St. Helena in the South Atlantic is getting some new aircraft visiting thanks to the pandemic. First a Titan Airways Airbus A318 landed there (the pilots also took video from the cockpit!) and now the first Boeing 757 landing has taken place.
The Boeing 757 is the largest plane to land at the remote airport. Apparently the fire truck at the facility even received new tyres for the event, just in case it was needed!
The First Boeing 757 Landing Video
Titan Airways are responsible for the first Boeing 757 landing. The charter flight brought in 51 passengers, mainly from the UK, with 12 from Ascension Island. Pleasingly, the local people went out to film the arrival on 30 July 2020.
This video runs for about eight minutes. Why so long? The following morning, pilot training took place, with the aircraft conducting training circuits. You can see a take-off with a tail wind, as well as a planned missed approach.
You can read the full story of the landing and the video on the blog What The Saints Did Next. The people doing the photos and video were allowed airside by the airport to capture things properly, which is a spotters dream really.
With the last scheduled flight to HLE being on 21 March 2020, the island is pretty isolated again. Perhaps someday they will get their dream of a regular service to the UK. If they do, I know I’ll be visiting quick smart!
Overall Thoughts
The first Boeing 757 landing at St. Helena is a bit of an event. I daresay it would have been a great experience for the Titan Airways pilots and cabin crew as well, even if they did have to be quarantined on arrival along with the passengers.
There’s a nice 45 minute documentary about St. Helena Airport on YouTube that is worth checking out too. It looks like a great place to visit, so it’s definitely on my bucket list!
Have you ever been to St. Helena? What did you think of the excellent first Boeing 757 landing and training video? Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image is a still from the video by What The Saints Did Next.
why was it the first time??? for the 757 ??
St. Helena is so remote it was only being served a couple of times a week by Airlink in South Africa using Embraer E190s. No other airline serves the airport. An Airbus A318 visited for a COVID charter, and now a Boeing 757 has arrived on another COVID charter. Other aircraft that have been there are the Boeing 737-800 and Avro RJ85. It’s just not a busy airport, but it is also the only way to get there. You used to access the island by ship only until the airport opened in 2016. Commercial flights only started in 2017.
Totally awesome!
Completely agree 🙂