BEA Trident London - Moscow 1971
Gib and Heraklion were the dodgiest of places...
With the former the pax would ask whether we would go to Tangier for them to get a ferry across.
The later had a 707? parked in the lagoon ...suffered from rotor in the lee of the mountains.
Flew two approached on a DC9 in severe Turbulence at night...one of the few to get in but with hindsight wasn't very clever.
With the former the pax would ask whether we would go to Tangier for them to get a ferry across.
The later had a 707? parked in the lagoon ...suffered from rotor in the lee of the mountains.
Flew two approached on a DC9 in severe Turbulence at night...one of the few to get in but with hindsight wasn't very clever.
don't know whose 707 at HER overran....?
Beatours had a hard landing there and both them and Monarch had 707/720B undercarriage bogie failures whilst on turnaround
Gib and Heraklion were the dodgiest of places...
With the former the pax would ask whether we would go to Tangier for them to get a ferry across.
With the former the pax would ask whether we would go to Tangier for them to get a ferry across.
Think it was Caledonian at Heraklion..remember there were two wrecks there in the early 70s..
The airtours was a heavy landing which broke the aircraft..it was flown back with one engine hanging off and all four pylons bent. Rather than ask BOAC the skipper ordered the FO to send a telex to BEA airtours..the greek engineer refused to sign the aircraft out so they flew it back to the UK where Boeing declared that it was beyond economical repair.
Most of the Gibs that I operated where there and backs. Captains only and a display of how a Trident could be flown if it was around the rock dodging "smokey joe" ..a Spanish warship anchored off the approach which was rumoured to be keen to open fire on us. Meant a stabilised approach from around 500ft whereas we had been taught 3,000 was the norm.
The airtours was a heavy landing which broke the aircraft..it was flown back with one engine hanging off and all four pylons bent. Rather than ask BOAC the skipper ordered the FO to send a telex to BEA airtours..the greek engineer refused to sign the aircraft out so they flew it back to the UK where Boeing declared that it was beyond economical repair.
Most of the Gibs that I operated where there and backs. Captains only and a display of how a Trident could be flown if it was around the rock dodging "smokey joe" ..a Spanish warship anchored off the approach which was rumoured to be keen to open fire on us. Meant a stabilised approach from around 500ft whereas we had been taught 3,000 was the norm.
Fine old Leningrad/St Petersburg terminal in the background there, still in use by BA until about 10 years ago when the new midfield terminal opened. I've been a regular in there for the last 20 years. BA normally used one of the three (only) jetways, most others being on the coaching stands as here. The terminal building, still there, is a fine example of Soviet late-1930s Stalinist architecture with exterior stonework decoration, which seemed reminiscent of the old Liverpool terminal building of the same era, while inside it felt like a British secondary school layout. We actually thought it worked better, in many respects, than its replacement. At the end it was towered over from outside by charter 747s headed for Turkish resorts.
BA Tridents just once weekly until the late 1970s, when 737-200s took over, the ones BA leased from Transavia at first, although some years it seemed cancelled altogether.
BA Tridents just once weekly until the late 1970s, when 737-200s took over, the ones BA leased from Transavia at first, although some years it seemed cancelled altogether.
