Prestwick Airport Drama, October 1986

[@jimspeirs1264]

Great footage John . Brings back many memories. Thanks for sharing.

[@andyfortune7758]

I worked on the Duty Crew for two consecutive summer seasons in the 80s ,loved it, great workmates and such a friendly place to work so sad to see it struggling to survive, hope things change in the near future.

[@pfield39]

Ah, Prestwick in the good old days before identikit airliners. The second airport I flew into, BOAC B707 Manch-PWK-Goose Bay-Idlewild in 1961. Returned 13 years later to do my approach control training as an ATC cadet, my favourite aircraft then were the DC8s, Starlifters, BOAC liveried Viscounts (yes honestly, but Cambrian really) plus the Canadian Starfighters. In the late 80s I flew a Cherokee 180 to PWK a couple of times, once when a Concorde was there training. In the Indian restaurant in town that evening the waiter asked us if we were the Concorde crew, alas not. Brought back lots of nice memories, thanks so much for posting.

[@maxpaddy100]

Great footage John. Started with AC at PIK in ‘87 so, excellent to see L-1011 movements again. Very happy memories, thanks.

[@lonwaslien104]

I flew NW there. 👍

[@seisoi]

It would be October 1986 as I was on that flight to BOS (dumped fuel over Firth Of Clyde). Ended up being put up overnight in Glasgow by Northwest (I think handled by Scottish Express) then flown next day to LHR for a PanAm A310 to Detroit to then be flown first class to our original end destination Tampa! I remember the captain telling us before landing at PIK not to be alarmed at the sight of fire appliances as this was purely precautionary. We had lost hydraulic power in the No. 2 (tail) engine if I remember correctly.

[@CMan-rt9in]

Thanks for the video. I flew into Prestwick back in 1969 on Air Canada, DC-8 and in 1988 flew on AC, L-1011 from Heathrow to Halifax through Prestwick. Great memories. Dana, Canada.

[@johnstewart5363]

Glad you liked the video clip.

[@lindsaybrewer4820]

Love the videos

[@scotiajinker8392]

Used to love going to preswick in the 70s & 80s picking up family who flew in from Toronto on holiday or us going on holiday to see them. I remember flying laker going to Toronto & the plane had a defect & we were bused to the hotel at Glasgow airport for the night.

[@patrickflohe7427]

Watching that Northwest DC-10 land, pretty sure I never saw #2 engine deploy TR.

[@colinkennedy8107]

Great to see the old pik airport I started there in 1976 and was with air canada cargo from 1978 until 1996 when we moved to Glasgow Met some great people and had some memorable times

[@johnstewart5363]

We loved prestwick airport of old! I’ve got an inside the airport clip we filmed with an air Canada DC8! You might be on it😀

[@lifelong5425]

Departed for Vancouver..YVR...June 01/78...CP AIR stretch DC8....Times have changed, but Prestwick Airport.. EGPK remains...The more the things change...the more they stay the same....Thankfully. Used to watch Gulf Air do touch and go's on that very air strip.

[@weebolddavy]

Have fond memories of Prestwick. My favourite aircraft the Air Canada stretched DC8 from Toronto, Wardair DC10, CP Air DC10, Worldways Canada Boeing 707, Northwest DC10, Cargolux B747. Great days when aircraft made some noise, were smokey and didn't all look the same🤣🤣 At one airshow in the late '80s we had some drama when the schedule was interrupted by an emergency landing by a Pan-Am B747 which had an engine fire and a vintage Hawker Sea Fury had to ditch in the sea because one of it's wheel was stuck

[@johnstewart5363]

Hiya! I’ve got that on video too and the sea fury that ditched into the sea😀

[@ChristopherHughes-h8w]

It’s not 1986 .as Caledonian Tristars did not enter service until 1988 after the merger of British Airways and British Caledonian

[@williamkinkopf7125]

Flew on a trans world express J31 from Providence Rhode Island to JFK cool little bird ,remember seeing them in Atlanta in Eastern Metro Xpress colors in the 80s . did they not build them there at prestwick?

[@richsimon7838]

Didn’t know that had US commuter lines in Europe. Trans World Express. Foreign carrier are prohibited from providing domestic service in the US, assumed Europe would have the same rules regarding US carriers in Europe.

[@johnstewart5363]

They used to make the jetstream at prestwick, it was painted in the colours of the airline before delivery 😀

[@rdc1000]

Hi John, I love all the old footage here, but I think the October ‘86 date is very wrong. The Caledonian livery Tristar would not have come into being until 1988, after British Airways took over BCal and used the name to become a charter carrier with that blue livery and yellow griffin. Also, the Air Canada B767 has the darker red lower cheatline which I believe AC introduced in the very early 90’s. Finally, the DC-10 of Northwest doesn’t have the word ‘Orient’ in the livery and this was only dropped after the airline merged with Republic in October 1986, so was probably a bit too early post-merged for the re-paint. My guess (from all the evidence) is that this must have been very early 90s? I know another comment says October ‘86 as they were aboard, but knowing the old DC-10s, in certain this incident could have happened multiple times over the years. Hope that helps.

[@johnstewart5363]

Thanks rdc1000 your probably right there, I’ve lost my old log books so couldn’t put a more precise date, loved the times back then😀

[@seaharrierfrs1]

Heh, it's nice to see that one mound of dirt has been used for planespotting since the mid 80s!

[@johnstewart5363]

It’s been a great place for watching planes for years😀

[@scottnichols3685]

What was Trans World Express doing in Prestwick?

[@johnstewart5363]

British aerospace factory at prestwick made the jet stream aircraft😀

[@scottnichols3685]

@@johnstewart5363 Ah, makes sense! Thanks!

[@paulboulter7823]

Remember when it was NW Orient

[@johnstewart5363]

Didn’t get any footage of that back then😕

[@brendanbayer5002]

Thomas Nationwide Transport later to become part of Peter Toll's empire...

[@moussochocolat779]

Tri jets rules

[@paulboulter7823]

BCAL