Best flight - Worst flight
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Yes, we are forgetting the Air Florida crash - thanks (but no thanks).
I remember Air Florida from a charter from the Bahamas to Florida. Their plane had fewer seats than expected so some people had to wait for alternate transportation. Air Florida is gone and I did my best to forget them.
The Washington Metro was probably relieved that the Air Florida crash took up all the front pages -- since the Metro had its first serious accident that day. There was a lot of heavy wet snow.
I remember Air Florida from a charter from the Bahamas to Florida. Their plane had fewer seats than expected so some people had to wait for alternate transportation. Air Florida is gone and I did my best to forget them.
The Washington Metro was probably relieved that the Air Florida crash took up all the front pages -- since the Metro had its first serious accident that day. There was a lot of heavy wet snow.
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Dixi, yup pretty sure they were Elektras, certainly not radial engines, and by that age I was a seasoned traveller and pretty good on aircraft recognition! An American pilot friend, hearing my memories of flames once said something like "yup, those early Allisons did that sometimes", perhaps they only did it was I was on board!
Constellations were still a regular sight in those days, always fancied a flight in one but never got it!
Constellations were still a regular sight in those days, always fancied a flight in one but never got it!
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I flew on a KLM Electra, from Milan-Linate to Schiphol in June 1968 at age 10. Everything seemed just fine to me. And I'm very glad now that I had that flight, as I don't think that many people in Europe outside of Holland can put the type in their log book now, as KLM were the sole European operator of the Electra.
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First Best flight 1955 taken up for a birthday treat by an ex RAF pilot in an Auster from Squires gate.. things seemed really slow.. and very noisy .
Best Fight ever for me Concorde Champagne flight out of Manchester over the North sea turn left to the north turn left over the Faroe islands then another left turn and straight back down over Scotland to Manchester this was another birthday treat, from my darling leg-iron..!
many flights in between very mundane and boring many of them.
But the stand out from the rest was my first solo flight in a Helicopter, I have been smiling ever since..
Peter R-B
Lancashre
Best Fight ever for me Concorde Champagne flight out of Manchester over the North sea turn left to the north turn left over the Faroe islands then another left turn and straight back down over Scotland to Manchester this was another birthday treat, from my darling leg-iron..!
many flights in between very mundane and boring many of them.
But the stand out from the rest was my first solo flight in a Helicopter, I have been smiling ever since..
Peter R-B
Lancashre
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Joyrider
Reminded me of one I'd forgotten about. Mid 70's.
Leeds/Bradford to Brussels, but with a change at Schiphol of both a/c and airlines, for what was maybe my shortest commercial flight. It was some obscure Dutch or Belgian airline with a piston engined a/c and the trolly dolly came round with a basket of boiled sweets.
Proplinerman
Getting airborne on any flight out of Linate was always a relief. It was the most disorganised airport that I ever used. Unfortunately for work reasons, at one time I was a regular customer there. 
one sweet for take off.
Leeds/Bradford to Brussels, but with a change at Schiphol of both a/c and airlines, for what was maybe my shortest commercial flight. It was some obscure Dutch or Belgian airline with a piston engined a/c and the trolly dolly came round with a basket of boiled sweets.
Proplinerman
Milan-Linate to Schiphol in June 1968
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Best flight: Concorde, JFK to LHR, going for the record fastest crossing (according to the Captain!)
Worst flight: B727 on one of those Arabian airlines from Rome to Damascus. Boarded by the integral rear stairs to be greeted by the hostess who had holes in her stockings, the carpet was sticky like a low life bar that had had too much beer spilled on it, the food was terrible and the flight was late!
Worst flight: B727 on one of those Arabian airlines from Rome to Damascus. Boarded by the integral rear stairs to be greeted by the hostess who had holes in her stockings, the carpet was sticky like a low life bar that had had too much beer spilled on it, the food was terrible and the flight was late!
One of the best flights was Aleppo - Damascus 1st class on a Syrian Arab B727 back in 2006. Nice wide seats (70's style) Full breakfast service all for £12.
One of the worst was with Indian Airlines on a Caravelle between BOM & DEL during the 70's. No overhead lockers just netting. Needless to say hand luggage just fell out during turbulence.
