Boeing 747 4th Nov 1984

[Keg]

I was on a YTS scheme at Northair ( now part of Multiflight) at the time, and we all got passes.If my memory serves me correctly, the first flight on that sunday was BA, but subsequent flight were indeed wardair.I have a photo or two somewhere that i will try and dig out.Remember the Tristar going off the end of the runway?.

[45man]

I too was on that first BA Jumbo flight,just an hours joyride over the North Sea,still it was an experience to fly on a 747 for the first time.The Wardair Jumbo flew to Toronto that day nonstop I believe.I did fly Wardair from LBA to Toronto in 1988,the flights stopped at Birmingham both ways to fill up with passengers.After Wardair went bust the flights from Leeds continued with Worldways Canada and then Odyssey International.Never really understood why the Canadian flight has not been operated in years from Leeds,even Exeter airport has a weekly flight!.Best take off my anorak now,excuse the pun!.

[BLAKEY]

cnosni wrote: PS,where have you been ??? Not quite with you cnosni I'm afraid - didn't know I'd been anywhere ?? LOL LOLPerhaps you hav ebeen inhabiting some threads that i havent been looking at.Are you coming on the night out? I have it in my book and I'm hoping to come but, unfortunately due to circs here, I can't say too far in advance about 'owt. In fact I'm going away to Belgium (to friends in Gent) next week on my "Summer" holiday - it was exactly the same week last year when I eventually got away too.Anyway, fingers crossed as I would really like to meet everyone who attends and thanks for asking !!

[BLAKEY]

Keg wrote: Remember the Tristar going off the end of the runway?. I certainly well remember it, and I took some pictures from Bayton Lane while it was still in the spot it landed. What a miracle escape for 300 + passengers and crew - it was perilously close to the landing lights on stalks in the fields and I hate to think of the inferno if any of those had punctured the wing fuel tanks (think of the Concorde in Paris !!)My friend and his young daughters were in the terminal watching it arrive prior to boarding it for their holidays. IIRR it hadn't even quite touched down as it passed the terminal half way along the wet runway and hadn't a chance - summat went badly wrong there for sure.

[45man]

I was at LBA the day of the Tristar incident.My parents were due to fly out on it to Majorca.I remember it was almost dark due to the torrential rain that was falling even though it was daytime,I watched it land from the upstairs bar area,and disappear off the end of the runway,with just the tail sticking up at the end of the runway.I went back downstairs to my parents and told them it had gone off the end of the runway.All hell broke loose in the terminal building,a siren was going off.They were eventually bussed to Manchester and put on a replacement aircraft.They returned 2 weeks later on another Tristar into LBA.

[Uno Hoo]

ISTR the Tristar was left unrecovered for quite a long time. The outcome of the CAA inquiry was never made public. I wonder if there were 2 unemployed pilots afterwards?BTW I didn't know that Worldways had ever flown from LBIA to Toronto; if that was the case why was I trailing across to Manchester to board? I remember not using Odyssey International as I was worried they'd go bust between my booking and my departure dates.

[BLAKEY]

Uno Hoo wrote: ISTR the Tristar was left unrecovered for quite a long time. The outcome of the CAA inquiry was never made public. I wonder if there were 2 unemployed pilots afterwards? Indeed it did remain in the steeply sloping fields for quite a while and, I'm pretty sure from memory, was when recovered parked at the edge of the airport to the east of the terminal building for many months. I believe that the engines, full of earth, grass etc, had to be changed in situ but could be wrong about that - I do know however that the whole episode was a very costly one indeed. If only I was able to put pictures on here I'd post one of those I took from Bayton Lane.