Shorts 330/360

[dada]

saw a thread on here the other day about 2 UK reg' Skyvans. Does anyone know if there are any 330's or 360's still flying. its a pity there aren,t any in the uk for airshow (rides)

[N707ZS]

There is at least one German 360 that does freight flights.

[DaveReidUK]

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/1/3/2/2404231.jpg

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Why did they fall out of favour? It's hard to believe there are so few still operating!

[DaveReidUK]

Cheap to operate, but slow and unpressurised.

[ESQU]

There is usually one up in INV, BenAir I think.

[bamcb38c]

i flew on a 360 a few weeks back operating out of punta cana (puj) on tourist trips. cant remember the operators name unfortunately. was in pretty good nick.

[hiflymk3]

Have some memories regarding Shorts 360. After running a conference in Liverpool Mrs hflymk3 joined me there for a few days where she announced that she thought she might be pregnant. She bought a diy kit and at breakfast at the hotel told me that the test was positive.


We were due to fly back to London that morning from the then Speke on a Manx Airline 360. While waiting in the departure lounge the pilot informed us that Heathrow was fog bound and that the plane was not classified to land in those conditions. However we would fly down there in the hope that the fog would clear. So we flew over a carpet of fog with only a few high rises and factory chimneys poking through the murk. Over London still no change, capt tells us that we can circle for 20 minutes before heading for an alternate which was Liverpool. So back up country we go. Although offered a coach back to London, Mrs hf3 and myself took the train on which I had a few G&Ts.


Shuttling up and down the country that day gave me time to contemplate impending fatherhood.


Our first born is now 28.


Happy days.

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Yes, they were unpressurized, but they weren't targeting long sectors, so it didn't really matter...
They were roomy, nice large windows, reasonably quiet....How come the "Bandit" (EMB-110) has outlived it?

[Hotel Tango]

I believe there are still a number flying in the USA and Caribbean area, but mainly as cargo a/c.

[N707ZS]

There must be a market for next generation 30 to 40 pax aircraft to replace the few that are still around. Only new DHC-6s so far available.

[DaveReidUK]

There must be a market for next generation 30 to 40 pax aircraft to replace the few that are still around. Only new DHC-6s so far available.

The Twin Otter (also unpressurised, of course) only seats 19, so it doesn't compete in the 30-40 seat market.

In fact there's no real competitor currently in that size bracket, which is an indication of how manufacturers see the market.

[hiflymk3]

The 360 was the box that the 330 came in.

[Level bust]

The only jump seat I ever sat on that was on the left of the captain. Made for a weird perspective!

[NWSRG]

The Skyvan...known affectionately in its home town as the Flying Henhouse.

[irishair2001]

:ok:Also the 330 was known as the Shed and the 360 was known as the Super Shed or Vomit Comets

[Midland 331]

"The Shoebox" at BMA.

Amazingly, Midland's sole 330, former G-BJFK, is still flying freight in The USA!

[richlit]

you could always hire one from this company
Private Jet Charter | Hire | Shorts 360 | PrivateFly (http://www.privatefly.com/private-jets/regional-airliner-hire/Shorts-360.html)
at £9000 an hour if you could get 30 people that's 300 each for an hour.
I do not know weather this is still on there books but it would be a nice trip down memory lane. richard

[DaveReidUK]

Amazingly, Midland's sole 330, former G-BJFK, is still flying freight in The USA!

Only had one trip on JFK, from Heathrow to EMA. Very gusty approach, and once we landed it was promptly grounded as the wind was above limits, so had to come back on the F-27.

Lovely aeroplane to fly, though, as was the 360.

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Here in Oz, Sunstate had Shorts 330/360 but I believe Comalco wanted their staff to be able to fly in a pressurized turbine twin into Gladstone. Along comes a competitor with old Mohawk 298s! No faster, no bigger, but flew about 2,000 ft higher with pressurization!

[Mike Tee]

Flown in the 360 twice. Once from Teesside to Gatwick, think that was Casair and another with Bangkok Airways from Hua Hin to Bankok. Seem to recall looking into the flight deck which looked like a submarine !!.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

TWA aircraft taxying out passed a 360 and asked what it was. When told he said "I bet it looks better out of its box".

During delays one morning at Heathrow a 360 in the BNN hold asked "How much longer - it's wall to wall sick in the back".

