Dublin Movements, August 1978

The summer months continued to see some interesting general aviation visitors, including a Spanish Cessna 172 and a French Super Cub - the flight to Ireland must have been quite a journey for them and their crews.  The Polish Mi-2 helicopter is the only example ever to have visited Ireland and a contemporary report in "Flight" magazine said that it was in the UK and Ireland as part of a farming machinery sales campaign. In Britain it was used to carry spares to farmers across East Anglia.  Whether this stimulated sales of Ursus Bizon equipment is not known! The Mi-2 was built solely in Poland, by PZL-Swidnik, with 5,497 examples made.  SP-SWG survives in a museum in Germany, albeit wearing false Aeroflot markings.

Airliners of note included the El Al 707 - a real rarity for Dublin - and Evergreen International DC-8, which I think was operating for Aer Lingus. Also, the Tarom Tu-154s which I recorded on the 6th and the 20th represented relatively rare appearances here of the type in Tarom colours.  Noteworthy on the 20th were two corporate BAC 1-11s. These were amongst the largest executive aircraft in operation at the time, and were ex-American Airlines machines. The Finnair DC-8 on the 20th was a nice visitor and would achieve a significant place in aviation history when, as N782SP, it became the last US-registered DC-8 in operation. It made its last flight on 7 December 2025.  The Air Corps Magisters which I noted may have been visiting in connection with the work done by Aer Lingus to install certain avionics in these aircraft.  The Sea Fury on the 13th was en route to an air show at Abbeyshrule and, again, was the only example ever of this impressive radial-engined fighter to be seen in these parts. 

(Gaps in coverage for the month were because I was away at the time.)

 

 

A word here about air traffic control in the 1970s at Dublin: Firstly, there was primary radar only and so controllers had to identify the individual "blips" in order to provide a service.  With traffic levels much lower than today, this was not unduly complex and where necessary an aircraft would be told to turn, say, 30 degrees right for identification.  However no height or speed information was available other than by asking the aircraft to report same.  This did not impede the flow of traffic as such, but it made for a lot more voice communication, especially where it was necessary to ensure separation of aircraft from each other.

 

At that time there were no SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures) and so aircraft mostly turned on course at their own discretion; for departures from runway 24, this usually saw them turn left over the northern suburbs. With types such as the BAC 1-11, Trident, DC-8 and Boeing 707 in widespread use, this brought a level of noise which was just accepted by the residents and rarely commented upon. The last BA flight to Heathrow was BA829, operated by Tridents, and this thundered out nightly, usually on a direct track to the Killiney NDB, at about 2220 hours, possibly seeking to take as direct a route as permitted in order to get home to base. 

For the young spotter, an airband radio and binoculars were essential equipment, as there was no virtual radar or other modern "tools of the trade" and heads-ups about expected visitors were only occasionally obtained. The number of radio frequencies in use was not extensive, so the Dublin Centre frequency of 128.0 was guaranteed to capture any inbound traffic or non-jet overfliers. Radios were non-digital, of course, so twiddling the tuning dial to the right spot was required. Position-reporting was generally still required by en-route traffic, so provided one heard the relevant calls, an estimate for overhead the Dublin VOR would usually be given. Indeed much jet traffic did the same with Shannon High-Level, and points such as Eagle Island, Lough Erne and Wallasey were parts of everyone's vocabulary. The later five-letter names had not yet been invented and most points along the airways had a geographical relevance, such as Vartry, Liffey South, Granard and Greenore, though of course non-local aircrew sometimes struggled with such names.

 

 

1 August

D-EGJV    Cesssna 182P

EI-BAA     Britannia            Aer Turas; op. EI9216

G-AVDX    HS125

N800EV    DC-8-52            Evergreen; op. EV116 

N894PA    B707                   Pan Am

N9779Q    Aerostar

2 August

G-ARET    PA-22

G-AVGN    PA-24-260 

G-BFGE    Cessna 172

G-BGFL    PA-31

N62K        JetStar 731

OE-IRA     B707                  Montana

 

