The life and times of Viscount c/n 281, 1957 - 1988. This V.807 series Viscount was built for NAC - New Zealand National Airways Corporation as ZK-BRD and first flew on Wednesday, 11 December 1957 at Weybridge, Surrey, England powered by Rolls-Royce Dart 510 engines. On 10 January 1958 it arrived at Whenuapai, Auckland, New Zealand. ZK-BRD was the first NAC - New Zealand National Airways Corporation Viscount to arrive in New Zealand. On 3 February 1958 it entered service on the Auckland-Christchurch route. On 12 November 1958 it suffered a landing incident at Whenuapai, Auckland, New Zealand. After the aircraft landed, the training Captain in the righthand seat inadvertantly retracted the undercarriage instead of the flaps and it slid off onto to grass on its belly. Sadly the very experienced Captain resigned his position after this incident. He had previously flown Miles M2F Major ZK-ADJ in the 1934 London to Melbourne Air Race. During its life this Viscount was also owned and/or operated by BA - British Airways, Gibraltar Airways Ltd., and GB Airways. Its fate:- On 23 November 1988 while being operated by GB Airways as G-BBVH it was damaged beyond repair during a heavy landing at Boukhalf, Tangiers, Morocco. The aircraft ran off the left side of runway 28 on landing, continued in a shallow channel before coming to rest 1,165 yards past the touchdown point. Aquaplaning is suspected since the landing took place during a heavy rain shower with a wind direction of 060 degrees at 24 knots. There were only minor injuries to two of the 74 passengers and 4 crew on board. Aircraft was replaced by the lease from Hot Air of Viscount G-BAPF. Broken up for scrap after spares recovery. Click on photo for photo details. Click on this link to see the history and 38 photos of this Viscount. vickersviscount.net/Index/VickersViscount281History.aspx The Vickers Viscount Network is always on the lookout for more photos and information to help complete the histories of every Viscount built. If you can help please contact us by Facebook, Twitter or email. Your help will be really appreciated with this important historical project.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 11:12:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015