UKD Admin duties October 2000 - by Pilot 186 James

A tale of parts, paint, pax, black puddings and Mrs O’Reilly’s washing machine

I was somewhat surprised to see the entry “Admin” opposite my name and number on the October Roster. What penance must I pay for flying for our airline, was I to be deluged with hundreds of PIREP forms at the back of the Exeter hangar?

I found that when I opened this Pandora’s box that I was required to fly a Shorts 360 on various support duties for UKD before returning to flying Channel Island and UKE Executive flights.

My first detail was a paint and parts maximum cargo from Exeter, where a Shorts 360 is now based, to Liverpool. I decided to use this series of flights to arrive at definitive performance figures for the Shorts 360 that I use so that future flights could be made with proper fuel plans. UKD being what it is I was to fly the aircraft at maximum speed (170kts) at a maximum altitude of 9000ft.

The stores at UKD Maintenance, Exeter had to be cleared to make way for a consignment of spares which I would be bringing in from Manston and Heathrow later on in the week. Mr Finney was about to receive his paint!

An uneventful one hour flight to Liverpool was made with an overcast sky at Exeter, once through the overcast one could see an orange dawn to the east. At Liverpool a smooth crosswind landing was made with the wind 30* off the centreline at 24kts. Once off the runway it was an awful long taxi to the maintenance area up near the old airport terminal. In real life I used to fly there on business aboard British Eagle Britannia aircraft almost 40 years ago! Our Mr Finney was there for his paint and parts which took only thirty minutes to unload.

Then surprise, surprise! Instead of flying south to Manston with an empty aircraft I found that the local UKD agent, one Joe Walker, his granddad used to be in the Homeguard in WWII, had arranged for a party of twenty nine elderly folk to be flown down to Manston to see the lights at Margate! Swift change to passenger seats for the 360 and we were joined by Miss Coral See, a UKD Flight Attendant, she makes excellent sausage and mash in the galley! We set off and all went well until we reached Clacton VOR and began our descent through cloud over the sea, we did not break through the cloudbase until we were 1000ft above the ground with Manston runway directly ahead, thank goodness for the new ILS! I parked the aircraft said cheerio to the old folk and the three of us booked off duty for that day.

Perhaps I should mention that UKD have hired a Shorts 360 in Jersey European markings to replace two of their aircraft which can be seen parked at Manston waiting for new engines, see past incident reports in the UKD Safety Department. This aircraft handles beautifully and has a performance very close to the real aircraft. It must be popular for it seems never to carry less than 29 passengers or two and a half tons of cargo.

Overnight our staff had changed the aircraft back to the cargo role and some of the spares brought in on the Trondheim UKD World Cargo 707 during the weekend were loaded onto the aircraft. We were to collect more spares at Heathrow before returning to Liverpool. That morning the weather had worsened and after take off I soon entered cloud while climbing towards Dover VOR. Take-off had been just after 06.00hrs GMT so it was a dark murky day, we broke out of cloud at 3,500ft and just over half an hour later we landed at Heathrow where the expected spares were loaded. This time the aircraft entered cloud at 3,000ft and there was no sign of the ground again until the descent was almost completed over the Runcorn bridge. Once again the long taxy to the maintenance area on the old part of the airfield.

Four days later our irrepressible Joe Walker had negotiated the carriage of three tons of black puddings which were to be exported to the continent via Dover port. To catch the boat at Dover the aircraft had to leave Liverpool at 06.00 hrs GMT, it was a very wet morning, cloudbase at 500ft when Mr W W Low, my FO, arrived. He ALWAYS checks the dinghy if there is any likelihood that we are going to be flying near any water. We inspected the aircraft and cargo by torchlight, drank a last mug of groundcrew tea and then we were trundling off in the darkness across the old airfield to the runway. Rain continued throughout the take-off and we did not break through cloud until 6,000ft, the undercast was lit by Mr Bill Gates & Co.’s version of a pink dawn. The awful weather below continued until we were well past Daventry VOR when above us clouds began to appear and those below began to thin and then disappear. At Clacton VOR we began our descent and looking to starboard I looked down towards the Thames estuary recalling that it was somewhere around here that one of the most famous women pilots, Amy Johnson, had disappeared when forced to bail out while flying with the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941. I said nothing to Mr Low, who does not like flying over water for long periods. By the time we were ten miles from Manston runway the day looked beautiful, you could see for miles. A smooth crosswind landing was made. At the UKD hangar a vehicle prominently marked “J Walker & Son, Warmington on Sea” waited to take our three tons of black puddings to Dover(?). Our aircraft was cleaned and the loading began of spares for Exeter. Mr Low seemed happier, we would not be flying across the sea this time.

Fork lift trucks and pallets make all the difference so having arrived at Manston at 07.40hrs GMT we had time for a fry up second breakfast at Gary’s Caff before climbing back into the aircraft. The good weather in the south had held and at 09.10hrs GMT we started the engines and we were up and away into a cloudless blue sky, landing at Heathrow 55 minutes later. At the cargo agent’s store we collected Mrs O’Reilly’s washing machine. Mrs O’Reilly does the company laundry at Exeter and had been badgering the General Manager for months. So she was to have her hand powered tub replaced by a “Mighty Wurlitzer” washing machine. Some of Mrs O’Reilly’s relatives would be redundant but our fitters, mechanics, office staff and aircrew would all look a bit less mucky!

Take-off was made straight into wind and a pleasant flight ensued. Not a cloud in the sky and we passed Bournemouth HQ but although the airport could be seen from 9,000ft we could not make out the new HQ building. All went well until we were eight miles from touchdown when we received an indication that an aircraft fault had occurred. An instrument scan revealed no apparent faults, both engines were turning, fuel was still flowing at the expected rate, flaps were partially down and there was no sign or smell of smoke either inside or outside the aircraft. I decided to disregard the message and continue with the landing. The undercarriage lowered and locked OK and a smooth landing was made. The fault indication has been reported to the Safety Officer.

Some seven landings and take-offs and approximately 1,100nm later the current “Admin” duties have been completed. Only one small incident of an apparently defective warning system occurred while some nasty as well as good weather has been experienced. Well done Adv. 4.8.

I now have detailed performance figures for all aspects of the JEA Shorts 360 which boil down to a rough fuel usage of 5.83kg per minute from “engines on” to “engines off”. A more detailed analysis indicates a range, with proper reserves, carrying a load of 2727kg (6000lbs), of 380nm at a cruising speed of 170kts IAS. This range for the computer aircraft is 95% of that given for the real aircraft in “Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft.”

Note: a) “Joe Walker” was the name of a “fix-it” character in the TV series “Dad’s Army.”

b) I recommend the use of the program “Simcharts Europe by Jeppesen”

END JMP 12/10/00 1419 words