Those were the days

[v812]

As I near the end of my 40+ years career in Operations/Crewing/Rostering I know I am really happy that I started in aviation when I did as I wouldn't want to be starting now.
Those were the days when:
1) On a quiet night shift you could go down on the aircraft to Palma to pick up San Miguels or Gerona for strawberries always travelling on Flight deck.
2) Able to walk across the apron without a hi-viz jacket or having to go through the trials and tribulations of security.
3)Write your own ticket for a weekend in Palma knowing you could always get back on the Flight deck.
4) ID 90 tickets with major scheduled carriers was a cheap way of seeing the world.
5)Manipulating the roster so your girlfriend (cabin crew) could have the night off to come to the party without the fear of a disciplinary.
6)Learning to drive on the ramp !
I could go on have I missed anything ?

v812

[dc9-32]

Jump starting a Caravelle without (a) hi-viz jacket (b) training
Pushing back a B737 without (a) hi-viz jacket (b) training
Marshalling a DC8-62 between a B767 and B757 without (a) hi-viz jacket (b) training


Oh the happy memories of the days when aviation was fun....

[Mr Angry from Purley]

v812
7) no mention of the F word (and crews worked just as hard)
8) Getting banned from driving on the ramp as too many of the Ops n Crewing Staff had pranged the Ops van

[JB007]

9) ...always preferred Tuborg from FAO!
10) EVERYONE worked together as a team...had pride, cared and respect was everywhere!
11) Waco once lent me his Girovend Card!
12) Been on shift with an ill Spiros, and after getting a whiff of the Chief Pilots pipe, threw up in the Ops bin! Funniest day ever...

[Derwent Dale]

13)Working with a certain JB007 on a quiet nightshift - having found a box of stuffed toys, we thought it funny to leave them hanging from the ceiling of the admin office next door to Ops -in a mass suicide -apparently the day staff were not amused !

[waco]

JB007.....Did I really...gosh that is a concern......

Oh boy...the days when Ops and Crewing were computer free...

For me...in those days long ago...the money was pretty awful but the job was pretty good, these days the money is a lot better....but.....

Had some wonderful trips with some fantastic crews and worked with some truly magic colleagues. I consider myself to be one very lucky chap !

I've penned a bit of a tome about it all........love to have it published one day........

[v812]

Coke bomb fights on a night shift.
You would get a minature coke can that they sold on aircraft, shake it up and put a pencil across the ring pull. Throw it at the wall above somebody's head.
What a mess !!
We also has an Ops teddy bear and made it a passport. Crews were given it to take around the world and ensure his passport got stamped. It was a very well travelled little teddy bear, the only place that wouldn't stamp the passport was Moscow
Those were the days
v812:O

[Halcyon Days]

I remember Teddy very well.We would get the cabin crew to get the passport stamped in as many unusual destinations as possible.
It went to Palma and Freddy Laker was a passenger on the flight and he signed Teddys passport with the words. "To Teddy from Freddy"

"Kidnapping " one of the (sleeping) traffic girls and sellotaping her to a wheeled chair and parking her on stand 9 in the middle of the night-and then calling the mini tower to report a strange object parked there!!

[Chopper69]

Fantastic thread to start! Before I wax lyrical I shall never forget a job that I was new to, JB007 set up my PC to display a 'surf to sex' website! Consequently when the PA for the CEO approached me to find out a question . . . yep, you've guessed it!! I've also had some fantastic times in Aviation, starting with a well known handling agent and progressing to a D/O and on one of my first shifts in that position, getting a call from the tower that one of our crew buses had caught fire, it appears that they had been rabbit hunting off the asphalt and the battery became dislodged! Happy days indeed!

[JB007]

Forgotten about that one Chopper! Ive always remembered trying to make you laugh through the window whilst you were interviewing that girl with big ti:mad:s !!! And succeeding!

Oh the memories and fun...I miss it, I think we've experienced a time when it was "the best" - now it's just HR Departments and a manual on "How to Make this as Difficult as Possible"

[dc9-32]

I remember one night whilst covering in crewing, I was going through the paper roster making some changes when I noticed all the yellow sticker stock had gone. I went to the stationary cupboard to find our busty crewing duty officer, blouse and bra off and covered in yellow stickers. At which point she promptly said "I feel some changes coming on" !!!!!!


Best night shift I've ever had...............but sadly not repeated on the next shift.

[Mr Angry from Purley]

14) Working with Spiros and getting a friend to send him a charter request (in the old days of telex / sita etc) he fell for it hook line and sinker until he realised

15) Celebrating marriage of Charles and Diana on nights at Laker, having a few drinks with my Crewing Controller, raiding the rum punch in the Catering unit and "lifting" the Airtours flag from outside their Office on the flag pole.

[dada]

Boiling cabbage for my tadpoles, painting my grid covers, drying sand all sound odd night shift activities from me

[Chopper69]

JB007

Yes indeed, we had those open glass windowed offices and yes, she did have huge jugs! Sadly she got a better offer from another Company, but it was still hysterical, how I managed to keep some sort of straight face I will never know?!
Back on topic and I'm sure many of you can give better examples, I remember getting called over to the freight area of the Airport about something suspicions about a Nigerian freighter only to discover an abducted Diplomat! Sitting in an office and 'someone' declaring that we've got CAT11 on the F50, only to hear the response from another Capt that we had CAT111 on the 'Herald' (HPR7), "the Aircraft didn't have CAT111, but the Crews did"!! Happy days indeed!

[v812]

At Court Line, Crewing was next to planning office where all flights were put on a magnetic board for approx 3 months at a time. Each flt strip was about half inch long with schedule details etc
Colleague decided to make another strip and put it on board where there was a gap in programme. Unfortunately he forgot about it.
On the day crew turned up, a/c on stand , check-in desks arranged- but no passengers ! RIP Kings.

[dc9-32]

the legend that was Kingsley !

[Inspecthergadget]

- The days when you could jump in a car on night shift & do some handbrake turns on the ramp.
- When you could go to the Flying Club at LTN on Nights with a certain D/O RIP
- Wind up calls to duty ops
- Raiding an a/c for pax meals before it's left base
- Falling asleep in the middle of a aircraft call

[Chopper69]

Or, getting a call from BCAL Ops to request a diversion on a night shift and waking up to notice that there was 4" of snow outside and then having the Apron Controller fall off his temporary bed because he hadn't noticed either! and ATC were asleep as well! Not very professional I must admit, but it happened!

[Capetonian]

Taking a nap on a sofa, which was there for that purpose, during the small hours in the ops telex room and waking up to find the object of my desires curled up next to me!