Impounding airliners at British airports
 

I can only think of two occasions when this has happened. Firstly, at least one Genair SD330 being seized at Blackpool in 1984 due to non-payment of fees. The other is a Hispania 737 and 757 getting the legal treatment at Leeds Bradford in the summer of 1989. The 737 got a new white paint job for its tailfin too!

I'll add a third although I'm less certain about this one. Southern International towards the end of their life.

In all these cases I don't know if the airlines actually owned the aircraft outright, if mortgagors and banks had interests or if they were simply leased. I wonder if these matters were significant to the creditors?

Wasn't the MD-80 at Gatwick impounded? Seems to missing a few bits these days... still there on Google Maps anyway.

Ah, the Blackpool SD3.30.

I was working for GENAIR when it went broke. After a few days sitting at home wondering if I was going to have to rob a Post Office to pay the bills, the telephone rings.

I obviously answered and a voice asked if it was Staircase. A request for his name is refused. The voice then offers me £400 to go to Blackpool one evening and steal said 3-30, and fly it to Lydd. I told him I thought it could be done, but if he thought that I was stupid enough to risk prison for £400, and he gets £1,000,000 pounds worth of aeroplane, then he wants his brains examined!

Never heard from the voice again thank god.

Tees SIde impounded a Sudan Airways Comet in the late 60s/early 70s for non payment of fees. It had been crew training and the trainers and crews disappeared without paying for all the fuel etc. IIRC they left the aeroplane because MME wouldn't extend them any more credit to pay for fuel until they'd paid their current bill.

The MD-80 is still at Gatwick, absent even more bits.

Monarch's airbuses were too, until financial terms were agreed.

Laker aircraft impounded at MAN

Numerous UK airlines have gone bust in recent years such as XL, Monarch and Thomas Cook to name a few. I worked at Thomas Cook. The last crew into our base on the evening they went bust were told to park on a remote stand and the aircraft was blocked in by ground servicing equipment and a lien taped into the fuselage near the forward door. The aircraft stayed like that until their leasing companies came with contract crews to retrieve their aircraft. A nasty business for all concerned.

I expect seizing an aircraft or any kind of valuable asset is never going to be a pleasant business but I hope in the UK at least we can be terribly British about the whole bally shebang. Trying to impound in a less lawless country could be hazardous.

Is a 'lien' some kind of court document?

An apocryphal story perhaps surround the impounding of an Uzbeki IL62 at MAN pending payment of handling charges. If the story can be believed the aircraft was released after a payment in kind was made, (hand woven carpets).:confused:

Nigerian Airways? 747 Was seized at Heathrow by customs after the nth time a crew member was caught smuggling drugs..close to 30 years ago..

Isn't the normal procedure to attach a writ to the entrance door and park a snowplough strategically to ensure the aircraft goes nowhere until the bill has been paid, or the leasing company has come to a legal arrangement to take back their property.

Certainly outside of aviation you can only put a lien on good that are the property of the debtor, so in essence a leased car, for example isn't the property of the company that leases it, but of the lessor who leased to the debtor you are trying to extract money from. This was always a problem in the freight industry where a freight forwarder owned a carrier money, but when the carrier attempted to take a lien on the goods being handled on behalf of the debtor forwarder the actual owners (the forwarder's client usually) was on to the carrier pretty sharpish demanding release of their property.

All good fun back in the day. I left the freight industry in 2001 and frankly, have never missed it.

First B757 to use SOU was from Air Europe when they went under. Arrived with the an EU operator’s call sign, cleared customs then off to Lasham. Why SOU? It was one of the few UK airports that Air Europe did not owe money to!

On the lighter side....

I recall an Aztec impounded with the aid of a strategically placed JCB somewhere in the UK, NE I think.

Also, wasn't there something about Jim Espin and an incident at Popham? Can't recall the details but I think he tried to stop somebody leaving resulting in damage - went to court eventually.

A couple more from Cardiff (CWL)

Like Leeds, a Hispania 737-300 - arrived from wherever and was impounded, passengers were not allowed to board - Hispania titles were painted out pretty quickly.

Also an Airways International Cymru BAC 1-11-300 - I can remember seeing the paperwork stuck to the aircraft.

I've seen others around the UK, but think they were awaiting new homes, rather than being impounded - Air Europa 757-200 at Cardiff, Capital BAe146-200 at Leeds and Air Europe 737-300 at Bournemouth...

Ghana Airways - one of the airlines' DC-10s was seized at LHR in 2002 when a British creditor of the airline got a legal judgment to recoup some of the $4.8 million it was owed. The creditor later released the DC-10 after receiving a payment of $1 million.

At Bournemouth when Metropolitan Airways went bust, a legal type person showed up to put liens on two SD3-30s, (both ex Genair). He said they had to be nailed to the mast. Rather than use nails they were stuck to the doors with tape.
Another occasion when a DanAir BAC 1-11 diverted in due to fog at Gatwick, the airport manager saw that it was an ex Airways Cymru aircraft that owed money and rushed to impound it. DanAir weren't bothered as it was at the end of the lease. About a week later it flew out to Lasham.
Further back when Courtline went under, my father was involved in recovering all the 1-11s to bournemouth. BAC's HS125 was shuttling back and forth to Luton with the pilots and my father was pre-flighting the aircraft for the ferry flights. Courtline's hangar, (66?), had a lein on the door and chains to stop the doors being opened. A 1-11 was inside but the legal people decided the lein was for the hangar and not the aircraft inside so bolt croppers were used to open the doors and the aircraft was towed out and flown away. I think it was 8 aircraft recovered in one day.

Regarding Southern International, I was thinking recently about starting a thread regarding this particular airline. I remember them well. They had a maintenance facility at Southampton Airport but I'll leave that for another day though.

The Newcastle based Air Luton Dakota (G-AMPO) was blocked in by ground equipment and a snow plough back in 1985 when they went bust.

Some from Gatwick in the 90's - Centennial Airlines (Spanish) MD80 with court order from Irish leasing company due lack of payments, Kazakhstan B747 owed Nav service charges, Sunways (Turkish charter airline) MD80 Nav service charges, Ambassador airlines B757,

It was being used as a training aircraft for the de-icing rigs last I saw it and bearing a few scars from the experience.:)