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 Experiences of Air Travel

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Felipebaby
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Felipebaby


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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeTue Mar 10, 2015 8:07 pm



Once we had settled into the flight, after a couple of hours we got bored. We could see the pilots up front (they were raised relative to the cargo floor) and ever few moments we could see the pilot's hand drop down to the elevator trim wheel to keep the plane level. So all of us (about a dozen) slowly moved to the very back. We could see the pilots hand adjusting this change in trim. After a few moments, we all migrated to the front, and sure enough, the pilot's hand went down again, and he moved the wheel to keep us level and at the same altitude. What is important to remember is that the pilot was performing this act mechanically, without thought. We migrated to the back, and sniggered as we saw his hand moving the trim wheel. This went on about a half-dozen times, then suddenly the pilot realized what was going on, looked back and saw all of us standing at the very rear, grinning like fools. He nodded his head, went forward on the yoke, then pulled back hard. I've never been bounced off the ceiling of an aircraft.

Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Dhc11-115460[/quote]

lol! great story , thanks
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Penn
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Penn


Age : 75
Location : Probably

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeFri Mar 20, 2015 2:59 pm

The news of Qantas retiring its first 747-400 - VH-OJA - brought back lots of memories of the mighty 747 over, now, some 46 years. Having visited my homeland zillions of times over the last 42 years, I have spent many, many hours in this wonderful aircraft type.

Here’s my list. How about yours?

• The first awareness of it I recall is the PanAm TVC from 1969. I recalled the slogan “All the room in the world” and that enabled me to find this ad on YouTube. The ad must have run in British television because I was still living there then.



My friend since childhood, Ron, became a BA electrical engineer and visited me soon after my arrival in Sydney, about January 1973. Lovely bloke, Ron, but with a slight tendency to see the less optimistic side of life. When I delivered him to Kingsford Smith for his return flight, we both noticed something like four tail fins of British Airways 747s, peeping above the terminal building. As we got closer, we were able to make out the registration numbers right at the top of the fins. “Oh no,” intoned Ron, “there’s Golf Tango (I’ve invented the actuals serials), that's a piece of crap.” Then, “Lima Yankee… I worked on that two weeks ago. It shouldn’t be in the air.” On and one. Poor Ron. One of them got him home perfectly safely. A bit too much knowledge a dangerous thing mebbe??

• Ron and I talked, some time later, about the Turkish Airlines DC10 crash in Paris. Faulty cargo door latch design, as you’ll recall severing control cables. Ron reckoned the 747 was similarly flawed. Was he being gloomy again? I reckon he was.

Then there was my landing at Sydney Airport on November 11 (or 12, I can’t exactly recall) 1975. My new wife and I had spent 6 months in Blighty visiting her new in-laws and as we approached Heathrow in my Dad’s Morris Marina for the tearful departure, we had one of those “We interrupt this broadcast for a newsflash” moments on the car radio. It was, of course, the announcement, that The Whitlam Government had been dismissed. So as we were on descent for Sydney, some 26 hours later, we wondered whether there would be troops on the runway. Seems a surreal thought now, but I assure you the rumour mill was in full sing all the way back to Oz.

One snowy night in Denver Colorado, sat in a window seat just ahead in the landing lights… there’d been a big delay as aircraft queued up for de-icing prior to take-off. On the take-off run flurries of snow and slush everywhere. Some attached itself to the lights and gave a dirty, flickering orange glow around the wing below me. For a while it looked like a fire but soon, we cleared the airfield, gear up and all was well. As ever.

Yet another visit to Blighty in the mid 90's to visit my parents. I was booked on British Airways and the routing was Adelaide > Melbourne > Kuala Lumpur > London.

Normally, the aircraft arrived in Adelaide from KL and then proceeded Melbourne for refuelling, reprovisioning and new crew. However, on this day, the weather was poor across southern Australia and Adelaide was fogbound when it was due to arrive. Consequently, it diverted to Melbourne (Tullamarine), loaded the KL passengers and then stopped at Adelaide for a direct flight to KL. Arse about in other words.

The problem with this was that at the time, the main runway at Adelaide (shorter then, subsequently extended to take heavies fully loaded) was very marginal for a 747 to take off loaded with fuel for a long hop such as KL. When I got to the airport the weather was filthy. Heavy rain and a very low cloud base around 400ft. Looking out of the terminal window at departing aircraft, they became a ball of spray and for all intents invisible well before rotating.

