No hard landings anymore? I think there may be a little irony going on there Michael... As a reasonably frequent flyer over the last two or three years the only hard landings I've had were with FR (one in particular was an absolute belter).
I've only flown with FR once. Felt I had to try it one time.,
Nice windy day at DUB. Gusting over 40 from the south. Everything was delayed. Even our FR flight pushed back 1 hour late.
We taxied out to RW28, the aircraft rocking and rolling in the strong wind.
Lined up, and away we went.
Got airborne with no drama, and you could hear sighs of relief from all around.
The turbulence was still bad, but we'd be through that in a minute.
But no - the morons up front decided to make up some lost time, and we started accelerating on RWY heading at 3,000ft (pointing the wrong direction from where we were supposed to be going).
As the speed built the cabin fell silent. Even the punters knew what was coming. The aircraft felt like it was an enormous tuning fork - it literally hummed as the vibration built and the turbulence and speed increased. I looked around to see drained and frightened faces all around me, AND PEOPLE CLUTCHING THEIR SEATBELTS.
The inevitable then happened - it took a series of immense jolts and rolls. People screamed! Then they finally started it climbing again....in a matter of minutes we were in smooth air.
Had to be one of the stupidest examples of bad airmanship I've ever witnessed.
I'd hate to think what would've happened if there were no belts.
Maybe a few lawsuits would make Micko think harder.