Does anyone else remember Dan Air?
#106
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL/CR; Hilton Diamond; Mucci des Puccis
Posts: 5,610
Just read this thread and I have started to feel very old indeed.
My first recollection of Dan Air was as an extremely young child watching Avro Yorks bouncing down the runway when landing at Ringway. ( MAN to you younger folk ). Every now and then one would land smoothly, but in general that would bounce once or twice before rolling out to the end of the runway
I assume they were cargo only, but they may have carried passengers as well, however it did put me off flying with them.
My first recollection of Dan Air was as an extremely young child watching Avro Yorks bouncing down the runway when landing at Ringway. ( MAN to you younger folk ). Every now and then one would land smoothly, but in general that would bounce once or twice before rolling out to the end of the runway
I assume they were cargo only, but they may have carried passengers as well, however it did put me off flying with them.
#108
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Montreux CH
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Posts: 11,622
I did a lot of Dan Air flights in the 80s and 90s, mostly between Inverness and Heathrow on my way to and from boarding school. When I finally dig into my diaries of the period, more like an A4 scrapbook, I am going to find a lot of interesting details. Of course, I will post them here as they appear (but this is the first time I have seen this Dan Air thread, I thought there was another one somewhere). I greatly appreciated the hot meal service on the LHR-INV route, which I really needed before sitting on a bus for the final trip up to Caithness from Inverness (or the trip down to Wells from Heathrow).
i do recall a ski trip in 1981 with the school to the Italian Dolomites, Alleghe to be precise. We were flown to Venice VCE from LGW, with the full hot meal service, and driven by bus up the A27 to Belluno and onward to Alleghe. There was so little snow in spring 1981 we were driven each day a long way to higher slopes, an hour in a coach each way (Pescul, I think). After the 3rd day, it rained so much we got completely beyond soaked on the chairlift going up (before it transformed to snow with the altitude, shortly below the slopes themselves). I remember becoming completely ill by the time I got to north Scotland a week later. To get back, we were bused down to Treviso airport in totally grey conditions, heavily overcast, getting a Dan Air flight back to LGW and not seeing a single thing as we flew over the Alps in a pea souper.
i do recall a ski trip in 1981 with the school to the Italian Dolomites, Alleghe to be precise. We were flown to Venice VCE from LGW, with the full hot meal service, and driven by bus up the A27 to Belluno and onward to Alleghe. There was so little snow in spring 1981 we were driven each day a long way to higher slopes, an hour in a coach each way (Pescul, I think). After the 3rd day, it rained so much we got completely beyond soaked on the chairlift going up (before it transformed to snow with the altitude, shortly below the slopes themselves). I remember becoming completely ill by the time I got to north Scotland a week later. To get back, we were bused down to Treviso airport in totally grey conditions, heavily overcast, getting a Dan Air flight back to LGW and not seeing a single thing as we flew over the Alps in a pea souper.
#114
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Bridport, Dorset
Programs: Mucci, BA Bronze, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,130
I did a lot of Dan Air flights in the 80s and 90s, mostly between Inverness and Heathrow on my way to and from boarding school. When I finally dig into my diaries of the period, more like an A4 scrapbook, I am going to find a lot of interesting details. Of course, I will post them here as they appear (but this is the first time I have seen this Dan Air thread, I thought there was another one somewhere). I greatly appreciated the hot meal service on the LHR-INV route, which I really needed before sitting on a bus for the final trip up to Caithness from Inverness (or the trip down to Wells from Heathrow).
i do recall a ski trip in 1981 with the school to the Italian Dolomites, Alleghe to be precise. We were flown to Venice VCE from LGW, with the full hot meal service, and driven by bus up the A27 to Belluno and onward to Alleghe. There was so little snow in spring 1981 we were driven each day a long way to higher slopes, an hour in a coach each way (Pescul, I think). After the 3rd day, it rained so much we got completely beyond soaked on the chairlift going up (before it transformed to snow with the altitude, shortly below the slopes themselves). I remember becoming completely ill by the time I got to north Scotland a week later. To get back, we were bused down to Treviso airport in totally grey conditions, heavily overcast, getting a Dan Air flight back to LGW and not seeing a single thing as we flew over the Alps in a pea souper.
i do recall a ski trip in 1981 with the school to the Italian Dolomites, Alleghe to be precise. We were flown to Venice VCE from LGW, with the full hot meal service, and driven by bus up the A27 to Belluno and onward to Alleghe. There was so little snow in spring 1981 we were driven each day a long way to higher slopes, an hour in a coach each way (Pescul, I think). After the 3rd day, it rained so much we got completely beyond soaked on the chairlift going up (before it transformed to snow with the altitude, shortly below the slopes themselves). I remember becoming completely ill by the time I got to north Scotland a week later. To get back, we were bused down to Treviso airport in totally grey conditions, heavily overcast, getting a Dan Air flight back to LGW and not seeing a single thing as we flew over the Alps in a pea souper.
#115
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: North of Watford Gap
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 602
Back in the late 80's I was working on the development of the Scottish Community Charge Project, and would fly from LHR every other week. IIRC flight was around 20:30, and by the time we landed there were few taxis left at INV, and the airport was very much deserted Best part was the little miniature bottles of malt whisky given out by the crew - and as they were finished for the day very often more than one was handed over.
#116
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London, ARN, HEL, ..... or MAN
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My first flight ever, a school trip from London to Rome, was on Dan Air around 1980. Didn’t have anything to compare it with but it did definitely spark a love of flying 😊
#117
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: All the usual suspects
Posts: 342
I've mentioned this before on here somewhere, but thus was my first flight as well. May 15th 1984, 727 flown by Captain Cherry, we never got out of cloud which he described as milky until we hit southern Europe. He also gave us a tour of the island by flying the whole circumference as 'he'd never been there before and wanted to see it'.
#118
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
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Posts: 20,343
I well remember the LHR-INV route as we used to use it 2-3 times a year to golf in Nairn. I truly was devastated when the route went. As many have said it was like a little family and everyone was so friendly. We also used to use them when we went skiing and, again, I couldn't fault them especially once when we had missed each and every call to board, including final call, final final call, the lights going out in the airport, and then a Dan Air rep coming saying "you must be W, X, Y, and Z - the captain is at the end of his patience and if you don't get there within the next 5 minutes he is going". He was waiting at the top of the steps and made us apologize for the delay over the PA. We really weren't the most popular passengers on the flight and you could feel the tension. Which we rightly deserved. So if it was you, sorry!
Anyway, bashing around the internet I found this and although it is a very hard colour match, and scrolls, there is some interesting stuff in there: Dan Air Remembered
Anyway, bashing around the internet I found this and although it is a very hard colour match, and scrolls, there is some interesting stuff in there: Dan Air Remembered
#119
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,929
Anyway, bashing around the internet I found this and although it is a very hard colour match, and scrolls, there is some interesting stuff in there: Dan Air Remembered