Travel & Transport

Video: Over Manchester & Liverpool in the Salford Quays Flight Simulator

2021-06-23 By Aidan O'Rourke

The AidanEyewitness blog is the diary of a multilingual content creator and coach. In this blog I want to share some background information about my educational and creative activities, and hopefully provide useful information that’s helpful to others.

I’ve been interested in aviation since I was a child. I grew up not far from Manchester Airport directly under the final approach path.

I often imagined myself in the role of airline pilot but I never had the confidence to go through with it. I felt my skills were better suited to helping others through teaching and creating content, both written and photographic.

The dream of flying a plane remained a fantasy, but thanks to modern technology, there is now a way fulfil the fantasy and that is to go into a flight simulator. The problem is that many professional flight simulators used for pilot training are extremely expensive.

But then I found out about Simulator Adventures in Salford Quays and discovered that it wasn’t as expensive as I had thought to spend an hour or two in the simulator.

As it was coming up to my birthday I decided to purchase myself 1 1/2 hours in the flight simulator. It cost me £171.50, with a special discount.

My simulator flight was delayed for several months, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but eventually, they were able to re-open and I was able to make a firm booking.

I had planned to produce a video to capture the experience. It would be similar to the cockpit videos I often watch on YouTube. But how would it fit into the theme of AidanEyewitness? My main interest is capturing the character and identity of the city. The airport is an essential element as it’s the gateway to the world. Also, I wanted to capture aerial views over the Manchester-Liverpool area. That’s something I’m fascinated with every time I fly.

On the day of the simulator flight, I brought with me two iPhones and that was enough to capture the experience. My daughter sat in the back seat as I took to the air in the simulator and captured video on her phone.

I held my iPhone 12 in my hand as I was flying – not a good thing to do whether in charge of a car or a jet airliner. Eventually, I positioned it in front of us, under the front window.

It was an incredible experience but I must also admit that I felt confused and disoriented. Our Trainer Alan gave exact instructions in order to input the flight plan, set the plane up for take-off and fly it, exactly as it would be on a real flight. But the experience was so realistic, I felt a sense of anxiety and confusion.

I remarked to Alan that there seem to be all awful lot to remember. He agreed but reassured me that it all becomes routine when you are an experienced pilot. When you’re driving a car for the first time it can be equally as confusing.

If there were a real-life emergency and I had to fly the plane, following instructions from the ground, would I be able to land the aircraft safely operating the sidestick, which costs 50,000 euros! Watch and find out!

I was interested to see what level of visual detail the simulator was able to create. I found was that there was quite good detail but, I’m told, not as much detail as in the latest versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

And to enjoy that level of detail, you would have to purchase the scenery for your chosen airports and cities. This simulator runs on a different system, but they may be able to introduce a more detailed virtual environment in the future. In the meantime, the views are still very very impressive and they really do give you the feeling that you are flying in a real aircraft. The sound effects are also excellent.

Since taking the flight simulator experience I have begun to learn more about the Airbus cockpit and its many displays, switches and controls so that by the time I visit the simulator again, I think I’ll have a much better idea of what to do.

Everyone should have the opportunity to fly a plane. It’s educational, fun and in the words of the guest before us ‘It really blew my mind’.

Whether you gift it to yourself as a special treat, or to someone else, maybe a young person who is interested in a career as a pilot, it could be life-changing.

Simulator Adventures was founded by twin brothers Alan and Stewart who grew up under the flight path to Glasgow Airport. They’ve dedicated their professional lives to creating the best possible simulator experience at the most cost-effective price, and I think they’ve done a great job.

So please watch the video and see how well I did. Please comment and don’t forget to like and subscribe.

There is also a German version of the video which I made for my German language students and I’ve got a PDF with the script, a side-by-side translation, vocab and questions. It’s only available to my students. If you would like to become a student of mine to learn German, please get in touch.

