Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
Early -100's were also poor performers climb wise - on a hot day (for England) of 75-80F outbound from LHR they'd be slogging along below 10,000ft until they reached Manchester.
Regular cases reported of gliders from Booker and the Leicester area well above them
I happened to be 'radar monitor' on Sector 6 at LATCC for the first 747 departure from Heathrow. The Pan Am aircraft had arrived early morning in the usual 'oceanic arrivals' period and was doing a demo flight out to Brecon with a few (so called) VIPs and not a lot of fuel.
His first words to us were 'London I'm not gonna make 4 thousand by Woodley'. I think he struggled through 3,600ft passing WOD.
My own experience was about 8 years later (early '78). Me and the first Mrs C were on our way to Mauritius; she worked for BA and had got us ID 90s. The route was Heathrow - Nairobi - Seychelles - Mauritius; I'd hoped for a VC10 but we got a 747; they used to 'alternate' the two types on that route.
After the turnround at Nairobi, one engine failed to re-start, so we were stuck there until a fresh engine could be flown in and fitted. (BA put us up in the 'Intercontinental Hotel' overnight).
24 hours later, all 4 started, we departed Nairobi and with Seychelles passengers already having gone on another flight, were to go direct to Mauritius. About an hour out, the 'new' engine started giving fire warning indications, so we returned to Nairobi. We stayed in the terminal because by this time, the next Mauritius bound 747 was imminent so we were all loaded on that to complete our journey some 48 hours late.
(Plus side for me was being allowed to stay on the flight deck for the landing at Plaisance!)