PPRuNe Forums

PPRuNe Forums (https://www.pprune.org/)
-   Spectators Balcony (Spotters Corner) (https://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner-52/)
-   -   Speedbird (https://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/590176-speedbird.html)

plasmarb 27th Jan 2017 07:37

Speedbird
 
Do BA still use this callsign?

eckhard 27th Jan 2017 08:30

Yes, except for domestic flights which use 'Shuttle'.

plasmarb 27th Jan 2017 11:11

I'm intrigued, why is that?

slingsby 27th Jan 2017 11:59

I think (to be corrected) that the c/s shuttle was used to indicate domestic flights, speedbird was used, as per logo, for all other flights.

renfrew 27th Jan 2017 12:29

The Speedbird logo goes back as far as Imperial Airways in the 1930's.
BA doesn't seem keen to remember the company's history so it's nice that the callsign survives.

22/04 27th Jan 2017 12:40

Shuttle was introduced when the trunk domestics were turn up and fly, guaranteed a seat. A back up aircraft was on standby for when the first one was full- sometimes a Viscount or One Eleven backing up a Trident.

It has survived into an era when this is no longer the case.

DaveReidUK 27th Jan 2017 12:50


Originally Posted by slingsby (Post 9655408)
I think (to be corrected) that the c/s shuttle was used to indicate domestic flights, speedbird was used, as per logo, for all other flights.

Correct.

Domestic services from LHR and LGW are flightplanned as SHTxxxx (usually an alphanumeric where the number bit indicates the route) and corresponding ICAO callsign "Shuttle".

Wirbelsturm 27th Jan 2017 14:10

The 'Speedbird' was the name given to the iconic trianglar bird design first adopted by Imperial Airways. When aircraft were required to use a callsign the pilots used the 'Speedbird' callsign as the design was recognised as being attributed to Imperial.

When BOAC came about they took the Speedbird logo and the callsign with them.

Hence it's still in use today.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../Speedbird.png

kcockayne 27th Jan 2017 15:50

The Gatwick - Jersey flights do not use the "shuttle" call sign. They use " speed bird".

HEATHROW DIRECTOR 27th Jan 2017 17:42

At a place I worked it was always pronounced "Bird seed".... not on the R/T of course!

Hotel Tango 27th Jan 2017 17:51


The Gatwick - Jersey flights do not use the "shuttle" call sign. They use " speed bird".
That could be because technically speaking it's not a true "domestic" flight.

finncapt 27th Jan 2017 18:21

Just to annoy you lot.

When we flew around the northern isles we used "Speedbird".

At some time there used to be a callsign "Bealine".

For a while "Albion" was used by domestics.

We always used "Speedbird" in BOAC.

As I recall, may have been wound up, when BEA and BOAC amalgamated a comittee was formed to come up with a new callsign.

It was decided that Khartoum, and other places, could probably not cope with a new callsign for what had always been "Speedbird" and it was best left that way.

Musket90 27th Jan 2017 18:28

I believe "Bealine" is still used as a callsign but only by tugs towing aircraft around Heathrow.

DaveReidUK 27th Jan 2017 19:35


Originally Posted by finncapt (Post 9655721)
At some time there used to be a callsign "Bealine".

I only had cause to visit it once or twice in my time at BEA, but I recall that the HQ at Ruislip (just by the Northolt runway traffic lights) was (re)named "Bealine House" (I think it was originally "Keyline"). Flights in those days certainly used Bealine as a callsign.

Mooncrest 27th Jan 2017 19:37

It's been discussed on Pprune before but Albion was associated with British Airways Regional Division in the 1970s, i.e. the combined BEA, Northeast and Cambrian Viscount fleets. I have a vague recollection of the Leeds Bradford fleet (at least) using the Albion callsign with the last two letters of the aircraft registration, e.g. Albion Echo X-ray (G-APEX). However, I was a mere bairn at the time so I could be wrong.

DaveReidUK 27th Jan 2017 20:17


Originally Posted by Mooncrest (Post 9655797)
It's been discussed on Pprune before but Albion was associated with British Airways Regional Division in the 1970s, i.e. the combined BEA, Northeast and Cambrian Viscount fleets. I have a vague recollection of the Leeds Bradford fleet (at least) using the Albion callsign with the last two letters of the aircraft registration, e.g. Albion Echo X-ray (G-APEX). However, I was a mere bairn at the time so I could be wrong.

IIRC, BA Regional had their own designator as well to accompany the Albion callsign. BZ rings a bell.

Airbanda 28th Jan 2017 11:00

Although BA came formally into being on 1 April 1974 it took some years to become a unitary organisation. Until 1976 ex BEA routes used Bealine and BOAC Speedbird. Northeast and Cambrian (possibly Scottish and Channel too) used their own callsigns as well. Northeast had it's own allocation of Viscount 806s AOYH/Y/L/O/R plus APEX/y

In 1976 Scottish/Cambrian/Northeast/Channel were merged into one regional operation. Some Viscount 802s were scrapped and the rest put into one fleet. For a month or two Regional's domestic flights (at least at Leeds) used BE flight numbers and callsign Bealine while the international route to Dublin was BA/Speedbird.

They fairly quickly reverted to NS flight numbers and callsign Northeast - suspect reports of calsign confusion on Airways and perhaps on Heathrow Director's patch led to this.

Albion and BZ flight number arrived c1978.

vctenderness 28th Jan 2017 13:37

Bealine house was affectionately known, particularly by BOAC folks, as Teatime House.

HEATHROW DIRECTOR 28th Jan 2017 13:45

And BEA was known to BOAC as the Hounslow flying club.

I don't recall the use of the Albion callsign but my brain is a bit addled now.

One Christmas Eve a Norjet Trident was given Aberdeen direct to Heathrow and did it in record breaking time. I was working in Approach Control and invited the crew up to see us, provided they brought the hosties. Soon after they arrived in Approach en masse complete with cases of lager!! Great days.

kcockayne 28th Jan 2017 13:56

"Albion" & BZ were only around for a short time (2/3 years ?) in the mid to late 70s, as I recall. But, like you , my memory is somewhat sketchy ! I think that I can remember using it during my time at Aberdeen ('76 - '78 ) & at Jersey ( from '78 onwards ).


All times are GMT. The time now is 20:13.


Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.