May 20, 1976 - 50 years ago, arrival at Orly of F-WTSA - Part 1

When SA ended its active life after the last two test flights

Flight 312, January 27, 1976, Toulouse/Toulouse. Flight time: 3 hours 39 minutes.

Crew:

• André TURCAT

• Jean PINET

• Yves PINGRET

And the 313th flight on January 27, 1976, Toulouse/Toulouse. Flight time: 2 hours 22 minutes.

Crew:

• Jean FRANCHI

• Gilbert DEFER

Yves PINGRET, for whom this was his last and 158th flight on the F-WTSA.

The entire test equipment and the rear cabin will be dismantled, and the aircraft will be placed in storage at the Aérospatiale facility.

During his last visit to the Delta Museum, Mr. Pingret took out of his wallet a small piece of paper containing the takeoff parameters from his last flight.

He told us that it had been his lucky charm, after the Concorde, throughout his career as an A300 instructor for Asian clients and as an ATR42 test pilot with Gilbert Defer.

And, ever modest, he added, "Its place is now in the SA, and may it continue to bring him good luck forever..."

And then comes that final flight which will take SA  to his final destination.

Flight 314, May 20, 1976, Toulouse/Orly. Flight time: 1 hour 7 minutes.

Crew:

• Jean FRANCHI

• Gilbert DEFER

• Ugo VENCERUTTI

• Claude DURANT

Now let's talk a little about what happens next before its arrival at Orly.

As we mentioned earlier, a fire broke out in Woody on September 21, 1975, making visits impossible.

After an expert assessment, the damage was valued at over 800,000.00 francs.

Replacing WOODY became necessary given that guided visits generated revenue of 240,000.00Fr during the first 8 months of the year.

His replacement is being considered quickly.

As this interesting message from the director of Bureau Veritas, probably addressed to Mr. Gilbert DREYFUS, director general of ADP (from 1971 to 1981), shows, yet another proof of visionary decisions. (Archives Groupe ADP) DR

To make reading easier, here is the text and its translation for readers in the language of Shakespeare

My dear,

The 02 will indeed soon end its (very) glorious career, within a month at the most.

Your idea seems excellent because it is destined for scrap metal otherwise…

I think the matter can be addressed with I.G. Georget (DTCA). I ​​am available to discuss your approach.

Best regards

Guided tours were of great interest to visitors at Orly Airport and generated significant revenue, ADP's management decided to invest in purchasing and refurbishing the aircraft for use in flights to Orly.

The archives reveal exchanges related to this operation.

Here is just a small excerpt from a long telex.

Negotiations continued smoothly, ultimately leading to this final flight, which, while a bit bumpy on arrival, « went well ».

Here are the images we found in our archives of the aircraft's arrival at Air France Maintenance Depot for the continuation of the initially planned work, which we will describe in Part 2.

At 17h00 the reactors are shut down for the last time after 656 hours of flight.

We see Messrs. DEFER with their backs turned, FRANCHI andDETERVILLE facing us; for the 3rst two the work has been well done; for the third, it is now that everything begins to set up the SA in the P7parking lot which we will present to you in part 2.

To be continued…