Stockport from Dawn to Dusk – About the short film + list of locations

2021-04-27 By Aidan O'Rourke

An article about the short film will appear on this page. In the meantime, here’s a list of clips and photos, with timings.

00 Introduction by Aidan from his virtual airport office

43 Marple dawn from Strines Rd triangular green area

48 Close-up of sun appearing over the hilltop

50 Sunrise from north side of Marple green

51 Stagecoach 383 bus passing Offerton Green

56 Stockport morning view from Marple Ridge

00 Marple and Alderley Edge from Marple hilltop

04 Marple triangular green area

06 Marple Roman Lakes

09 Marple River Goyt near Roman Lakes

11 Goyt Riverside path, walkers and horseriders with railway bridge

16 Goyt humpback footbridge

18 Goyt railway viaduct and cyclists

30 Marple canal locks by Strines Road

34 Marple Bridge River Goyt and Town Street

38 Etherow Country Park reservoir

44 Etherow Country Park footpath water, hill and trees

46 Etherow Country Park bridge and weir

50 Etherow Country Park weir

54 Stockport boundary sign A6 Wellington Rd North by McVities with 192

58 South Manchester Loop Line seen from Reddish North Nelstrop Rd bridge

02 Reddish Houldsworth Mill

06 Reddish Vale Country Park water and viaduct with Northern Railways train

14 Reddish Houldsworth Memorial clock and high altitude plane

18 Northern Railways train crossing Warren girder bridge & M60 from Lingard Lane

26 M60 and Warren girder bridge from footbridge to Brinnington

26 M60 timelapse from Brinnington footbridge looking north

38 Vernon Park pavilion and drum kit

44 Woodbank Park path trees and dog walkers

48 Vernon Park museum and Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

56 View from Vernon Park museum over Pear Mill to Werneth Low

39 View from Werneth Low over Stockport with plane (still image taken 02.07.2003)

07 Tesla Stockport dealership Wellington Road North and 192

10 Mercedes Stockport dealership by M60 motorway with red truck

13 View from Wellington Rd Nth from 192 bus, Our Lady’s Armoury and hills (still image)

16 Wellington Rd North daffodils, Christ Church spire and 192

20 Wellington Rd North and 192 from the top of the steps by Mersey Square and Plaza

24 M60 timelapse looking west with Pyramid from Wellington Rd North bridge

28 M60 timelapse looking west with railway viaduct from Heaton Norris footbridge

38 View of the sky with Hat Museum Turkish airlines A330-343 plane passing overhead

40 The Light cinema and sky with plane passing overhead (not identified)

47 Start of River Mersey at confluence of Etherow and Goyt with M60 motorway

53 Lancashire Hill sign and M60 motorway

57 Uncovered Lancashire Bridge and River Mersey with Merseywey Shopping Centre

02 Lancashire bridge blue plaque with Stockport coat of arms

06 Merseyway shopping entre and carousel looking west

11 Merseyway shopping centre timelapse looking east

17 Mersey Square and Mersway One Stockport banner Lancashire Cheshire boundary

23 River Mersey view from Mersey Square with viaduct and Lancashire Cheshire boundary

28 View of rooftops and St Mary’s Church Robinson’s brewery from Little Underbank bridge

32 Stockport coat of arms on the bridge over Little Underbrank (still image)

34 Little Underbank view of the bridge

40 Crowther Street historic street painted by Lowry (still image)

43 Market Place, Market Hall and St Mary’s Church

46 Half-timbered house (still image)

47 Former pub, roadworks and taxi (still image)

48 Underbank Hall – Natwest bank (still image)

51 Market Place, Stockport Story, St Mary’s Church

55 St Mary’s Church Market Hall and lantern (still image taken 23.05.2009)

57 St Mary’s Church entrance gate pinnacles and chimney pots (still image)

59 Market Hall (still image taken 23.05.2009)

