Ansett Airlines rememberance

[steve k]

Many of you may realise today marks the 9th anniversary of the Ansett collapse.
Cant believe how quickly that time has gone, as an ex Caterer, I sure miss the industry and we wont see another airline quite like Ansett for a very long time,
Great memories and wonderful people. Im hoping some reunions will be planned for next year for the staff. I for one would certainly go along.

[Bernie P]

^^

NOT taking anything away from what it is that you're saying, but when you say "we wont see another airline quite like Ansett" what do you mean?

What made Ansett, for you, Ansett??

[steve k]

Its hard to define, here goes, it was like working for a family, most took a lot of pride in what they did to offer exceptional service to the flying public. I was most proud to say I had nearly 16 years with them and found almost all some of the best people you could work with, and I mean that in all sincerity.The food was great, the service was great, the flights mostly on time. Overall a great experience, and would do it all over again today!

[Raymond Rowe]

Well Said Steve i had 28.5 years and i still miss it.

[D Chan]

I still remember my flight on AN887 SYD-HKG on their 744... it was by far the best economy meal I've ever had on any flight even to this day

[Harry G]

Well Said Steve i had 28.5 years and i still miss it.

Raymond Rowe...... thats one of the biggest employer problems these days....... Employee loyalty....
long time gone are the days where in an employee will serve the amount of time you did with one employer. and we all know...... minimal employer loyalty leads to minimal employee loyalty and sadly, the "current" aviation industry,actually, not only aviation is suffering form this syndrome!

[Nadia B-J]

Hi Steve,

I hear you!

Sounds like the Ansett family & feeling was what my mother experienced working with Pan-Am for over 20 years. They treated her (and our family) and everyone else who worked there extremely well - so much love, passion & commitment. Everything you say rings true and I empathise.

Mum was with PA till the last day working at the GSA till the very, very sad end. :(

There will never be another Ansett or Pan-Am.

I always flew AN and loved them and it pains me to think how quickly the general public forget what they pioneered and achieved. Ansett is very close to my heart & will never be forgotten.

Thanks for your post, lets drink a toast to & celebrate AN today!
Best wishes :)

[Bernie P]

... was what my mother experienced working with Pan-Am for over 20 years. They treated her (and our family) and everyone else who worked there extremely well - so much love, passion & commitment. Everything you say rings true and I empathise. Mum was with PA till the last day working at the GSA till the very, very sad end. :(Nadia,

Where was she based, do you happen to know? Why I ask, is that I know a retired Delta Captain who also worked for PA. He was, in his time, based in Germany at one point...

I know that it was a BIG company, and a long time ago, but what are the chances??

B

[Nadia B-J]

Hey Bernie,

Mum was based in Sydney. She worked at Martin Place office till they sold the Pacific to UA in 1985 :mad:, then worked as GSA for Walshes World in Ash St.

She used to do reservations, World Pass, ticketing & refunds etc. I loved it, got all the seat plans & everything.
Lived through and had to deal with Lockerbie disaster (so did I) it was dreadful. :eek: She went through the mill poor Mum.

Became a spotter & obsessed about 3 yrs old the rest is history. Used to be able fly to MEL rtn on the SP with Mum while they turned it around... orgasmic :cool: I got upgraded to First & Clipper class with Mum (subload of course & bumped off many times!!) @ 12yrs and was allowed in the flight deck. PA crew were tremendous..:p

We knew some crew & pilots from the states.
Ah the memories!!!

Hope this finds you well.

Cheers

[Jon Harris]

This is a great thread!

AN was very special. Always loved flying them and it did have that 'family' feel.

I remember I was an travel agent back in 1993/94 and AN gave every single agent free tickets on their 'Spaceships' 747-300s to either HKG or KIX.

It is still one of the best flights - the service was outstanding in Economy Class. An AN really set the standard for their First Class with 3 rows and the chefs and food. Just amazing.

I'm glad people are remebering such a legacy airline.

Thanks for sharing.

[steve k]

perhaps and I hope many of you may want to share your experiences, perhaps some photos you may have, whatever, if its ok with the moderators, please add any and all to this thread. Ansett was a major part of my life, and my late father who was an aircraft cleaner, and my late uncle who was an Engineer here in ADL for over 34 years.
So feel free to add anything at all here that may be of interest
THEY MAY BE GONE, BUT CERTAINLY NOT FORGOTTEN!!

