Intra Jersey-Guernsey
Join Date: May 1999
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I certainly operated the Twin Otter from Jersey, through Guernsey and Alderney up to
Shoreham, and then the reverse route back to Jersey many times in 1985 up until the end of November.
I can`t recall Jersey European operating Dash 8`s at all.
Shoreham, and then the reverse route back to Jersey many times in 1985 up until the end of November.
I can`t recall Jersey European operating Dash 8`s at all.
Reg G-JEDA, B, etc. Traditional 50-seat Dash 8s, not the Q400. I was a regular on them around 2000 when they had the first of the several attempts to run London City to Belfast City. Originally in Jersey European livery, the carrier rebadged around then as British European. The Yellow/Black JEA name had been covered in just a single coat of white paint, and the similar BEA badging applied over the top, but the former name showed through only too well.
Last edited by WHBM; 12th Jun 2017 at 10:50.
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There were two companies - JEA based in Jersey and JEA Ltd based in Bournemouth.
The CAA Flt Ops reckoned that the two should be seperated because of the number of types the original JEA was operating. Peter Glenister went to Bournemouth with the Viscounts, Dakotas, and Dart Herold and I remained in Jersey with Bandeirante, Twin Otters, Two Islanders and another twin piston which went to Aviation Beauport. JEA later developed into sd360, Ex air Anglia 748s and then the DASH8. Quite what it has now I don't have a clue. For one antartic season, one of the JEA pilots went south to see if JEA could manage the British Antartic Survey but he reported back to me of severe problems with one of the pilots and a low flying accident because of one of them.
Fly Be was formed with JEA and not , as far as I know, JEA Ltd - ie Intra Airways. I think the latter was always in court in Jersey for quite a lot of irregularities such as base checks done in the flying club bar and so on.
As for the Islander running out of fuel inbound Jersey to Guernsey, it had full main tanks and a previous pilot who had just flown it had selected tip tanks and exhausted the fuel up to the point where it came down in the field just using tip tanks. Thr CAA agreed with me that the fuel useage was consistent with 2.5 round trips to Guernsey and though it could not be proven, the tip tanks were in use on that flight into the field short of the runway. The previous pilot did something similar on an island in the Indian Ocean but I was told nothing about it until I inquired. That did not excuse the operating pilot from checking though so he carried the can. As for JEA and the dates of Jersey +/- Guernsey route, I don't have a record. As for operating Alderney with Twin Otters, I would suspect one of the Trilanders went unserviceable, though Aurigny did attempt Twin Otter ops and unlike piston engines, the starts on the turbines went against the totals on the PT6 engines. I think the PT6 was fantastic unless it had fancy zero pitch latches for water and snow ops (British Antartic Survey did),and always flew at least 40 minutes to make it more viable than a piston engine. Apart from a light747.400 the Twin Otter was the nicest aeroplane in the world though it did have a few things every pilot should know.
The CAA Flt Ops reckoned that the two should be seperated because of the number of types the original JEA was operating. Peter Glenister went to Bournemouth with the Viscounts, Dakotas, and Dart Herold and I remained in Jersey with Bandeirante, Twin Otters, Two Islanders and another twin piston which went to Aviation Beauport. JEA later developed into sd360, Ex air Anglia 748s and then the DASH8. Quite what it has now I don't have a clue. For one antartic season, one of the JEA pilots went south to see if JEA could manage the British Antartic Survey but he reported back to me of severe problems with one of the pilots and a low flying accident because of one of them.
Fly Be was formed with JEA and not , as far as I know, JEA Ltd - ie Intra Airways. I think the latter was always in court in Jersey for quite a lot of irregularities such as base checks done in the flying club bar and so on.
