Never flew on any of them, but how's this:
Not long before Spantax failed, I was on the ground at Las Palmas, about to board when an "Airfield Emergency" was called. A Spantax Coronado was about land with its left main gear retracted. The aeroplane duly appeared and landed on 21L The landing was textbook. Wing held off for as long as possible, then carefully put down. Minimal damage I believe and as we taxied out for departure, you could see the aeroplane was slap bang on the centreline, about 10-15 degrees off the runway heading. Calmly and professionally handled, left me with a high impression of their operation.
I believe the aeroplane was repaired and went back into service, probably only a few weeks before they stopped flying.
Great story! I seem to remember that Spantax tried to roster the same crew together for as many flights as possible. Kind of a “military” way of doing things. Can anyone confirm?
Not to say that that had any bearing on the outcome of this incident.