Blue Islands sells its Trislanders – but says it will keep one if it buys Aurigny
Saturday 4th September 2010, 2:29PM BST.
BLUE ISLANDS is selling its two Trislanders.
Managing director Paul Sabin said the move was due to European Air Safety Agency rules set to come into force in 2012.
Under the changes, the aircraft are likely to need significant investment. Exemptions to operating regulations that are currently approved by the Civil Aviation Authority could be limited when auditing is done by the EASA.
The rules generally relate to aircraft with more than 10 seats and regulate safety systems that may not exist on older aircraft but are mandatory on newer ones.
Blue Islands now plans to swap its Trislander fleet for Islanders on the Alderney route.
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So BI was to get under the rules by operating a smaller aircraft that is exempt? Hmm this has a nasty fudge feel to it. A 10 seat limit is purely arbitary, 10 or 15 seats makes little difference, and a Tris is basically a bigger Islander.
Another reason not to let BI buy Aurigny.
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I’m at odd ends here, they are selling the aircraft because they most likely won’t comply with new legislation, but if the purchase of Aurigny goes ahead, they will continue to operate trislanders!? This just seems to indicate that the 2012 legislation is simply being cited to hide the real reason for the sale of the aircarft; that Alderney is a marginal interest to BI. Unless their schedules change, they will now be flying in a maximum of 16 passengers a day!
Interesting to also note that they did not put on any additional services in Alderney week, so when Aurigy had roughly 30 inbound flights on the busiest days, blue islands remained with two. This hardly ties up with Mr Coates’ assertions that BI are committed to bringing as many people into Alderney as possible to aid the local economy!!
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Clearly he is only interested in the UK routes and access to new aircraft.
He has no interest in Alderney, and why would he have?
A loss making venture, which wants to buy a loss making public service. Hmmm…. The fact he can stand the losses does not mean he wants to stand them. Well, not unless Mr Coates is a well meaning charity. And if he is, best of luck to him.
Meanwhile, back on Earth.
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the regulatory civil aviation authority are proving that they want the Trilander grounded due to passenger safety regs.The ageing girl has really done the islands proud over the years, however, like everything, she has come to the end of her useful life !B I have just done what G R will be forced too in 2012.
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The Trislander has been ferrying people around the islands non-stop for decades, without a single incident of danger to the public. And now the CAA states that they need certain technical upgrades to adhere to new rules.
Yeah right. Just another unnecessary and bothersome regulation. The world is becoming top heavy with bureaucrats.
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AR
Thats nothing mate, wait till the airport boundry needs increasing a!
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Damme, we used to look at the bigger planes parked there and wish we were on them, eh, but what a wonderful flight we still have on a Trislander. You almost know the pilot, who turns round to address you before you skim across the waves to Jersey. You think you can fly it yourself, watching everything the pilot does as you sit behind him. No better sight as you bank into the runway, at first leaning to the opposite to right the bugger, but just loving it in the end at water drips onto your shoulder. Romantic flying that, eh? Me wife thinks I am madder than a bucket of toads, but I still go “la” as the engines fire up at takeoff.
But times change and me, I have seen my fair share and often for the best. If Mr Sabin says the beloved Trislander is too old, then so be it, as he knows eh. None of us want to post on something terrible about them, so retire the old birds with a perfect Channel Island history.
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Hi Samuel Joseph,
Great comment you made there, it dind’t half made me chuckle.
You sound like a True old Guern eh?
Keep up the good work mon vien.
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@Alderney Res and SJ: I seem to remember there was one incident years ago when a Trislander had to land on a Jersey beach. Fortunately nobody was hurt.
But one thing I can certainly say: I would really miss the sound of the Joeys.
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slep
Don’t forget that St Ouens Bay was the site of the original Jersey “airport” when planes were first on the scene! It certainly wasn’t scheduled to land there in the incident to which you refer, but perfectly safe to do so (except at hight tide of course!).
The sad thing is that a change of aircraft on the route will almost certainly result in two pilots being required, which will hike the fares considerably. About time that the landing taxes/fees of £23 return on a return Guernsey/Jersey flight are abolished completely, otherwise inter-island fares will become completely prohibitive.
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Well today we learn that DC has sold his two Trislanders! (probably a sound move because they were a couple of “coughers”) but we should wait to hear whats replacing them before jumping to conclusions. If its just the “islanders” then l think its game up,go away and let others who really beleive in the islands come in with sound alternative plans…….of which there are !.
Anyone seen the Sizzler ?
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slep
There was that incident and the islander that crash landed out side the dairy.
