Originally Posted by
WHBM
We actually did a FlyerTalk group trip to Barra on the Twin Otter in 2005, with the cream of the FT aviation nuts, trip report here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...sion-long.html
which if it hadn't been a couple of months after I got married (
^
^) I would have been on like a shot !
The beach airport there opened in the 1930s using De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapides (wooden fuselage), which lasted until the 1950s when BEA bought two De Havilland Herons. Early 1970s saw Short Skyvans, which didn't work too well, and the British Airways merger saw the route transferred to Loganair, who worked through the Islander and other types until the Twin Otter became the standard for the last 30 years or so. Loganair eventually came back under the BA banner as a franchise (hence the Twin Otter on the Barra wikipedia page is in BA livery), but in recent years went back to being independent (new livery) and then became a FlyBe franchise (yet another new livery). Service has always been to Glasgow, any other destination, generally Benecula, just being a bit of a triangular route filler. Aircraft are always given a substantial water wash on return to Glasgow each trip, to remove the salt and sand spray from underneath.
Another interesting unpaved airport was Virgin Gorda (VIJ) in the British Virgin Islands. I say "was" as I think the landing strip may have been recently paved as part of an improvement project several years ago to lengthen the runway and improve this small airport in general. Any intel concerning this from anyone would be appreciated!
Back in the day, various operators served VIJ including Eastern Metro Express and Air Sunshine with DHC-6 "Twin Otter" aircraft. I also seem to recall that American Eagle (Executive) operated the CASA 212 into VIJ. The short runway, located parallel to the ocean, was composed of granitic sand and bordered by large granite boulders which are common on this beautiful island. I always enjoyed landings and takeoffs at VIJ in the "Twin Otter"!
BTW, we had a great sailing vacation in the Caribbean. Our journey on AA LFT-DFW-MIA-SXM was just fine with a brand new B737-800 operated on the DFW-MIA segment. We enjoyed AA's first class lunch service DFW-MIA as well as dinner in F from MIA to SXM. The Admirals Clubs at DFW and MIA were nice as well. I'm an old CO man (now UA, of course) so I was looking forward to our experience on AA and hoping for the best. We enjoyed our trip to SXM with great service noted and all flights on time.
However, our return home yesterday on AA was another matter entirely! No upgrades were available SXM to MIA; but no big deal as we scored reclining exit row seats with the middle seat left empty.
Out of MIA, we were once again unable to upgrade on a rather elderly B757-200. And then we had to divert to SAT due to WX at DFW. We sat on a remote hardstand at SAT for several hours (no gate available) before the flight crew was finally able to get fuel along with the necessary paperwork to continue our journey to DFW. And then we landed at DFW during a very active thunderstorm. Due to the lightning, we stopped 20 feet short of the gate - and then sat there for quite some time before finally being able to deplane.
We finally got on an AA Eagle ERJ-140 some time later and then took off during another strong thunderstorm for our DFW-LFT flight. All in all, what with the numerous AA flight cancellations last evening at DFW due to WX, I think we were lucky to get home at all last night following a 16.5 hour travel day!
I hope to share some photos of our trip with all of you by this weekend.
