touch and go; I believe the sight of a low-flying 767 caused some concern from the locals!

As already said, BA used to bring the 757s down occasionally from LHR when there was a backlog. Don't hold me to it, but I seem to remember reading that it also operated from Gatwick once or twice for similar reasons.

757s still operate into Jersey irregularly - Jet2, Titan, etc.

[wakeup]

I'm not sure if one did turn up but I think they can handle 767's. I believe they may need prior notice so they have the right fire cover but apart from that its not a problem.

[xtypeman]

I seam to recall it was a bad spell of fog BIA used a 1-11 to rescue passengers and BA used the Tri-star. But there was one problem that was passenger steps I heard they had to use a ladder on top of stairs as they did not have widebody steps. Also went on an Air Europe 757 on a staff jolly to Jersey for the day I think it cost my wife and I £25 for the round trip from LGW. Those where the days........

[OA32]

The B757 used to be a regular visitor up until 2000, since then visits declined and there hasn't been one for more than a year. Britannia used 767s for a few charters in the early 90s but I believe they are now banned due to taxiway and parking restrictions. BA also used a Tri-Star once when there was a backlog due to fog and an A310 also visited on occasion.

More recently the largest visitor has been an RAF C-17 for training approaches.

[scotbill]

I believe I had the pleasure of taking the first B757 into Jersey (at least on scheduled service) on 10/12/83 after they had two days of cancelled services. Usual 180/30 wind.
One of the passengers was John Nettles of Bergerac fame who took the trouble to come into the cockpit to thank us. No problems with the turnaround.

[Flightwatch]

I can confirm the info given by xtypeman. My father who had been a Jersey based Captain with B(E)A from '58 to the base closure in ca. '74 was on that Tri-star flight in the late 70s which was sent to clear the back-log after a foggy spell. I don't remember if he was operating or positioning (I think the latter) as he was a commuter by that time on the T*.

All went well until the time to unload the pax when it was found that the tallest steps didn't go high enough so a pair of Dak steps was found which were strapped on the top to allow egress! There were no baggage container handling facilities either so the bags had to be loose loaded under nets.

The T* was severely weight limited on arrival allowing not much more than 100 pax to be carried inbound, but outbound it could manage the complete 330+ capacity at the regulated TOW with fuel only for London.

I think it was used one at least one more occasion but by then the required ground handling equipment was in place.

I well remember in the mid 60s when I worked on the ground there having several hundred stranded pax sleeping in the terminal in bad weather which often seemed to happen on bank holiday weekends. In those days Jersey was second only to LHR in the UK for aircraft movements but the largest aircraft were the Viscount, Argonaut and Vanguard and the majority Daks, Heralds and Vikings, how the holiday market has changed.

[scotbill]

after a foggy spellIt's still the only place where I've had to go around at 200' in bright sunshine - because we hadn't entered the fog layer yet.