One of the worst was with Indian Airlines on a Caravelle between BOM & DEL during the 70's. No overhead lockers just netting. Needless to say hand luggage just fell out during turbulence.
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Best flight - 3 years ago LHR-HK- Auckland Businesses Class with ANZ - just wonderful
Worst flight - Aeroflot Krasnodar Moscow mid 90's battered Tu-154, world famous Aeroflot service, 1 sandwich on the trolley (which no one was brave enough to eat), no drinks whatsoever, main passenger door emitting a loud whistling noise all the way, not all the seat belts present........
Worst on ground experience - trapped at the old airport terminal (= hut) at Unjung Pandang in the mid-80's, flights delayed, packed , small child (not mine) with a wind up Santa Claus toy that hopped across the floor playing "Jingle Bells" - ... for hours.. I confessed to shooting the Arch Duke Ferdinand at Sarajevo after 3 hours
Worst flight - Aeroflot Krasnodar Moscow mid 90's battered Tu-154, world famous Aeroflot service, 1 sandwich on the trolley (which no one was brave enough to eat), no drinks whatsoever, main passenger door emitting a loud whistling noise all the way, not all the seat belts present........
Worst on ground experience - trapped at the old airport terminal (= hut) at Unjung Pandang in the mid-80's, flights delayed, packed , small child (not mine) with a wind up Santa Claus toy that hopped across the floor playing "Jingle Bells" - ... for hours.. I confessed to shooting the Arch Duke Ferdinand at Sarajevo after 3 hours
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Joint worst, Akrotiri to Brize in a full Belfast and internal Air Ind*a flights.
Best in June 1977 home from Jeddah in one of the last BA VC10 flights, a chilled lager breakfast after 4 months alcohol free and a night in the terminal during ramadam.
Last year I was upgraded to first on a BA flight back from Tel Aviv, it was disappointing and I am glad that I hadn't paid for it.
Best in June 1977 home from Jeddah in one of the last BA VC10 flights, a chilled lager breakfast after 4 months alcohol free and a night in the terminal during ramadam.
Last year I was upgraded to first on a BA flight back from Tel Aviv, it was disappointing and I am glad that I hadn't paid for it.
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Until recently BEST was on a certain BAC/Aerospatiale Type 102, LHR-JFK BA001.....but last month flew on a Kenmore Air Turbo Otter out of Lake Union, Seattle on a crystal clear evening with the background of Mt Rainiers majestic snowy peak and the Puget Sound archipelago....now that really is flying
WORST? Garuda 737 somewhere over Java on a dark stormy night back in the early 90's where I really thought I might make page 5 of the Daily Telegraph "sole Briton confirmed aboard crashed airliner". No doubt chaps up front thought it was just another night in the office.
WORST? Garuda 737 somewhere over Java on a dark stormy night back in the early 90's where I really thought I might make page 5 of the Daily Telegraph "sole Briton confirmed aboard crashed airliner". No doubt chaps up front thought it was just another night in the office.
Best: Punta Arenas to Santiago on a LAN 320, seat 1L in 2008. Late afternoon and a spectacular sunset view over the Cordillera and Torres del Paine.
Worst. Iquitos - Tabatinga - Manaus on a Cruzeiro do Sul YS-11 in the mid seventies. I was fairly accustomed to frights at the time, with many hours in the back of Twotters, Cessnas and helicopters during the oil exploration years in the Peruvian Amazon, but this one was out of the ordinary. The flight operated MAO-TBT-IQT-TBT-MAO and, since at the time neither IQT nor TBT had runway lighting, aircraft had to be on the ground by sundown unless it was approaching Manaus. Massive fronts moving down the Amazon are not infrequent. Our company were the airline's agents and provided ground services. This time the flight was late because it had caught a front between Tabatinga and Iquitos, and we took off from Iquitos knowing that we'd probably have to spend the night in Tabatinga or Leticia. And of course we caught it just before arrival in TBT. Everything went black outside although with much flashing of lightning and the aircraft was thrown about quite violently. Hand baggage on overhead shelves (no lockers) tossed about, aluminium air conditioning vents fell off and there was a fair amount of screaming. After fifteen minutes of this we came through and landed at Tabatinga just minutes before the front engulfed the airport like a moving waterfall; everyone was drenched running the 100m from the aircraft to the terminal. The terminal was still under construction and consisted of a large open shed with a high roof so it afforded next to no protection.
