It’s end of high life after 44 years in the jet set
WhEN she first took to the skies she didn’t realise that she would be in her new job for the long haul.
But Charmaine McCall-hagan, who became one of the UK’s longest-serving cabin crew members, has touched down after her final flight following a career spanning 44 years.
the 65-year-old, of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, retired after a Loganair service from shetland to Edinburgh landed last Friday.
she began her career in 1973 at the age of 21 with British Airways with her first job to Belfast.
her aviation career was mostly spent in scotland, apart from six years when she worked with British Airways’s long-haul fleet travelling to destinations in the Us and Africa.
the mother-of-two has looked after many well-known passengers including George Best, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne.
she joined Loganair in 2011 and the scottish regional airline marked her farewell with an informal ceremony in sumburgh Airport’s departure lounge then announced to passengers it would be her final flight.
Mrs McCall-hagan said: ‘i’ve had a fantastic career and when you think about it i can’t go on forever – i must be the oldest stewardess in Britain. i’m just embarrassed about all the fuss. i’ve had a great time from start to finish.
‘We own a boat in Largs so i could be swapping the skies for the ocean.’ it was on the Belfast route that she met her husband, now retired pilot Captain Bill hagan, who hit the headlines for saving the lives of 400 passengers after a hijacking attempt on a Boeing 747 bound for Nairobi in 2000.
A male Kenyan passenger stormed the flight deck, sending the jet into a 10,000ft nosedive, with Mr hagan having to resort to sticking his finger in the hijacker’s eye in the struggle.
Mrs McCall-hagan said: ‘i was on board with the children and Bill was flying the aircraft. Afterwards we said it was like winning the lottery because we survived it.’ Mr hagan said of the incident: ‘A few days before we were on the aircraft i had been talking to my young son, as he was then, and he asked what you would do to fight off a shark if you were attacked by one.
‘i said i had been told that if you stick your finger in its eye it might break off its attack, and it was just at the time as we were going down that i got the inspiration to gouge him with my finger.’
Jonathan hinkles, Loganair’s managing director said: ‘Congratulations to Charmaine on her well-deserved retirement.’