EXPERIENCES on a spike overhanging the front of one of the butchers stalls. Large sacks of spices emitted some very exotic aromas, and a good shawarma could be found at many stalls dotted around the shopping area. The antique stores sold items such as stuffed python skins, shotguns and very dangerouslooking Arabian daggers. Naturally, I acquired one as a souvenir, forgetting completely about dangerous goods. Gaddafi felt that the airline (Libyan Arab) was his personal possession, and he was proud of two state-of-the-art Airbus 320s, which did look very handsome painted in green and gold markings with a nice interior to match. I was once held on the ground at FCO for three hours, awaiting the arrival of one of his sons, who had been playing semi-professional football in Northern Italy. The poor skipper then got reprimanded because of the delay to the subsequent flight to Tunis. However, even Mr Gadaffis authority had limits. Flighty Paris Onto Paris, operating for Air France on the most random roster I have ever experienced, to say nothing of the Concorde crash, which some of us witnessed first hand. Starting first with the flight programme, which was agreed because a few AF B737s were undergoing heavy The antique stores sold items such as stuffed python skins, shotguns and Arabian daggers maintenance, every evening a fag-packet programme was created on the basis of AFs requirements the following day. Crews could be allocated anything from a Beirut return to four-sector days to LHR, MUC, or perhaps GVA. Overnight stops in NCE were common, as were the incredibly short flights to and from BRU. My log book is filled with firsttime destinations such as CPH and ARN. Then we started operating from ORY as well. It was a great and varied experience. Sadly, some unlucky colleagues felt the heat of the blazing Concorde passing overhead while in the crew bus travelling back to the Copthorne Hotel in Roissy. I was on a day off, and saw the aftermath from my hotel bedroom window. A pall of black smoke lifted a mile or so away in Gonesse, where the stricken airliner struck a small hotel. Helicopters buzzed around the site filming for TV. We all felt shocked, as did our colleagues from Air France, generally seniors in the cabin. On a happier note, I was part of the most enjoyable room parties in my career. Among the multinational cadre of TransAer employees were cabin crew from Greece and Cuba, who were picked up along the way with the companys contracts in Crete, Athens and Havana. For no good reason, they were not getting on that well, until one day it was decided that the ice should be well and truly broken. An extremely noisy room party ensued, where the respective nationalities demonstrated their national dance styles, with necessary lubrication on hand (ouzo and rum predominated). By the end, friendships had been forged in a great spirit of fun and laughter. As our service offered AF business class, great food was often on offer. Yours truly gained quite a few kilos thanks to a solid diet of foie gras and toast, sometimes on each of four sectors. Contrary to rumour, no white wine was served up front to wash down said gourmet cuisine. One noteworthy experience was a dual FMCG failure between GVA and CDG. This required my colleague to leave his seat, muttering some strong words, in order to reset C-Bs in what seemed a lengthy procedure out of the QRH. My task was to hand-fly and navigate the ship using raw data. No real drama, but we were happy not to have to make a raw-data approach and landing in full IMC at a very busy place. An Air France Concorde 46 THE LOG Spr 24 pp40-46 Highs and lows.indd 46 16/02/2024 11:14