[pppdrive]

Had many a trip in both (plus Twin Otters & Bandeirantes) between HVB & BNE back in the 90s with Sunstate. Very roomy inside but were subject to a few bumps especially if going via MBH. Also known as the Irish Concord.

[Hotel Tango]

Since we are going down memory lane :) I logged 330/360 flights with British Midland, Air-UK, Air Europe Express, British Caledonian Commuter (operated by Brymon Airways in BCAL livery), Guernsey Airways, Jersey European Airways, British Air Ferries and, on a more exotic scale, Coral Air - between St Thomas and St Croix. Quite a trip down airline memory lane too :)

[Wycombe]

Look at FR24 most weekday evenings and you will see a 360 freighter plying it's way (at FL100) between Frankfurt and Coventry.

[Hotel Tango]

Look at FR24 most weekday evenings and you will see a 360 freighter plying it's way (at FL100) between Frankfurt and Coventry.

:ok: One of two operated by Nightexpress.

[Cremeegg]

The only jump seat I ever sat on that was on the left of the captain. Made for a weird perspective!


Jump seated a TriStar LHR - CDG once - seem to recall jump seat was to the left of the Captain and slightly higher - gave a great view through those huge windows.

[Midland 331]

>Flown in the 360 twice. Once from Teesside to Gatwick, think that was Casair.

Probably Genair or Gill Airways if it was a 360.

I used to use the MME-LGW in Gill days. The routing brought us in sight of the East Coast Main Line at some points, and I was convinced that the newly-introduced electric trains were overtaking us.

[1DC]

Flew Shorts regularly from HUY to LHR and AMS and for a short time GLW. I remember waiting to leave GLW one night and delayed because the wind was too strong. It was blowing a hooligan but eventually we left and i looked out of the window and we seemed to be about 10 feet above the runway travelling at walking pace. We then turned around and travelled to Teesside faster than the Pilot had ever done it before, before carrying on to HUY.
If the 1900 flight from LHR to HUY didn't get off before Concorde I seem to recall that we had to wait about 10 minutes until the turbulence subsided.
One time after a bumpy ride from AMS an American chap opened the overhead locker and a bottle of whisky fell out and crowned the chap sitting below. The American picked the bottle up and said "Is this your's Buddy?", dropped it into the lap of the semi conscious feller who had blood running down his face and walked off the plane without a backward glance!!

[surely not]

Since we are going down memory lane I logged 330/360 flights with British Midland, Air-UK, Air Europe Express, British Caledonian Commuter (operated by Brymon Airways in BCAL livery), Guernsey Airways, Jersey European Airways, British Air Ferries and, on a more exotic scale, Coral Air - between St Thomas and St Croix. Quite a trip down airline memory lane too

I don't think the British Caledonian Commuter 330/360 would have been Brymon Airways. They never operated their aircraft in BCAL Commuter colours, though their own colours were blue and yellow/gold and not too disimilar. Also I don't remember Brymon ever owning any Shorts 330/360. They did have a short term lease of a 330 on the BHX-LGW-BHX service to see if it would generate better loads than the Twin Otter. From memory I think that was a Fairflight/Air Ecosse aircraft.

Connectair also built up quite a fleet of 330 and 360 on their way to becoming City Flyer Express

[Border Reiver]

The Genair Sheds were painted in BCal Commuter colours. Not sure from memories of ABZ in the 80s that the Air Ecosse ones were.

With reference to MME, didn't Casair acquire a 330 before the merger with Genair and Eastern that created the enlarged Genair?

Time for a list of UK 330 360 operators?

[Mike Tee]

Thanks for jogging the memory Midland 331. Yes it was Gill Air. Also seem to remember our parking gate at Gatwick was just about the furthest possible distance from the BA Lagos gate meaning a hard dash to make the connection.

[N707ZS]

Casair bought G-OCAS 330 new from the factory.

[Hotel Tango]

surely not:

Brymon leased Shorts 330 G-BKDO from Shorts between June and September 1985. It was indeed on a LGW-BHX route that I flew on it, 3 July 1985. It had BRITISH CALEDONIAN COMMUTER SERVICE titles and (in my opinion) was closer to BCAL's colours than those of Brymon.

I found a photo and am trying to link it on here.

http://www.jetphotos.net/photolink.php?id=7587909

[surely not]

Thanks for posting that photo Hotel Tango.

