rascott.com  "news, views, travel and an occasional blog"

It is common knowledge to my friends that I do love airports and airplanes. I love to travel and for me the flight is a part of the thrill of exploration and it starts at  the airport surrounded by the joys of greeting; the sadness of farewells and the amazing coordination required to load an airplane and get in airborne. 

The beginning

I was 13 before I first flew anywhere. But that never stopped me from making my Dad take me to the airport to do a little plane spotting; Heathrow when there was a visitor's gallery; Manchester when it was still known as Ringway and Birmingham, where I was born close to Elmdon, now Birmingham International.

It was Christmas 1970 that I flew for the first time. My Dad, who was only 38 then, had accepted a job with Cadbury in Nigeria. He had already been there for some months and my mother was to take the three children there to visit him for the first time.

Our plane was a Nigeria Airways 707, via Kano to Lagos, and it was already running almost 24 hours late, so we were put up over night at the Skyways Airport Hotel. It was a dump. Beds were not made from the previous guests.

For five years to 1975 I would fly to Lagos for Christmas and the Summer trying to find whatever complicated route I could to try different airlines.

The non stop flights were operated by Nigeria Airways and the newly formed British Caledonian Airways that arose from the merger of Caledonian and British United. One of the first flights I took was on a VC-10.

Then it became ever more exotic. UTA from Paris with a stop at Ougadougou, a Swissair Coronado from Zurich, Lufthansa through Frankfurt.

My favourite - and it must have driven my parents to despair was when fog at Heathrow meant I could not catch my Lufthansa connection; so it was a KLM hop to Amsterdam to connect to a Nigeria Airways flight which then decided it was going only from Paris Le Bourquet so an Air France Caravelle to Orly and across town to Le Bourguet and onto Kano and Lagos - arriving about 36 hours late; in the same clothes but with my baggage on the plane and the company's fixer there to meet me at the Ikeja airport in Lagos! Amazing. 

That was about it - school was in England; the big holidays were in Nigeria; there was one charter flight on a school half term to Alicante, Benidorm; Britannia Airways from Luton I think.

Then it was time to head to University; holidays were spent working; Europe was a ferry ride away. And in Europe catching the train was the choice of the student traveler. Sleeping overnight on the train saved a fortune in hotel rooms.

And so to work in London and more studying....and exotic new year stockcounts of sanitary equipment or subway rides across London to my favourite insurance company. I covered lots of miles; all in my car!

I do remember travelling on an old BEA Trident once and sitting in the front row facing the rest of the passengers; like a cabin crew in their jump seat; very strange.

And then I was offered a secondment to Australia. Four months in Sydney and I could choose how to get there as long as the fare cost no more than the British Airways APEX fare. So it was onto Garuda from Gatwick to Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Jakarta, Denpasar, Melbourne and into Sydney. About 38 hours. But the return allowed me to stop and stay in Bali, SIngapore, take a train to Penang and onto Bangkok and home from Bangkok. Wonderful; except for the dreadful sunburn in Bali.

Upgraded to Business

It was Reuters that got me traveling. What a great opportunity. Just listed in London and New York; the company was beginning to grow rapidly and globally. And it was in 1985 that I first flew to Bahrain; all the major European and Asian airlines had to refuel in the Middle East - the old 747-200s did not have the non stop range of the later 400s.

And even better - this was work and business class travel ! Starting with a lovely Gulf Air Tristar to Bahrain. Then there were regular flights to Chicago on British Airways and TWA - I used to like TWA; Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong for the first time in 1986 (still a truly wonderful place to visit); Pan American and British to New York; even better on the newly launched Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class to Newark; Singapore Air to Singapore and Sydney; Qantas longhaul back to the UK; and assorted European trips on British Airways and SwissAir.

It was also a time to start flying for vacation. I vaguely remember a CalAir flight to Palma. And there were flights to the US east and west coast.

I got to know a company in Canada (Toronto) a little too well and was asked to move there in 1988. The first time I flew there in Feb 2007 it was -21C on landing.