4 August

F-GAJG    PA-31

G-MDRB   PA-31

N8733       B707                 TWA

6 August

EC-CTM    Cessna FR.172

N491PA     B707                  Pan Am

YR-TPH    Tu-154B            TAROM; RO778

7 August

D-CCHS    Learjet 35

EC-CCN    DC-8-33             TAE

G-ATZO     Beagle 206

G-AZKB     MS.880B Rallye

8 August

217            CM170 Magister

C-FNOR    Gulfstream II

F-GBMH    Falcon 10           Moet et Chandon

G-BBUJ     Cessna 421B

9J-AEB      B707                  Zambia Airways

 

9 August

219            CM170 Magister

EC-ASN    DC-8-52             AO4420

F-BOUB    PA-18 Super Cub 

G-AWMS   HS125

HB-VDM    Citation 500

OY-SAM    Caravelle VI-R   Sterling; NB548

10 August

F-OCVK     Rallye

G-BBGU    HS125

G-BEOU    PA-31-350

G-CBBI      HS125              RM891

OH-LSB    Caravelle          Finnair; op. KR175/6

SE-DDE    Citation 500

11 August

196             Alouette III 

220             CM170 Magister

G-BFSW    Short 300         Short 6

G-BFTG     AA-5

G-BDLO    AA-5

G-BEYO    PA-28

LN-SUA     B737                 Braathens; BU414E

N7008      JetStar 731

13 August

G-BCOW    Sea Fury T.20 (Royal Navy colours)

N419PA      B707                Pan Am

SE-FOP     Beech 58 Baron    AB Bovus

14 August

G-AWDI    PA-23-250

G-AWSU    F8L Falco

G-BERL    AA-5

PH-MIC    PA-23-250

15 August

EC-BQS    DC-8-63               Iberia

EC-CBM    B727                   Iberia; IB742A

G-BREF    Cessna 421

N28728    B707                    TWA;TW8076

OE-IRA     B707                    Montana

OY-RPD    PA-28

9J-AEL     B707                    Zambia Airways

16 August

EC-ASN    DC-8-52             AO4426

G-AXUV    Cessna 172

N422PA    B707                    Pan Am

N789TW    B707-373C        TWA; TW8925 (cargo)

N805WA    DC-8-63CF        World Airways

OY-SAE     Caravelle           NB547/8

PH-PLV     Cessna 421B

17 August

D-CCCA    Learjet

G-BAEZ    Cessna 150 

N4914M    King Air 200        Irish Air Corps

N700CC    HS125                Luqa Corp.

SP-SWG    Mi-2                    Ursus-Bizon

18 August

87             N2501 Noratlas   Code 64-KA c/s FM401

G-ATPE    HS125

G-BBZI      PA-31 

G-BDWP   PA-32R

19 August

4X-ATT      B707                    El Al; LY5315/6 to LHR

D-ABGI      B727-230            LH

G-BALJ      Robin DR400

20 August

N100CC     BAC 1-11         LUQA Corp. 

N310EL      BAC 1-11         Eli Lilly Corp.

OH-LFT     DC-8-62CF        Finnair; AY7045F

YR-TPG    Tu-154B            Tarom; RO779

21 August

G-AWUT    Cessna 150

G-AZVS     HS125

N827GA     Gulfstream II

22 August

CN-RMC    B707                 Royal Air Maroc

EC-BSD     DC-8-63            Iberia 

EI-BDW     PA-23-250

G-BFHR    Jodel DR220

G-CDBI     PA-23-250

N418PA     B707                 Pan Am

N433PA     B707                 Pan Am

N800Y       IAI.1124 Westwind

23 August

EC-BIE     Caravelle             Aviaco; AO4450/1

G-AXZU    Cessna 182N

G-BAFA    AA-5

N90WT     Cessna 206

PH-BGP    PA-28

24 August

EI-APF      Cessna 150 

G-ASYB     PA-23-250

G-AWKX    Queen Air

OY-BUP    Cessna 340A

PH-CTF    Citation 500        RLS

28 August

C-GQBG    B707-123B        Quebecair

G-BAPF     Viscount            BMA

G-BETV     HS125               RM933

N8766        DC-8-61            Capitol

29 August

D-IGAR      PA-31

G-AWUY    Cessna 172N

G-BEMW    PA-28

 

30 August

220             CM170 Magister

G-AVCC     Cessna 172H 

G-AWRM    Beagle 206

N419PA      B707                Pan Am 

N14496      Cessna 172

N63813      PA-23-250

31 August

G-BFBH     PA-31

N414PA     B707                Pan Am