What planes operated BHX->LGW in the early 90s?
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What planes operated BHX->LGW in the early 90s?
In about 1990 I travelled from Birmingham to San Jose. Thanks to a rather literal minded secretary, instead of the obvious ``drive/train to LHR, fly to SFO, drive/train to San Jose'', I did it all by plane via Gatwick and Chicago. My memory has always been that the plane from BHX to LGW was a Viscount, but looking at its service history (withdrawn by BA in the mid-eighties) that seems less certain. It was certainly a turbo-prop. Does anyone know what planes operated on that route?
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It would have been the Air Europe Express SD360. Flew on it myself the day before they went bust, March 7th 1991 (??). The route was revived by Community Express later in the decade, but they soon went the same way.
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A bit more detail:
The BHX/LGW route was originally pioneered by British Caledonian on a Navajo Chieftan in order to increase passenger counts on its long haul flights from LGW as opposed to the competition from LHR. This service started in the 70's I believe and operating the Navajo was a route into the business for BCal's trainee pilots.
In the early 80's the route was taken over by Brymon on their Twin Otters (operated in single pilot mode, which the Otter is designed for - the RHS up front was a designated passenger seat, much fought for by the regulars). It was at one time the second most profitable route in Brymon Airways, but the introduction of mandatory double pilot crewing in 1990 meant that the Otter was no longer a viable aircraft for the route (due to it's passenger carrying capacity (17). The company replaced this with a leased SD 330 in about June 1990 but due to revised accounting proceedures it was declared that the route was no longer profitable and Brymon withdrew it during the November of that year. The remaining history of the route is as stated above. I understand that one of the main problems was landing charges at LGW. As it took almost as much runway time to get a Twin Otter on the ground as it took to get a 747, the airport preferred to get an additional 747 down or expected the 17 pax Twin Otter to pay the same fees! It was a great route - remember the press about the near miss that Concorde had with the Twin Otter - and the Twin Otter was right. It went on for years on the R.T: LATCC:" Morning Brymon, Concorde has just got airborne from Heathrow - and he's missed you!"
and so on.....
P.P.
The BHX/LGW route was originally pioneered by British Caledonian on a Navajo Chieftan in order to increase passenger counts on its long haul flights from LGW as opposed to the competition from LHR. This service started in the 70's I believe and operating the Navajo was a route into the business for BCal's trainee pilots.
In the early 80's the route was taken over by Brymon on their Twin Otters (operated in single pilot mode, which the Otter is designed for - the RHS up front was a designated passenger seat, much fought for by the regulars). It was at one time the second most profitable route in Brymon Airways, but the introduction of mandatory double pilot crewing in 1990 meant that the Otter was no longer a viable aircraft for the route (due to it's passenger carrying capacity (17). The company replaced this with a leased SD 330 in about June 1990 but due to revised accounting proceedures it was declared that the route was no longer profitable and Brymon withdrew it during the November of that year. The remaining history of the route is as stated above. I understand that one of the main problems was landing charges at LGW. As it took almost as much runway time to get a Twin Otter on the ground as it took to get a 747, the airport preferred to get an additional 747 down or expected the 17 pax Twin Otter to pay the same fees! It was a great route - remember the press about the near miss that Concorde had with the Twin Otter - and the Twin Otter was right. It went on for years on the R.T: LATCC:" Morning Brymon, Concorde has just got airborne from Heathrow - and he's missed you!"
and so on.....
P.P.
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You're forgetting the SD 360 service operated by Community Express since which/when the service has not operated.
I remember one of Brymon's DHC pilots, a Capt. Thomson ( I think - spelling?).
His family had a very very short strip at Milson in Shropshire near Cleobury Mortimer. Going in/out of there in a Cessna 150 was exciting to say the least, so the Twin Otter was in very capable hands for STOL
I remember one of Brymon's DHC pilots, a Capt. Thomson ( I think - spelling?).
His family had a very very short strip at Milson in Shropshire near Cleobury Mortimer. Going in/out of there in a Cessna 150 was exciting to say the least, so the Twin Otter was in very capable hands for STOL
quite a short flight, granted, but a tad more than 5 mins. I'd say about 15' minimum. 
I flew LGW-BHX a couple of times with Brymon. JAN/83 in a DHC-6 (G-BWRB - F/T 0:58) and JUL/85 in a Shorts 330 (G-BKDO - F/T 0:37) operating as BCAL Commuter.
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I remember one of Brymon's DHC pilots, a Capt. Thomson ( I think - spelling?).
His family had a very very short strip at Milson in Shropshire near Cleobury Mortimer. Going in/out of there in a Cessna 150 was exciting to say the least, so the Twin Otter was in very capable hands for STOL
His family had a very very short strip at Milson in Shropshire near Cleobury Mortimer. Going in/out of there in a Cessna 150 was exciting to say the least, so the Twin Otter was in very capable hands for STOL
One of the first BC pilots on the Navajo BHX _GAT route was Chris Guy who previously flew for Central Air Services at BHX and whose father is fondly known as an AME who liked a bit of a drink!
