My first job was on these with Loganair.
Of course, I thought it was great!
General handling got better and better as there was no autopilot. Normally flew the downwind leg flat out, then did a 180 degree descending turn, while configuring to land. Roll the wing up and flare. None of this stabilised approach malarkey!
Other memories were of the leaky hatch above the FOs seat, usually stuffed with J Cloths.... But still leaking.
Yes, it carried ice, but not well. Felt like a couple of tons....
Used to do base checks on the aircraft- there was no sim- damn thing barely climbed on one engine, and that was empty! I always thought that with a real engine failure on a heavy one, we'd only be going in one direction, and it wasn't up.
Another story was about the one taxiing out at Glasgow. The Air Canada behind asked the tower what type it was, and tower said 'it's a shed'. Loganair captain immediately replied, 'it's a Shorts SD-360 actually'.
To which the AC crew responded 'really. Did you make it yourself?'
Anyway, was fun to fly and passengers really liked it. They did not regard the move to the Jetstream 41 as any improvement.
Another time, we'd eased up to 14,000' for some reason, when our sole hostie asked if we were flying higher than usual? Yes, we said, but how can you tell?
Oh, a passenger has just had the glass jump off his watch.
Great times, great folk to fly with and an aircraft that flew better than it looked. Mind you, it looked grim.
Another time, a pax wrote in to comment on his flight. He wrote that he'd boarded the bus to go out to the aircraft, and was surprised when the bus took off!
Was quite exciting for a first job. Didn't realise how good it was really.