Tribute to the Dakota

[Hihonyr8811]

LOL that's true

But I bet Mr Douglas was kicking himself many years later

[Spitfire]

:D That's ok
As I say, twas my own fault, I didn't know that air atlantique did flights till Cluny put a video up, and by that time they were coming to a close coz of all the stupid regulations

lol I love boring interiors lol

I don't blame you, I'd be more interested in the Dak than the train too

Vis a vis Air Atlantique and the ceasing of passenger flights .... it has come to my attention from (as they say in royal circles) an 'insider' .... that the EU regulations were more than likely used as an excuse by AA to get lots more passengers to sign up on the 'final tour' before 'the deadline' when in fact it was probably more about the disbandment of the AA fleet by the owner soon after
It transpires the 'regulations' are no where near as stringent as we were led to believe - and I understand there are still many Daks flying passengers quite happily - you just have to look a bit harder

[Hihonyr8811]

Yep, I heard that too, not difficult to get the CAA/EU to sign the planes off to carry passengers apparently
But AA never filed for it, and G-AMPY now does spraying or something

From Sundays trip to Coventry.

And probably makes more money that way.

[Saracenman]

...G-AMPY now does spraying or something...

isn't it in the 'Large Green Sausage' delivery business?

[Mayfly]

and what do you know about large green sausages?

[Xplumberlives]

Polution Control!

[Spitfire]

In 1986 was lucky enough to fly on Concorde - but that year my Dad was determined that I should experience the other end of the flight spectrum so he took me up in an Air Atlantique Dakota

I have to say it was a hell of an experience and the bit I enjoyed the best was sitting on the runway at a 45 degree angle then coming upright as the speed increased

We had the chance to go to the cockpit and it was being flown by two 12 year olds They had the sliding windows open so you got a real feeling of seat of the pants flying - nothing like the clean and clinical feeling of the Concorde.
Max height we got to was 1800 ft and all in all it was just a magic experience I wont ever forget

I can see why you love them Helen

Recently I had the weirdest coincidence ... this post I made back in 2008 referred to a flight in a Dakota that I had experienced - the plane was chartered by a bunch of train nerds gentlemen who wanted to fly over a train called Black Prince as it crossed a particular bridge at the Severn Valley - something to do with Poland and train recommissioning ... Me and my Dad were the only plane enthusiasts on board ... all the others could talk about was the train

Well we have lots of photos when on board but the son of my mate in Kidderminster was at Arley station, on the Severn Valley, on my birthday recently and saw this photograph on the wall and he sent it by email as a birthday greeting....

That's me and my Dad on that there Dakota flying over that there train crossing that there bridge

[Sooty655]

Why didn't you wave?

[Spitfire]

Why didn't you wave?

At the time I think we were the only ones not craning our necks and huge telephoto lenses to get a picture of said train ... the 12 year olds on the cockpit were doing their best to bank slightly so one side got a good view - this meant that all the people on the other side rushed across and the 12 year olds had to ask them to sit down - the train nerds buffs not being aware of centre of gravity and weight distributions on planes To facilitate the photos the pilots then very kindly did another sweep the other way on the opposite bank

I spent as much time as I was allowed up in the cockpit talking to the 12 year olds - when cockpit experiences were announced the train nerds gentlemen didn't seem interested - so I had all their go's

I was amazed how slow and 'lumbery' a Dak is ... very sedate and yet calm and collected. When we left the runway the angle of climb must have been about 3 degrees as it took us ages to reach our 'cruising altitude' of 2000ft We then crossed that bridge twice at 1200ft - and then stooged up and around the Severn Valley at about 1500ft ...

The best bit is sitting at a silly angle on the runway and feeling everything suddenly straighten up as the tail wheel lifts as we hurtled slowly accelerated down the runway ..

The in flight catering service was funny too ... a young lady, dressed properly as a 'stewardess', serving coffee from thermos flasks into polystyrene cups

An incredible experience and something I am told could soon be available again in the UK as the silly regulations that stopped the carrying of passengers on Daks may soon be 'relaxed' or 'got around' as common sense prevails. The Dutch carried on doing it long after we stopped so there is a precedent in Europe. It just needs the CAA and EASA to get together and hammer something out.

[Aceyone]

Interesting story,have a soft spot for the Dak as it still remains the only aircraft that Iv'e flown in

[Mayfly]

DT always said flying the Dak was like sailing a boat, it wallows and bounces along the top of the waves.

[Aceyone]

DT always said flying the Dak was like sailing a boat, it wallows and bounces along the top of the waves.

It certainly did,we took off from Biggin for a flight over London ,it was kind of like being on the top deck of a bus ,seemed to bounce around a lot,suppose it was cos we were fairly low and there were probably a lot of thermals too ! sounded a bit like a bus as well

[Spitfire]

It must have been flat calm at sea when I was on board the yacht then

My flight was very smooth and sedate - yes a bit noisy but that's half the fun - the only thing I will say is that during the whole experience - unlike a modern jet airliner spam can - you KNEW you were 'properly' flying

[Aceyone]

It must have been flat calm at sea when I was on board the yacht then

My flight was very smooth and sedate - yes a bit noisy but that's half the fun - the only thing I will say is that during the whole experience - unlike a modern jet airliner spam can - you KNEW you were 'properly' flying

Certainly knew we were flying for sure,one thing sticks in my mind was that as we flew over Farnborough and Keston Parks ( exclusive properties,very expensive ) was that almost every house had swimming pools/tennis courts ,now all Ineed is a few million