G-BKDO pictured was leased to Brymon by Fairflight during the summer of 1985 to see whether increasing available seats on the BHX-LGW-BHX route would stimulate additional demand. By then ownership of G-BKDO had passed from Genair, who operated it in full BCAL Commuter Colours, to Fairflight of Biggin Hill who initially flew it in the BCAL Commuter colours for Brymon with Genair painted out. Brymon never owned a 330.

G-BKDO was originally with Eastern Airways (Mk1) and was repainted to BCAL Commuter colours when Genair bought Eastern and Casair.

edit to add.......... I have a photo of G-BKDO taxiing out from stand 97 at LGW, but on 8th Jun 1985, and a comment on the photo that it is operated by Fairflight but leased to Brymon.

[Opsbeatch]

Surely the King of Sheds!!

Photos: Short 360-300 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(Titan-Airways)/Short-360-300/2574035/L/&sid=05e34f20389dc97c9adbbbe7f5096942)

Spent many an hour in this lovely little ship.

OB

[Hotel Tango]

But the bottom line was that it was effectively a Brymon flight when I flew on it, so my original remark still stands. :p;)

[split system breaker]

I recall seeing a picture of a prototype Shorts 360 with 3 engines!

The same configuration as a Trilander, it was just about the ugliest aeroplane I've ever seen; I'm still not sure that it wasn't a wind-up.

Has anyone else heard of such a thing? I'd love to see the picture again.

[Midland 331]

So, would any drivers like to say what they liked about them?

I seem to recall that there was some kind of icing "gotcha", and that there was an absence of boots at vital places.

Did the ditching exit leak, and there was a need for bush hats?

[Herod]

Comment from a driver. In good weather a very pleasant little machine. However; in any sort of icing, not nice at all. I got airborne from Leeds/Bradford one dark night, en-route to Belfast. Having got to about FL50, and no chance of any higher, decided to divert to Manchester. The de-ice that was fitted was working fine, but ice was building up rapidly on the struts and undercarriage sponsons (and probably on the flat-plate underside, which was becoming more flat-plate as the speed decayed). The FO was more experienced on type than I was, so I left him flying it. The ILS glideslope was about all the beast could manage, and in the final stages I had effectively take-off power on. Having had a nice little worry about when our decaying airspeed was going to meet our increasing stall speed, I came out with a case of alopecia nervosa. Yep, a few weeks later big chunks of my hair came out. All grown back now; just a receding hairline these days.

Yes, in good weather, which I think it was designed for, very pleasant.

[Dave Clarke Fife]

Had a colleague who used the fly the shed for British Midland and he recounted a tale of flying from Heathrow to Brum one winters evening and starting out flight planned at something like FL80 but being down at 60 by WCO and dropping out of controlled airspace with the speed slowly decaying sometime later. Made it to BHX but he wasn't impressed to say the least. He called them flying ice cubes.

This video gives an idea. ( albeit from across the pond) of how icing built up on the 360



UNW2ewtRBOc

[Midland 331]

Yikes!

Considering their use in northern climes in the USA, and in night cargo work, I'm amazed that there weren't more losses through icing.

The Aer Lingus one at Castle Don. is notable. The Loganair incident at Edinburgh, was down to engine ice ingestion, so I read in the AAIB report.

I seem to recall reading a "I Learnt About Flying From That"-type article about a 360 having similar problems, which prompted the question.

Was this characteristic documented, or was it a case of learning on the job (quickly and memorably...)?

[DaveReidUK]

I'm still not sure that it wasn't a wind-up.

Or a Photoshop job, no way could it have been real.

[Herod]

The Aer Lingus happened late on a Friday night, too late for the next day's papers. The front page of the Sundays carried aerial pictures of the crash, and we gave them out to pax as they boarded for the flight I discussed a couple of posts above. You can imagine the atmosphere in the cabin; the windows iced up, and there was the racket as ice was thrown off the props.

[AtomKraft]

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.

[Midland 331]

What super memories! Thanks for sharing these.

>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.

This happened on a Genair 100-series 330 out of Teesside for Glasgow, so I heard around the airport (I worked on the ground there in 1984).

They lost an engine and declared "Pan" due to " 'dem Laws of Physics" affecting their ability to stay level with 30 pax. I'm amazed that the shed was ever given a C of A, considering such poor single engine performance.