Toronto was a great place to live; it was still a bit staid in 1988 but the city grew and the downtown developed as a place of work and leisure. Initially flights to and from London were on Air Canada or British Airways. But as Wardair started a scheduled service using A310s they became my prefered airline.

Holidays were on Canada's great fleet of charter carriers; a Wardair 747 to Ixtapa, Mexico; Worldways to Costa Rica via Miami; Odyssey International to Antigua; Canada 3000 to the UK; Nationair to the UK - on one trip returning via Newcastle and Quebec (it was terrible). A Mexican charter, Tasco (??) to Play del Carmen on a flight that seemed to last forever. QebecAir to Montreal; Canadian Airlines (the successor to Canadian Pacific) cross country and to Whitehorse. Air North in a DC3 from Juneau to Whitehorse. A little Cessna 172 around Mt McKinley from Talkeetna in Alaska.

There was a Royal Airways 727 that had an engine explosion on take off from St Petersburg in Florida. That made for a very quiet and nervous cabin.

And so to Asia

And then it was back to Asia. Initially on holiday in 1994 with my first trip to Japan and to China. Japan Airlines to Tokyo and onto Beijing. A old Tupulev 154 on China Northwest to Guilin and back to Shanghai. Onto Tunxi and then on a Yunnan AIr 737 to Guagnzhou and a train to Hong Kong.

A few months later I was back in HKG for work; and with a regional responsibility the air miles started to rack up very quickly. In those days Singapore Air still handed out little gifts to its Business Class passengers; something different each month. And Cathay Pacific was still flying its lovely Tristars on regional routes.

Cathay Pacific became my home airline for three years. Then I moved to Singapore in late 1997 and spent two years mainly on Singapore Airlines before returning to Hong Kong in early 2000 for a couple of years. 

From Hong Kong Cathay would take me to Tokyo, Seoul, India, SIngapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Australia and New Zealand. There were regular flights back to see head office in London. DragonAir flew me to Beijing and Shanghai. I knew one of the captains quite well and if he was flying he would let me jump seat.

In 1998 Kai Tak closed and the Hong Kong airport moved to Chep Lap Kok. I flew up from Singapore to join thousands watching the last day of flights at Kai Tak; and then flew back to SIngapore on the first flight out to SIN on the opening day of the new airport. I always felt that a part of Hong Kong died that day.

It was not always CX and SQ for regional flying; there was the Aeroflot Il 86 from Delhi to Bangkok; with tattooed flight attendants, the boys and the girls.

Some regional flying around India - Alliance Airlines, low cost and low maintenance, and far more enjoyably on Jet Airways. ANA from Beijing to Tokyo.

Vacation flights were made on United to Japan and onto Honolulu. There were a number of round the world trips with the one world and star alliance networks. Taking Alex as a young child was always memorable. There was a Cathay flight where the crew took him to first class never to be seem until the end of the flight. He was a very happy baby. Then too much orange juice and cheese on a Qantas flight. Cleaning up after that would be a challenge.

A round the world flight at the end of 2001 took in Thai Airways, Air Canada, Mexicana, United, Varig, and Lufthansa.

Then in 2002 it was time to move to Thailand. There were annual trips to Vancouver; usually on Cathay through Hong Kong; frighteningly quiet during the SARS crisis and also holiday trips with Alex to Europe. Thai flight attendants doing magic tricks entertained Alex far more than the man wit the smelliest feet ever known on board an airplane.

Living in Thailand I made full use of the new low cost airlines in Thailand, and to Singapore, Macau and Rangoon - with lots of flights on Thai Air Asia; Tiger and Jetstar. Thai Air Asia made weekends away very affordable. Bangkok Airways were more upmarket and flew me to Luang Prabang, Samui and Siem Reap.

And so to the Middle East

Over 23 years since I first came to the Middle East - here I am again. Bahrain has been overshadowed by the mighty growth of Dubai. Emirates is becoming one of the world's largest and most influential airlines and of course Tai is flying with them. I still dont like 10 across seating on a 777.

