Unreliable 747 at Lgw about 1990

[arthur harbrow]

Hello, during a rather drunken conversation, a colleague who knew I was into aircraft mentioned they had been delayed at LGW for over 24 hours in 1990.
H e said the aircraft was an all white Jumbo, they were flying long haul to Florida.
Later in the year there was an article in a national newspaper about this particular aircraft and its unreliability.Anyone remember this?MTIA

[Johnny F@rt Pants]

Was this the 747 that was leased by Airtours and was given the name of “the flying pig” perhaps?

It was an ex Pan Am jumbo that they used on their Orlando service and was regularly tech.

[Daft Wader]

N602FF Tower Air leased to Air Europe the infamous "Fat Freddie"could be a candidate

Daft Wader

[rog747]

Yup AE's N602FF 747 Fat Freddie leased from Tower Air was one of them, plus in 1989 AE also leased N751PA B.747-121 from Orion Air (USA) which IIRC Airtours also operated.

You can also add in the Lion Air 747-100's leased from Cargolux (seen st times with both Lion Air and Orion Air titles) that flew for both Airtours and International Caribbean.

All the aircraft were basically white.

For AE and AIH the old crates could be seen flying anywhere from Gatwick or MAN to Orlando, or to BKK (AE), Palma and TFS

AIH decided to upgrade and leased a nice Rolls Royce 747-219B from Air New Zealand

AE had RR MD-11's on order but they went bust 1991.

[arthur harbrow]

Thanks for all replies, very interesting.Saw him again last night and apparently one of his mates had taken a photo from the spectators balcony and the aircraft was N751PA in Orion colour scheme.His wife remembers the aircraft being filthy inside, trust a woman to notice that.Googled it and it did seem to have a bit of a reputation.
A tad surprised I did not remember this as I was always interested in the early 747s as they were one of the reasons I got into aircraft.
I wonder if one of the early A 380s will go the same way, maybe one of the Hi Fly aircraft.Happy New Year.