flyingdoc

Unusually named, and from Switzerland, Baboo!!!

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flyingdoc

Pacific Western Airlines was a Canadian airline formed in the 1940's and based out of Calgary. After a number of mergers it gave rise to Canadian Airlines in 1987. At a reunion, a number of old stewardess outfits from the defunct airline went on show...

PWA

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flyingdoc

From Italy, one of the smaller regional airlines - Air Vallee.
The airline is based in Aosta in the northwest corner of Italy, near the Swiss border and the Mont Blanc tunnel. It flies to Sardinia as well as 6 mainland Italian cities.

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bmibaby737

Go Bamboo!

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Total Models for 2011 So Far: 18
Latest Model(s): GJ 1:400 American Airlines 767-300WL

www.youtube.com/user/megaplanefan
www.youtube.com/user/WelshAviation
www.jet-liners.com

flyingdoc

Hosties with Celebs #3.

Carlos Santana with a pair of hosties from Bulgaria Air.

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flyingdoc

If the hat fits...

Just for a little variety, I thought I'd showcase a selection of stewardess hats. Many airlines have done away with them, but the headwear of the airline's hostesses would often distinguish them. The Braniff bubble hair-do protector is perhaps the best example, but many airlines sought an individual look apart from the more generic military-style cap.

TWA
1955

1965



Pan Am
1959

1970


United Airlines
1968



NorthWest Airlines
1958



Last year a collection of vintage caps was displayed at the airport museum at SFO. Unfortunately, I have never been able to time a visit on a day that the museum was open!

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flyingdoc

Hats off to Hosties!

Why not check out a few more hats that epitomised some of our airlines? Some more from the SFO display of 2009.



TWA
40's

50's



Delta of the 70's.


United


Royal Jordanian


Air Iran / Homa


Manx Airlines

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flyingdoc

Already deep into January and perhaps there are some of you out there who still need a calendar. Here's my 2010 gift to you...

Ryanair isn't the only airline that has published calendars featuring their hosties - there are quite a few others. So here is an offering from Ukrainian airline, WindRose.












PS - May is especially for you, Furry!

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furryforest

lol-you know me too well Doc. Before i got to your PS i was trying to decide between Jan and May

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I swear to drunk i'm not God

flyingdoc

You know I'm always looking out for "Miss Right" for ya!

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ALEXAKOS

air...hottie...

Attached Thumbnails

 

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furryforest

A good find chum!

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I swear to drunk i'm not God

flyingdoc

Yeongnam Air - low cost Korean carrier.

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ALEXAKOS

Since we are going "asian" here is a nice video I found
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFg3j...eature=related

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flyingdoc

Air Hostess Heroines #2 - Aurelia Grigore

There are many stories of true heroism amongst cabin crew and I will post some from time to time, but Aurelia Grigore's story stands out as she was the saviour of the passengers of not just one air disaster, but two!



Aurelia (Laura) joined TAROM, the Romanian state airline, in 1975 at the age of 21 and worked as a stewardess there for over 30 years. When she started, selection criteria for the airline required knowledge of geography and at least 2 foreign languages. As Romania was behind the Iron Curtain, candidates were not allowed to have friends or relatives that lived abroad.

On 7 Aug, 1980 a TAROM Tu-154B carrying 152 passengers and 19 crew crash-landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 metres short of the intended runway approaching Mauritania. It was 3 am and in total darkness, with the aircraft running aground on a sandbank and breaking in two. Grigore, then 26 and 2 months pregnant, went forward only to find that the front of the plane was missing and the cockpit had submerged! She and the rest of the crew ordered all the passengers into their life jackets but the overwing lifeboat compartment was jammed and they could not release the boats.



One of the pilots who had all escaped from the sinking nose section then climbed aboard - the #2 engine was still running and fearing that it might explode or that the plane might slide backwards into the depths, they ordered everyone into the water. The passengers and crew from the forward section had some lifeboats and they began swimming for shore. Only a short way from shore, Aurelia found herself being pulled back out to sea by the current but she was able to gain safety by climbing back up on the wing of the crippled plane. There, to her astonishment, she found a fellow hostess with a neck injury, unable to move! (The girl had been dragged there from her seat by other passengers earlier but mistaken as dead and abandoned) She stayed with her and comforted her for 3 hours until they were rescued. Eventually, all 19 crew and 151 passengers survived thanks to the professionalism of the crew. The only fatality was a male passenger who suffered a heart attack during the ordeal!



None of this was ever reported by the Communist press. Although severely traumatised, Aurelia knew she had to face her fear or never fly again. She returned to work 2 weeks later!



Only 6 years later in the summer of 1986 she was crewing aboard a TAROM An24RV with a full passenger load of 52 souls when it crashed at Cluj airport. It was a hard landing and the aircraft bounced with the nose gear then collapsing up into the cockpit area which caught on fire. The plane skidded off the runway into a corn field. Quick thinking by Grigore saw her open the forward escape door before the plane had even stopped moving and the 52 passengers were all safely evacuated. Smoke was coming from the cockpit door but it was locked and the cabin crew could not help the pilots. From outside the plane they could see the cockpit engulfed in flames. On of the co-pilots was trying to escape through the windows but his foot was caught and he could not get out. He eventually frred himself and was taken to hospital but died shortly later of terrible burns. The other 2 pilots perished, burned alive in front of the eyes of their colleagues.



Aurelia Grigore retired in 2004 after over 30 years service. Her incredible story remains largely unknown. To this day she believes it was God's will that saw her washed back out to the stranded Tupolev to save her friend. No doubt she was the saviour of many others in those 2 terrible accidents.

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