01 Staircase House (closed) (still image)

03 Restored house, Market Place (still image)

04 Market Place, Market hall under renovation with scaffolding

08 Bakers Vaults pub with tables outside

13 F. Robinson Unicorn Brewery

16 Stockport Central Library timelapse

20 Stockport town hall, Wellington Road South

26 Stockport town hall with Europe flag (video clip taken 09.04.2019)

31 Millennium Hse former infirmary, mobility scooter, Stagecoach single-decker bus

37 Edgeley, Castle Street, pedestrianised section and Co-operative food store

37 Armoury roundabout, pub, houses and Our Lady’s Church

44 Edgeley Road Cheadle Heath houses and bus stop

47 Hollywood Park pedestrian + cycle path view towards the viaduct from Grenville St

51 Grenville Street alley with view of plane Qatar B777 cargo plane Chicago Amsterdam

53 Edgeley Stockport County football club, Hardcastle Road

56 Edgeley Alexandra Park bowls players view east

59 Edgeley Alexandra Park bowls players view north

02 Edgeley Alexandra Park skateboard park and skateboarders

04 Edgeley Dale Street and Stagecoach 328 panning to reservoirs

10 Edgeley Reservoirs view from the south side with birds

14 Edgeley Reservoirs view from the west side with birds

19 Edgeley Reservoirs vertical pan to Qatar Airways B787-8 Doha to Manchester

34 St Matthews Anglican Church seen along Torkington Street

36 Our Lady’s Church Roman Catholic church seen from Shaw Heath

39 Hazel Grove 192 bus stop. Stagecoach buses arriving and departing

41 Hazel Grove A6 Buxton Stepping Hill Hospital sign

47 Hazel Grove A6 Buxton Road Thank You NHS and rainbow on road surface

49 Great Moor A6 Buxton Road High Peak 199 Skyline bus Buxton to Manchester Airport

54 Davenport Woodsmoor level crossing EMR Regional Class 156 DMU train

56 Great Moor Buxton Road A6 St Georges church and Stagecoach 192 bus

59 Great Moor Buxton Road A6 Little Gem 392 bus Macclesfield to Stockport

02 Former Strawberry Studios Waterloo Road

08 Heaviley A6 Buxton Road The Blossoms Pub and Cavalier House

16 Heaviley A6 Buxton Road and Higher Hillgate Ryanair Boeing 737-800 MAN to Prague

21 Heaviley A6 Buxton Road St Georges Spire and Gresty’s flower shop – sunny

24 Heaviley A6 Buxton Road St Georges Spire and Gresty’s flower shop – snow

27 Mersey Square and Stagecoach 358 bus panning to Plaza cinema – snow

38 Prince Philip RIP on electronic billboard with Stagecoach 314 bus – snow

41 Rooftops St Mary’s Church Robinson’s brewery from Little Underbank bridge – snow

48 Viaduct from Little Underbank bridge with cars – snow

57 Railway and road viaducts from Mersey Square – snow

05 A6 viaduct people walking – snow

10 Railway viaduct with freightliner train, Transport for Wales and Northern Train – snow

24 Railway viaduct and River Mersey seen from the west – snow

30 Steam train on the viaduct (video clip recorded in 2012) merging with

35 Avanti West Coast Pendolino train Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston

38 Stockport bus station and railway viaduct

41 Shaw Heath in front of Our Lady’s Church Labour poster

43 Shaw Heath Poster with Stockport Labour Leader Elise Wilson and Andy Burnham

48 River Mersey flowing over rocks west of the viaduct

50 St Matthew’s Church Edgeley and Pennines with snow ≈

54 Lyme Hall (still photo)

57 Lyme Park trees (still photo)

59 Lyme Park trees and The Cage (still photo)

00 Lyme Park the cage and view over landscape (still photo)

02 Return to the viaduct Northern Train + Failed Tory rail privatisation

07 Bus station timelapse with 203 bus, Little Gem hybrid bus and cyclist

11 Red 199 Skyline bus leaving for Manchester Airport

14 Avanti West Coast rainbow train passing LNWR warehouse Heaton Norris

