At that time we were living in Barnsley, and I had the week off school to go on this holiday (I had just recovered from chicken pox at the time, so I had loads of time off school
). We caught the national Express coach from Barnsley to London Victoria, and then the bus to Heathrow.It was turned 6pm when we arrived at Heathrow, we dropped off our luggage in left luggage, found out that the viewing area had closed for the day, and so headed off to the top of the car park to spot. I had a new camera at the time, which I was eager to try, and so I took my first ever aircraft photos here.
A British Airways Boeing 747 at Heathrow.
A Dan Air BAC1-11 takes off (I was surprised, as I thought that Dan Air used Gatwick instead of Heathrow.)
We were to take off at around 22:15 on that night. It was a Sunday, and the weather was good. We checked in, but were not lucky enough to get a window seat, just a middle and an aisle.
It was dark when our aircraft arrived. It was a Boeing 727 of Icelandair, I had never flown on the 727, and I stood and watched through the window as the aircraft was prepared for the flight, which was to last just under three hours. The security man had commented on us "flying off to the North Pole" before he wished us a pleasant flight.
When we boarded the aircraft, we discovered that we were sat in the rear half of the cabin, it was six abreast but was okay for comfort. There was a young guy in the window seat, but he was happy to allow us to look through. Heathrow is another world at night, it quietens down for passengers and takes on an entirely different atmosphere. As we taxied away from the terminal and towards the runway, we passed a British Airways hangar with three Concordes parked inside. Our take off was slightly delayed owing to a flight heading for Malta taking off before us, but eventually we were on our way down the runway. The take off was smooth, and it was great to climb out over London at night and see all the lights, especially of Piccadilly Circus, below us.
I remember the meal was a fish salad, with pickled herring, which was quite pleasant, and a good introduction to Icelandic cuisine! tye captain had told us in the pre take off announcement that the visibility on the route north was excellent, and we could tell! The young guy by the window, who drunk alot of alcohol but seemed unaffected by it, was pointing out that the sky was growing lighter and redder as we flew closer to Iceland. It was May, and a sunny day in May in Iceland is a sunny one indeed, as it is light nearly for 24 hours! It was quite a magical experience to fly to Iceland at night, and see it get lighter.
We had a boucy landing at Keflavik Airport, a US NATO base in the south west of the country. The arrivals area was very primitive, with rollers for the luggage instead of a carousel. If you didn't get your baggage quickly enough, it fell onto the floor once it reached the end of the roller (these rollers were not uncommon in Icelandic domestic airports!) It was very cold, and just turned midnight.
We caught the bus from the airport to Reykjavik, and I remember seeing the steam rising from the ground in the dusky light.
We had a truly brilliant week in Iceland. The return flight was operated by Boeing 727 TF-FLG (which became almost like an old friend for the number of flights I had in it!!)
TF-FLG was boarded from the outside. Now Keflavik has air bridges.
On this occasion I had been lucky to sit in a window seat! At exactly 17:30, we lifted off from Keflavik and headed south once more. This time we were served a hot meal, a stew of some type. The cabin crews on Icelandair were always friendly and professional, and I enjoyed flying with them. The flight was smooth, and we approached into Heathrow over Wembley, we had a very good view of the stadium as we descended. It had been the FA Cup final the previous day. The landing at Heathrow was good, and I was disappointed to be back. How I wanted to board that 727 again and fly back to Iceland!
More international Icelandair flights to follow...
