Ops-Normal.org

Interesting article here on the subject.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists ... -all-time/

I had no idea there were so many airlines that went under. I think Laker was the only other one I'd heard of. A real shame about Monarch

Silverjet was a special case, killed rather than failed. A friend flew Silver for a cruise. The only way he could describe it was superb. The problem, as a distant memory, was that it failed by association with other airlines of the time, where its business plan was deemed poor. They said they were sound and blamed the others for a domino effect.

But they would say that, wouldn't they.

Pontius Navigator wrote:Silverjet was a special case, killed rather than failed. A friend flew Silver for a cruise. The only way he could describe it was superb. The problem, as a distant memory, was that it failed by association with other airlines of the time, where its business plan was deemed poor. They said they were sound and blamed the others for a domino effect.

But they would say that, wouldn't they.

Then there were other familiar names that have possibly been subsumed by others:

BUA
Britannia
Dan Dare (forgot their proper name)
BEA
BOAC
Heavylift (OK freight)
Pan Am - suffered the same fate as Townsend Thoresen though Lockerbie wasn't their fault.

Our flight safety officer in about 1980 attended a HS748 safety meeting. Dan Dare were represented. There was a discussion about when the hydraulic system was recycling you would get amber warning lights. This was of course disconcerting. Attendees were asked if their companies had managed to find a solution. Dan Dare boldly stood up and announced that they had. All very impressed. Technical details were requested. Apparently it was a very easy fix. You just remove the bulbs. True story.

Ex-Ascot, you will perhaps recall a boast back in late 60s early 70s that Ascot was the biggest airline in the world with Comet, Brit, VC10, Belslow, Argosy, Herc, Andover, Basset, Wessex, F4 and no doubt others.

PN, I do and it was probably correct. When 10 Sqn introduced the VC10 they were one of the biggest long haul airlines in the UK with 14 frames. 5th I think. My bosses in their ivory towers could never cope with the fact I ran ops there as one would an airline not military. It was the most logical way forward and it worked.

We flew Silverjet from Luton to New York. Great flight, fantastic service. Loved their terminal at Luton. We saw a lot of folks coming from the inbound easyJet flights walking across the road to hope on the Silverjet flight to New York.

Killed by BA....

Because BA are the only airline who fly to New York from UK

Back in my day, few airies could make all the way across the water, necessitating a refuel in Keflavik, with the Icelandic govt acquiring reciprocal landing rights in the US and Europe. Which they used to some advantage via Icelandair and Loftleidir. Both having super swishy hotels in Reykjavik for heavily-discounted overnight stays. Travel back then wasn't all about "getting there and back" before anyone noticed you'd been away.

Alison

Yes,

Shannon and Gander became firm friends.

My boss often criticised me for tankering fuel until he had to pop into Shannon on the way back from Dulles to top up! I always felt uneasy in the airlines with the flight plan fuel concept.

My bosses in their ivory towers could never cope with the fact I ran ops there as one would an airline not military

A few years ago I had a temporary contract ( lasted 3 years) as an Airworthiness Surveyor for the MAA, this involved oversight of military units supported by the contracted civilian organisations.
On one Sqn the Jengo hosting the visit complained that there were only 115 technicians to support the line servicing, at that time I was also a nominated post holder for a Part 145 that maintained 13 jets with less than 20 people.
The Services have too many ranks, is too top heavy and everyone over the age of about 30 expects to be a manager supervising others.
Based on my experiences during this contract I found the following, the RAF were completely overmanned and moaned about everything, the RN still maintained 18th century practices and still polished brass things, the Army were spot on, totally professional, committed and efficient.

Not convinced that the RAF were overmanned and top heavy. On a fast jet deployment squadron, we were heavily dependent on the ginger beers' ability to fix stuff in the field, and I saw on numerous occasions that experience counted for a lot. We also trained up 'split-brains', who were technicians part-trained in a second specialization, who were also backseat qualified*, so they could be flown out at short notice to fix stuff, at least to RTB standard. And, of course mil jets get abused a lot more than civvy aircraft, which means there's a lot more to check for potential damage. Loose article checks would be another example - difficult, time-consuming, and vital. Canopy polishing - also vital, is that a dead fly or another FJ 4 seconds from impact at 1,000 mph closure?

* not that they were very good at it

Yes, one of the points made at the time was that although the aircraft might be serviceable the aircraft might be withdrawn from service due to weapon or communication system failure, hence a low serviceability rate.
My son spent the best part of ten years on Tornado squadrons, he was multi trade trained, and indeed worked very hard when in hot sandy places, perhaps my experiences were not representative across the board, however that was how I saw it at the time.
I was not a hundred per cent convinced that the huge civilianisation of military maintenance was particularly good, seemed very bureaucratic, lots of chiefs and not so many Indians.

Air France's pathetic attempt to compete with itself, Joon, is to be discontinued. Only a Frog could have thought up such a daft name and strategy.

Small Planet Airlines also ceasing trading.

Flybe probably on the way out too.

Open Skies has become Level, I believe all part of IAG happy family

Woody I think you should change that logo. Every time I see it out of the corner of my eye, my mind sees an 'n' instead of an 'l' in the third word!

I am not being rude about the club you support, I am a huge admirer of LFC.

Now the deal to absorb WOW into Icelandair has collapsed.

WOW returning some aircraft to lessors as a result.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... 15ce2089af

A lot of should be flying metal is not.

Capetonian wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:24 am

Woody I think you should change that logo. Every time I see it out of the corner of my eye, my mind sees an 'n' instead of an 'l' in the third word!

I am not being rude about the club you support, I am a huge admirer of LFC.

I’ve been called worse things