So that brings the flying history up to date; lots of meals; plenty of flying; a few friends; a few scares. But the pleasure of traveling never goes away. The sense of awe as these massive beasts get off the ground is still there. The professionalism of the crews always impresses and a smile will always go a very long way.

And yes I did try to learn to fly

My attempt to learn to fly was doomed: my only flyimg lesson was on 11 September 2001 in Florida. A year later I wrote the following on the news pages of this site:

"Where were you on September 11th?

10 September 2002

I remember only too well where I was as the attacks on America took place. I was at 1,000 feet turning right to start a circuit at Kissimmee Airport in Florida on my first and as it turned out only flying lesson.

I have always wanted to learn how to fly. I had the time. And I had enrolled in a Flying School in Florida. There were no backgrounds checks, not in those days. I provided my credit card details. The school booked accommodation and lessons.

The trip was fated from the start. Climbing out of Hong Kong on Continental's non stop flight to Newark the plane had a cabin depressurisation at about 28,000 feet. It was eerie. It was quiet. It was not an explosive decompression. There was just a silence. The plane dived to a lower altitude. People (too slowly) put on their oxygen masks. But everything was working; there were no holes in the plane. The engines were still turning. We leveled off. The pilot (who had presumably changed his trousers and negotiated with ATC in Hong Kong and Guangzhou advised that a valve had failed, that we would dump fuel for at least 75 minutes (we were meant to be flying over 16 hours non stop) and that we would return to HKG.

So United flew me to Orlando the following day.

Kissimmee was foggy on the Monday. The only flying was IFR. No use to me. My first lesson was booked for 9.00am on Tuesday 11 September. I walked out to the plane with my Norwegian instructor. We checked the plane. My mobile rang. I did not pick it up; I switched it off. Did not want the distraction. It turned out to be a friend calling form New York to warn me what was happening.

We taxi-ed to the end of Runway 15. Took off. Climbed and turned. And ATC tells all planes to land immediately as US airspace was now closed. He explains to another pilot on an open frequency that a plane has hit the world trade center.

We landed. Tied the little Cessna down. And went to watch TV in the lounge at the FBO. The room was full with instructors and want to be pilots; people taking multi-engine and commercial licenses. Everyone knew that the industry they loved would never be the same again.

The school was closed all week. All the Florida flying schools know each other and by the end of the week all were helping with records of past students.

That weekend a hurricane blew through Orlando. It was time to go home. The dream is postponed. Indeed the dream may even be cancelled. The magic of flying became a nightmare that day.

As I flew back through Newark on another stunning Autumn day this was the view from the aiport - six days after the attack the fires were still burning and the smoke still hung over the city.

Let us hope that on tomorrow's anniversary we can all mourn or reflect in peace."

When once you have tasted flight,
You will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward,
For there you have been and there you will always long to return.

Leonardo Da Vinci
 

Old airlines

British Caledonian Reunited

British Caledonian history

Youtube links

Cathay Pacific

Failed airlines of Canada.

Opening an airline in Canada and taking on the mighty Air Canada is a risky proposition at best. Here are links to some of the failed airlines of Canada.

Air BC · Air Canada Tango · Air Nova · Air Ontario ·  Canada 3000 · Canada West Airlines · Canadian Airlines · Canadian Airways · Canadian Colonial Airways · Canadian Pacific Airlines · City Express ·   Harmony Airways · Inter-Canadien · Jetsgo · Odyssey International ·  Pacific Western Airlines · Quebecair ·  Roots Air · Royal Aviation ·  Transair · Trans-Canada Air Lines · Trans-Provincial Airlines · Triton Airlines ·  Wardair ·  Worldways Canada · World-Wide Airways ·Zip

Nigeria Airways 707 at Heathrow in 1973 - Airliners.net

Garuda at Gatwick in 1982

TWA Tristar in 1977

Wardair at Gatwick - 1980s