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Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:16 am
by Uuoret
I think this was the only visit - bringing VIP's to meet with Edinburgh City Council.

Arrived at the (then) new terminal I think Stand 4

Really appreciate this!

J

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:29 am
by Mike
The only Sabena 707 I have in my Edinburgh log for 1977 is OO-SJC on 03/10/77, it may have been operated by Sobelair though :- http://www.skystef.be/B707/OO-SJC.htm

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 12:10 pm
by Uuoret
Mike wrote:The only Sabena 707 I have in my Edinburgh log for 1977 is OO-SJC on 03/10/77, it may have been operated by Sobelair though :- http://www.skystef.be/B707/OO-SJC.htm
Hi Mike,

that's it!!!

Couldn't have been the Spring, as the new airport didn't open until May.....i just remember it being cold....

....one of the low spots in my aviation career with this one - got posted to MME as a result!

J :)

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 5:21 pm
by Mike
You didn't sit that one on it's ar*e as well, did you? :lol: :lol:

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:43 am
by Uuoret
Mike wrote:You didn't sit that one on it's ar*e as well, did you? :lol: :lol:
1. I was one of the first peeps to have a licence for the air jetty. After an early shift starting at 06:00. I was asked to stay on to put the air jetty on the B707 when it arrived at 19:00.....
2. Got sent to see Liam in the bar at 14:00 for a meal - ended up having a drink with him, which ended up as a bit of a session.
3. 18:45 comes, I'm completely p*ssed, can't stand up, so Colin M in Servisair taes me in a wheelchair to the jetty and tells me that he'll do it, as he is "under training" and can do it when someone with a licence is present.
4. Aircraft comes up the stand, door opens and there is this utterly beautiful hostie awaiting the air jetty.
5. I decide that I'll show her how good I am, get out the wheelchair and wrestle the controls from Colin.
6. Stick fully forward, I whacked the air jetty into OO-SJC at full speed, bouncing off the fuselage and ending a metre or so out of position to the left, apparently taking off one of the external attitude indicators. All we could see was the fuselage, the door had completely disappeared.
7. I was forced back into the wheelchair and taken away (back to the bar) whilst Colin sorted things out. I believe the aircraft had to night stop for repair (?)
8. Suspension for a fortnight (that was the second one - I got an earlier one for putting EI-ANH out of action for a week when the freight went through the floor landing at Dublin....)
9.Sent to Tees-Side and never looked back :halo: :halo:

J

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:28 am
by Mike
Oh............my............God. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I went out to a Monarch 720 that was just arriving on that stand, to help out our catering loaders. It was late at night and it had to be turned around within 30/40 minutes to beat the night-time curfew extension that had been requested, if we couldn't do it in time, then the 170 outbound passengers would spend all night in the terminal.

We didn't just have to offload all of the inbound catering and dry stores etc., but take off 18 massive bar boxes and replace them with 18 new ones + ice, crew meals etc. I decided to be on-board as soon as the front door opened, getting the catering doors opened and start getting the inbound bar boxes off as soon as customs had sealed them, along with the old catering boxes.
No-one had ever told any of us NOT to open the side door on the jetty from the external stairs when it was moving, I did, and the whole thing shot back to it's starting position, and they had to start all over again while several p***ed-off customs & Servisair workers hurled dog's abuse at me. :oops:

Anyway, the 720 left with a couple of minutes to spare with lots of happy holiday-makers on their way to Tenerife. :)

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:58 am
by Uuoret
Mike wrote:Oh............my............God. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I went out to a Monarch 720 that was just arriving on that stand, to help out our catering loaders. It was late at night and it had to be turned around within 30/40 minutes to beat the night-time curfew extension that had been requested, if we couldn't do it in time, then the 170 outbound passengers would spend all night in the terminal.

We didn't just have to offload all of the inbound catering and dry stores etc., but take off 18 massive bar boxes and replace them with 18 new ones + ice, crew meals etc. I decided to be on-board as soon as the front door opened, getting the catering doors opened and start getting the inbound bar boxes off as soon as customs had sealed them, along with the old catering boxes.
No-one had ever told any of us NOT to open the side door on the jetty from the external stairs when it was moving, I did, and the whole thing shot back to it's starting position, and they had to start all over again while several p***ed-off customs & Servisair workers hurled dog's abuse at me. :oops:

Anyway, the 720 left with a couple of minutes to spare with lots of happy holiday-makers on their way to Tenerife. :)
Happy Days!!

Think I'll write a book..... it's long enough now not to be a whistleblower or offend!

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:28 am
by andygolfer
I think the 2 of you could write a good book together - or do a 2 man touring show - 'tales from the air-bridge' or similar!

excellent reading :clap: :clap:

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:07 pm
by Uuoret
andygolfer wrote:I think the 2 of you could write a good book together - or do a 2 man touring show - 'tales from the air-bridge' or similar!

excellent reading :clap: :clap:
Jack Williamson, Scottish (well from Lochgelly, Fife) Air Anglia line engineer at EDI on F27's

"Hey Chiefy, there's nae ile in the gearbox!!"

Chiefy (John Ward) from somewhere dahn souf) OFFS!!

Gearbox is removed from the Dart and stripped down. 24 hours later...

Chiefy "I thought you said there was a nail in the gearbox??!!"

Jack " NAW, I said there was nae ile, NAE ILE in the f*ckin' gearbox"

Geez....

We used to love shouting "Hi Jack" in the mornings when he pulled the AQ476 over from the Ferranti hangar for the 07:00 Amsterdam flight. I usually had to be on the brakes in the cockpit.....sigh...!!)

Couldn't do that now!!!

J

Re: Real Long Shot - Sabena B707 Edinburgh Spring 1977

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:20 pm
by andygolfer
:lol: :lol: :lol: