SUE BUNDY - DAN AIR REMEMBERED

Sue joined the company in March 1972 and started flying in July 1972. Although she would have been delighted flying back and forth to Jersey  she was thrilled to be offered a position flying on the company's 707. This meant that she was able to see the whole World. It was a dream come true for her and she was able to crew on the airline's famous 'Haj' flights that took Muslim followers on their pilgrimage flights to Mecca. After the long haul flights were dropped Sue worked on the European routes flying on Comets (that she loved) and 727 (Which she didn't) She says "The Comet was exhilarating. It performed so well. You felt very safe on board because everything was backed up by four back up systems. Although it was a bloody nightmare really, it was such hard work with no technology having to lug bar carts and things manually in fact everything had to be done manually. But I loved it. It was in many ways an old wreck but you still felt very safe on board it, and I loved it. (Continues below)

The 727s I didn't like I don't know why, maybe it was because they had so many people on them, but I just didn't"  Later Sue went on to crew the 1-11 fleet which she enjoyed, although the idea of flying doubles to Dusseldorf and Cologne were beginning to take their toll on Sue's mind and outlook on flying. "I was beginning to be brain dead with it all and I needed to do something else. But I didn't want to leave the company. Dan Air was a fantastic company to work for. Everyone was on first name terms and no one was just a number. It meant such a lot to us and I loved the company. Eventually I was offered the chance to train as a technical controller on the engineering division at Gatwick. I was the only girl there amongst 400 fella's so that was great! I was the first female to have the job so I felt proud of that. I handled all aircraft types that the company flew and third party work to other airlines. It was completely different and challenging and after eight years flying it was important to have a new challenge. I stayed with Dan until the end in 1992 and when British Airways swallowed us up I was heartbroken, of course I felt BA treated us badly and it was a diabolical time, but I got over it. I am in Spain now. We have been here four years and life is great."