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Old 21st Mar 2009, 07:43
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BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
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XX546 was 'my' aircraft at ULAS from November 1989 until I left in December 1992.

Definitely one of the nicest aeroplanes in the ULAS fleet - she never let me down or caused a moment's concern.

When I came back from a 6-month holiday flying VC10Ks in Gulf War 1, I put a little Saudi Arabia sticker under my name on her side. It stayed for quite a while until the maintenance supervisor raised a job card to 'remove non-standard marking from starboard fuselage'. Miserable old git that he was!!

I took her to Cambridge in April 1990 for her avionics upgrade; that was an interesting trip! I was in close formation with another QFI leading; as we usually did that trip at 2000 ft, I was somewhat surprised to note the height he'd climbed to - then he couldn't find the aerodrome at Cambridge. So I had to ease out, take a quick look, tell him and get back into formation.

After we landed, I discovered that he didn't have the airways marked on his map - and had blissfully led us through the Luton CTA stubs without clearance...

I'm glad that 546 is being looked after well - she always flew very nicely and had a smooth engine and well-balanced prop. I must have flown several hundred hours in her and sent many students on their first solos in her!
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