As for the Islander running out of fuel inbound Jersey to Guernsey, it had full main tanks and a previous pilot who had just flown it had selected tip tanks and exhausted the fuel up to the point where it came down in the field just using tip tanks. Thr CAA agreed with me that the fuel useage was consistent with 2.5 round trips to Guernsey and though it could not be proven, the tip tanks were in use on that flight into the field short of the runway. The previous pilot did something similar on an island in the Indian Ocean but I was told nothing about it until I inquired. That did not excuse the operating pilot from checking though so he carried the can. As for JEA and the dates of Jersey +/- Guernsey route, I don't have a record. As for operating Alderney with Twin Otters, I would suspect one of the Trilanders went unserviceable, though Aurigny did attempt Twin Otter ops and unlike piston engines, the starts on the turbines went against the totals on the PT6 engines. I think the PT6 was fantastic unless it had fancy zero pitch latches for water and snow ops (British Antartic Survey did),and always flew at least 40 minutes to make it more viable than a piston engine. Apart from a light747.400 the Twin Otter was the nicest aeroplane in the world though it did have a few things every pilot should know.
I am surprised the name Bernard Haddigan has not been mentioned so far, or at least I must have missed it . A real character from whom I learned a lot about how things were done as opposed to how they should have been done. Nonetheless I have many pleasant memories of nights rattling about in tatty Navajos and Exeter Flying Club stories of Intra.
B
B
Ah, Intra! I worked for them at their Exeter maintenance base until we were taken over by Fields around 1980. All the Dakota checks were done by us and I think the Viscount was serviced at Kirmington.
I seem to remember one of the Daks regularly flew tomatoes from Jersey to somewhere in England.
I seem to remember one of the Daks regularly flew tomatoes from Jersey to somewhere in England.
Hmmm, interesting thread; my involvement started when Jack Walker bought Spacegrand and Jersey European with some of the proceeds of selling Walker Steel to British Steel, and was persuaded - at a memorable meeting in the Horizon Hotel in Jersey - to base the combined operation at Exeter rather than Jersey or Blackpool.
The airline then applied for Exeter - Channel Islands route licence, which Air UK vehemently opposed. They filled 2 rotations a day at very high seat prices, and could have filled at least 2 more. At the CAA hearing, the Air UK Regional Manager argued that demand was so low that if a competitor were to join in, Air UK would be forced to pull out immediately. But although Jim French, for it was he, used a hugely impressive but irrelevant statistical model (predicting demand for truck movements in the USA) the CAA ignored the objection and awarded the route to JEA, who immediately set up 4 rotations daily with F27s, a move that was matched by Air UK, so that the rotations went from 2 - 8 daily. And operated with very good loads. Ironically, Jim French did ultimately manage to destroy the airline with a mixture of hubris and ignorance, but that's another story. Most rotations took in Guernsey as well, of course.
The airline then applied for Exeter - Channel Islands route licence, which Air UK vehemently opposed. They filled 2 rotations a day at very high seat prices, and could have filled at least 2 more. At the CAA hearing, the Air UK Regional Manager argued that demand was so low that if a competitor were to join in, Air UK would be forced to pull out immediately. But although Jim French, for it was he, used a hugely impressive but irrelevant statistical model (predicting demand for truck movements in the USA) the CAA ignored the objection and awarded the route to JEA, who immediately set up 4 rotations daily with F27s, a move that was matched by Air UK, so that the rotations went from 2 - 8 daily. And operated with very good loads. Ironically, Jim French did ultimately manage to destroy the airline with a mixture of hubris and ignorance, but that's another story. Most rotations took in Guernsey as well, of course.
I am surprised the name Bernard Haddigan has not been mentioned so far, or at least I must have missed it . A real character from whom I learned a lot about how things were done as opposed to how they should have been done. Nonetheless I have many pleasant memories of nights rattling about in tatty Navajos and Exeter Flying Club stories of Intra.
B
B
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JEA did in fact express interest in the F27 -200 in about 1983, two aircraft were prepared by Air Uk at Norwich, but the deal fell through and both aircraft went to the US, Mesarba airlines I think.
The F27s operated by JEA were ex East West 500 series from Tamworth, the initial survey of the aircraft and records was carried out in 1989 and the deal went through about two years later.
The F27s operated by JEA were ex East West 500 series from Tamworth, the initial survey of the aircraft and records was carried out in 1989 and the deal went through about two years later.