The dairy one was pilot error when the fuel was switched off.
I believe the one in Jersey ran out of fuel.
Not the aircrafts fault.
I believe the islander and trilanders are the safest aircraft ever built statistically.
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Alderney Res,
I was staggering home from the Hangmans (a pub that was in Guernsey) a few years ago when a Trilander came through the hedge in front of me by about 20metres and ended up in the driveway of a farm near the Dairy. So I`d like to count that as a threat to the public. It did do some good however as I`ve never sobered up so fast and had to run back to the pub to ring 999 and have a stiff one for shock. Luckily the people on board were safe and well because of the pilot`s skill but I guess they felt a little threatened.
I got stuck in the pub after that because the police closed the bloody road home. Guess what, I got p****d again till I realised (at closing time) that I could walk through the hospital grounds to get home. Strange how I`d forgotten that.
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Amazing! How easy is it to get hold of Islanders these days?
Wonderful memories of sitting next to pilot more than once late 60′s on
Oh and a flyover the Nuclear Plant (with pilot commentary) on a day trip to Cherbourg in early 70′s
No doubt we would be shot down now!
But it beggars the question, what is Aurigny going to do with their Trislander fleet?
Upgrade at tax payers expense or lease aircraft able to land in Alderney?
This Inter Island row is getting a bit out of hand at the expense of our Northern Isle residents.
You export excellent Dairy products (Oh that butter, its heaven) and Bakery yummies to us here, I hope this will survive the storm!
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So Paul Sabin will keep one of the four existing Aurigny Trislanders. The due diligence process must be going well because Aurigny has six operational Trislanders (plus one mothballed).
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GCI Student
The reason that BI are getting rid of their Trislanders is because the CAA require them to be fitted with autopilots, which they do not currently have and which would be prohibitively expensive to retrofit- £200,000 plus apparently. Aurignys Trislanders have always had autopilots and so comply with the regulations that are coming in to force. Smaller aircraft ie the Islander can get away without fitting these.
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Whats all the fuss about blue island taking over aurignys is it because the people who keep getting a hand out of the money the states keep ploughing into it will lose this golden egg.
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Yeah was a Flybe (or Jersey European as it was in 1985) Islander that came through a hedge, and the Trislander had an engine failure and landed at St Ouens in Jersey, no one hurt. Another time a Tri overan the runway at Alderney on a very wet day and on a different occasion the prop de-ice boot flew through a window.
Those are all the Tri/Is incidents in the Channel Islands I can think of, having researched CI aviation.
To give you an idea of how sensible EASA is, it wanted all Douglas DC3s in passenger service in Europe to fit emergency slides, when the exit is 1ft of the ground.
The Trislanders really aren’t too old, that’s why BI’s aren’t being scrapped, they are just going to the Carribean.
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Ed
I think the Jersey European crash at La Brigade Road was 1981 or 1982. I remember the joke car stickers which appeared shortly afterwards, “Jersey European – flies you straight to your hotel” !
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Soph,
Its pretty easy to get hold of Islanders I would think, they are still being made and over 1200 have been built.
Trislanders are out of production and have been since the 1980s, only 70-odd were ever built so they are pretty rare (except locally!).
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Great memories being the only passenger on a Blue Islands inter-island flight and sitting next to the pilot. Gives a totally different perspective from the cockpit!
Will be sad to see the old birds go….
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The Islander crash by the Dairy was on the 18th September 1981, to be exact.
But did Jersey European really operate such small aircraft? I thought it might have been Air Sarnia.
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slep
The official report by the CAA says Jersey European were operators of the aircraft but like you I didn’t think they flew interisland in those days
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The poor old Trislander is getting a bit of bad press over safety. So I keyed in Jetstream 31/32 crash (the type of aircraft BI use on inter island routes)into my search engine the results are shocking to say the least.
Whilst I’m on comparisons, I also found out the Trislander is more than 30% more fuel efficient per passenger seat mile than the Jetstream, having a massive effect on passenger carbon footprint.
I bet 7 out of 10 people don’t know that.
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I have flown in several of the Blue Island trislanders which they bought from Aurigny. On one occasion my passenger seat was soaking wet and I wondered if a previous passenger had had an accident. I was relieved to find out that it was rainwater that collected between the layers of the roof of the plane which seeped out on take-off onto the seat where I was sitting. Ground staff were not perturbed when I mentioned the leaking roof. Just smiled! The planes are getting too old.
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Zelda, it all adds to the fun of flying on a Trislander :)
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Zelda – Blue Islands have never bought Trislanders from Aurigny.
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