Flew on the ill-fated ALHG aprox 6 months before the Stockport crash.
Managed to get airborn from Ringway at third attempt for Ostend. After only about 10 minutes in the air, one of the starboard Merlins decided to have a fire.
Emergency landing at EMA followed, where HG was towed away to a hangar and all pax were deposited in the staff canteen and fed cold ham, fried eggs and chips.
A four hour wait ensued, until sister ship LHY arrived, which should have operated EMA-JER. This aircraft was allocated for our continued journey and the JER pax informed of an indefinate delay to their flight.
The second leg of the flight was not uneventful, as on landing at Ostend, the tyres on the port undercarraige of HY burst.
Some of my friends witnessed HG on it's approach to Ringway on the day of the crash, across the Denton reservoirs. Apparently it was so low at that stage, you could see the pax through the windows.