Dublin Movements, March 1978 This was a busy month, with a variety of carriers not regularly seen in Dublin, as Aer Lingus grappled with the effects of a strike by 1,200 clerical workers. I have included a sample of the hire-ins, which involved some aircraft being retained for several days, such as the Montana, Transasian and Eagle Air 707s/720s. Passengers who I am sure just wanted to get to their destinations had to accept whatever airline and aircraft type could be provided - good if you were an enthusiast but less so if you were a regular Aer Lingus customer. As previously mentioned, Aer Lingus painted some new production machines for Shorts and the Saudi Skyvan was a nice example. No doubt it remained officially on the UK register while in Dublin but it was nonetheless interesting to spy it with Saudi marks applied. 1 March CN-RMC B707 ...
Posts
Dublin Movements, February 1978 A typical enough winter month, with mostly just general aviation and executive traffic to note. JetStar N95BA was my first sighting of the Garrett TFE-731-powered JetStar II variant, which had seen the production line reopen. Many earlier JetStars would later be re-engined with these turbofan powerplants and re-designated as JetStar 731s. The Canadian Bell 212 visit was noteworthy and I suspect it was based at Cork in support of gas exploration off the south coast. French Air Force Nord 262 serial 107 had been delivered in September 1976, so it was almost new; this type largely replaced the veteran Noratlas in the training role and became a common enough sight in Ireland in subsequent years. Serial 107 served until 2004, when it was withdrawn from use at Chateaudun, though it lingered on there until it was scrapped in 2021. 3 February F99/61-ZQ Transall C160F ...
Dublin Movements, January 1978 Trident G-ASWU was a recent addition to the British Airways fleet, having been operated by Cyprus Airways as 5B-DAD before the Turkish attack on Cyprus in 1974. It eventually became a virtually daily visitor to Dublin before being retired in 1981. The six general aviation visitors on 10 January transited in the early morning and left in darkness, all on delivery flights from the USA, which were a regular feature of life at that time (though Shannon was the usual transit point in Ireland). The two Dutch Bonanzas were part of an order by the Rijksluchtvaartschool for seventeen of this type, which was an aerobatics-capable variant. It is likely that poor weather in the west was the reason for these Dublin visitors, as well as for some transatlantic services omitting the compulsory Shannon stop and routeing direct to the US from Dublin. The Alyemda 707 on the 30/31st was operating an ad hoc cargo flight and was an extremely exotic vis...
Dublin Movements, December 1977 This month saw an increase in activity around the Christmas holiday and I recorded a number of extra services by the usual UK operators. Aer Lingus had a contract to paint aircraft for Shorts, and this was the reason behind the two SD330 visitorss noted in the listing. G-14-3013 (these being British B-class marks, little used nowadays) was c/n SH.3013; it was delivered to DLT as D-CODO on 18 December, so it must have departed from Dublin back to Belfast some time before that date. The KLM DC-9 was a rarity for Dublin, presumably operating a seasonal charter, as a return flight operated on 3 January 1978. BMA DC-9 N65358 was operated in US marks for some months pending CAA certification of the type. It became G-BFIH in April 1978 and later G-BMAA in 1980. It of course became a regular sight in later years when British Midland served the Heathrow route. 1 December D-INCC Citation G-ASVE...