[Grahame Hutchison]

Here is my nostalgia contribution (from a previous post "A Different View Of Sydney").

One of the very early Ansett fleet stored at Tullamarine, DC3 "Douglas" VH-ABR in December 1983.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20DC3%20VH-ABR%20Douglas%2019831228.jpg

DC9-30 VH-CZH in October 1981, one of my favourite aircraft back then.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20DC9-30%20VH-CZH%2019810300.jpg

B737-200 VH-CZX in November 1982 about to touchdown on Runway 25 with the DC3 mentioned earlier in the background.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20B737-200%20VH-CZX%2019821110.jpg

B767-200 VH-RME in September 1983 lining up on Runway 25. I had a few Business Class flights from Sydney to Perth in the Ansett
B767s during the early 1990s, and their product was excellent for the time. Plenty of good cockpit visits back then also, without all of
today's security.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20B767-200%20VH-RME%2019830909.jpg

B727-200 VH-RMU in October 1981
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20B727-200%20VH-RMU%2019810300.jpg

[Tim Bowrey]

Great shots Grahame but im sure you have alot more haha! I'd love to see them! Unfortunatly Ansett were a few years before "my time".

[Grahame Hutchison]

Here you go Tim, a few quick scans, and here are some of the fleet from the mid 90s to early 2000s. Ansett were never phased by having
a diverse fleet of aircraft during this period.

VH-ANA B747-412 Mascot 11/10/2001
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett%20VH-ANA%20B747-412%20Mascot%2020011011.jpg

VH-ANB B747-412 Mascot 4/11/2001
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett VH-ANB B747-412 Mascot 20011104.jpg

VH-INJ B747-312 Mascot 4/10/1996
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett VH-INJ B747-312 Mascot 19961004.jpg

VH-RMD B767-277 Mascot 21/04/1995
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett VH-RMD B767-277 Mascot 19950421.jpg

VH-EWM BAe 146-300 Mascot 6/07/2001
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett VH-EWM BAe 146-300 Mascot 20010706.jpg

VH-EWA F28-400 Mascot 21/04/1995
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett VH-EWA F28-400 Mascot 19950421.jpg

[Raymond Rowe]

Have lots of photos from Ansett going right back to the Ansett ANA days.I do have prints for sale and these will be available at the upcoming Model Railway show at Liverpool.

[Paul f.]

Great photos Grahame,but thats not VH-ABR in the background of the VH-CZX photo.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Correct Phil, I copied that comment from a previous post with different photographs.

The same DC-3 is behind the Singapore Airlines B747 in the first photograph.
http://yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=3644

[Paul f.]

Ok thanks John:p

[steve k]

Great shots guys, Anyone got good Electra, Viscount and other propliner shots?
love to see them. Thanks all for the great photos posted, I worked on quite a few of them.
:)

[James Smith]

Is the shot of RME departing from what was then runway 16 taken from the mound, Grahame? There is no taxiway Bravo or Charlie to block the foreground.

[Grahame Hutchison]

James, If you are refering to the B727-200 VH-RMU, that is taken looking across to the beach, wigh just grass in the foreground, and the ATC building in the background. Back in the 1980s you could walk out along the full length of the Runway 16 extension out into the bay. Originally it was a wooden fence you could sit on top of, later replaced by the wire fence in the photograqph.

This is a similar shot with the original wooden fence.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/YSSYOldImages/RP-C2114%2019820210.jpg

And later the wire fence.
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/YSSYOldImages2/Olympic%20B747-200%20SX-OAC%2019900505.jpg

This is my cousin photographing while sitting on the Runway 16 wooden fence (the good old days).
http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/TAA/TAA%20B727-200%20VH-TBx%2019820800.jpg

[Grahame Hutchison]

Steve, I can remember flying on the Electra, Viscount and Friendship as a child. This is one of the few images I have of an Electra, in its later days as a cargo service, "The Wombats".

http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20L-188%20Electra%20VH-RMC%20Wombat%2019831228%2002.jpg

http://www.16right.com/MessageBoard/Ansett/Ansett%20L-188%20Electra%20VH-RMC%20Wombat%2019831228%2001.jpg

[James Smith]

Thanks Grahame, yes RMU. When I went out to the airport in those days my viewing spots were a choice between the upper deck of the northern or southern international aprons depending on the runways in use. Little did I know then of the wonderful accessible places to spot away from the terminals.

