Christmas with 29500 day old chicks and a 35yr old DC-3

 

Intra trips always seemed to start with a last-minute phone call, this one 

however, was a little unusual in that the call arrived about 10.00 am. Try and

get some sleep today Mike, we want you and Chris to fly tonight, taking

MPO down to Naples stopping on route at Le Mans to pick up a load of day

old chickens.  

 

It was the 19th of December 1977 and Derek’s first words of “don’t worry Mike

we’ll get you back by Christmas Eve”, led into the next part of the trip. “Have

at least 12 hours rest in Naples whilst Alan and Peter, who are positioning by

BEA to Naples, take over PO on your arrival and continue on to Izmir, unload

the Chickens (most still alive we hope) and then position back to Naples for

you and Chris to then bring it back to Jersey, you should be back in two

days!!”

 

The thought occurred to me that a DC-3 and 29500 live day-old chicks were not

going to be a “Silent Night”.

 

                      G-AMPO ready to go

 

Chris and I departed Jersey that evening at 20.30hrs, being empty MPO felt

light as we lifted off runway 09 and set course southeast to Le Mans.

Levelling at 3000ft and after being cleared direct by French ATC, we settled

into the night positioning flight.

 

We soon picked up the Le Mans NDB and arrived overhead 80 minutes after

departure. The airfield had stayed open for us and as we turned overhead the

controller turned on the runway lights for runway 02, no approach lights of

course and the controller advised caution runway dry but areas of the grass

taxiways waterlogged and in the same breath, cleared to land.


                                                             Runway 02 Le-Mans

 

We slid onto runway 02 and turned left at the end onto the parallel grass

taxiway leading to the apron, as we turned, we saw what he meant as

highlighted in the landing lights was a Jodel half-submerged and stuck in

a huge waterlogged area. Keeping the DC-3 clear of this, we splashed

onto the apron and parked next to a couple of ancient-looking Citroen

trucks.

 

We asked for the boxes of day-old chicks to be loaded from front to rear and

spread evenly over the whole cabin, following that we tied the box’s down

with nets. The heat and noise from 29000 chicks were incredible, you would

not want to stay in that cabin for long. As soon as loading finished the

loaders and Citroen’s sped away, leaving us to shut the doors, “do they know

it’s Christmas”!

 

It was important for the survival of the load that we keep them as cool as

possible so with no delay we started up and taxied out for departure.

 

The DC-3 was perfect for this load as it had so many holes and leaks there

was always some sort of airflow through the cabin.


                                                          Boxes of Day Old Chicks

 

We both kept our sliding side windows open for as long as possible if

for nothing else but it kept us cool, and we departed Le Mans forty

minutes after landing, turning right and heading for the Nice VOR and a

long night flight to Naples.

 

After a long night, 5hrs later we tiptoed around Mount Vesuvius to land

on Naples runway 06 at 04.30hrs. Ice had been an issue during the flight

not on the outside but inside on the windscreens due to the humid air

from the chicks freezing on the screens. “A Frosty flight”.

 

Handing over to Alan and Peter who met us on the ramp, Myself and

Chris headed off to the local hotel for our 12hrs rest. Little did we know

it would be three days before we saw MPO again.



                                                             Naples Mount Vesuvius



                                                                  Naples 04:30hrs

 

Alan and Peter refuelled PO and departed within the hour with a flight plan to route from Naples via

the Brindisi VOR direct to Izmir. However, as they overflew the VOR Italian ATC advised that due 

to the political situation at the time, ATC of the then Yugoslavia and Greece would not allow the flight

to route direct from Italian airspace to Izmir. Alan negotiated a compromise that he would turn north 

towards Dubrovnik and then east towards Skopje and finally Thessaloniki where they would stop and 

review the position. This was approved and throughout the remainder of the night and following 

morning MPO with 29000 chicks flew on over the mountainous terrain of the Yugoslavian states.

 

Landing at Thessaloniki and after refuelling all attempts to obtain a

clearance to route direct to Izmir failed, and it was only by chance that Alan

recognised a face walking through the terminal, it was the local BEA

station manager, and Alan recognised him from his previous job as a BEA

Viscount Captain. The manager as a favour to Alan sorted it and arranged

for a flight plan to be accepted. Alan agreed to route back from Izmir to

Thessaloniki where they would night stop.

 

Alan was mindful of the nature of the cargo, and departed without any extra

delay and arrived in Izmir 3hrs later, the chicks were unloaded and much to

the delight of all, only a small percentage failed to survive the long flight.

Fatigue and duty hours now became an issue but using all his allowed

discretion Alan and Peter set off back to Thessaloniki to take a deserved

days’ rest.

 

Meanwhile back in Naples myself and Chris had no idea of all the troubles,

arriving at the handling agent at Naples in the evening expecting to meet

MPO and fly back to Jersey there was no sign of the aircraft and no one

seemed to know anything. On calling Intra in Jersey they also had no idea, in

fact they were asking us where it was.

 

For the next two days, we waited enjoying the local Pizza and some “Mistletoe

and Wine” hanging around the airport and hotel, finally early evening of 23rd

December MPO arrived back in Naples. Alan and Peter looked shattered and

I said do you want to night stop in Naples, or stay onboard and fly back to

Jersey tonight. Without any hesitation they both said, get us back to Jersey

Mike. So, we refuelled and departed at 22.00hrs for Jersey. 

 

There were still a few surprises to come for as climbing out from Naples we

changed fuel tanks to the outers, there was immediately a huge bang and

vibration, rapidly we changed it back to the inners, just then there was a tap

on my shoulder, it was Alan, sorry Mike forgot to tell you don’t use the

Starboard outer tank we picked up some dirty fuel somewhere!!

 

This then changed the fuel planning and we decided to stop in Nice on the

way up to refuel. Nice was deserted and there was a long delay waiting for

fuel and all four of us must have looked a rough bunch of pilots hanging

around the terminal Christmas Tree, “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”,

looking for a coffee machine.

 

On the last leg back to Jersey Alan and Peter were asleep in the back and

as Chris seemed more awake than me, I asked him to fly the leg into Jersey,

we arrived just after opening time early on 24th December, well yes Derek

we did make it back for Christmas, just.

Luckily, it was early in the morning as Chris who must have been as tired as

all of us made the biggest bounce on landing you will ever see, and no

one saw it other than the controller.

 

Trip complete, DC-3 G-AMPO back safely in Jersey and 29500 chicks

delivered. Time for a day off then back to work again on Boxing Day.

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