"'Er luv, it's not time, go and plonk yer butt and i'll tell ya when it's time to get orf" ;)

Do you think she misses the top of the toilet polished to a mirror finish, as was done on the VC10?

It was Concord that Sharpend mentioned earlier that overshot the red carpet, had to fit the tug and push it back. Guess BA Captains don't have a chinagraph in their nav bag to make marks on the DV window on departure to line up eye with position of said carpet.

They should have left the job to the guys who did it all the time. No disrespect, like anything else it takes training and practice.

The whole operation is only like a timed bombing run. The IP is landing then you have to get the dividers onto the taxiway charts and work out the time for taxying and of course know even which way you are parking on the stand to get to target. It took 30secs to turn a VC10 gently through 180°.

Multi millionaire celebrity hires biz jet.
Why is this news?

The Royal Family aren't entitled to abated cost travel by 32(TR) Sqn assets due to a grant they receive each year from DfT for their travel. They thus have to pay full cost (the cost of airfield, wages, fuel, gate guards etc etc) which makes it cheaper to rent a civilian jet.

Plus they're less likely to break down.

So in that case, why are 32 still 'TR' Sqn?

I did like the tale of the Princess Royal who, when travelling somewhere by CivAir, was told of an ATC strike which would delay her. With a twinkle in her eye, she simply said "Off with their heads!", before waiting patiently for the flight to depart.

Ascoteer. It is 20 years since I was last in this game which was for most of my time in the Royal Air Force. We never broke down, as you put it, on a Royal or VVIP flight.

Costings were very complex and involved 'creative accountancy'. Even then the PM would sometimes use another 'company'. Good PR of course for the lower tender.

...
...

...

Blimey, I remember a few that cut it close, like fitting the VIP fit on the spare on route to pick up the VIP, it was pulled out of the primary and thrown across to the secondary aircraft freight door to freight door.

Maggie came back on two, I suppose that wasn't really broken down, only slightly :cool:

We VVIP chaps have many tales to tell.

At the top of drop, the Nav set his watch time exactly from his comprehensive nav kit. He then advised the pilots of timings, distance and even down to where to turn off the runway and what speed to taxi at, always remembering the phrase 'Safely, Smoothly and On Time'. In that order.

I remember taking Prince C to Riyadh once and we opened the doors exactly abeam the red carpet and to the second. Shortly after HRH departed in the Limo a very irate British colonel appeared on the flight deck to demand why we were 10 minutes early. I asked him what time he had on his watch and when did he last set it. His face went bright red and that was that. Stupid man.

We also NEVER BROKE DOWN.

At Saudi, with HRH, my slats failed to extend on finals. Sadly we did not have the tools to fix the problem before departure the following day; with HRH. The rules were thus a single fight back to home base with crew only. Sadly, BZZ could not get the spare VC10 to us in time due to the lack of diplomatic clearances.

But we had to take HRH to Bahrain the following day.

My solution? Make Bahrain my home base and make HRH crew. It worked, though HRH did appear on the flt deck to ask if he was getting crew pay.

True!

Great photos, and great elan from the Luftwaffe. I'd love to have been a fly in the cabin and hearing Philip's comments!

The Royal couple are the same age as my parents, if they were still alive. As was pointed out by observers during the recent State Opening of Parliament, requiring nonagenarians to travel on such a regular basis and to carry out a pretty arduous programme would be tantamount to abusive behaviour! Well done that they can do still do so.

Aren't there restrictions on how close to a Royal Flight another aircraft can get? Guess not looking at the picture but it seems a bit strange.

Was Prince Philip holding on to a pair of imaginary Brownings and shouting "Dagga Dagga Dagga !" out of the window at the Luftwaffe pair ?

So G-THFC stands for "Tottenham Hotspur Football Club" as it is/was Daniel Levy's aircraft?

Hope you are better now Sharpend :E

A quote:
From:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_tr...and_government

Sad :sad:

Hard times for the Monarchy indeed - a luxury private jet to Berlin, and I hear also that the Queen might have to move to one of the 4 other stately London abodes while Buckingham Palace is refurbished (which, incidentally, those dastardly Scots might refuse to help pay for). Oh, the humanity!!

Enjoy your time in the Tower as raven fodder, melmothtw....:sad:

:ok:












.

the Queen doesn't travel enough by air these days to warrant a specific "Queens Flight".

I'm sure some of the army of lesser Royals would love one tho'

Cameroon travels by BA and they rent a 777 so they can get the journo's on and charge them squillions for the ride

Harry Lee always used to fly SQ scheduled when he could