Originally Posted by
aeromech3
Returned to Malawi on a Birmingham to Blantyre flight back in 1976/7 time. Don't forget the Mechanics had to trundle through the cabin to top up the hydraulics at the back of the rear toilet wall; no APU on ours just had the emergency start air bottles in the tail section, only tried them once before their hydrostatic test date, FE had to be be quick with his hands to catch the spool up. Still loved flying in her as did my babes swinging in the cots slung from the overhead.
I assume that BHX / Blantyre flight was one of the couple of times the Air Malawi VC10 diverted into BHX due fog. I had always thought that the aircraft positioned back to Blantyre direct from BHX, which was an extremely long leg off BHS's 7,400ft runway back then. Were you actually a paying passenger on the aircraft; and did the flight actually go nonstop from BHX?