After a night drying our sodden clothes in the hotels we were dispersed to, the still damp passengers assembled at sparrow-fart the next morning and we took off for Manaus, encountering the same front en route. Once again, overhead shelves tossing their contents about violently, aircon vents falling, same screaming, another fifteen minutes of "is this the way it ends". But we arrived and I went back to Iquitos the same way, lovely clear weather and views over the jungle.
Worst. Iquitos - Tabatinga - Manaus on a Cruzeiro do Sul YS-11 in the mid seventies. I was fairly accustomed to frights at the time, with many hours in the back of Twotters, Cessnas and helicopters during the oil exploration years in the Peruvian Amazon, but this one was out of the ordinary. The flight operated MAO-TBT-IQT-TBT-MAO and, since at the time neither IQT nor TBT had runway lighting, aircraft had to be on the ground by sundown unless it was approaching Manaus. Massive fronts moving down the Amazon are not infrequent. Our company were the airline's agents and provided ground services. This time the flight was late because it had caught a front between Tabatinga and Iquitos, and we took off from Iquitos knowing that we'd probably have to spend the night in Tabatinga or Leticia. And of course we caught it just before arrival in TBT. Everything went black outside although with much flashing of lightning and the aircraft was thrown about quite violently. Hand baggage on overhead shelves (no lockers) tossed about, aluminium air conditioning vents fell off and there was a fair amount of screaming. After fifteen minutes of this we came through and landed at Tabatinga just minutes before the front engulfed the airport like a moving waterfall; everyone was drenched running the 100m from the aircraft to the terminal. The terminal was still under construction and consisted of a large open shed with a high roof so it afforded next to no protection.
After a night drying our sodden clothes in the hotels we were dispersed to, the still damp passengers assembled at sparrow-fart the next morning and we took off for Manaus, encountering the same front en route. Once again, overhead shelves tossing their contents about violently, aircon vents falling, same screaming, another fifteen minutes of "is this the way it ends". But we arrived and I went back to Iquitos the same way, lovely clear weather and views over the jungle.
Best: 1 hr 15 min in the back seat of a Hawk out of RAF Valley, operating in close formation with 2 other Hawks flown by student pilots.
Worst: Pranging my own newly purchased single seat aircraft by flaring it before touchdown when it was supposed to be 'flown on'.
Worst: Pranging my own newly purchased single seat aircraft by flaring it before touchdown when it was supposed to be 'flown on'.
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My best flight ever started when I pulled the cable release knob in a Kirby Cadet for my first circuit at Booker in 1948. Oh the joy of not having to just stick to the straight line of a high hop and to be able make my own decisions about height and position just from what I could see.
The worst one was in a Shackleton in February 1953 when we went out to locate the ocean weather stations that had been driven off station in the Atlantic by the storms that caused the East Coast floods around the North Sea. Ground speeds on any heading in the north-west quadrant were down in double digits.
Nobody could get out of their seats on that flight due to the turbulence, but the weather station crews had had it worse.
The worst one was in a Shackleton in February 1953 when we went out to locate the ocean weather stations that had been driven off station in the Atlantic by the storms that caused the East Coast floods around the North Sea. Ground speeds on any heading in the north-west quadrant were down in double digits.
Nobody could get out of their seats on that flight due to the turbulence, but the weather station crews had had it worse.
Best has to be my first, in 1946, which was returning from the Isle of Man to Speke in a DH Rapide, having gone there in the ferry from Fleetwood in rough weather.
Worst was probably in the 1980s in a MAS F27 which was just out of Kuala Lumpur when the cabin temperature rose alarmingly and reaching for the punkah louvre, I found it too hot to touch. Captain Speaking announced there was trouble with one a/c system and he would have to shut down the engine and return. That he did, but it was his high-rate turn into the dead engine that frightened me most and made that the worst flight.
