The Last Boeing 747 - and other aircraft


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I’ve done that Auster flight from Ingoldmells airfield along the Skegness seafront. A friend of mine owned an Auster which he kept at Tollerton. One Saturday afternoon I flew with him into Hucknall airfield. Just a short hop. On the way back home the engine started to cough and splutter and we looked for a space to land on Wollaton Park. The engine picked up a bit so he opted to return to Tollerton. I remember seeing the green roof of County Hall just beneath us but we managed to get home where a change of spark plugs cured the problem. 
I once flew into Ingoldmells from Nottingham when the engine cut out as I was overhead the airfield. Fortunately I managed a successful glide approach. The engine started first time when back on the ground. I was a bit wary flying back home and I kept an eye open for suitable fields to land in. Another person had a similar problem with the aircraft a few days later and it turned out to be a carburettor problem.

A lot of training for the pilot’s licence consists of practice forced landings in case of engine failure but fortunately it’s a rare occurrence.

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My first flight was in a Vickers Viscount from Bournemouth Hurn to Jersey 1961. My second flight was a pleasure flight in an Auster (it was in fact quite 'austere', noisy and bumpy) from a field near

Earlier today the last Boeing 747 left the worlds' biggest building, by volume, at the Boeing plant in Everett Washington. The customer was cargo airlines Atlas Air. It was number 1574 of a produ

I flew from Dunkeswell in Devon to Lundy Island in a X-Air microlight with a Verner 133 engine. On starting up to make the return journey, oil spattered the windshield meaning no return that day and l

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13 hours ago, Willow wilson said:

Interestingly from Heathrow we went not west to USA but north via Western Scotland then south of Iceland, past the tip of Greenland

Yes WW, aircraft generally fly by "Great Circle" navigation routes. This is the shortest route between two points on the surface of a sphere. It would have taken you over Hudson Bay, over Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Montana, just skirting Oregon then into SFO 8,838 km in total

From Perth to London direct is just short of 16 hours and 14,500 km

As John Denver said in Starwood in Aspen "It's a long time to hang in the sky"

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1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

I've only written off one car and that was back in 1964. I have written off an aeroplane though. A major boating disaster I've yet to have! :biggrin:

Don't come fishing with me Phil! don't, don't!

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I flew from Dunkeswell in Devon to Lundy Island in a X-Air microlight with a Verner 133 engine. On starting up to make the return journey, oil spattered the windshield meaning no return that day and luckily I managed a lift back to Dunkeswell with a friend.

 

I managed to return a week later in a fiend’s Jodel equipped with tools, magneto bearing, and oil seal to carry out a field repair. Unfortunately, the oil seal was the wrong one though the bearing fitted and with trepidation after two hours work, the engine started. After running up I climbed out immediately into low cloud to cross the Bristol Channel keeping radio contact with the Jodel.

 

I was expecting engine failure and crossed over shipping prepared to ditch any time in the channel. As I could not trust the engine I crossed the channel to Clovelly and followed the coast down Bideford Bay to Barnstaple still in low cloud below 1000 feet then followed the rail line and eventually the north Devon link road passing Cullompton; finally arriving at Dunkeswell as the weather finally closed in. This engine threw up many more unexpected faults on almost every flight to other airfields. I got rid of the cursed X-Air soon after!

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I did try microliting once at the strip near Caunton and wanted to buy a ‘plane but the hangar was jam packed and I didn’t want to join a syndicate. There is a microlite field near Retford and I intend to go there in the spring. The problem is I don’t think I can be insured to fly solo at my age. A friend bought a paraglider and he tried it out running around our field. He asked to me to hold onto him to prevent him taking off. The sight of us running round the field in tandem caused considerable amusement to the onlookers!

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It’s over twenty years since I last flew an aeroplane. I’ve been doing a bit of research and I’m going to give flying another go in the spring. I’m going to try helicopters this time. I’ve done microliting and gliding and I’ve flown in helicopters but I’ve never driven one. This could be the 80th birthday present I haven’t yet bought myself! Just to land in my own field would be my ambition. 

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Phil. You would love this book and relate to some of the stories, it’s written by one of our pilots and is very humorous.

“A life in Flying” (stories from a pilot) by Jim Snee - ISBN 978-178456-761-3. Of course I know everyone in it even though some have an alias but you would love the irony of flying tales back in the day.

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During one of our major airline strikes we had to make an urgent flight from Sydney to Melbourne. We charted a Cessna Skylane from the General Aviation area at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport and flew to Moorabbin Airport, nearer to our customer, east of Melbourne as opposed to the main airport at Tullamarine which is to the west of Melbourne. The pilot said to call him an hour before we finished our customer meeting and he would be ready to go when we got to the airport.

We got back to the airport in time for a couple of beers and the pilot said to buy a large necked bottle of fruit juice and empty it as if you hadn't noticed our plane did not have any toilets. Luckily it was not needed. The travel time meeting to home was less than the time taken on a normal commercial jet as we did not have to travel right across Melbourne and wait for a flight.  I was lucky enough to sit up front with the pilot and felt like royalty as we landed in our little plane on Sydney's main runway with 747's waiting for us to land.

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3 hours ago, philmayfield said:

It’s over twenty years since I last flew an aeroplane. I’ve been doing a bit of research and I’m going to give flying another go in the spring. I’m going to try helicopters this time. I’ve done microliting and gliding and I’ve flown in helicopters but I’ve never driven one. This could be the 80th birthday present I haven’t yet bought myself! Just to land in my own field would be my ambition. 

Phil, this is me in the Lynx helicopter simulator at Yeovil anbout 15 years ago.   Unfortunately I crashed into HMS Marlborough. Maybe you need to try the sim before you go for real. It’s very different from “normal a/c flying.

07B9D124-C041-4D87-91CD-E02258C170FE.jpeg

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I’ve only been in a helicopter once and that was a flight over Victoria Falls which was a great experience looking down on all the wild animals grazing on the banks of the Zambezi. 
My son’s schoolfriend went to Agricultural College to learn the ropes so he could take over the family farm and then decided to  fly an Air Ambulance instead.  He worked with Prince William for a long time in the East of England.  

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1 hour ago, MRS B said:

Phil, this is me in the Lynx helicopter simulator at Yeovil anbout 15 years ago.   Unfortunately I crashed into HMS Marlborough. Maybe you need to try the sim before you go for real. It’s very different from “normal a/c flying.

07B9D124-C041-4D87-91CD-E02258C170FE.jpeg

So that's  what you look like MrsB. (Nothing like your 'wanted' posters) :rolleyes:

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Beekay, this was 15 years ago so maybe don’t look like the pic now, what do you mean about the “wanted posters “ big bro ?

 

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An old friend of mine bought a Robinson R22 helicopter. He kept it in a shed behind the pub he owned. He bought the fuel from the local garage and stored it in metal beer kegs. He had converted his house into a pub and it remains there to this day, the Springfield, on the Epperstone bypass. We were his first customers for our wedding reception. He was a part time flying instructor.

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9 hours ago, MRS B said:

Beekay, this was 15 years ago so maybe don’t look like the pic now, what do you mean about the “wanted posters “ big bro ?

 

15 years ago ?? Gerraway with you! That would put you back in school. You'd need a booster cushion and wood blocks on the pedals. Cheers lil' Sis.x

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to The Last Boeing 747 - and other aircraft

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