21 River Mersey and the viaduct with view towards Mersey Square St Peter’s Church

26 Steps down from Wellington Rd Sth viaduct Transport for Wales (in Arriva colours)

32 View from top of steps to viaduct and warehouses with East Midlands train 192 bus

40 The Crown Inn pub, Heaton Lane and viaduct (still photo taken 24.04.2011)

45 Lady Brook Viaduct Cheadle and Freightliner locomotive

50 Along the River Mersey East Didsbury with father son and & dog + people on path

59 Lancashire Cheshire stone Cheadle Bridge

00 Cheadle Bridge view east along the River Mersey

06 M60 motorway view east with 199 High Peak bus on its way to Manchester Airport

10 M60 motorway view east with 199 High Peak bus on its way to Manchester Airport

12 Cheadle 11 bus, pedestrians, cyclists and plane at medium altitude

21 Car view driving along Broadway, Bramhall

28 Old Woodford Recreation Ground sign with old Stockport logo

30 Woodford Recreation Ground, family playing, houses, trees and sky

40 A555 from footbridge near Woodford Recreation Ground, with sign and hills

45 Car view driving along A555 hilltop with the hills coming into view

50 A5102 Wilmslow Rd Stockport  sign tourist sign Bramall Hall Lyme Park Etherow CP

55 Bramall Hall east facade in bright sunshine with seated couple and cyclist

02 Bramall Hall west facade and moving clouds (still photo)

06 Bramall Hall door Estee Ossei capeo erte inscription appearing disappearing

10 Bramall Park Road with dog walker and passing SUV (Still photo)

12 Cyclists view riding along Carr Wood nature reserve, Bramhall

19 Bramhall Park Golf Course with trees and golf players seen from Carr Wood

24 Happy Valley plants leaves and winding footpath (still photo)

26 Bramhall village red Ferrari, Lexus and Range Rover

34 Bruntwood Park Achers, field, trees and blue sky

39 Bruntwood Park playground and eastJet Airbus

43 Davenport Fishing Lake view through trees over water and blue sky

46 Cale Green with trees, daffodils houses Hallam Mill (still image)

48 Cale Green Park long shadows dog running from right to left

54 M60 (former M63) time lapse from Junction 1 west of the viaduct

59 Stockport bus station afternoon view Stagecoach buses

04 Cringle Field (Manchester) Crossley industrial Park (Stockport)

06 Hazel Grove Torkington Park panorama shadows (still image)

09 Davenport Playing Fields sky time lapse planes at high altitude

19 Misty view from Heaton Mersey to Alderley Edge (still photo)

26 Dusk view from Heaton Mersey to Alderley Edge (still photo)

32 Misty sun Marple Ridge view over Stockport (still photo)

35 Pear Mill dusk view trees looking towards hills (still photo)

42 Heald Green near Airport Stockport sign Qatar Airways B787-8

52 Stockport Mersey Sq Plaza cinema neon lights dusk (still photo)

58 Stockport Wellington Rd Sth, Adele film camera looking at viaduct

00 Stockport railway viaduct sunset, setting sun behind the arch

08 Stockport railway viaduct timelapse of sunset through arch

13 Stockport view of the M60 motorway Viaduct Pyramid (still image)

17 Red dusk sky view west from train on the viaduct (still image0

34 M60 timelapse Wellington Rd North with viaduct, plane Avanti train
minutes and 51 seconds = 771 seconds
61 seconds average per clip or photo

Here’s the video that inspired Stockport from Dawn to Dusk

Video review: Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg World’s Biggest & Most Detailed Model Railway & Tiniest Airport

2021-02-12 By Aidan O'Rourke 3 Comments

Miniatur Wunderland is the largest model railway in the world! But it’s more than ‘just’ a model railway. It’s a scaled-down version of the world. It is located in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt, not far from the Elbphilharmonie and was founded in 2001 by twin brothers Frederik and Gerrit Braun.

