My First Flight as Cabin Crew - A Grounded Special
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- A little while back I did an episode of "Grounded" on Islandsflug and hinted at covering the story of my first day, well today is the day. This video could be considered a cross between an episode of Grounded and a trip report as we take a look at my first flight as cabin crew, working for Excel Airways on-board an Islandsflug 737-400 we are flying from Bristol to Rhodes and back with several twists and turns along the way so strap in down the back galley with me as we go back to May 2005 and my first cabin crew flight...
I will be honest here, I had been looking forward to doing this video and almost as soon as I uploaded it have had second thoughts so I really hope you enjoy it as it is something different and hopefully something worth watching. I know the length might be a bit much, I did actually cut a few bits out in order to keep the time down but had to leave some other bits in to explain various galley equipment, operational things etc... I did try to use as many pictures as possible but there wasn't much of a selection of the two aircraft in question that I could use. I do have more stories from my flying day so if this goes down well enough then maybe I'll do more, maybe even to camera instead of a glorified slideshow...
I know it's been a lot longer than usual since my last video and I do apologise, I got made redundant in mid October and have since started a night job in a hotel, the issue being 10 hour shifts and sleeping through the day :/ I have now got a handle on the script writing so believe me am working on several new scripts (I have got some already complete), if anything it is the recording the audio and putting the video together where I have been struggling with on average 30-45 minutes a day to work with :/
If you have never seen any of my Grounded Series episodes before, these look at the history of various airlines no longer around, be it through mergers or bankruptcy. I have published 51 episodes so far and easily have another 100+ in the works!
I have done Grounded episodes on a few airlines mentioned in this video and links to those are below;
Sabre Airways
Sabre were formed in 1994 and operated a fleet of ex-Dan-Air 727s along with a pair of 737-200s, they would be the UK launch customer for the 737-800. Sabre also operated Peach Air (covered in a separate episode) and in the spring of 2001 would rebrand as Excel Airways. The Sabre episode is available here;
• Grounded: Sabre Airways
Excel Airways
Sabre Airways rebranded as Excel in the spring of 2001 and through a partnership with Air Atlanta Icelandic would grow into one of the UK's largest charter airlines. This episode looks at the rise of Excel Airways and is available here;
• Grounded: Excel Airways
XL Airways
Following a management buyout the rebranded XL Airways would soldier on for a few years before collapsing spectacularly in September 2008. The UK's third largest charter airline was a house of cards and when it collapsed became the largest airline failure in UK history, this video looks at the fall of XL Airways and is available here;
• Grounded: XL Airways
XL Airways: The Final Hours
This video is a play-by-play of my final day as cabin crew, from working a flight to the Greek Island of Samos and returning to Gatwick then during the night being woken up to the horrible news that XL Airways has collapsed and we're all out of a job and gives an inside look at the immediate aftermath of an airline collapse and how it affects the air crew who are suddenly out of a job and denied their final paycheque. This video is available here;
• Video
Islandsflug
Formed through the merger of a flying school and a tiny Icelandic airline, Islandsflug found a niche as an ACMI operator and placed aircraft with airlines across Europe & beyond. They were eventually absorbed into the much larger Air Atlanta Icelandic (now Avion Group). Islandsflug operated 3 Boeing 737-400s for Excel during the Summer of 2005, two in Newcastle and one in Bristol, where this story takes place. The Islandsflug episode is available here;
• Grounded: Islandsflug ...
** VIDEO CONTENTS **
00:00 Intro
00:17 A little background
01:10 Pre-flight
03:19 TF-ELY
05:09 Departing Bristol
06:01 PEA Anyone?
07:55 Meal Service Mistakes
09:46 Duty Free
10:35 Diverting to Thessaloniki
11:24 SKG-RHO
11:49 On the Ground in Rhodes
13:14 Hello Victor
15:18 Cockpit door trouble
16:48 Landing & Post-flight
18:03 Outro
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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#CabinCrew #ExcelAirways #FlightAttendant
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A very special hello to folks tuning in recently, there is a nice twist to this story in that a mere 13 years after I had my wings clipped with XL Airways I regained my wings - I should be back in the air within a few weeks :)
Who are you going to be flying with now?
