The Package Tour Industry by Vincent Cobb

Author:Vincent Cobb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M-Y Books
Published: 2005-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Late 1962 MY 'GUARDIAN ANGEL'

The season ended with yet another tragedy. On the 7th October a DC3 belonging to what was then called Derby Aviation, crashed into a mountain near Perpignan. Thirty-one passengers, together with the crew, were killed instantly.

All in all it was a disastrous summer for an industry reeling from a wave of bad publicity. One journalist described it as the 'summer of our discontent'.

It didn't help matters when Pegasus Aviation, the small Luton based airline we regularly used for our short haul charters, went into liquidation in the November. I remember feeling quite sad about that it was with that airline that I had flown over the Pyrenees in the unpressurised Viking, and it was with Pegasus that I had spent the night in Lyon sleeping on the floor. I was also reminded of another 'little' incident with this airline when we were en route on one occasion to Barcelona. The flight was relatively on time, only about four hours late. A couple of the younger passengers had been drinking for quite some time and had become decidedly the worse for wear. Then they started playing up in the cabin and the stewardess didn't know how to handle it; evidently one of them insisted he wanted to fly the plane so I went and had a word with the Captain. He was a really nice man, a bit on the large side, and he had these enormous hands that seemed to make the aircraft's steering column disappear when he gripped it. When I told him of the problem he suggested that I bring the passenger up to the flight deck and he would have a word with him. The inebriated client followed me, staggering up to the cockpit, where the Captain greeted him with a broad smile and asked him if he had ever flown a plane before.

'Oh. There was nothing to worry about,' he said casually. 'That little trick always works! I don't think you'll have any more trouble from him.'

He was right of course, except that this esteemed client threw up all over another passenger on the way back to his seat. I was only told later and whether or not it was true I was never able to verify that the First Officer had had control of the plane at all times and it was a device merely to cool the client's exuberance.

One of the last flights the airline carried out just before going under, on which again I was a passenger, coincidentally, was on the Gatwick to Blackpool scheduled service when a Pegasus Viking mistakenly landed at Vaarton Aerodrome, thinking it was Squires Gate Airport, Blackpool. Given that Wharton was wrapped in the 'Official Secrets Act', the Viking was quickly surrounded by Military Police and evidently was kept 'in custody' for more than twenty four hours while an investigation was carried out. We, the passengers, were given a lift home in RAF buses. Happy memories!

During the late October to December period we were experiencing great difficulties in contracting aircraft for the following summer season.

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