Here are some statistics: there are 1040 locomotives, 280 moving cars, 390,000 lights, 263,000 miniature figures and 15,400 metres of track. The layout has an area of more than 1,499 square metres and is controlled by 50 computers.

The model world is populated by thousands of miniature figures. They are called ‘Preiserlein’ after the company that makes them, Paul M. Preiser GmbH. There are different areas: Hamburg, Scandinavia, America, Austria, Switzerland, Central Germany, Italy, Venice and the airport.

Every 15 minutes it goes dark and thousands of LEDs are switched on. The effect is beautiful. There’s no Berlin but Hamburg is proudly represented. The Elbe, the Landungsbrücken, the Hochbahn, the S-Bahn,the Hauptbahnhof, the TV tower and the Elbphilharmonie are all therre. We see the port, the ships and the Köhlbrand bridge by daylight and at night.

All models are designed to be as lifelike as possible. As in the real Sweden, the trains run on the left. In America we start in Key West and right next to it is Las Vegas. At dusk, the city looks fantastic We continue to the Grand Canyon, but there is no Chicago or New York.

The small trains come from all directions. We don’t know where they are coming from or where they are going. A few metres further and we’re in hilly Mitteldeutschland. The ICE crosses a modern railway bridge. At night, a UFO flies down from the sky. An alien hunter is waiting. Famous conspiracy theories are represented humorously. In an underground studio, for example, the moon landings are filmed.

The airport is probably the smallest commercial airport in the world. More than 40 miniature planes take off and land just like real planes. I don’t know exactly how it works. Every now and then a Star Wars spaceship or a big bee flies along the runway. The model of Venice was completed in 2018. There is also Rome, Vatican City and other regions in Italy here.

The layout is constantly being expanded. Coming soon is Provence and a working Monaco Grand Prix. Britain was due to arrive in 2020, but it seems to have gone off the radar. You can look at the workshops and take a behind-the-scenes tour.

The attraction is open 365 days a year. Millions of people have visited Miniatur Wunderland. The model world so detailed, so impressive and so realistic that you look at the real world with completely new eyes. At Miniatur Wunderland, the keyword is wonder. Here you can really learn to… bewundern – to look in wonder at our world. Soon the real world starts to look like a model, as here, the Alexanderplatz seen from the Berlin TV Tower.

Miniatur Wunderland is an expression of the European idea as not only Germany is presented, but also several European countries as well as regions on other continents.

Soon visitors will be able to walk on a new footbridge over the water into the neighbouring warehouse to see South America. The future at Miniatur Wunderland looks exciting.

More info about the video and this article

This is a new version of an older video, now in German with English subtitles.

I’m attracted to Miniatur Wunderland because I love all types of models and I love trains and all forms of transport. It fits into the AVZINE channel’s theme of cities and journeys, as a number of cities are represented in miniature size – Hamburg, Rome, Venice, Las Vegas and others, but not Berlin, New York or Chicago.

It’s also about journeys as the trains run on thousands of journeys each day. There are also ships, planes, buses, cars, vans, a UFO and a strange bee-like creature.

The music is by the amazing Bad Snacks – the Los Angeles based musician, a genius with synthesizers and the violin, which she has played since she was a child. Thanks to her as always for making her music available via the YouTube Audio Library.

There is a students’ PDF for this video with script, side by side translation and questions. It’s available to my students, or just contact me and I’ll send you a copy.

Video: Around the Manchester Airport Orbital Cycleway by electric bike

2020-11-29 By Aidan O'Rourke 1 Comment

Hello students, hello everyone! And welcome to my channel, the Audio Visual Zine. I am presenting a newer version of my video from 2019 with some extra airport scenes from 2020. It’s now in my AVZ channel format with text on screen and bilingual subtitles.

For my students, there’s a PDF file of the script with vocab and follow-up assignments. There are English and German versions, this is the English version. And do you know what this strange-looking thing is called in English?

