OK so how about your best flight and why?

[Rollingthunder]

good things don't usually make news.
what made it your best flight?
other than always arriving in one piece+
baggage there, customs professional, arrived on-time, it wasn't raining etc.

[This message has been edited by Rollingthunder (edited 07 May 2000).]

[Sierra]

Ah my best flight has to be the first time I was allowed jumpseat when flying from London to Dublin. I asked about 10 minutes into the flight, got the most adorable crew. I think it was a Boeing 200 series aircraft. The instrument panel was down low enough for me to see everything when I was seated (hate when it isn't) and I was allowed to stand for alot of the flight while the captain explained all the controls to me. Naturally me being me we had a good male versus female slagging match which added to the entertainment (God do I ever stop). But the best bit had to be coming into land with the runway lit up & a birdseye view over Dublin airport. I was on cloud nine for months afterwards. Beats sitting in the cabin anyday.

SIERRA

[This message has been edited by Sierra (edited 08 May 2000).]

[ExSimGuy]

RUH-LHR :)
RUH-ZRH :)
RUH-DXB :)
RUH-FRA :)
RUH-JED http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif

(get the picture?)

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Flight Sims, very expensive toys - but real fun to play with!

[FlyingV]

Weston (EIWT) - Weston (in a Katana)

The only time I was ever allowed play with the controls :)

[Self Loading Freight]

My best flight? Can I have two? The first flight I ever made, when I was around seven and the family was off to Spain or somewhere like that on a Clarkson's special. I can't remember anything much about the aircraft type, but I do remember that on landing various bits of the engine hinged out -- "Oooh, look!" I shouted loudly. "The engine's coming apart!" Cue much discomfort among surrounding passengers, and an announcement over the PA a few minutes later that this was a perfectly normal part of reverse thrust.

The other best one was a few months ago, when my retired country parson father took me up for the first time with his brand-new PPL in the somewhat less than brand-new flying club Cessna. Terrific fun, even if... well, families must have their secrets, eh? :)

R

[AP]

My best flight ever was when i went from LHR-ISB I was upgraded from economy to first class because they ran out of seats at the back!

[Sierra]

Oh yes SLF

That reminds me. My first flight was to Spain when I was about 7 too. It was also the night the first men landed on the moon & me being a bit innocent kept looking out the window hoping to see them. Oh okay laugh if you may but I was a hell of alot closer to them tham most of you were http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif: That's when I caught the flying bug; the highlight of my holiday wasn't Majorca (& at that time Magaluf was like the Bahamas:eek :)no, I just couldn't wait to get back on the plane again.

SIERRA

[half a monte]

Best Flight.........

Many light years ago when a certain American airline flew to SYD from HNL...

Got on board the flight a row to myself, plenty of space when a basketball comes my way. It eventuates that the Harlem Globe Trotters were giving lessons on board on their way to a visit dunnunder. The whole flight was a buzz with people shooting basketballs in and out of overhead cabin lockers.... much to the delight of flight attendants....

Invited to the games in Sydney for free and asked back to the VIP party! A total blast.

[kopbhoy2]

EGGP-EIDW on a 737-200 not too long ago...

Captain & F/O allowed me onto the flight deck before start up, and there I stayed until shut down, in fact for quite a while afterwards!! Brilliant experience.

So if anyone from FR is out there, once again thank you!! :)



[This message has been edited by kopbhoy2 (edited 08 May 2000).]

[Rollingthunder]

I've had many many good ones. Two come to mind -
First flight - BOAC Stratocruiser "Canopus", only six but learned what "engine run-up" meant big time.Routing, if I remember correctly was Ringway-Prestwick-Shannon (everyone got off and had a big meal in the terminal)-Gander-Dorval.

A little later in life: A320, Calgary - Vancouver - jump seat.
An hours flight, an hour and a half before sunset,cavu, over the Rockies.
Does not get much better than that.

[Sierra]

Yeah Kopbhoy2

FR are the best. Wonder did you have any of the same crew members as I had. Last jumpseat was on an MD-80 I think. Wasn't as good as the Boeing as the instrument panel was up too high & I could see nought outside & the leg room was very restricted. Got up for everything too & they we're very kind to let me because it was a very short flight & I know it is a privilege to be let stay at all. FR have some really lovely fellas working for them, couldn't be beaten.

SIERRA

[ehwatezedoing]

"Best flight"

On this topic, I will speak for one of my family member who died peacefully at the venerable age of 92.

He flew twice in his life and his best flight was the second one in the late 70's.

A marvellous jump seat ride in a DC-8.

He get the jump seat when the Captain learned that his first flight occured in 1917 on board of a biplan "Voisin"....

[This message has been edited by ehwatezedoing (edited 09 May 2000).]

[redsnail]

I have 2.
The first one was July 20 1987 when I went solo for the first time. Nuff said there!

