niger b737 divert
 

A Niger Goverment B737 Diverted Into Southampton , Weds 9th.
5u-bag
Rumour Has That There Then Was A Dispute Over Landing Fees ?

Interesting... it apparently diverted into Farnborough around midday today following a mayday call... or so I read elsewhere.

The Niger aircraft (B737) landed in Farnborough around midday today (10th july) with Rushmoor Fire Brigade and the airport Fire Brigade in attendance. Good timing as an F-16 was doing a practice run before the fire brigade was called out.

Cheers
AeroMad

"We're only making plans for niger, ooh ooh......"(XTC :) )

As stated by the previous poster, the Republique Du Niger 737-200 came in on a full MAYDAY to Farnborough today at 12.05pm local. It seemed as if half of the Hampshire fire brigade rushed to the airport. Apparently they wanted Lasham, but due to glider activity they were given Farnborough. Also if you declare an emergency then you can bypass the landing fees (appertaining to first post and open to correction).

The aircraft stayed for 90mins and then took off, maintained 2000ft and headed to Lasham (apparently). It was an unusual beast, the non hushkitted engines a joy to hear, especially when taxiing. It even had a 'stone guard' on the front landing gear for unpaved landing strips!



Regards


SHJ

Somewhere else I read that it had declared an emergency the day before(?) but had been "refused" by Farnborough and gone to Southampton. Most mysterious!!

Here's a snap I took of it a while back at Lasham:
5U-BAG Boeing B737. Republic of Niger. Lasham Airfield 15 November 2006 :: 5UBAG.jpg :: Fotopic.Net

hey HD

Who on earth is making the racket at Farnborough this morning, 0915 to 0925, am all the way in Bracknell and can hear some sweet sounds

Well, there certainly wasn't anything to be heard in Waitrose, Yateley from 9-9.30 so can't help. Sorry!!

Thanks Aeromad n HD - thought something was playing yesterday too...... just had something wizz over Swinley Forest while walking the dog......

Now you can go back on topic

Pinched from another site.

From a spotter in Southampton

"5U-BAG B737 Niger Gov - landed over me, had to rub my eyes to make sure i wasn't seeing things, think its been at Lasham lately for maintenance so maybe out on a test flight perhaps?

5U-BAG departed Lasham for Algiers on 14th but suffered decompresion over the Channel and diverted into Deauville. 3rd emergency landing in less than a week for this aircraft! http://www.pprune.org/forums/images/icons/mpangel.gif

They really aren't having much luck are they?!

I thought due to noise pollution nimby's that the old engined 737's could no longer fly in the UK airspace.

I must be wrong.

There is a UK airline still running 737-200s commercially, though I don't know if it has exactly the same engine mods as the above aircraft.

However, a Government a/c is likely to get dispensation anyway under a diplomatic clearance.

The aircraft concerned is issued with a certificate of exemption from the CAA to cover positioning flights for maintenance. When the a/c is flying head of state around it is exempt from noise regs. Oh... and for the record there was no problem with the bill being paid!!!

5U BAG is one of several “old dogs” that come up from the region for maintenance. Time wise they’re getting on: in hours and cycles they are young. All are well maintained, latest avionics meeting World-Wide standards etc. Some have been re-engine to meet stage III requirements; others just pay the penalty for the noise and can’t always choose where they land, as in this case, first time round.

Regarding paying the bills and standards of maintenance, perhaps the UK Government should look to them as an example.

Was told by a guy that was working security at Farnborough that he was shopping in Asda in Farnborough when get got a call to say that there was a mayday aircraft en-route, he made Asda to the main gate in 6 minutes... was told that the reason for the mayday was, when the pilot could not get permission to land, he through a wobbly, declared a low fuel mayday, and headed off to Farnborough...