Watch and find out! In the video we see chilling scenes of the airport in lockdown and we look back at airlines and aircraft that have sadly gone from our skies. So let’s go now to our starting point

* * * *

We’re going to cycle around Manchester Airport and our mode of transport will be an electric bike.

Our starting point is one mile or 1.6 kilometres east of the airport.

On the way we will stop at places where you can view, photograph or video the aircraft.

Now we are standing directly under the approach to runway 23R/05L (twenty-three right zero five left).

These houses were demolished due to safety regulations. This is what it looks like today.

The name Shadowmoss Road reminds me of the Shadowmoss plane crash of 1957, Manchester’s forgotten air disaster.

Today there are about 500 aircraft movements every day at Manchester Airport. Safety standards are very high.

Aircraft land from the north-east and take off towards the south-west. When the wind blows from the east, they take off towards the north-east.

The Airport Hotel is a pub, and there’s a garden where you can watch the planes taking off.

Here is my photo of an Aer Lingus A320, which I took in 2007.

With the iPhone we can photograph and video the planes through the fence.

This is what the scene looked like almost a year later, on Sunday the 2nd of May, 2020. No passengers. Planes parked. A silent airport.

Now back to May 2019.

At Terminal 3 Please note, there’s a charge for using the Drop Off Area.

And now again twelve months later. Terminal 3 was closed. There was an eerie silence.

Back to 2019

This block dates from 1962, when a new terminal was built.

The Air traffic controllers moved to a new tower in 2013.

I visited the airport as a child. The beautiful viewing terraces were closed in the 70s.

After university, I worked at Manchester Airport at the information desk. It was an exciting job.

Over the years the terminal has been extended.

The architecture of the Radisson Blu Hotel fits well into an airport

The Business Class Lounge has a great view over the apron. Behind the hedge is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines.

This is The Station, which is used by trains, trams and buses. In the Skyline there are moving walkways that are not always working.

Parking is quite expensive at Manchester Airport. The best way to get there is by public transport or use the free drop off area.

Terminal 2 is being extended. Completion is planned for 2020. When I worked here, there were only empty fields.

Right next to the airport there is an old half-timbered house.

On the way to the cargo centre I saw this handmade road sign.

SLOW SLIPPY BEND

Slippery is “slippy” in the Manchester dialect.

We are at the World Freight Terminal. This is the new control tower.

The Romper Pub is very popular among the airport staff.

The airport was named after the neighbouring village of Ringway. It is strange that the ancient name ‘Ringway’ sounds like the modern word ‘runway’.

At Runway Viewing Park you can watch the planes. Admission is free for cyclists and pedestrians.

The biggest attraction here is Concorde. You can book a Concorde tour on the website.

Here is my photo of Concorde on the 22nd of October 2003 after her final flight.

On Sundays families come here.

Over the PA there’s is even a running commentary.

We now continue along the A538 and pass a brand new petrol station.

My first car was a Triumph Spitfire. I once ran out of petrol at exactly this point!

We are between the two tunnels. The new tunnel runs under the second runway – ‘23L/05R’ two three left zero five right.

At this roundabout, we turn left.

20 years ago, environmental activists protested in the trees and under the ground against the construction of the second runway.

At that time, this road, Altrincham Rd closed.

We can continue through the National Trust’s Styal property.

The airport is just behind the trees.

We are cycling along the gravel path by the southern perimeter of the airport.

Here we can stop and watch the planes from a small hill.

Here are some archive photos. The BMI A330. BMI ceased operations in 2019. Here an American Airlines Boeing 767 in the old livery…

…and this is the new livery. Thomas Cook Airlines went into administration in September 2019. And taxiing majestically to the runway, the ‘Queen of the Skies’

Virgin Atlantic retired the last Boeing 747s from its fleet in May 2020.

The Emirates Airbus A380 is a major attraction.

This area is not officially approved as a viewing area by the National Trust.

Here Altrincham Road continues east. On both sides are houses and farms.

