HS748 at Sumburgh

[Herod]

Back in the seventies, there was an incident where a parked 748 lost brake pressure and rolled down the hill, ending up with the nose resting on the Airfield Manager's (?) car. I know there was a photo of it used in advertising for the car model (Volvo?), but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Anyone got any leads?

[edinv]

I think this incident occurred at SYY.

[chevvron]

At Sumburgh in the 70s, the airfield manager was also SATCO so his car (a Vauxhall Viva Coupe 2200) would have been parked outside the tower which was on a hill, at least it was in 1972 when I was there for a month as part of my ATCO Cadet training. It was rare however, for Les Isaacs to bring his car to the airfield; normally he would use the 'company' Ford Anglia estate.
On the movement area, there was little in the way of slopes, the only one I can think of was near 15 threshold.
The only incident I heard of involving a '748 at Sumburgh was the 'fatal' on final for 09.

[eastern wiseguy]

Definitely SYY ...but I can't find any reference to it sorry.

[Liobian]

and - IIRC - it was a Dan-Air aircraft. I seem to recall that the car was a VW as subsequently they used the picture for publicity purposes - look how strong our motors are !!

[Herod]

Liobian. Yes, you're right. The picture was used in advertising, that's where I remember it from. Perhaps I thought "Volvo" because I own one, which was backended last weekend by a vintage Roller. :eek:

[VictorGolf]

Who "won" that encounter?

[India 99]

IIRC . . . definitely EGPO . . . ATCO Jim Bricknell (ex 30 Cadet Course) . . . VW Polo or Golf maybe?
circa 1977 + +

cheers :cool: 99

[Herod]

A draw I think. IIRC the 748 ended up with is nose resting on the car. The nosewheel had been pushed back by the impact. I've tried searching VW's archives without luck, and it doesn't to be in the public domain. My guess is that the company bought the copyright to the picture, and it's buried somewhere.