Memoirs from the Orange Army

The 19 Hour Duty

First of all I just want to apologise for the long wait for this chapter. It's been a very busy time here at Gatwick, the summer season has well and truly started. The good thing is however, I have so many more things to write about since we last spoke!!

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Right then, today is the day that I'll tell you about the long 19 hour duty that left us stranded in Spain for hours.

First let us track back to the day before. I'm packing my bag ready to do an Inverness nightstop and its going to be busy. First we are flying to Brussels and back, then Jersey and back before finally flying up to Inverness for the night.

I had a very lovely crew with me onboard and I'm sat at the rear of the aircraft doing my usual camp safety demonstrations and other safety related duties. The first day is just like any other.

The second day was much more interesting, for you at least. It was supposed to be a simple day, fly back to Gatwick and then have a quick turnaround before heading out to Malaga and coming back. We should be back at 11:15pm. Simple.

That was not the case. We arrived back at Gatwick, all the passengers disembarked, and we prepared the cabin ready for the new passengers. I have to say at this point, I quite honestly enjoy flying to Malaga, there are usually many passengers onboard who are in the holiday mood and like a bit of a laugh.

After what seemed an eternity of boarding and a huge struggle stuffing bags and suitcases in every place possibly allowed, we got everyone onboard and we finally set off for sunny Malaga.

We did the service which was quite busy and afterwards I went and spent a bit of time with the boys in the flight deck and I took my lunch with me. I like to sit in the flight deck. It gives them a break from each other as that can get pretty boring but also they usually like to answer any questions I have about the equipment in there or they even have funny stories to share. The view from the flight deck is also the best. It's such an inspiring view and I can completely understand why pilots will pay tens of thousands of pounds to train as a pilot. Seeing the sun rise or set from the flight is a beautiful thing.

Anyway, so I've nearly finished my lunch when LGCIU2 flashes up on one of the monitors. The flight deck look at each other and they confirm they have to start briefing. This almost never happens in front crew so I sat quietly and watched the events unfold. Aircraft manuals start appearing from across the flight deck and I was amazed at how many there were. Really, how many manuals are there to fly this thing?

It turns out that the control interface unit for the landing gear is faulty so a ground reset has to be done. They contact air traffic control to request descent and I get released back into the cabin but before I go back in I'm told not to say a word.

I smile at everyone and inside I'm quietly excited and yet panicky too. The announcement to secure the cabin blares over the PA system and everyone is a little surprised but they all assume that we just flew there very quickly. The cabin is secure and I'm now prepared for the bumpy landing at the back of the aircraft.

Amazingly, we land perfectly and I breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing everything went well. My fellow crew member noticed I seemed rather tense and asked what the matter was to which I had told them what happened.

Needless to say, we made onto the ground safely and we got all the passengers off before starting a ground reset. It didn't work so the captain instructed us to continue boarding our new passengers and he will do another reset once everyone is onboard. I had some amazing passengers boarding including a party of 14 women were still in a party mood. This will be an excellent flight back home!