Great video! I say it’s worth the wait!
Thank you, I appreciate that :)
Really interesting hearing a first person prespective of how it really is as a member of a cabin crew, very job on the video! Can't wait for the next vid.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Again sir, you do a great job. As a young person and avgeek wanted to work for the original Piedmont Airlines as a flight attendant. After Piedmont merged with USAir, I pursued other endeavors. No complaints. I enjoy yourr historical reporting of the airline sector as I remember. It was indeed fun and yet challenging for employees.
Thanks Craig, I appreciate that :) How come you decided to go in a different direction following Piedmont's merger rather than go for it with USAir? To be honest I can understand if they were your hometown airline or one held close to your heart, I had a similar thing when Flying Colours (who's offices were about 3 miles away from my childhood home) went through a mega merger and came back out as JMC and truth be told it took me a long time to "accept" them and that was about 10 years later by which point they had already rebranded as Thomas Cook. In my defence there was a lot going on at the time and the rebrand was the easiest thing to focus on. I do have regrets that had I not allowed myself to become so disillusioned I could have had a great career with them, well until 2019...
I'm glad that you enjoy my videos, I really enjoy making them :) I am in the early stages of covering Piedmont, Allegheny and a few others that ended up under the USAir fold, I hope you will enjoy it when it lands :)
Awesome!!!!! So looking forward. My first commercial solo was on recently rebranded USAir from Allegheny. DC-9-30 and the BAC-111 as a kid. Being from the midwest, my hometown had USAir, Piedmont, Delta. TWA, Ozark, Eastern, etc. I wanted to try Piedmont when visiting family for the summer. I became a big Piedmont fan, still to this day. During the 80s, although Piedmont was rapidly expanding, I noticed lots of upheavals and turbulence. As a kid, though, it was great time to be a avgeek. Seeing Eastern, Trans World, etc labor discords after Braniff International shut down, I became aware. After high school, I did a Piedmont interview just before the merger with USAir, however I was devastated Piedmont would be gone. I did not get a second interview, but I was cool with that. I always loved Piedmonts 737s, 727s, F28s and 767s. My first widebody ride was on the 767 after visiting family. I remained a lifetime avgeek, but seeing the gut wrenching turmoil was hard with our dedicated aviation professionals. I do recall your company and the mergers afterwards. The late 80s early 90s, became a dedicated British Airways fan when routinely flying to London. Still a big fan of the Landor Associates livery. Your research is fantastic!!!!! Brings back wonderful fond memories enjoying every minute being a avgeek a kid into adulthood. Looking forward to your Allegheny/USAir/Empire/Piedmont/PSA!!!! Even into AmericaWest. Remarkable seeing all those mergers, consolidations including yours over these many years.
Really interesting story keep them coming. Can you do a grounded about Hubardair? They were Norwich based small airline from the 1980’s and went burst early 1990’s
Thanks Lee, I've never heard of them but will give them a look :)
Brilliant. Really enjoyed this. 👍
Thanks Dan, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
WOW what a story,,i,v alway wanted to sit in a jump seat....Enjoyed your experince thoughely thanks
Thank you :)
Another great video! Some great memories of excel at BRS
Thanks Mark :)
Interesting to hear the first experiences of your first day as cabin crew in the airline industry. As former Dan Air flight deck crew based out of LGW it's interesting to get the perspective of new crew in the rear or cabin. I've never really considered it from the cabin crews perspective, only from the perspective of the flight crew thank you for sharing your experience. Mine was a very different which was for flight deck crew and one I to will never forget. Happy landings.
Thanks Owen, I had wanted to do this video for quite some time so I am glad it has had such a warm reception. We may be one team up there but we have our roles, I think that these days especially thanks to the flightdeck door being kept closed it is easy to forget that the other side exists. It would be great to hear your memories from up front :) I can still remember the first time I took control of a Cessna 150 shortly after my 18th birthday, while I never did get to fly anything larger than GA I am glad to have done what I did, to this day I still miss the industry and would go back in a heartbeat. Thinking about it, if you were at Dan Air then maybe you have flown the two birds in this video, G-BSNV and G-TREN as they were back then?
