Flights to Remember…. (or forget!)

The aeroplane was operating a scheduled Beauvais to Lympne, service as part of the Paris to London coach and air integration carrying 2 pilots 2 cabin crew and 48 pax. Lympne, near Hythe in Kent, had three mown grass strips and an SRA approach was available to the r/w 20 strip, with a landing limit of 200ft ceiling and 1100m RVR.

Fortunately the passengers and crew were able to exit the aeroplane relatively unscathed. Welcome to Lympne! The cause was listed as “a very heavy landing, following an incomplete flare from a steeper than normal approach”. Despite the provision of a concrete runway in 1967 ( still visible on Google Earth) the airfield closed and Skyways was absorbed into Dan-Air in 1972.

(ii) Channel Airways HS748s G-ATEK 1248hrs & G-ATEH 1434hrs 15^th August 1967

Both aeroplanes were scheduled to arrive within 90 minutes of each other, at Portsmouth’s grass airfield, from Southend and Guernsey respectively and both crews experienced patchy low cloud and rain in the visual circuit. No information was given to the first aircraft’s pilots concerning the wet aerodrome surface conditions and the captain elected to land on the R/W36 strip. Following touchdown the aeroplane initially decelerated, but in the later stages of the ground roll it was apparent that it would not stop in the distance available and it came to rest, seriously damaged, on top of an embankment forming part of the northern airfield boundary. The19 pax and 4 crew used the rear door to evacuate the aircraft. Although the captain attributed this accident to the poor state of the aerodrome surface, the airport manager blamed it on a late, fast touchdown and assessed the aerodrome as serviceable.

The second 748 made a partial right hand circuit to the south of the city to land on R/W07 strip. The captain was aware of the poor braking conditions having landed at Portsmouth three hours previously, and was warned by the tower to expect poor braking – he was not, though, advised of the mishap to G-ATEK. He misjudged the first approach and after bouncing a number of times the aircraft took off again for an approach in the same direction following another right hand circuit. After a firm touchdown the aeroplane initially decelerated for the first two thirds of the landing roll but then deceleration became negligible. The aircraft slid until it broke through the perimeter fence, coming to rest on the main road, having sheared off the nose and main wheel legs on a raised banking at the side of the road. A rapid evacuation of the 62 pax and 4 crew was made through the main doors, which were at ground level. Fortunately at the time of the crash there was a break in the usually heavy traffic on this road. Although the actual fuselage of G-ATEH was only slightly damaged in the accident itself extensive damage was inflicted on the rear fuselage by unqualified personnel during efforts to remove the plane from the road before the arrival of an RAF salvage team with proper equipment.

Subsequently, in establishing the cause of the accidents, it became evident that the Portsmouth HS748 operation was unsafe at the permitted maximum landing weight whenever the grass was anything other than dry. This situation seemed to have resulted from the omission of necessary landing distance increments by the MoA which should have been applied in wet conditions at grass airfields, based on information calculated following tests in 1962, coincidentally, undertaken at Lympne! It is ironic that the UK authority had recommended to their counterparts in New Zealand that a 30% wet landing increment be applied at NZ grass airfields, whereas they did not call for an increment to be applied similarly in the UK. When such an increment was made mandatory shortly after the accidents the Channel Airway’s Portsmouth 748 operation was terminated as being impractical and uneconomic. The airfield eventually closed in 1973 and is now an industrial and housing estate. Channel Airways ceased operations in 1972.

Top left: the first 748 to arrive. Top right: the second arrival. The third picture shows

both damaged aircraft on either side of Portsmouth Airport.
******

The other day my wife and I went into town and went into a shop. Working people frequently ask us what we do to make our days interesting. We were only in the shop for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a warden writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and said “Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?” He ignored us and continued writing a ticket. I called him a stupid git. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tyres. So my wife called him a dick-head. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windscreen, together with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes and, the more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote! Personally, we didn't care. We came into town by bus. We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired, which is important at our age…………………………….!

Several Icarus members were aboard the maiden voyage of Cunard’s latest maritime masterpiece, Queen Elizabeth, to the Canaries. As committee member Steve Leniston was amongst them there was almost a quorum for a mini-Icarus meeting to be held aboard, no doubt in the Golden Lion Pub, where an agreeable pint of Bass can be enjoyed! I also enjoyed a 5-night QE voyage about a month later visiting Amsterdam (overnight stay), Zeebrugge and Cherbourg. Having previously enjoyed time aboard Cunard’s Caronia, QE2, QM2 and QV, I was interested to see how the new ship compared. It was built in record time (6 months) at an Italian yard near Trieste and looks very similar externally to QV, with the same length and width, weighing in at just over 90,000 gross tons. Whereas QV has contemporary decoration throughout the public areas of the ship, QE has an art deco theme, reflecting the former glory of the previous Queen Elizabeth built just before the war. Indeed a fine marquetry panel, designed by Lord Linley and overlooking the main centrepiece of the vessel, features the previous ship in all its glory.