I used to love watching the Philippine Airlines DC 10 departing to Melbourne off runway 25. Wonderful climb performance! Another memory was when a Pan Am 747-100 was asked to make an early left turn after departing off runway 25 and did a nice arc around the old tower bearly crossing the Cooks River. Unforgettable jaw dropping sight.

[Robert Zweck]

Grahame,

The derelict DC-3 in the background looks like VH-RRA

[Radi K]

awesome pics guys!

[Philip Argy]

Very fond memories of almost 20 years as a Golden Wing member with around 1.2 million points lost when Ansett collapsed. I still blame Air NZ for sacrificing Ansett to save itself. And the Aust Government at Qantas' urging blocked Singapore Airlines from taking over Ansett. I thought at the time, and still believe, that it was a tragic decision for Australian commercial aviation. :mad:

[steve k]

110% agreed Philip.

[Andrew Ewen]

Earlier today I looked into this thread with some trepidation expecting it to have degenerated into the usual slanging match on "whose fault it all was" that the subject of AN always seems to end up in , instead I was pleasantly surprised to see that rather than playing the blame game people were genuinely posting their memories of AN and sharing some interesting history with us . :)

I hoped that it would stay that way , but sadly it seems that some one just could not resist and felt the need to point the finger in their post . I hope that future posters do not rise to the bait and continue this thread in the spirit in which it ran for the first few days . We all have our own views on what happened and who was to blame , but I think that it would be nice if for once we could leave that to one side and just concentrate on actual memories of AN .


On a different note , one thing I haven't seen so far in this thread is anyone posting memories of the old AN flying boats , does anyone have any images or stories they would like to share ?

[Philip Argy]

I worked at the Commonwealth Film Unit (later called Film Australia) when they made 'Last of the Sunderlands' - a terrific documentary about the old flying boats - I'm not sure where it is available now.

Patrick Kempe made his own private doco too - extracts are at http://vimeo.com/3560160 if you want some nostalgia, but they weren't the Rose Bay variety.

[Andrew Ewen]

Thanks for the link Philip , and if anyone knows where to dig up a copy of the doco you mentioned I would be really grateful for a link . It is always great to come across a fresh view on a history I know too little about .

[Philip Argy]

The Museum of Sydney had an exhibition of Sunderlands memorabilia in June 2008 - they may know where the documentary is. Meanwhile I've sent off an email to Screen Australia to see where the old documentary might be able to be viewed or purchased.

[Philip Argy]

The DVD is available from ABC online shops for about $30:
http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=776040 and here are some photos of one of the Sandringham conversions such as VH-BRE that Ansett operated to Lord Howe Island:
http://www.aussieairliners.org/shortfb/vh-bre/vhbre.html including its sad beaching on the island and subsequent scuttling out on the reef where it remains to this day.

[Robert Zweck]

On a different note , one thing I haven't seen so far in this thread is anyone posting memories of the old AN flying boats , does anyone have any images or stories they would like to share ?

The old Sandringham flying boats were great...the AHSA chartered one to fly down to Lake Eucumbene for the weekend back in November, 1972.

I think it was VH-BRC, got some good shots on the lake as we circled it in a boat that took us ashore.

[Luke A]

I enjoy checking out photos of ex Ansett aircraft still flying. A good number of 737s are living a good life with Jet 2, and one of the 767s received a 777 style all business class interior, and flies in America.

Interestingly, a number of A320s have been parted out since they left Australia. Although we should remember Ansett was the launch customer for the -200s, ship number 22 (VH-HYA) was the first -200.

I miss Ansett a lot. The service was great, and as an enthusiast it was great fun to think about what aircraft type you were going to fly. Thanks for starting this post. We miss you Ansett…

[Jarden S]

I have met some Australians very passionate about Ansett, but some still blame Air NZ for all there problems. Some of my workmates want Air NZ banned from comming to Australia permanently and all kiwis sent home its a bit much to blame the whole nation at fault for the demise of Ansett which should be the focus of the Air NZ management at the time to be held responsable for it. Some people wont ever forgive...