I seem to recall that later versions were better. Maybe they gave you a better choice of open fields or long beaches...

[lotus1]

Had some great rides in shorts 330 one from Miami to Nassau with American international with the seat cushion as your life raft and a titian shorts from stanstead to liege on a sports charter great flying low over the channel then in a low approach to liege remined of the film tonight's target is Berlin

[Doors to Automatic]

Air Cargo Carriers are the largest operator in the world with around 30 in service. They fly mainly for UPS out of Louisville to various weird and wonderful points across the Midwest and South-East US.

I was lucky enough to fly the full-motion simulator (the only one in the world I think) at La Guardia back in 2007.

My company at the time built them a fixed base device which is still in operation at their Milwaukee base. Here is a video of it in operation:


http://youtu.be/5aPZgAA0Cdc

[dixi188]

A Metropolitan Airways SD330 in the 1980s flying from Birmingham to Cardiff had an engine failure. London ATC filed an MOR due to the aircraft being unable to maintain FL60. The reason was that the crew were slow to go to Max Continuous Power on the good engine. There was a very good reason for the delay in increasing the power, but I couldn't say why on this forum!

[AtomKraft]

My first day line training on the Shed. GLA-Islay-GLA. Me and Ray Mitchell.

Took off rwy 23 and into the clag at 200'.

Flew to Islay to do the NDB/ DME letdown with rain flowing UP the windscreen and landing on my head. Tried fiddling with the J cloths, but nothing seemed to work. Never saw the ground after taking off, and don't forget the Shed had only 'green screen' nav. No GPS or IRS. Just needles, VOR and beam bar.

Done the approach and saw nothing. Went around.

Done it again. Nothing. Around again.

Training Capt. did the next one. Another go around, a wee bit after the MAP.....
I did the GA. Getting ok at these by now.

Chucked it, and took the pax back to Glasgow.

Done the ILS to minimums and landed off it. All we'd seen of the ground, the whole flight, was a glimpse of the beach near Port Ellen....

Went home with knees trembling....:)

[AtomKraft]

Another time, flew with Moody Ken on a GLA- BEB- SYY early morning freight flight. 4.5 tonnes of newspapers for the He-Brides.
Stitch shaker activated continuously as we descended into BEB in ice and IMC. Nothing would stop it, and it's a bad feeling when you are holding the controls- a bit like flying a pneumatic road drill that won't turn off. Capt pulled the CB in the end, thank God.
Did the VOR at Benny and saw SFA.
Diverted to SYY, and shot the VOR to 36. Nothing.
Went around and shot the bloody NDB or VOR, I can't remember, to 18.
FA again.
Diverted to, and landed at INV.
I was getting used to it by this time.

[AtomKraft]

Another one was rocking up to Scumburgh on time, and doing that cloud break procedure, put the gear down but only got two greens.
We decided ( when I say 'we'- my input was not great) to go to Wick. Tried everything, but no joy.
The aircraft had been landing at Barra, and the gear was suffering from the salty water.
Finished up as an emergency landing with the full 'brace brace' thing to the pax, but happily the Captain, Paul Wells, jolted the right gear down when he landed on the left one.
No drama. :ok:

[Consol]

I seem to remember that turning on the A.C. in the 330 caused us to slow by 15-20kts. Once looked out and saw the engine intake glowing red, the anti ice mat had gone into thermal runaway.

I never saw any really serious things go wrong with it, I do seem to remember some of the characters flying it were a far greater hazard than the aeroplane ever was!

Happy days and great to have flown it

[The Flying Pram]

I flew as a passenger on a 360 many years ago out of Norwich - it was a special charter taking a group of enthusiasts down to RIAT Fairford. I remember it being b***dy hot, and the poor old shed sounded like it was at full power most of the way. On the return leg I managed to get the jump seat next to (and behind) the captain. We used an awful lot of Fairford's runway getting airborne. I'm fairly sure the aircon was turned off before the take off roll, and not put back on until we had reached some altitude. I was given a headset but the mic wasn't plugged in. It made for an interesting day out - we passed over Enstone and I remember looking down at the sorry remains of the Bristol Frightener which had ground looped only a few days earlier.

[AtomKraft]

7cyl.
Hi Paul! Long time no fly!

