EMA Royal Mail Flights
 

Hi, I bet plenty have lots to say on EMA Royal Mail flights. I’m thinking DC3s, Sheds and Bandits.

More like nightmares!

Add Channel Express Heralds to the list.

Trying to get a sequence sorted when the types went from Twin Otter to B737 and all arrived in a narrow (contracted) time frame made night duties interesting….

Place seemed busier than Heathrow at night. Topflight Herons and Air Luton DC3s were my fav.

Our engineering outfit for both companies often used to drive up to EMA and Luton to fix their defects. If I remember correctly (this is back in the '80s), the Royal Mail penalties for late carriers was £2000 per hour. No wonder they both went under, there can't have been much of a profit margin considering their regular and irregular maintenance schedule costs. Air Atlantique did fairly well on the mail runs though, one of the best companies I ever worked for.
Air Luton ... I remember AM having a camp bed in his office. I never saw anyone else in there other than DC, his line engineer.
Coventry was the place to be for night freight ops in the early '90s. The apron was rammed with HS748s, Heralds, Short Sheds and the occasional Viscount. Interesting days, especially if you liked the RR Dart growl, whistle and shriek.

I'm amazed anyone ever made any money on RM contracts, especially in the mid - late 2000s. Most outstations were ok, people just getting along to get a job done, but at EMA they just seemed to hate whoever the client was. Lazy, rude, obstructive & occasionally dangerous staff despite the mountains of H&S stuff to wade through.
Someone mentioned penalties, we were told it was £1000 per minute up to 5 minutes late, then we're flying for free. But it's OK, if its late freight just get a delay code - from the supervisors who were responsible for the same delays. Slopy shoulders...

Every time I read about the mail getting a kicking from DHL or whoever, I think back to those nights & smile...

I appreciate this thread is EMA related, however, this video is worth watching for both the extent and diversity of RM operations...wouldn't have fancied doing a seat removal / re fit on a 1-11 every night.

I remember going up to Biggin Hill once and seeing a very smart looking bright-red SD3-60 in Royal Mail colours on the south-eastern ramp; presumably there in conjunction with Fairflight.

And Emerald 748s

Interestingly, in the 60s BEA operated the mail flights BFS, EDI, GLA to and from LHR with Vanguards. No seat removal. The aircraft had enough payload availability in the holds. These flights were listed as pax flights in the timetables the reason for their existance was GPO

It was similar when the same airline/type used to do troop charters in their earliest times (principally to Germany, contract inherited from British United) - the RAF maintained their requirement for rearward-facing seats, so they had to all get unbolted and turned round, and refixed afterwards.

Sometimes with delays there wasn't quite enough time afterwards to put them back, so the next rotation from Gatwick to Edinburgh or wherever had the scheduled pax facing a funny way ... !

BCAL used to do mail flights with BAC 1-11s, they removed some of the rear seat rows and built pens for the mail bags and put covers over the forward seats that then had mail bags on them.
I just looked at the "Night Mail 2" video. That aircraft seems to have all the seats removed. Maybe there were different routes that had different configs. I remember the bags going up the aft airstairs.

Whichever, I don't believe B Cal ran their mail One-Elevens to East Midlands, but were on Gatwick to Edinburgh. The operation later passed to British Midland and operated from Heathrow, where it was exempted from the night quota. It used to come in from Edinburgh after midnight, on fine nights making a decidedly visual approach.

I was driving inwards on the M4 at such a time, and saw lights in the sky to my left. At first I thought it was for old Runway 23, but in fact was fractionally further along, a BMA DC9, which made a tight turn down onto 27R (possibly still 28R). Discussed with someone here a while ago, who remembered the empty skies fun flying of that flight.