[Ben Smith]

We seem to have forgotten that one division of Ansett is still going strong, and still trading under the Ansett name. That is of course Ansett Aviation Training (http://www.ansettsimulators.com/), flight simulator centre in Tullamarine. You can see it from the Tullamarine Freeway when heading to the airport.

Also the Oxford Scholar hotel in Swanston Street, Melbourne has/had quite a bit of memorabilia in the indoor beer garden. The pub being just a block away from what was Ansett's headquarters on the corner of Swanston and Victoria.

[Ryan Hothersall]

My very first flight was with Ansett in the mid 1990s.

Mystery flight ADL-PER-ADL for the day.

As already mentioned many ex Ansett 737s are still going strong with Jet2 in the UK.

[Martin Buzzell]

Ryan, do you know if their A320's got a new lease on life like the 73's? Last time I read something, I think they were out in the desert.

[Kent Broadhead]

The Armavia A320 that went down a couple of years ago was ex-Ansett? I think 2 were parted out overseas, but the rest went other operators http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Ansett%20Australia-history-a320.htm

[Zac M]

Both HYO and HYS were Written off whilst operating for the same airline three days apart, HYO in an accident killing 113 and HYS in a fire.

More info here:
http://airfleets.net/flottecie/Ansett%20Australia-history-a320.htm

[Raymond Rowe]

HYA A320-211 (022) Scrapped
HYB A320-211 (023) Scrapped
HYC A320-211 (024) Scrapped
HYD A320-211 (025) Scrapped
HYE A320-211 (026) Scrapped
HYF A320-211 (027) Scrapped.

[D Chan]

We seem to have forgotten that one division of Ansett is still going strong, and still trading under the Ansett name.

you're only partly correct, Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) is also alive and strong
http://www.awas.com/

[James M Smith]

D Chan - AWAS has not been associated with Ansett (the airline) nor has it been a division of (or connected to) the airline since the mid 1990s.

AWAS is entirely independent of Ansett the airline, although it retained the "Ansett" name for a number of years, before being re-branded as AWAS.

[James M Smith]

...and just for the thread, a few pre-digital AN memories, taken in BNE in the early to mid 90s.

At the AN gates at BNE in 1991 in the "celebration" of deregulation colour scheme introduced in 1990.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5063410080_5f00ce884c_b.jpg

Heading out of BNE on another domestic run

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5062799701_24e409620b_b.jpg

"Waltzing Matilda" 737-300

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5062799321_6226c26069_b.jpg

F28 VH-EWD, ex East West

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/5063411364_2328919fe9_b.jpg

BAe146-300, also ex East West

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5062797757_7d86cc3daa_b.jpg

Seeing these pics again makes me incredibly nostalgic. Gone but not forgotten!

[James M Smith]

Although having thought about it further, the Waltzing Matilda scheme did not appear until much later - very late 90s/early 2000 even?

[Paul f.]

Although having thought about it further, the Waltzing Matilda scheme did not appear until much later - very late 90s/early 2000 even?I got a shot of it and the photo is dated 10/95.

[steve k]

12/12/94 CZA was rolled out in Waltzing Matilda livery.

[James M Smith]

Ah ok - thanks guys for clarifying. It was in the mid 90s then.

[Matthew Chisholm]

Bring back the wooden fence!

[Richard H.]

How long did the 'Flag Tail' scheme last for?
It can't have been too long if 'Starmark' was coming in in 1994.

[Raymond Rowe]

How long did the 'Flag Tail' scheme last for?
It can't have been too long if 'Starmark' was coming in in 1994.


about 4 years

[Grahame Hutchison]

I was looking through some old DV tapes and came across several clips of the Ansett fleet at Sydney airport between September and December 2000. All of the video was shot by my son who was 11 back then, and covers most of the Ansett fleet at that time. I brings back a few good memories.

Ansett 2000 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiwDzInMvUw)

[Maikha Ly]

Grahame, that was wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing!

Apart from seeing some types that don't frequent Sydney (I.e. BAe 146 and the classic 747s) Was good to also see the Ansett Subsidiaries in the video, being the Kendall SAAB 340 and the Aeropelican Twin Otter! :)

My have things changed!