Dublin Movements, September 1976
A month of two halves, perhaps. The frst half saw little out of the ordinary, though a number of vintage light aircraft visited, in the shape of pre-war DH-85 Leopard Moth G-ACMA (which I think was a more common sight at Cork) and two Miles Geminis. G-ALZG later took up Irish marks EI-BHJ but was destroyed in 1982 in a crash which claimed the life of its owner, Russell Winn. The accident was attributed to structural failure of the tail unit. The Balkan Tu-154 was an early example, with manufacturer's serial 74A-058. The Alitalia 747 was leased in by Aer Lingus to cover for one of the airline's own 747s and it continued to operate into October as well. Fuel supply problems at Shannon later in the month saw some aircraft divert to Dublin instead. These were mostly confined to a number of C-130 Hercules as well as some bizjets, for which Dublin's 7,500-foot runway would not have imposed performance limitations. The Saudi Herks were a common ...