Expo Aviation Thanks for getting back to me and liking my comments. Sadly I never flew on the Boeing 737 as crew my time started on the HS748f cargo aircraft. Flying on the Dan Air night cargo mail contracts operating mainly LGW to LPL and LPL to BFS and back. Or LGW to LHR to BFS night stop and back the next night. Later on the B727 aircraft type. The joy there being that I didn’t have to make my own coffee lol. Like you I loved the airline industry. Starting in the airport initially on the ramp as a ramp agent. I worked my way up against the odds from ramp agent to tug driver doing the pushbacks and towing aircraft about on the ground in ramp aircraft handling which came under engineering as an aircraft handler. I went on to become a crew chief. & studied for my CAA license with out type rating catalogues A & C ( airframes & Jet engines. Before initially joining Dan Air as a Flight Loadmaster & flight mechanic. On the 748 fleet that role was integrated in to the flight deck crew and I had many duties to perform. Such as the walk round putting the fuel on the aircraft planing and supervision of the aircrafts cargo loading. Securing the load. In flight I would monitor the engine instruments and synchronise the engines manage the overhead panel complete the systems readout and tech log as well as the voyage reports. Monitor ATC on the headset as a third set of eyes and ears manually wined down the flaps and check the gear down when we had problems. And generally know all the aircrafts systems. The role was also like a flight manager too. Not only did I have to manually calculate the available payload and aircraft index trim by completing the load sheet and trim sheet I was responsible for getting the aircraft off on time or we Dan Air that is would get a £10,000 fine if we departed more than ten minutes late. Gaining thousands of hours in that role which was effectively the role of a Second Officer the fleet captain offered me the opportunity to move in to the right hand seat subject to my completing my flying training which I was undertaking via the self improvement route at the time. Something which has sadly been stopped by our European friends unfortunately today. After Dan Air I flew for Das Air cargo airlines and later with the Royal Air Force having reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant I became an instructor teaching pilot training. Today I’m 58 years old and most of the people I flew with have all retired from the airline industry. I owned my own Slingsby T-45 Swallow. Glider for a few years after I left the airlines and today I don’t fly anymore due to medical reasons. But I built a complex 42 inch multi screen flight simulator with B737 throttles flight yoke and rudder peddles and still like to keep my hand in on my flying skills today. Like you flying in the airlines especially when flying with the cabin crew on the B727 fleet I think we’re the happiest days of my life career wise anyway. Happy days as we used to say in the RAF
Hi Owen, I'm sorry for being very late replying (this new night job is causing more than its fair share of problems). That's quite an impressive history, certainly something not possible nowadays and in a way reminds me of how the railways have gone since the demise of British Rail, in that back then you'd start off in one low level role and then through experience have a dabble at other roles before working ones way up the ladder.
