I remember flying a BIA 1-11/500 between Pisa and Gatwick in the summer of 1989. By that time the 1-11 was almost a dinosaur, and clearly showed their age, with a well worn interior and also very weak cabin lighting; however I remember being very surprised at how quiet and rattle-free the take off was in comparison to the usual 737-200. Service was of course excellent, providing us with a good and substantial meal. I was also welcomed to the cockpit for a good 45minutes for a look and chat with the very kind and friendly pilots. I remember the lead stewardess was a French lady with short, curly hair... Sweet memories.
Loved the 1-11's. I travelled from Glasgow to Gatwick many times in the B-CAL ones, one time even getting a 'seat up front' when the F/O wanted to have his meal, in my seat. I got some nice photos of the Lake District from 37,500 feet.
My Father was The Chief Technical Instructor for BIA Dart Heralds. It was a shock when he was suddenly made redundant in the 70's when BIA effectively collapsed. We had free flights as kids to Prestwick and Isle Of Man the latter was great fun.
The Isle of Man is quite fun at the moment too, due to an ATC shortage the airport closes whenever the controller needs to eat or use the loo, often we end up in a hold that was longer than the flight from Manchester itself :D I do like the Dart Herald, it's a nice looking aircraft. Did your father manage to find work with another airline or did he leave the industry after BIA?
@@ExpoAviation Yes he landed a job at Barranquilla Colombia as he was properly licensed as an Engineer. All of us kids had to go to Boarding Schools here in England but flew out there 3x a year when on leave or Holidays. He died 10 weeks ago.
Another brilliant video on an airline I flew from Gatwick to Malta in the late 80’s. They were a good airline. I flew on the Mad Dogs aircraft. Looking forward to seeing Dan Air, Caledonian and Cal Air International videos in the future. Keep up the great work. It’s very much appreciated! 🤗✈️🤗
I had the awful experience of a cabin depressurization in a BIA BA1-11, coming back fron Sardinia at night in h3avy turbulence. It was around 1986/7. The pilot kept saying he was going to go higher to try to get above the turbulence. Anyway we got to 44,000ft as indicated by a little LED display in thepassager cabin. Suddenly the oxygen masks dropped and engines went silent.we slowly dropped to 10,000ft, the enginesfired up and the turbulence was horrendous. Flipping nightmare. Ive been a nervous flyer ever since.
Hi Phil, so glad I found your channel, I've worked in aviation and leisure for 3 decades now so I'm finding these videos both a blast from the past and fascinating at the same time. I haven't had chance to look through your list of videos yet, but I wonder if you've done one on Paramount? I don't know much about them, but I remember one of my old pals at easyJet worked for them so I'd definitely be interested in learning more... especially since you mentioned "infamous" Paramount in this video. Anyway, great vids, and can't wait to see more 😁
Hi, Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate that :) I haven't done Paramount yet, however it is near the top of my list - I'm currently working on a US airline then the "run" in to Paramount which will be two episodes down the line :) They had a somewhat colourful history, though it has been hard to dig up a lot of info on them :)
Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying them :) Expo Airways was one of my Flight Sim airlines but a couple of years ago myself and a few other folks were crunching the numbers and looking at how viable it would have been to do for real, probably for the best that we walked away :/
I worked for BIA from 79 to late 81 . 1981 they went from 1800 employees to 900 after two redundancies . Yes 1981 the British economy was in a terrible state and that affected BIA !! I left BIA with lots of good memories ,enjoyed my time there !! There were some great flight deck crew and cabin crew . I left the UK after that for a new life in Australia .
It is a real shame how things ended for BIA, they really did seem like a great outfit and it really would have been interesting to see how they would have done through the 1990s with the big post recession boom. I hope that things worked out much better for you in Australia :)
Hi Phil, great accurate films with some interesting pictures of rare leases and hybrid liveries. Any chance of covering BAF/British World at some stage?
Hi, I'm glad you enjoyed this one thanks :) Yes will be covering BAF & British World in the near future, I'm currently building a research pack on them :)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Well given how the corporate structure was, the original BIA still existed as a dormant company within Air UK until the spin off, makes for an interesting grey area ;)
Monarch are/were my favourite airline, that painful episode is in the works - I'm just waiting for any more dirt to come out on the clowns at Greybull who ran it into the ground.
Oh yeh their was loads of reasons monarch went bust I’m my thoughts it seemed possible that they could’ve been saved but I miss Thomas cook more because they were the original holiday company and it was history
Very good! I agree - that logo is abomination. Two colors that are almost opposite on the color wheel. They should have hired a graphic designers and not an intern. IMC and or Wooster has models of both the BAC and the MD-83. I am lucky to have both. It seems like only the DC-10 had any, all be it small, luck cracking the UK market.