And here at sunset we find a field with horses. The airport lies directly behind it.

The battery still has some power, so let’s continue. Here on the left we see the mock-up aircraft of the airport fire services.

At the end of this road, we turn left into Styal Road and soon we are back at our starting point.

We have covered a distance of 7.5 miles or 12 km.

This video was recorded and edited on the iPhone. I also used a Panasonic TZ70.

Finally a sunset over the A555, which I captured a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, my electric bike became unserviceable – kaputt in plain language – and I had to retire it. But now I have a new bike, it’s a Brompton B75! It’s fantastic.

So, what effect will the Corona crisis have on the airline industry? That’s difficult to say. Many thanks for watching the video and/or reading this article.

The amazing history of Gander Airport, a visual Podcast

2020-09-23 By Aidan O'Rourke 1 Comment

Article and Visual Podcast in English and German versions

CLICK TO TO GO TO THE GERMAN VERSION

Why was the airport that was once the biggest in the world built in the middle of a wilderness? The answer is actually quite simple.

Gander International Airport is situated on the island of Newfoundland in the north-east of Canada

The airport was built in the 1930s north of Gander Lake around 60 km west of the coast which is often fog-bound. There was also a railway line there.

The range of the aircraft of that time was insufficient for direct flights between Europe and North America. They had to make an intermediate stop and refuel.

Gander and also the Irish airport Shannon became important springboards across the Atlantic. Both airports lie on the route between north-west Europe and north-east America, the shortest connection between the two continents.

Building work began in June 1936. At that time, Newfoundland was a self-governing British Dominion. The town of Gander was built to house the building workers and airport employees.

The first aircraft landed on the 11th of January 1938. In November of the same year operations began. Four paved runways were built, the longest named 03/21, with a length of 10,200 feet or 3109 metres.

After it opened, Gander quickly became biggest airport in the world. In the Second World War, the Gander station of the Royal Canadian Air Force was of great strategic importance.

On the 10th of November 1940 seven American military aircraft departed on a test flight from Gander to Belfast. All seven landed there safely.

After that, more than 20,000 fighter planes flew from the USA to Europe, with a refuelling stop in Gander. Supplies were brought to Britain and to the European front.

Approximately 20,000 people from the U.S. Air Force lived around the airbase.

After the war the local authorities regained responsibility for the airport and it wasn’t long until civilian aviation started.

At that time flying was risky. The strict safety standards of today did not exist.
Despite the risks, more and more people wanted to fly. Soon the big propeller airliners of BOAC, Pan Am and TWA were making the flight across the Atlantic.

At that time the journey from London to New York could take up to 18 hours.

Gander became the hub of commercial aviation ‘Crossroads of the World’ was the slogan.

In the 1950s, 13,000 aircraft carrying 25,000 passengers landed and took off every year at Gander airport.

The passengers at this time were often privileged people, such as film stars and leading politicians.

In the boom years, the rich and famous came into the improvised departure lounge, where they drank cocktails and were photographed. Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor and Winston Churchill were visitors to Gander.

On the 29th of June, 1959 a new terminal was opened by the Queen, but the boom years were to end soon. The DC4s, Stratocruisers and Constellations of the 40s and 50s soon became outmoded.
The Boeing 707 revolutionised transatlantic air travel.

This jet aircraft had a range of 8000 kilometres and could cross the Atlantic direct from London to New York in only eight hours.

And so traffic at Gander decreased rapidly during the 1960s, but the airport was still important for military purposes.

In 1964 Jack James became Airport General Manager. He didn’t just work here, he lived here. The airport was his life and he devoted himself to the commercial success of Gander.

In the late 60s, he targeted the Eastern Block countries. Their Tupolevs and Ilyushins used too much fuel for longer flights.

Soviet Union stamp – IL 62 aircraft (public domain)

They flew regularly back and forth to Communist Cuba. Aircraft belonging to Aeroflot and the GDR airline Interflug became regular visitors to Gander.