Back when I was flying it was still possible to get an airline to sponsor your flight training if you were already working for them, it came with a lot of conditions but was more than worth it. I had my name on the list for the next group which would have started in 2009 but alas we went bust in 2008. Then again, perhaps that was a blessing as back then there wasn't many 737NG operators in the UK, just Ryanair and Thomsonfly (as it was then) and I'm not sure if the latter had 737-800s yet. I never got to experience a ride on the 727 as I joined the company a few years after they had retired the type but I can certainly remember the noise they used to make :)
I do have a soft spot for the HS748, a very rugged aircraft. When I was living at the end of the runway in Bristol they were still regular nightly visitors on the mail flights along with whatever else Emerald would turf out when required. I got up close with one earlier this year, G-BEJD is on display at Liverpool Airport (well the old terminal which has been turned into a Crown Plaza hotel). It's still a long way off finished by looks good in the Dan-Air livery :)
That sounds like a great setup, I bet it took quite a while to get sorted out. I treated myself to a yoke and throttle quadrant around two months ago. I got the Honeycomb ones, the beauty being that the handles are all changeable so I can fly anything from a single engine GA to a 747. I'm looking forward to the PMDG 737 coming out then I will be back in my element, I find the A320NX is a bit too fiddly for my liking. As it stands I'm happy using my one hour of free time to jump in the PA38 and buzz my house, virtually of course :)
Expo Aviation wow thanks for getting back to me. I enjoyed ready your reply. I’m shocked to learn the The Dan Air BAe HS 748 aircraft G-BEJD is on Desplay at Liverpool. I’ve flown that very aircraft & registration out of LGW to Liverpool and on to BFS and back many times gaining hundreds of hours on her. She was a loverly simple aircraft to fly. If there was on aircraft I could go back to and fly again it would be that aircraft and that registration. I probably flew that and it’s sister ship G-BEJE the most. Both had different characteristics as individual aircraft. One was nose heavier than it’s sister ship if flown empty the other would want to pull slightly to the left so you had to trim the rudder to counteract the yaw. We called it the banana as if felt curved lol. I have to say flying the night main back as a young 26 year old man. Looking back no a year and a half off the age of 60. Have to have been the best days of my life. Lol.
As for my flight simulator yes so far with all the software and hardware and multi screens plus additional third party add-on software it currently owes me around £5,500. And once the enclosed cockpit has been built in February 2022. It will owe me close to £7K but cheaper than owning another aircraft again and cheaper than regularly renting an aircraft. Keep in touch and once it sorted hopefully by the end of February your welcome to come and do some flying with me if you like that is if you want to fight my mrs who has booked the right hand seat lol.
You can reach me here and if you have MS Flight simulator 2020 my games handle is Dan Air 7300. The call sign of the first ever flight in Dan air on the 748. I’m available on the x box messenger app. Which you can download on iPhone or computer if your on MSFM2020. If you connect with me I’ll give you my number.
Hope to catch up with you for a flight in the flight simulator in 2022. I live between LGW and LHR. Happy Christmas.
Thank you for this, it was so interesting! I never knew you worked for First Choice too! Would love to hear more on this!
Thanks Michael, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I was invited back to Excel for the Summer of 2006 but as I was keeping my options open I'd interviewed with First Choice for Bristol, at the time they were using the A321 out of BRS which was much more modern than our 737-400 ;)
At the interview they asked if anyone had far to travel (so they could do the panel interview first) and I'd said I've got to get back to Manchester. When asked by the panel if I'd take Manchester if it was offered I said yes and the next day I got a call to offer me Manchester. Incidentally, the call was from my old college instructor who had genuinely unbeknownst to me landed the role of head of cabin crew for the North of the UK (she berated me for not namedropping her, as far as I knew she was at Flyjet and besides, I don't namedrop).
I was trained on the A320 and B757-200 and spent the summer of 2006 out of Manchester, at the end of the season I was moved over to tour ops for the winter (the company believed in moving folks around over winter rather than risk losing them to other airlines) but when it was time for me to come back they said I was still required in the office, sadly it was too late to find a new airline so had to grind out 2007 in the office until XL Airways (as it had now become) offered me Gatwick - although I had interviewed in Glasgow for that one ;) Sadly we know how that final chapter turned out :/
I have my supernumerary fight tomorrow this made me feel a lot better haha
I'm glad to hear that, I hope your Supernumerary went well :) Any chance you can give me a hint as to who you are with? Just in-case we are batting for the same shade of orange ;)
Could you do an episode on Dan air and Laker Airways
Yes I am currently working on scripts for both :)
👌👍
Thank you :)
Why in the helll would a company go through the expense of training a crew member only to FIRE THEM because their badge wasn't ready!
Yeah it was a different time back then, money not really being much of an object but aside from the cabin sim and door sim everything else was covered in house in a classroom so the cost was negligible. Either way it was harsh as of course folks would have left their job and possibly even relocated to suddenly get laid off a month after starting :/