Or perhaps it was the Royal Air Nepal flight from Kathmandu to Delhi where we had a fellow-passenger dressed in battle fatigues who had regaled the departure lounge with a tirade about his beliefs and how he had studied war, etc. etc. to the point that he was so obviously the hijacker that the rest of us were reluctant to board. When we did we made sure we sat where we could keep an eye on him and on arrival at Delhi made sure we were through immigration before he was.
Since it turned out that he wasn't the hijacker I suppose the flight wasn't too bad really.
Worst was probably in the 1980s in a MAS F27 which was just out of Kuala Lumpur when the cabin temperature rose alarmingly and reaching for the punkah louvre, I found it too hot to touch. Captain Speaking announced there was trouble with one a/c system and he would have to shut down the engine and return. That he did, but it was his high-rate turn into the dead engine that frightened me most and made that the worst flight.
Or perhaps it was the Royal Air Nepal flight from Kathmandu to Delhi where we had a fellow-passenger dressed in battle fatigues who had regaled the departure lounge with a tirade about his beliefs and how he had studied war, etc. etc. to the point that he was so obviously the hijacker that the rest of us were reluctant to board. When we did we made sure we sat where we could keep an eye on him and on arrival at Delhi made sure we were through immigration before he was.
Since it turned out that he wasn't the hijacker I suppose the flight wasn't too bad really.
Best flight - 800ft winch launch into a thermal, then wave to 25000ft (over Kinloss) on a lovely summer's day
Worst flight - releasing in front of a stonking wave bar near Rippon (Yorkshire) misjudged the windspeed & immediately fell back into the cloud & then the rotor. Got below cloudbase to see the tug landing at Dishforth while I went into a field 5+ miles away in the depths of winter
Worst flight - releasing in front of a stonking wave bar near Rippon (Yorkshire) misjudged the windspeed & immediately fell back into the cloud & then the rotor. Got below cloudbase to see the tug landing at Dishforth while I went into a field 5+ miles away in the depths of winter
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Air Cadet after WW2
Best flight 1947/48 Iwas thirteen year old Air Cadet at annual camp I was told too go & get a parachute as Iwould be flying in about twenty minutes in Avro Lincoln F-Freddy. Absolute heaven ,marched out too the A/C lugging this parachute all webbing straps that I could not stop tripping over F-Freddy
was sitting there with four great Merlins ticking over banged on the door it was opened by a RAF sergeant who told me in no uncertain terms to Push Off only thing left to do was back too the Parachute Store turned a corner bumped into a great big Flight Sergeant covered in WW2 medal ribbons he asked what was the matter & I bleated out my sad story no problem he had found a body to take his place in a Lincoln that would flying all around Scotland for about 3 hrs a few minutes later I was installed in the Mid-Upper Turret of A-Able off we went Binbrook up to Scapa Flow then stooge about over England & Scotland - Binbrook. Flight Time about 4hrs what we were supposed to be doing I never found out the crew were playing cards & eating sandwiches, so Iwas one happy boy!
was sitting there with four great Merlins ticking over banged on the door it was opened by a RAF sergeant who told me in no uncertain terms to Push Off only thing left to do was back too the Parachute Store turned a corner bumped into a great big Flight Sergeant covered in WW2 medal ribbons he asked what was the matter & I bleated out my sad story no problem he had found a body to take his place in a Lincoln that would flying all around Scotland for about 3 hrs a few minutes later I was installed in the Mid-Upper Turret of A-Able off we went Binbrook up to Scapa Flow then stooge about over England & Scotland - Binbrook. Flight Time about 4hrs what we were supposed to be doing I never found out the crew were playing cards & eating sandwiches, so Iwas one happy boy!
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Seacue,
The AF problem was not "too much snow". The P2/T2 sensor iced up so the Engine Pressure Ratio was completely false and thus their prime thrust indication during takeoff was not correct (and actually insufficient).
The AF problem was not "too much snow". The P2/T2 sensor iced up so the Engine Pressure Ratio was completely false and thus their prime thrust indication during takeoff was not correct (and actually insufficient).