Yes, I didn't remember the wind, but then 45G50 wasn't really unusual up there was it???
I remember skating sideways along the runway at Islay on another dreadful day with crosswinds that were clearly high enough to re-establish the Sheds Xwind limits somewhat further up the Beaufort scale.

Happy days, and yes, have to agree with the poster who commented on the diversity of the characters who worked there. Hey, someone had to do it!

I remember one very stony silence after I mentioned to my Captain, that I'd once been a social worker.....best leave it that eh?:uhoh:

Drop me a pm if u like... Cheery, S.

[fdcg27]

So they considered a well-used Nord 262 switched to engines for which parts were actually available to be an upgrade over the Shorts?
Go figure.
The Shorts were in commuter service under contract to at least one of the majors here in the US for a time.
I'm sorry that I missed flying on one.

[Super Knob]

The SD-360 conversion to C-23B+'s was a politically driven Pork Barrel project, utilizing high time & high cycle airframes converted to twin tailed ramp equipped Sherpas.

They continue to fly. Now "given" to the US Forest Service to replace more capable airplanes like the Turbine DC-3 and DHC-6.

This event has been written about on a fire related aviation site.

It is also replacing the C-23A Sherpa that the USFS got from the USAF back in the fall of 1991. Neither airplane has good performance in high altitude and hot temperature situations which includes most of the area of operation of the USFS. Interestingly the A models currently have fewer hours and cycles than the B+'s.

I agree with the previous post that the airplane carries a lot of ice but not very good. In my case it was a C-23A.

[Nipper1011]

A key factor in the fairly rapid decline in operational 330 numbers was (as is often the case with older aircraft) maintenance costs.
Most 330s were operated on either G- or N- registrations and were on the individual operators' approved maintenance schedules which included on-condition maintenance of the PT6-45R engines. This meant that by the time disposal was considered the engines' time since overhaul were way in excess of the manufacturer's schedule. Potential new operators in other countries therefore faced expensive overhauls before the aircraft could have operated. These airframes were not worth the cost of those overhauls which is why so many were parted out or simply scrapped. Shorts had provided residual value guarantees on the majority of airframes to get them financed in the first place. For the reasons above those values were too optimistic, so the British taxpayer ended up owning them towards the end of their useful life.

[El Bunto]

Disappointingly BenAir didn't win the Royal Mail Christmas tender from Belfast to Edinburgh this year, so instead of a Shed in Belfast we have a Bin Air Texan-Tube.

A 330 passed-through Ronaldsway back in October heading to the UAE as a jump-ship. It was sold from the Air Cargo fleet and is to be joined by a second one in early 2016; here's hoping it will call-in to Belfast en route rather than pottering over its birthplace at 6,0000 ft :(

[Newforest2]

Did you say 60,000 feet? ;)

[Stanwell]

Reminds me of the one where a disbelieving F-86 Sabre jock pulled alongside a DC3 flying at something like FL300.
He was so busy rubbing his eyes and scratching his head - that when he got a wave from the cockpit window, he stalled it and disappeared from view.
Turned out that it was one of the first Turbo-DC3s under test.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

A shed takes a lifetime to reach 6,000 ft, let alone 60,000!!

[El Bunto]

Did you say 60,000 feet? ;)
Ooops!

Perhaps the result of a secret Shorts project to cross-breed the SD3-30 with the SC.9...

Well I didn't find anything quite that exciting but here's a thread about the proposed Shorts 450, a 49-seat stretch:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,22000.msg227820.html#msg227820

[Bigears]

I remember the R/T exchange that went between a BA Shuttle B757 & a Loganair SH36...

Shuttle in response to Glasgow ATC: 'Roger, copied, number 2 to the Shed'
Loganair retorted: 'I'd rather be a shed than a tube!' :D

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Shed in a bad storm holding at Bovingdon: "How much longer will we be here because it's wall-to-wall sick in the back".

[old,not bold]

The 360 pedigree went back to the SC7 Skyvan, as everyone knows, but fewer know that the first step after the Skyvan was the Skyliner; exactly the same airframe and engine (TPE331) as a Skyvan, but the large upwards rear door was replaced by a door in the side, and it was intended for 19 passengers only. We had one in the Gulf, in the '70s, but I don't know if there were any others, or indeed what happened to ours.

I think the 330 was the next step, followed by the 360.

