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Longest flight?
Hmmm ... including an unintended "stop-over" was 5 days.
Flying out to join my chemical carrier as 2/O in Port Swettenham, Malaysia - c. May 1972, the office bods, in their wisdom, decided to fly me out on a chartered 707 from Gatwick to KL via Rome, Athens, Bahrain, Karachi and finally, KL. Packed in like sardines, we rumbled across to Rome, then on to Athens (7 hours later) and then, as we were looking to take off from Bahrain, the outer starboard engine blew. Fire, smoke, lots of foam ensued and we came to a juddering stop with 100 yards of runway left ...
"Sorry folks, we have a slight problem" - I'll never forget the pilot's cool announcement!
Turns out a new engine would need to have been flown out to Bahrain, and that this would take up to 5 days. So we were all settled into two 5* hotels, air conditioned full blast to compete with the 35 C heat, and with sumptuous food to consume.
My telex to HQ in London (the old ticker tape type) took 2 days to reach the crew department, and a further 2 days before they responded. Meanwhile I had "befriended" a particularly gorgeous Australian nurse who was on her way back home to Sydney after 3 years away ... and what a ball we stranded passengers had - despite the austerity in 1972 Bahrain ! Partying till the wee hours ...
Anyway, the news finally came back from HQ that I was to catch a Quantas 747 two days later which was stopping over at KL. Sadly, the fun and games came to a stop 48 hours later when I checked onto this brand new 747 -
And the irony? There was only Business Class available ! So after living it up for 4 days, the opulent lifestyle continued for a further 9 hours as we winged over to KL. Needless to say, I missed the vessel in PS, but, fortunately (not for me!) her next stop was Penang ... and there I joined her 5 days after setting off from Blighty!
The nurse?
Well that's another story altogether ... but safe to say we met several times as I sailed the Australian coast for 6 months on my follow up vessel....
The trip to KL?
Brilliant ... with nothing to top that thereafter.
The moral of the story?
The office bods learning a very expensive lesson whilst looking to save money flying out a mere 2/O on a chartered flight via 4 continents ... finished up paying through the nose to get said mere 2/O to his vessel on time - by paying triple the fare for his Quantas Business Class seat!
Lesson learned!
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