Quotes from Saint-Ex
"Hi Chris. I was on an A320 fllght the night before the Air France crash. I didn`t think it necessary to mention the aircraft was not one of BA`s as it was so widely reported." Yes, but many of our readers were too young to be taking an interest in such matters 25 years ago. You're not giving much away, but I presume your flight was as a passenger on a BA a/c? If so, I'd like to apologise for any delay
- we were having a lot of teething probs, both with the a/c and with the systems at the newly-opened Gatwick North Terminal. For example, we were the first short-haul fleet in BA (or, for that matter, the first of any airline operating at Gatwick and elsewhere) to use containerised baggage. I don't know if AF were doing it, although it seems probable, and wonder about Air Inter.
"As far as Flight Safety is concerned you may remember the first BA pilot to be allocated to the Airbus actually headed the Flight Safety department." You're nearly "right" (pun intended). The first proper BA pilot checked out on the A320 (AYK, the rest of us were all ex-BCAL) was ColinW, who joined us as an Assistant Flight-Manager in the summer. he then masterminded the transfer of the fleet to Heathrow in the October/November, and did a superb job of promoting the A320 in BA. Much later, when BA rationalisation abolished assistant managers, he joined Flight Safety, and eventually headed it.
In 1988, head of Flight Safety was JimP, who wasn't checked-out on the A320 until a year or two later.