I've not got either :( Once my office is sorted I will be on the lookout though as I'll be decorating it with aircraft models and railway parts. The DC-10 did pretty well over here considering the size of our airlines, Laker had a fair few (the grounding of the DC10 fleet crippled the airline and was a big part of the airlines demise), BCAL had some too which passed over to British Airways, BA then palmed some off to their rebranded charter airline, Caledonian which then became JMC. Monarch also had one, albeit not from new and was a regular sight at Manchester, still is too after they scrapped it the front portion of the aircraft is on display at the runway viewing park ;) Airtours / MyTravel was a big operator of the type too with a few passing over to their Scandinavian arm and back each winter. As for that logo, the less said the better ;)
@@AviationCommercials Not many operators of the type in the UK, in fact just the one, IAS Cargo Airlines, later merged to form British Cargo Airlines operated 7 DC-8 freighters, not all were on the UK register however just G-BDHA (1975-79), G-BDDE (75-79), G-BIAS (78-79), G-BKSY (1978), G-BFHW (78-80). The other two were 9J-ABR and N53KM which saw service with IAS but didn't make it through the meger.
@@ExpoAviation I worked out of Luton and the flights never ran on time , the catering was atrocious and people were awful to me. After I left they collapsed a couple of months later
I remember flying a BIA 1-11/500 between Pisa and Gatwick in the summer of 1989. By that time the 1-11 was almost a dinosaur, and clearly showed their age, with a well worn interior and also very weak cabin lighting; however I remember being very surprised at how quiet and rattle-free the take off was in comparison to the usual 737-200. Service was of course excellent, providing us with a good and substantial meal. I was also welcomed to the cockpit for a good 45minutes for a look and chat with the very kind and friendly pilots. I remember the lead stewardess was a French lady with short, curly hair... Sweet memories.
That sounds like a great flight and a very happy memory, thanks for sharing :)
Loved the 1-11's. I travelled from Glasgow to Gatwick many times in the B-CAL ones, one time even getting a 'seat up front' when the F/O wanted to have his meal, in my seat. I got some nice photos of the Lake District from 37,500 feet.
Very cool, I never got to ride on a 1-11 but sure loved standing near the runway when they took off and the earth moved :)
I flew with bia Glasgow to Isle of Man in early 70!s when I was a kid great memories
My Father was The Chief Technical Instructor for BIA Dart Heralds. It was a shock when he was suddenly made redundant in the 70's when BIA effectively collapsed. We had free flights as kids to Prestwick and Isle Of Man the latter was great fun.
The Isle of Man is quite fun at the moment too, due to an ATC shortage the airport closes whenever the controller needs to eat or use the loo, often we end up in a hold that was longer than the flight from Manchester itself :D I do like the Dart Herald, it's a nice looking aircraft. Did your father manage to find work with another airline or did he leave the industry after BIA?
@@ExpoAviation Yes he landed a job at Barranquilla Colombia as he was properly licensed as an Engineer. All of us kids had to go to Boarding Schools here in England but flew out there 3x a year when on leave or Holidays. He died 10 weeks ago.
Sweet, a new Grounded video! Sleep can wait, i need to know how this airline i've never heard of got grounded!
Thanks! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Another brilliant video on an airline I flew from Gatwick to Malta in the late 80’s. They were a good airline. I flew on the Mad Dogs aircraft. Looking forward to seeing Dan Air, Caledonian and Cal Air International videos in the future. Keep up the great work. It’s very much appreciated! 🤗✈️🤗
Thank you, I'm really glad that you are enjoying the series :) It goes without saying, those three are very much "on my list" ;)
Very interesting i have a model of a series 400 BIA BAC1-11....collectors piece now!!!! Thanks for up loading.
Awesome, I might have to find one for my collection :)
I had the awful experience of a cabin depressurization in a BIA BA1-11, coming back fron Sardinia at night in h3avy turbulence. It was around 1986/7. The pilot kept saying he was going to go higher to try to get above the turbulence. Anyway we got to 44,000ft as indicated by a little LED display in thepassager cabin. Suddenly the oxygen masks dropped and engines went silent.we slowly dropped to 10,000ft, the enginesfired up and the turbulence was horrendous. Flipping nightmare. Ive been a nervous flyer ever since.
Wow that's one heck of a sticky situation, I'm glad that things worked out in the end though it's a shame that it had such an effect on you :(
Hi Phil, so glad I found your channel, I've worked in aviation and leisure for 3 decades now so I'm finding these videos both a blast from the past and fascinating at the same time. I haven't had chance to look through your list of videos yet, but I wonder if you've done one on Paramount? I don't know much about them, but I remember one of my old pals at easyJet worked for them so I'd definitely be interested in learning more... especially since you mentioned "infamous" Paramount in this video. Anyway, great vids, and can't wait to see more 😁
Hi, Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate that :) I haven't done Paramount yet, however it is near the top of my list - I'm currently working on a US airline then the "run" in to Paramount which will be two episodes down the line :) They had a somewhat colourful history, though it has been hard to dig up a lot of info on them :)
@@ExpoAviation cool. Looking forward to it, meanwhile I'll keep making my way through all the others 😁
24:32 Indeed, EXPO Airways would be most welcomed...👍😉🇬🇧 Loving this series and channel, keep them coming.
Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying them :) Expo Airways was one of my Flight Sim airlines but a couple of years ago myself and a few other folks were crunching the numbers and looking at how viable it would have been to do for real, probably for the best that we walked away :/
Another great video !!
Thanks Ewan, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
I worked for BIA from 79 to late 81 . 1981 they went from 1800 employees to 900 after two redundancies . Yes 1981 the British economy was in a terrible state and that affected BIA !! I left BIA with lots of good memories ,enjoyed my time there !! There were some great flight deck crew and cabin crew . I left the UK after that for a new life in Australia .
It is a real shame how things ended for BIA, they really did seem like a great outfit and it really would have been interesting to see how they would have done through the 1990s with the big post recession boom. I hope that things worked out much better for you in Australia :)
Hi Phil, great accurate films with some interesting pictures of rare leases and hybrid liveries. Any chance of covering BAF/British World at some stage?
Hi, I'm glad you enjoyed this one thanks :) Yes will be covering BAF & British World in the near future, I'm currently building a research pack on them :)
will you be doing a video on Mediterranean Express ?
I've got some notes ready on them, it will be a very short episode though ;)
Great choice Phil, every day is a school day.
I did not know that there were two airlines with the BIA name - I do now:)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Well given how the corporate structure was, the original BIA still existed as a dormant company within Air UK until the spin off, makes for an interesting grey area ;)
Do monarch airlines use to love that airline
Monarch are/were my favourite airline, that painful episode is in the works - I'm just waiting for any more dirt to come out on the clowns at Greybull who ran it into the ground.
Oh yeh their was loads of reasons monarch went bust I’m my thoughts it seemed possible that they could’ve been saved but I miss Thomas cook more because they were the original holiday company and it was history
Oh yeah monarch. They did run it into the ground! Greybull just didnt care!
Keep it up Expo I'm loving the content 👍
There 2 bots in the comment section btw sharing a same thing it annoying
Thank you, I'm glad to hear it :) Yeah, I thought the filters would have kicked in but I guess not, consider them dealt with ;)
@@ExpoAviation 👍 your welcome
I cleaned the air U.K. Fokker friendship at Edinburgh airport in the mid 1980.s and other airlines and aircraft
Cool :)
Can you do one on EuroDirect?
Yes, I have them on my ever-growing list :)
Very good! I agree - that logo is abomination. Two colors that are almost opposite on the color wheel. They should have hired a graphic designers and not an intern.
IMC and or Wooster has models of both the BAC and the MD-83. I am lucky to have both. It seems like only the DC-10 had any, all be it small, luck cracking the UK market.
I've not got either :( Once my office is sorted I will be on the lookout though as I'll be decorating it with aircraft models and railway parts. The DC-10 did pretty well over here considering the size of our airlines, Laker had a fair few (the grounding of the DC10 fleet crippled the airline and was a big part of the airlines demise), BCAL had some too which passed over to British Airways, BA then palmed some off to their rebranded charter airline, Caledonian which then became JMC. Monarch also had one, albeit not from new and was a regular sight at Manchester, still is too after they scrapped it the front portion of the aircraft is on display at the runway viewing park ;) Airtours / MyTravel was a big operator of the type too with a few passing over to their Scandinavian arm and back each winter.
As for that logo, the less said the better ;)
@@ExpoAviation Interesting. I am unaware if any DC-8 were ever registered in the UK? If there were, it had to be less than 10?
@@AviationCommercials Not many operators of the type in the UK, in fact just the one, IAS Cargo Airlines, later merged to form British Cargo Airlines operated 7 DC-8 freighters, not all were on the UK register however just G-BDHA (1975-79), G-BDDE (75-79), G-BIAS (78-79), G-BKSY (1978), G-BFHW (78-80). The other two were 9J-ABR and N53KM which saw service with IAS but didn't make it through the meger.
I worked for bia for a short time in 1988-89. Nice people
Cool :)
Awful airline to work for with inside of aircraft painted with a paint brush and some vile pilots ! not a fun experience
Ouch, that's not something that came up during research :/
@@ExpoAviation I worked out of Luton and the flights never ran on time , the catering was atrocious and people were awful to me. After I left they collapsed a couple of months later
@@ExpoAviation C'est la vie.... I am just glad I left when I did