One’s accommodation and evening dining arrangements are a function of the price paid for that particular voyage, rather like WT, WT+, C or F on the airlines. Incidentally Cunard doesn’t call a cruise a cruise, it is a voyage, a cabin is a stateroom and a passenger is a guest, all terms that have to be quickly learnt by guest-lecturers! The ship is laced with many bars, cafes and shopping arcades, all designed to generate revenue and the addition of an extra 15% service charge to bills is universally unpopular as is the addition of daily gratuities to shipboard accounts which all mount up on one’s final bill. Entertainment in the evening is generally of a good standard in an impressive theatre rivalling the best West End venue and, on my particular voyage, a welsh comedian and a Beatles tribute band were very good.

QE has an excellent gym covering the full width of the vessel overlooking the bow, which can be utilised to combat some of the excesses in the eating areas – I visited the gym, but only because it happened to be my muster station! Personally I enjoy time afloat as I am stimulated by the operation and navigation of a large ship having spent my Hamble days gazing at impressive passenger liners passing up and down Southampton Water. Of course, the manoeuvring is not as impressive as those days, where 3 or 4 tugs accompanied every arrival or departure and the QE2 was really the last big ship to require such assistance. Nowadays the cruise ships can virtually spin around in their own length, using efficient bow-thrusters and stern-azipods, whereas QE2 could really only move forward and backwards alone. A captain of QE2 who has become a friend of mine was most amused to know that the vessel was certified to do 18 knots in reverse – he wondered when he was ever likely to use that facility in anger!

On the particular voyage that I took last November on QE, the highlights for me were the navigation to Amsterdam and a rendezvous off Cherbourg with a RN Frigate. Ships mooring-up at the cruise terminal in Amsterdam, adjacent to the Central Railway Station, enter a lock at Ijmuiden on the North Sea coast to be lowered to the level of the Dutch countryside, before proceeding for about 3 hours along the relatively-narrow Nordsee Canal, into the City basin. It can be quite amusing to see swans adjacent to the ship as she sails slowly along the canal, not to mention the myriad of cyclists using the towpath. 3 days later, in mid-Channel having left Cherbourg for Southampton, the guests aboard QE were treated to an exchange of salutes between herself and the frigate HMS Campbeltown. Captain Chris Wells, QE’s master, is a member of the RNVR which is why the ship flies the blue ensign whilst in port when he is in command, rather than the more-usual red ensign. The warship initially passed along the starboard side in the opposite direction, before executing a speedy 180 degree turn to accelerate and formate alongside, about 400 yards away. She then fired an impressive salvo of (fortunately) blanks from the midships gun, to which QE responded with 3 blasts on what is laughingly-called the ship’s whistle, a veritable misnomer for a horn audible 10 miles away! Although the event took place in darkness the QE’s guests managed some fine photographs for their family albums.

All-in-all I enjoyed my time on this new ship, although it amused me to find that, despite all the design and planning that must go into building such a vessel, there were niggling little faults like the shower curtain in the stateroom bathroom not coming far enough down into the shower tray. Also, in the Lido restaurant on deck 9 where most folk eat lunch buffet-style, the trays catch every 10 feet or so as they slide past joints in the serving-counter. Thus any soup or beverages on the tray spill to create a liquid-cocktail, by the time the end of the rail is reached! However I would certainly recommend a voyage aboard this, or any of Cunard’s trio of modern ships, if you feel that a cruise would be your cup-of-tea. My own favourite would be a voyage to the Baltic ports with St Petersburg being the highlight, although when considering such a trip it is worth looking at a smaller vessel, as those ships normally transit the Keil Canal in one direction or the other, whch is interesting in its own right. Incidentally Cunard have recently appointed their first female captain who is Inger Klein Olsen, 43, from the Faroe Islands. She now commands QV, having worked her way up the seniority system since joining in the 1990s. She has had to serve her time – as Mark Twain once observed “The folks at Cunard wouldn’t even appoint Noah himself to command if he hadn’t worked his way up through the ranks.” But in Captain Olsen’s case is she, I wonder, the Master of her ship or the Mistress!

We welcome the following colleagues, Taff Thomas and Peter Hunt, who have recently joined Icarus.