Nice article on the history of the Aer Lingus B747s

jippo nolan · 30-04-2021 12:27am

HTCOne wrote: »

Wasn't there a storage area down there often used by EI Spanners to send their coffee machines down to Shannon to be repaired by the manufacturer? Fairly sure I read that elsewhere....it was called "the lower 45" or something.

I think “Stovepipe” might be your source for that information!

NickNickleby · 30-04-2021 9:38am

Skyknight wrote: »

It was 'The Lower 41' or the 'Hell Hole', and that was on the 720 and 707's (and the 1011's) Its a hatch in the floor of the cockpit, which allowed a member of the crew to climb down and check to ensure the nose gear was locked in the down position. You may have read about it in relation to the crash Eastern Airlines 401, as it was where the crew members were, discussing the position of the gear when the aircraft.

Read a book about that crash. I think it was called "The Ghost of Flight 401". The description of the lead up to the crash and its immediate aftermath was (for a layman) very informative.

Henry Ford III · 30-04-2021 11:28am

Few shots of the AL 747's in this lovely old ad.

smurfjed · 30-04-2021 11:45am

Read about this again.

According to Robert J. Serling's 1980 book From the Captain to the Colonel: An Informal History of Eastern Airlines, the claim that wreckage from Flight 401 was installed and later removed from other Eastern aircraft was false, and no Eastern employees had ever claimed to have seen or believed in the alleged ghost sightings. Skeptic Brian Dunning claims that the origin for the ghost sightings was a joke made by an Eastern Air Lines captain after an emergency landing in which he quipped that he "thought [Don] Repo's ghost was on the plane."[22][24]

knockon · 30-04-2021 12:57pm

jippo nolan wrote: »

I think “Stovepipe” might be your source for that information!

We shipped a few items to Krups back in the day for guys in M & E. Electric razors etc. It was a great way of getting stuff from DUB - SNN and visa versa without the paperwork. Open the Lwr 41 door behind the NLG and throw in what you want.

Hotblack Desiato · 30-04-2021 1:12pm

Only the engineer was down there IIRC

The other two were preoccupied with the gear light to the extent of opening the panel to check the bulb filaments instead of flying the bloody plane

Skyknight · 30-04-2021 1:46pm

smurfjed wrote: »

The L1011 had a lower under floor galley, I believe that’s where the crew were when the aircraft crashed. I remember that the ghost was apparently seen by crew on other flights in that area.

knockon wrote: »

We shipped a few items to Krups back in the day for guys in M & E. Electric razors etc. It was a great way of getting stuff from DUB - SNN and visa versa without the paperwork. Open the Lwr 41 door behind the NLG and throw in what you want.

Oh right....so access to the Lower 41 could be made though the forward lounge...I always assumed it was an addition to the -200 to -400.

Stovepipe · 30-04-2021 2:18pm

If there are are no steps up to the aircraft, that how you get in. I've only ever used the one on a 747-400. The A330 has a similar hatch under the nose behind the radome but we never use it as the inner hatch and ladder are awkward to open and stow afterwards, but they are there. In the 330, the captain has to have his seat fully forward to allow the hatch to open fully.

jippo nolan · 30-04-2021 6:41pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

If there are are no steps up to the aircraft, that how you get in. I've only ever used the one on a 747-400. The A330 has a similar hatch under the nose behind the radome but we never use it as the inner hatch and ladder are awkward to open and stow afterwards, but they are there. In the 330, the captain has to have his seat fully forward to allow the hatch to open fully.

Stovepipe, you sound like you may have been there the day one of the Aer Lingus 747s ended up to it’s axles in the mud having blown off stand during a storm.
Major panic ensued, with engineering staff having to dig it out with the help of Two tugs.

HTCOne · 30-04-2021 8:11pm

There's a story of one getting stuck on the turn pad on the 06 end at SNN after landing. The fog was only a few feet off the ground and the crew were above it in sunlight but couldn't see the ground and couldn't risk going into the grass and getting stuck. Can't remember whether they had to wait for the fog to burn off or if a tug went to get them.

Stovepipe · 04-05-2021 8:43am

jippo nolan wrote: »

Stovepipe, you sound like you may have been there the day one of the Aer Lingus 747s ended up to it’s axles in the mud having blown off stand during a storm.
Major panic ensued, with engineering staff having to dig it out with the help of Two tugs.

Not present but heard the stories.

TDM900 · 09-05-2021 2:17pm

0lddog wrote: »

Pat, you gave me the idea to do a little search

First up from the search engine

https://ifiplayer.ie/radharc-blessing-the-aer-lingus-fleet/

Thanks for that link!

0lddog · 19-08-2021 5:53pm

For the life of me I cannot remember what this is

Anyone know ?

L1011 · 19-08-2021 9:56pm

EI-AKL Viscount St Colmcille I think.

0lddog · 19-08-2021 10:36pm

Viscount was my original assumption 'till I tried to count the engines

HTCOne · 20-08-2021 8:17am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778395#Comment_117778395

You can just see a prop from #3 poking out below the nose. Angle of the photo makes it look like a twin.

L1011 · 20-08-2021 8:22am

You can also tell from the position of the more obviously visible ones that they aren't symmetrical so there would have to be four.

Hotblack Desiato · 20-08-2021 12:47pm

Here's EI-AKL in the earlier 'green top' livery:

https://www.airteamimages.com/vickers-viscount_EI-AKL_aer-lingus_289141.html

This one shows the arrangement of the engines better. By modern turboprop standards, the props are quite small and the engines are almost as close in to the fuselage as they can get.

0lddog · 20-08-2021 6:27pm

Thanks all.

Hotblack's pics show just how inboard the inboard engines are/were

Nice article on the history of the Aer Lingus B747s

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