I must confess to being a bit interested in what might happen. I didn't share my concern with my wife or daughter.

The takeoff roll started and it seemed slow. We rolled and rolled. The rain was hard and I know from my gliding that a wing loses a lot of lift when covered in water. You have to factor it in when selecting approach speed. I have taken off from Adelaide hundreds of times and I saw bits of the main runway from ground level I hadn't seen before. Finally, rotation and an oh-so-sluggish lift off just before the threshold and Tapleys Hill Road which ran past the airport. (Remember that road name). We stayed lowish over the sea for longer than usual, picking up speed. Finally we climbed away and inevitably, popped out into clear sunlight at some height or other. 15,000ft?

So all was well.

Fast forward two months or so. I was due to pick up a mate and his wife returning from overseas and when I got there, he asked if I could squeeze into the car another couple (and their luggage!!!) who they'd flown back from London with. Turns out the guy was the then British Airways Adelaide Manager. I happened to mention my rainy day takeoff.

"Wow!", he says, "Were you on THAT flight?"

He went on to explain that the weight of the aircraft combined with the heavy rain and the shortish runway was too rich for the BA staff and crew in Adelaide to commit to a go. So they sent a request to BA Engineering in Heathrow. They had to include all the relevant parameters including temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, a/c weight and certain readouts from the aircraft etc etc.

Finally, they got a fax back from Heathrow clearing them for takeoff but apparently the fax included the words, "Let's just hope there are no big trucks coming down Tapleys Hill Road when you're lifting off."  

The delightful flight to the UK with my then 8 year old daughter in the ‘bubble’. Hard to recall that there were economy seats up there for a while.

On the flight deck of a MAS 747-400. This was a trip to Malaysia for the 2000 Malaysian GP. Before departure from Tullarmarine I’d requested a visit to the flight deck. (for the young ‘uns here, this was before some devout religious people put a permanent end to such fripperies on September 11 2001.) I was was called up just as we were passing over Broome in Western Australia. The captain was a delight and we got on like a house of fire. I stayed for half an hour or so and then I took my leave before overstaying my welcome. Just as I grasped the handle of the door, the captain asked if I would lie to return for the landing. Is the Pope a Catholic? I returned just as we were abeam of Singapore. Clear night and beautiful visibility. He explained the procedures and we descended for KL. Showed me a screen with two races. One, his ‘target’ descent rate, the other his actual descent. Having by now set the flaps and throttles, he controlled his ‘over and under’ with a lever on the floor down by his right hip. I was in the jumpseat with earphones and mike. I guessed he was operating air brakes to modify the rate of descent. He confirmed as much and I told him that was exactly how we controlled the descent upon turning finals in the glider. Select and aiming point, leave the elevator, ailerons and rudder alone (in an ideal world) and slightly crack there air brakes to control the descent. We had a laugh about the similarity. As we approached the ground I discovered how the pilot knows then the main gear is about to connect with the plant again and, a few minutes later, how the pilot cows precisely when to stop so that the forward door matches up with the airbridge. As we’d taxied in, the captain parts the instrument binnacle as you do with a car dashboard and repeated how much he loved the 747. I very much agreed.

As it’s turned out my last trip in a 747 was in November 2010. I was supposed to go on their A380 but I guess we all recall the Singapore incident. So a 747 one more time.

Finally, I had assumed the 747 was well and truly out of production but upon checking with Wikipedia, I see the 747-8 currently has three orders and two deliveries down for 2015.

Sorry this has been so long.
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Penn
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Penn


Age : 75
Location : Probably

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeFri Mar 20, 2015 3:06 pm

Penn wrote:
The news of Qantas retiring its first 747-400 - VH-OJA - brought back lots of memories of the mighty 747 over, now, some 46 years. Having visited my homeland zillions of times over the last 42 years, I have spent many, many hours in this wonderful aircraft type.

Here’s my list. How about yours?

• The first awareness of it I recall is the PanAm TVC from 1969. I recalled the slogan “All the room in the world” and that enabled me to find this ad on YouTube. The ad must have run in British television because I was still living there then.



