Looking Back

I often lie awake at night thinking of the past and the good and bad things. London Gatwick Airport has played a big part in my life and i will always have a soft spot for the place.
The memories consist of great trips, happy flights, great social life and friends. I saw airlines come and go, Dan Air, Air Europe, Cityflyer and Paramount to name a few, the golden era of flying.
I even have flashbacks to great times when i hear certain songs expecially 80's classics like Luthur Vandross and Alexander O'Neill.
In those days the flight deck door was never looked and bolted or monitored by CCTV cameras, the door was open, we wandered in at our leisure, children would be taken to see the Captain with their over excited fathers who probably used the kids to get in there, this could make a childs holiday and it's a shame that those days are now gone due to the invention of the in flight terrorist.
In th 80's trips were longer, im not sure if that was a charter thing as we did not have daily flights to most places so when we flew longhaul we had to wait until the next flight came in for us to take home and that was 9 times out of 10 seven days later. I had a week off in Mombassa Kenya, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Bangor Maine, Orlando, Grenada in Caribbean. Also took Ged with me on trips so we had some great free holidays ( except the price of his ticket which was usually no more than £50 return)NO TAXES!!!!!!
I loved flying on the L1011 Tristar and the B747-200 with spiral staircase to the 12 seats upstairs. i was not keen on the 737-200 but quite liked the 757 ETOPS for short flights only however Caledonian would cram in 233 passenger in a 757 and send us to Bangkok via Bahrain with 12 non reclining seats and very cramped conditions, i did feel sorry for our passenger but then again it was charter and they probably chose us as we were the cheapest. The DC10 a great addition to the fleet allowed us to fly direct and not make refuelling stops.