Dyson Family of Worcestershire
© Jeff Dyson - November 2006
The closest I got to the real thing was a fully laden 747 on take off lost one engine just as it was leaving the ground, too late to abort. It just cleared the boundary fence and then disappeared from view. At this point the ground falls away and the aircraft was lost from view. I was convinced that it had crashed but it remained in the air. Even before the aircraft had crossed the airport boundary it was beginning to ‘dump its fuel load’. It made height slowly and just cleared the hills out towards Horsham. It then spent about an hour circling over the coast losing its fuel before returning to land as a full emergency being followed down the runway by the Airport Fire Service. I am pleased to report it got down safely, but there were branches from trees stuck in its undercarriage where it had only just stayed in the air. The second pilot on this occasion was a lady and her control under pressure was marvellous, listening to her conversations with the Tower as the crisis developed was something to behold.
Eventually I negotiated my return to East Grinstead to work out my time, in the force. But my experience was again called upon this time updating the major incident planning and training for the Division. After all, aircraft rarely crash on a airport, it is on approach or takeoff that an accident occurs and which ever direction is being used at Gatwick they must fly over East Grinstead! Being surrounded by narrow country lanes and thick Wealden clay access to the rural areas of the Division is all but impossible for long periods of the year. Lets hope they just keep on flying.
In June of 1991 I retired from Sussex Police after 30 years enjoyable service. However I still had a mortgage to pay so I commenced work with Mid Sussex District Council as a Planning Enforcement Officer, or Investigation Officer as it later became. I was responsible for investigating complaints from members of the public regarding compliance or non compliance with planning permissions and the adherence of conditions imposed by such permissions. My role was to negotiate compliance and on the few occasions when this could not be achieved take the necessary court action to ensure compliance. After a further ten years work I finally retired.
Having dealt with my working life I will turn the clock back to our move to East Grinstead in 1978. On my return home from work my wife advised me that she had had me elected as Treasurer to the Scout Group that our son had joined Cubs, she also being a member of the executive committee. So began our work with scouting in East Grinstead. The Group our son had joined was newly formed and did not have a Scout Troop, which he would shortly need to join. We both agreed to assist in the running of the new troop, but not become the Leader. As a result we were recruited to join another Troop as Assistant Leaders to gain experience whilst a Scout Leader could be recruited. A fine idea in theory but not in practice as the Scout Leader we had joined developed cancer and suddenly died and we were left running the troop. I became the Scout Leader with my wife as my Assistant.
We enjoyed the experience and obviously got it right as numbers grew and we enlarged the leader team. The troop was an Air Scout Troop and with my connections at Gatwick we were able to arrange several visits and procure assistance from qualified instructors. As a result after a few years we were able to gain RAF Recognition for the Group which further enhanced our training equipment, visits and it secured air experience flights in both gliders and aircraft.
Eventually I negotiated my return to East Grinstead to work out my time, in the force. But my experience was again called upon this time updating the major incident planning and training for the Division. After all, aircraft rarely crash on a airport, it is on approach or takeoff that an accident occurs and which ever direction is being used at Gatwick they must fly over East Grinstead! Being surrounded by narrow country lanes and thick Wealden clay access to the rural areas of the Division is all but impossible for long periods of the year. Lets hope they just keep on flying.
In June of 1991 I retired from Sussex Police after 30 years enjoyable service. However I still had a mortgage to pay so I commenced work with Mid Sussex District Council as a Planning Enforcement Officer, or Investigation Officer as it later became. I was responsible for investigating complaints from members of the public regarding compliance or non compliance with planning permissions and the adherence of conditions imposed by such permissions. My role was to negotiate compliance and on the few occasions when this could not be achieved take the necessary court action to ensure compliance. After a further ten years work I finally retired.
Having dealt with my working life I will turn the clock back to our move to East Grinstead in 1978. On my return home from work my wife advised me that she had had me elected as Treasurer to the Scout Group that our son had joined Cubs, she also being a member of the executive committee. So began our work with scouting in East Grinstead. The Group our son had joined was newly formed and did not have a Scout Troop, which he would shortly need to join. We both agreed to assist in the running of the new troop, but not become the Leader. As a result we were recruited to join another Troop as Assistant Leaders to gain experience whilst a Scout Leader could be recruited. A fine idea in theory but not in practice as the Scout Leader we had joined developed cancer and suddenly died and we were left running the troop. I became the Scout Leader with my wife as my Assistant.
We enjoyed the experience and obviously got it right as numbers grew and we enlarged the leader team. The troop was an Air Scout Troop and with my connections at Gatwick we were able to arrange several visits and procure assistance from qualified instructors. As a result after a few years we were able to gain RAF Recognition for the Group which further enhanced our training equipment, visits and it secured air experience flights in both gliders and aircraft.