My friend since childhood, Ron, became a BA electrical engineer and visited me soon after my arrival in Sydney, about January 1973. Lovely bloke, Ron, but with a slight tendency to see the less optimistic side of life. When I delivered him to Kingsford Smith for his return flight, we both noticed something like four tail fins of British Airways 747s, peeping above the terminal building. As we got closer, we were able to make out the registration numbers right at the top of the fins. “Oh no,” intoned Ron, “there’s Golf Tango (I’ve invented the actuals serials), that's a piece of crap.” Then, “Lima Yankee… I worked on that two weeks ago. It shouldn’t be in the air.” On and one. Poor Ron. One of them got him home perfectly safely. A bit too much knowledge a dangerous thing mebbe??

• Ron and I talked, some time later, about the Turkish Airlines DC10 crash in Paris. Faulty cargo door latch design, as you’ll recall severing control cables. Ron reckoned the 747 was similarly flawed. Was he being gloomy again? I reckon he was.

Then there was my landing at Sydney Airport on November 11 (or 12, I can’t exactly recall) 1975. My new wife and I had spent 6 months in Blighty visiting her new in-laws and as we approached Heathrow in my Dad’s Morris Marina for the tearful departure, we had one of those “We interrupt this broadcast for a newsflash” moments on the car radio. It was, of course, the announcement, that The Whitlam Government had been dismissed. So as we were on descent for Sydney, some 26 hours later, we wondered whether there would be troops on the runway. Seems a surreal thought now, but I assure you the rumour mill was in full sing all the way back to Oz.

One snowy night in Denver Colorado, sat in a window seat just ahead in the landing lights… there’d been a big delay as aircraft queued up for de-icing prior to take-off. On the take-off run flurries of snow and slush everywhere. Some attached itself to the lights and gave a dirty, flickering orange glow around the wing below me. For a while it looked like a fire but soon, we cleared the airfield, gear up and all was well. As ever.

Yet another visit to Blighty in the mid 90's to visit my parents. I was booked on British Airways and the routing was Adelaide > Melbourne > Kuala Lumpur > London.

Normally, the aircraft arrived in Adelaide from KL and then proceeded Melbourne for refuelling, reprovisioning and new crew. However, on this day, the weather was poor across southern Australia and Adelaide was fogbound when it was due to arrive. Consequently, it diverted to Melbourne (Tullamarine), loaded the KL passengers and then stopped at Adelaide for a direct flight to KL. Arse about in other words.

The problem with this was that at the time, the main runway at Adelaide (shorter then, subsequently extended to take heavies fully loaded) was very marginal for a 747 to take off loaded with fuel for a long hop such as KL. When I got to the airport the weather was filthy. Heavy rain and a very low cloud base around 400ft. Looking out of the terminal window at departing aircraft, they became a ball of spray and for all intents invisible well before rotating.

I must confess to being a bit interested in what might happen. I didn't share my concern with my wife or daughter.

The takeoff roll started and it seemed slow. We rolled and rolled. The rain was hard and I know from my gliding that a wing loses a lot of lift when covered in water. You have to factor it in when selecting approach speed. I have taken off from Adelaide hundreds of times and I saw bits of the main runway from ground level I hadn't seen before. Finally, rotation and an oh-so-sluggish lift off just before the threshold and Tapleys Hill Road which ran past the airport. (Remember that road name). We stayed lowish over the sea for longer than usual, picking up speed. Finally we climbed away and inevitably, popped out into clear sunlight at some height or other. 15,000ft?

So all was well.

Fast forward two months or so. I was due to pick up a mate and his wife returning from overseas and when I got there, he asked if I could squeeze into the car another couple (and their luggage!!!) who they'd flown back from London with. Turns out the guy was the then British Airways Adelaide Manager. I happened to mention my rainy day takeoff.

"Wow!", he says, "Were you on THAT flight?"

He went on to explain that the weight of the aircraft combined with the heavy rain and the shortish runway was too rich for the BA staff and crew in Adelaide to commit to a go. So they sent a request to BA Engineering in Heathrow. They had to include all the relevant parameters including temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, a/c weight and certain readouts from the aircraft etc etc.

Finally, they got a fax back from Heathrow clearing them for takeoff but apparently the fax included the words, "Let's just hope there are no big trucks coming down Tapleys Hill Road when you're lifting off."  

