Death Cruiser Flight Crew
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Vaucluse, France.
Posts: 613
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I can't remember exactly how 'HU came to us. What I do remember is that initially it had a different flight director system - perhaps a Collins FD108? - and only a limited number of pilots were checked out on it. Hence 'oddball.'
For the three months I was in SVO, the only serious defect it came in with was the captain's windshield heat failing half-way across Siberia. It quickly frosted over, and the captain purloined a bottle of gin from the first class bar to smear across it in an attempt to clear it. A right mess ensued, and I think it became the first officer's landing! The fault was traced to the circuit breaker. Our solitary Air India ground engineer robbed one from the cove lighting in the passenger cabin, and off it went to LHR. Happy days!