Any airline dorks out there have $880 lying around? If so, I’d highly recommend heading to Dallas on August 27 to take a ride on one of the last BAC-111 aircraft still flying. This one is in a sweet executive configuration. You can get all the details here.
Why am I posting about this on a day when I normally don’t post at all? Well, remember Johosofat, the high school junior who created a real Cranky Jackass Award? He has some serious initiative, and he has put together a little business trying to arrange flights on classic airliners. And I’m all for encouraging high school students who love our industry that much.
As of earlier this week, he had 14 people signed up, and he needs 10 more to be able to pay the bill. I sadly won’t be able to make it, but if you can, please send pictures. This would be a ton of fun.
20 comments on “Catch a Ride on a BAC-111”
Glad to know the kid has his own business. Kudos!
This should make for a hell of a college essay, interview response, and even resume builder, as I imagine that organizing and promoting these kinds of tours is a good bit of work. Plus, how many high schoolers can say that they created a business around organized chartered jet trips?
Cranky, if Johosofat keeps this business going and gets a few tours under his belt, I’m going to suggest that you do an Across the Aisle interview with him.
I flew on a DanAir-One Eleven from Gatwick to Verona in the 80’s on a school ski trip.
Ah, those were the days…….
Dont miss working that aircraft whatsoever. Heck, I couldnt stand UPRIGHT in the aft lavatory, overhead space was tight and it made the short hops mostly. I remember working EIGHT LEGS on that plane once.
It came from the glamor days of flying, but like the DC-9, it’s had it’s day in aviation history. Sitting in the back of those planes, ahhh, the noise from the engines mounted right next to the fuselage. No wonder I cant hear anymore. LOL.
.. what’d you say, Frank?
Johosofat, I hope you are able to make a go of this. Congratulations on taking the initiative! If you are able to put together a trip on a DC-3, you can count me in!
Buffalo air still operate daily sked DC3 passenger service from Hay River to Yellowknife, right here in Canada
I watch Ice Pilots on the National Geographic Channel and its amazing all the difference WWII era planes they use are still around.
This trip is fantastic, and he’s done great to organise it. It’s just so expensive (plus I’d need to come over from the UK!) for me.
Luckily I had two Cyprus Airways BAC 1-11 flights in 1986, so I’ve got the type under my belt.
It’s a great idea, but just seeing those letters sent shivers down my spine. Remember the old Allegheny “Freedom Pass?” I spent too many hours in that damn plane, hitting exotic locations like Nashville and Burlington in the 70’s. But hey, the price was right. I think I’ll have to pass on this one, but it’s a terrific idea. (Tomorrow I’ll be on the Singapore 777 Houston to Moscow…so that will have to do). By the way – know what USAIR stands for? Unmistakenly Still Allegheny in Reality…
I had some flights on British Airways operated BAC-111’s and I hated that plane. They were noisy and felt constricted and seemed dirty.
One novelty is that the first row of seats faced backwards.
I remember being a passenger in a BAC-111 when I was 13 years old. It was on the old Mohawk Airlines. The flight was from Newark, NJ to Elmira, NY with a stop in Binghamton, NY. I don’t remember much except it was a very short flight. It seemed like as soon as we were airborne out of Binghamton it was already time for landing in Elmira.
14JUL2011. Somewhere on the internet is a photograph of some twenty (20) BAC 1-11 rotting away with the bush/jungle growing around them. They are (were) in Nigeria at the airport in Benin City. Evidently, a BAC 1-11 ran out of fuel whilst attempting to land at Sokato. The aircraft circled for over an hour whilst the crew tried to raise the airfield. Unfortunately, the airport staff had all gone back to barracks – all airfields in Nigeria were run by the military – so there was nobody available to switch on the airfield lights. The crew tried to land the aircraft in the dark but crashed with no survivors (?) Rather than admit their share of the responsibility, the government declared the aircraft to be unsafe and banned the BAC 1-11 from operating in Nigeria. The airline owner’s investment went straight down the tube with no compensation! That’s the story as I heard it from an engineer who worked in Nigeria. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the story but I have seen the photograph.
That’s a terrible story.. alas things are different in the big continent when it comes to airline safety.
I’d kill someone to be able to go.
..alarming
Just landed back in BUR today after a sunny business visit in PHX, and noticed this. There was a thread on a.net on this subject a few weeks ago. For me, it’d be to get a glimpse of what it was like to fly for Mohawk or Braniff.. sadly, in VIP condition it just doesn’t have that oomph to push me in to $800.
I was on one of the last flights of Aer Lingus BAC 111s from Schiphol to Dublin in 1986/7. They ordered four of them in 1962 or thereabouts. I had had a scary ride on one of them one morning going into Gatwick when we flew into the jet-wash of a DC10 on a calm summer morning. Otherwise a lovely aircraft to fly in and I’m told that they didn’t suffer from “tin-worm”, hence their long service with A-L.
My first ever flight, come to think of it, was on a Cambrian Airways BAC 111 from Cork, Ireland to Heathrow. I also flew in the Rom-BAC 111’s that the early Ryanair flew which, as I recall, were a bit short on the avionics – fog in Stansted was a big issue then. How times have changed!!
Anyone remember “Pacific Express” that operated in CA, OR and ID during the early 80’s? They flew the BAC-111. My sister worked as an FA with the airline for a year or so and occasionally she’d give me a buddy pass to tag along with her as she flew up and down the CA coast. I was a kid at the time and a major airline dork… what better way to spend a Saturday? Two of the 111’s were given nick names by flight crews… “Casper” and “Wendy”. I’m not sure of the origin of those names but if anyone has insights, I’d love to hear them!
The little airline that tried. Hooking up with PanAm didn’t help them.