The delightful flight to the UK with my then 8 year old daughter in the ‘bubble’. Hard to recall that there were economy seats up there for a while.

On the flight deck of a MAS 747-400. This was a trip to Malaysia for the 2000 Malaysian GP. Before departure from Tullarmarine I’d requested a visit to the flight deck. (for the young ‘uns here, this was before some devout religious people put a permanent end to such fripperies on September 11 2001.) I was was called up just as we were passing over Broome in Western Australia. The captain was a delight and we got on like a house of fire. I stayed for half an hour or so and then I took my leave before overstaying my welcome. Just as I grasped the handle of the door, the captain asked if I would lie to return for the landing. Is the Pope a Catholic? I returned just as we were abeam of Singapore. Clear night and beautiful visibility. He explained the procedures and we descended for KL. Showed me a screen with two races. One, his ‘target’ descent rate, the other his actual descent. Having by now set the flaps and throttles, he controlled his ‘over and under’ with a lever on the floor down by his right hip. I was in the jumpseat with earphones and mike. I guessed he was operating air brakes to modify the rate of descent. He confirmed as much and I told him that was exactly how we controlled the descent upon turning finals in the glider. Select and aiming point, leave the elevator, ailerons and rudder alone (in an ideal world) and slightly crack there air brakes to control the descent. We had a laugh about the similarity. As we approached the ground I discovered how the pilot knows then the main gear is about to connect with the plant again and, a few minutes later, how the pilot cows precisely when to stop so that the forward door matches up with the airbridge. As we’d taxied in, the captain parts the instrument binnacle as you do with a car dashboard and repeated how much he loved the 747. I very much agreed.

As it’s turned out my last trip in a 747 was in November 2010. I was supposed to go on their A380 but I guess we all recall the Singapore incident. So a 747 one more time.

Finally, I had assumed the 747 was well and truly out of production but upon checking with Wikipedia, I see the 747-8 currently has three orders and two deliveries down for 2015.

Sorry this has been so long.
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Penn
Admin
Penn


Age : 75
Location : Probably

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeWed Apr 22, 2015 5:55 pm



Any old buggers hereabouts remember Look at Life films Rank used to run in cinemas?

Enjoy this. Plenty of motoring ones too. Just go to YouTube and search Look at Life.
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Paul
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Paul


Age : 73
Location : ChavLand

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeWed Apr 22, 2015 8:53 pm

Cool stuff mate. Jees is there anything that isn't on youtube Very Happy
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Penn
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Penn


Age : 75
Location : Probably

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeMon Jul 27, 2015 7:19 pm

One leg (LHR-DBX) of our recent foray to the top half of the planet was my first time in an A380. Must say, it was the best accommodation for this 6' 2"-er in cattle class I've ever experienced. Thumb Up
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Blinky McSquinty

Blinky McSquinty


Age : 73

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeTue Jul 28, 2015 4:43 am

Back in my military days I had spent my holidays in Ottawa, but had to return to British Columbia. The military was cool, all you needed was your papers to catch a flight (if there were any empty seats). So I went to the military airport in Ottawa and inquired if there were any west-bound flights I could get on. I was informed there was only one, and it was just going to Trenton, a return from a VIP flight. But the cool part was that it was a brand new Falcon 20, dedicated to nothing but VIP flights.

Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 117506-Trenton-June-1972-0002

First thing you realize is that there is no headroom inside, it's four feet f--k-all. But once seated in the luxury chairs, pure comfort. Since it was a very short hop for this type of aircraft (barely over 30 minutes) we didn't climb to altitude, just flew under 5,000 feet and enjoyed the many lakes and scenery. Now it got interesting, this little hot-rod does not act like a big stable airliner. On approach were encountered a lot of turbulence, and if there had been VIP's on board, it would not have been attempted. But it was fun, the aircraft was bucking and rolling quite dramatically until touchdown.
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Paul
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Paul


Age : 73
Location : ChavLand

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PostSubject: Re: Experiences of Air Travel   Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Icon_minitimeTue Jul 28, 2015 7:39 am

COOOL Cool

No such fancy stuff for me . The coolest flight I ever took was prancing about California in one of these:-
-
Experiences of Air Travel - Page 2 Beautiful-StearmanSepia
-
I don't want to fly in an A380, because the cockpit is a couple of keyboards and play station like joysticks Shocked
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