Aeroflot came with around 60 flights per week. The crews were stationed at Gander. The Eastern Block airlines opened offices at the airport or in Gander.

Eastern Block heads of state such as Brezhnev and Honecker were personally welcomed by the airport director. Fidel Castro had his first ‘winter wonderland’ when as a guest of the airport management, he rode a toboggan in the snow.

Communist rulers were the new VIPs at the airport but their subjects saw an opportunity to escape.

After landing, the passengers always came into the terminal while the plane was being refuelled.

The waiting area did not officially belong to Canada, but if a passenger wanted to stay in Canada it was possible.

He or she could go to a member of the security staff and simply say the words ‘Save me’. That meant that the person was asking for political asylum.

From that moment on they were accepted by the Canadian authorities. The security police of the Communist country they had come from could do nothing.

In the documentary film ‘Gander, the airport in the middle of nowhere’ by Roland May, Wolfgang Jörn from Neubukow in the GDR describes how he and his girlfriend of that time flew from Berlin Schönefeld to Cuba.

They had however already decided that they would not be returning to their socialist fatherland.

He describes how, on the return flight, he got off the Interflug plane in Gander and came into the waiting hall. He had brought his bag with him from the aircraft.

His girlfriend went to the security guard and said ‘Save me’.

Thankfully, he and his girlfriend were successful.

He still lives near Toronto and in 2018 he went back to his home town for the first time in thirty years.

When at the beginning of the 1990s, the end of Communism came the Eastern Block airlines had to close their offices. It was a sad time for colleagues on both sides.

The plane is the safest form of transport. We know that. The last major air crash near Gander happened in the 1980s.

On the 12th of December, 1985, a chartered Douglas DC-8 of the airline Arrow Air made a refuelling stop in Gander. It was bringing US solders who had been on a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

After take-off, the plane got into a stall and crashed. All 256 people on board were killed.

Presumed cause: Ice on the wings. Two other serious accidents took place near Gander: A Czechoslovak Ilyushin 18 in 1968 and a Sabena DC4 in 1946.

In the 1990s fewer and fewer International airlines came to Gander Airport. Its future seemed uncertain until in the north-east of the USA an unimaginable tragedy caused a crisis.

On the 11th of September 2001 after the terrorist attacks, 39 aircraft were diverted to Gander. 6122 passengers and 473 crew were stranded there and had to wait many hours in their aircraft.

Then the passengers were welcomed by the 10,000 inhabitants of the town of Gander. They were treated like members of the family. The guests and their hosts became close friends. When the time came to fly on, many parted with tears in their eyes.

In recognition of this, Lufthansa named its new Airbus 340 Gander/Halifax in 2002.

Nowadays not many aircraft land at Gander but at a height of 30,000 feet and above, around 1500 aircraft overfly Newfoundland on a normal day.

The control centre of the Canadian air traffic control for Canada and the North Atlantic, Nav Canada, is situated not far from the airport and is an important employer in the area.

Gander airport today is an airport for small passenger aircraft, private jets, regional airlines, freighters and military aircraft.

There’s an important flying school here: Gander Flight Training. It dates back to the year 1992, when its founder Patrick White bought a Cessna 150 and began as a flying instructor.

Today the school offers a wide range of flying courses. Students come from Canada and abroad to do their pilot training here.

With its long tradition in aviation, Gander is a place with a passion for flight. The people here are fascinated by planes and flying.

That makes Gander an ideal place for flight training. Newfoundland is a cold and often wet place with snow, ice and wind. Many people all over the world say, if you have learned to fly here, you can fly anywhere in the world.

But Gander like its sister airport Shannon, also has an important role as an emergency landing site for aircraft that get into difficulties over the Atlantic.

The coronavirus of 2020 brought new challenges for Gander and all other airports.

Gander International Airport has seen many highs and lows in the past.

Hopefully as the time moves on for this historic and remarkable airport, its future will remain secure.

CLICK TO TO GO TO THE GERMAN VERSION