Many thanks folks.

I am sure Aviogenex Tu-134s were regular visitors on Saturdays in the early 1970s to Pula and Rijeka for Yugotours which I think was owned by the Government. I remember the holidays were very cheap (probably subsidised) and was tempted but my wife as was then was not very keen!

Wouldn’t have been Monarch A330s in the 1990s. They weren’t delivered until 1999 and in the early years there was an AD with the nose wheel steering that prevented turning over a certain angle which prevented 180 degree turns on runways such as Luton (and certain Caribbean destinations) as reported by Monarch to Flight International at the time. Resolved in later years.

I don’t believe Monarch ever scheduled a regular series on the A330 from Luton, to Orlando or anywhere.

Luton-Bangor-Orlando undoubtedly 757 or A300...

Sounds about right re Monarch days of LTN long haul ETOPS in the 1990's with 757 and A300 from LTN - All work LTN to MCO from as early as 1988 (757) but most Monarch long haul went from LGW & MAN to Goa, Agra, Kerala, Maldives, Mombasa, Mexico, MCO, and the Caribbean.
MCO was flown by Monarch from other UK airports such as BHX,BFS,NCL,GLA etc

Monarch had quite a nice tidy programme to TAB/GND/BGI/St Kitts etc which they got by getting Caledonians' Golden Lion Flights and Tropical Sky business.


Other LTN flights to MCO iirc were a series of 763 by AIH possibly it Operated via BHX, and did Air 2000 (757) do LTN-MCO?

I ma pretty sure Monarch did operate LTN-MCO at least for part of a season with the A330. It was a weekday- and was the same season that we had the Airtours DC10- 10 based as I saw them both depart one morning. CJ might be able to fill in the blank here- I now realize it would be later than 1995. though. The A330 used the Eastern apron stands.

Monarch did several seasons LTN MCO flights in the nineties with the 757 via BGR. In the early 2000's there was also a short A330 series to MCO (non-stop). (Slightly off topic, the A330 was delivered with a restricted nose wheel steering angle and needed a lot of space to turn round so Monarch persuaded the LTN airport authority to paint a line on each runway dumbbell and hammer a couple of carefully placed sticks into the grass. The idea was that if you kept the nose wheel on the line, when the two sticks lined up it was time to apply full lock and the thing would achieve a 180 deg turn without going off the pavement. Crude, but worked well. Eventually the restriction was removed and the sticks no longer needed). Monarch A330's were however not frequent visitors to LTN.

Turning Circle
As I recall, nothing is new, when Court Line had the Tristars delivered in the 70s the Turning Circle was even smaller and a similar arrange with white sticks on the grass were used. The nose of the Tristar was over the edge in the turn. During that early period it worked perfectly

When Monarch brought their DC10 in, the Flight Engineer hung out the door while it turned on the turning circle!

He was probably ex-Laker. That is exactly what we did when turning round in the turning circle at Luton. F/E at One Door Left on the interphone could tell me just how close I was getting to the grass.

Summer 2001 was when Monarch operated Luton-Sanford (SFB) direct on the A330, Mondays, can't locate timings, though. East apron, yes, stand 48. First flight operated 7th July 2001, no record as to when the series finished, last sighting I have is 17th Sept 2001. Yes, Airtours had their DC-10 based for summer 2001 as well, also Britannia had a 767 (300 I think) based. 31st July 2001 saw G-EOMA (A330) st48, G-DPSP (DC-10) st45 and Monarch DC-10 G-DMCA on a hangar check in 127. The Brit 767 I remember parking st5. Wide-body city!

I definitely recall a 767 Spanair covering a few of the Orlando Sanford flights in the mid 90s. Not sure who they were operating them for. It must have been 1997ish time.

Departure was around Midday. Return early next morning and aircraft positioned out around 8.30 probably to MAN

For anyone in possession of good-quality slides of Court Line aircraft, you may be interested to see the prices these can command.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Original-35m...0AAOSwMJZfuTgb
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Original-35m...IAAOSw4gRfuTiH

I have a "print screen" key on my keyboard. I just saved a few hundred EUR.

1997 sounds correct. My notes refer to the flights as Airtours, days seemed to vary but mostly out on Mondays, back on Tuesdays.

Anyone know why "Halcyon Days" has the number 80 stencilled on the forward fuselage?

Paris Air Show exhibition number?

It did a day trip for Ian Allan Travel on the 31st May (it may have done other days) to the show at Le Bourget. I can't remember if it was actually on display though, I know we were 2 hours late getting there due to slot restrictions.

If I remember correctly it cost £15!

If you love 737-200(they were OK), you can search for Nolinor Aviation on Twitter and get lots of pics and brief videos to music which are quite interesting. I seem to prefer to do it on the iphone instead of the desktop.

https://twitter.com/nolinoraviation

It can be nice to get a bit of background on some of these events from long ago. Why re-engine?


Start at 10:35 and then you will know why.