PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - B.O.A.C. Geoffrey Hargreaves. 1970's
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Old 24th Nov 2020, 09:46
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Lance Shippey
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Cheshire
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Thanks for the kind words Gordo.
I thought there was something not quite right, when Geoffrey told me
not to drive my French built Citroen Dyane in Tehran. Although the
car had German "z" plates, the Dyane was built as a CKD as the
Jian in Iran. It hardly attracted attention.
I had to park the car in the walled driveway of Geoffrey's "Apadana"
apartment. A frequent visitor to Geoffrey's apartment was his friend
Abbas Vrusbabh, who worked for Iran Air in a similar role to Geoffrey.
In December 1974, Teheran's Mehrabad Airport's roof collapsed due
to snow, so BA / QF/ IR had VVIP's taken to a local hotel due to security.
Abbas was responsible for the high flyers on Iran Air flights.
Iran Air were courting "Hi-end" pax. In 1975, they operated 4 x B727-186
plus 1 on order. 4 x 727-286 adv. B707's 2 x F27. On order were B747,
B747SP, and Concorde. The Concorde would reduce the THR/LHR/JFK
from 13hrs45min to 7hrs 30min The second Concorde would be used on
the THR/PEK/TYO route. The B747SP to be used THR/JFK direct, to
complete with Pan Am's B747SP. Under the Iran Air General Manager
Lt.Gen. Ali M Khademi ( 1962 - 1978 ) Iran Air posted a net profit for
1974/1975 as US$13,509,000. They had 3925 employees. and an
interest in investing in Pan Am. I saw the name Vrusbabh on a tender
invitation for sale of Iran Air's Fokker F100's a/c. Not sure if this was
Abbas ? I see that IR still operate 4 x F100's.
I flew as pax on the PA B747SP SFO/LHR route. I remember there was
a problem with pax "Nose Bleeds" I guess Gordo, your position with
Northeast would have been on the Trident.? I remember the BEA Tridents
had the same flight management system as the BEA S1-11's , not sure
if the Laker standard 1-11's were different ?

Lance
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