Something else that people don't know is that the Skyvan could outperform a Twin Otter on STOL any day of the week, payload for payload, with the greatest of ease. And that's at the military MTOW 13,500 lbs that the aircraft was designed for, as operated by SOAF, as I recall, among others. Civil regs allowed only 12,500 lbs. Leaving Saiq, 6,500 ft elev., in a SOAF Skyvan, with a good load, was always exciting.

[DaveReidUK]

We had one in the Gulf, in the '70s, but I don't know if there were any others

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/5/1/1/2355115.jpg

[old,not bold]

Thanks! Hmmmm...........Viscount alongside?

[Mr Oleo Strut]

I well remember a 360 flight to Guernesesy in or about 1986, it may have been AirUk and was from the old Stansted terminal. Weather was also nearly terminal but certainly marginal, wet and very windy. Our lady F/O took us up like a rocket and I remember the sewing-machine-like screech from the engines. Buffeting continued as we dodged through very black clouds. Right over central London with amazing views through deep shafts of clear air and sun light. Then the lightning flashed and we buzzed off like a bumble-bee. At Guernesey there was gusting wind and we were tossed around like a leaf in the autumn but they got us down in one piece. I got the impression that the 360 was one tough little babe and will never forget that flight experience.

[The Flying Pram]

http://www.pprune.org/<a href=http://postimage.org/ target=_blank>[img]http://s18.postimg.org/u93b0cj5l/Shorts_360_Norwich_July_1996.jpg If anyone is interested I've found a picture of our group after returning to Norwich from Fairford, as I described in an earlier comment. The Registration is G-OJSY which according to G-INFO was being operated by BAC Express Airlines at the time we flew on her (July 20th 1996). In 2000 it was transferred to Nigeria


http://s18.postimg.org/u93b0cj5l/Shorts_360_Norwich_July_1996.jpg

[parabellum]

The Skyvan...known affectionately in its home town as the Flying Henhouse.

First flew the SC7 Skyvan in 1972, it too was sometimes known as 'The Shed', also known as 'The Whispering Nissen Hut' and 'Melody in Metal'!

BA didn't fly the Skyliner for very long out of Glasgow, something to do with performance I believe, they managed to make the end of the GLA runway an obstacle! ;)

[DaveReidUK]

BA didn't fly the Skyliner for very long out of Glasgow, something to do with performance I believe, they managed to make the end of the GLA runway an obstacle!

I don't know about the performance (well I do, though that's another story), but the Skyliner was incredibly unpopular with passengers, with its two very noisy Garretts. Many regular flyers on the GLA routes used to carry their own earplugs, in fact I have a feeling that towards the end of its brief career with BA, passengers were issued with them as a matter of course.

[Ivan aromer]

The skyliner was so unpopular with the pax was, it is alleged, because it made you want to wee. Not sure if that is true, never had a problem myself.

[FLCH]

Many fond memories of the 360 30 years ago, cut my airline teeth on it for Atlantic Southeast Airlines the "Skypig" was a reliable aircraft, all manual flying, flying skills were never better than back then flying between 5-7 hours a duty day.

Atlanta tower would always inform the aircraft in position ready to go, that " A pair of Shorts are crossing downfield"

The only fun fact I remember was if the airplane got overfuelled the vent was directly over the fuelllers head and would inform him/her of such a situation.

[strake]

According to my logbook, over a period of four and a half years in the eighties I have 887 take-off's in a Skyvan and 27 landings. Fond memories of a real workhorse.

[El Bunto]

Incidentally I think the last Astazou-engined Skyvan went to the scrappy back in the 1990s, it was owned by a University in the USA ( Wisconsin? perhaps ) as an instructional airframe.

All the others had already been scrapped or converted to Garretts. Why did they go with those instead of PT6A I wonder?

Pity the UAS haven't shown much interest in preserving the type.

[Richard Le page]

Mr Oleo Strut
Yes Would definitely have been Air UK you flew with, they operated STN-GCI until their demise in 1998.Shorts 360 flights from Stansted were very short lived, about 1 year I think 1986-87, most flights were on the F27 Before that and then a mix of F27 and BAE 146,possibly F100 towards the end[weekends] from 1988 onwards.
They also downgraded the SOU route from F27 to SH6 at that time too.
Not sure what the reason was but it was very short lived and was back to the F27 within a year or so. You definitely got some bumpy landings into Guernsey when it was windy on the Shorts!