The second one was last Fri. It was my last flight for the company (changing jobs). A short run up the QLD coast to Cooktown, wx was stunning, view sensational.
It was my leg back, Cairns on dusk. We got vectored around some traffic that would have otherwise held us up by 10 min or so. Greaser of a landing :)
The only sour note, I was 2 hours late to my own farewell!

[kopbhoy2]

Sierra,

yeah they were the biz alright, really nice people, loads of advice etc....

Redsnail

I'm not jealous. Honestly I'm not, I mean who would want to be flying around the Queensland coast when you can be stuck in rain & clouds in Europe?! :)

Have to say it, last saturday flying back past Maynooth on the way into Weston after a very good lesson felt great... :)

[DarrenMoore]

My best flight was on 23/10/99, EGCC - LEMG - EGCC.
The day was started off great by about 6 hours in ATC.
All of the flight I was sat in the jumpseat of a B757.
This was my first ever and still remains my only ever jumpseat ride.
One key factor that made it the best ever was that I had the wonderful company of Capt. PPRuNe.
This flight gave me loads more enthusiasm and made me even more determined to become an airline pilot.
Darren

[Slasher]

My best flight was earlier this year flying a charter for the local immagration dept. I flew a full 737 load of illegal-immagrant prostitutes back home to China! 125 of the gorgous darlings. Man what a great trip! http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif

[Capt Claret]

Mrs Claret's mother, in about the 1920's, went for a barn storming joy flight, out of Cloncurry, with some bloke called Hudson-Fysh, who was raising money for some airline he wanted to start.

Her fiance, the local bank manager broke off the engagement, because as a single woman she had been un chapperoned with a man, bugger the fact that it was a two cocpit bi plane, and what's more, he, Hudson-Fysh, dipped his wing!

True story!

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bottums up !

[invalid entry]

That's easy!!
JFK-LHR on BA. Got a B*** J** from a cabin attendant in rear galley!

[belly5]

.........flying in a DC 3 Dakota (backdoor was taken out) with an Special Forcs A Team into the sunset and doing a night jump over a dried salt lake close to Cedar City,Utah.
plane waited on the next landing strip and took me all the way back home.
just me and the cockpit crew, spent the landing standing next to the pilot. great view.

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get up,hook up, shuffle through the door......

[Snigs]

Got to be a jump seat ride, GOT-LHR, Capt had a great sense of humour, business class food and a 27R landing. Hmmmmmmm!

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I'll just go and get my coat....

[samsonyte]

Concorde

Jump Seat from top-of-drop to engine shutdown

took a month to chisel the grin off my face

[Lurk R]

5 years ago, Qantas combi 747 SYD-CNS (and then HNL). Upgraded to business and full cockpit tour. Invited to stay for landing which was my first up the pointy end. From then I was hooked!!

Invalid, was the BJ from M or F :)

[invalid entry]

To Lurk R
M

[AeroBoero]

Jump-seating in a 737-500 from CHG-NVT in a RSL flight.At night!

[Mycroft]

Best (although not exactly a standard flight) was when a chartered a small helicopter to take some aeriel photos - excellent flight (they even took the door off); but the clincher was when we (I gave my mother with the other seat)got home and smug neighbours told us we'd missed all the excitement with a helicopter flying around in circles, only to be told that it was us!!

[The Sleeping Pax]

At the risk of sounding morbid, my best flight was not one but a series of flight I took with my son and late wife. When we discovered she was dying of cancer, we decided to take a round the world trip to the USA, South Pacific, Australia and Africa. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend our sons' graduation ceremony at Boston University, and then have him join us on our journey as far as Sydney. On the flight from LGW to BOS we asked if we were to fly over Lands End. Again we were fortunate to be routed that day over Penwith. It was clear and the Pilot banked so that my wife could see her birthplace and our home. She was overjoyed.

On our last holiday together, all the crews were fantastic. The Check in Staff were great regarding seat allocation, My wife always had a window seat with space so she could see the cities and the beautiful islands of the South Pacific. The ground Staff everywhere could not have been more solicitous. Nothing was too much trouble. After a 4-month tour around the world, my wife and I were together for just 3 months before she passed away. Our tour was one of the very best experiences of our lives together. It's never forgotten.


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Wake me up when we get there

[flapsforty]

Not morbid at all, Sleeping Pax.
Well done.
ff

[Sierra]

The Sleeping Pax

I'm sorry to hear about that.

What lovely memories of your late wife.

May she rest in peace

SIERRA

[Fen Tiger]

Mine have all been good because I love to fly.

And the company I work for pays for decent seats which helps!

[Rollingthunder]

The Sleeping Pax

I'm so glad you have those memories.

[capt.cynical]

Sleeping Pax; What a nice story,you and your family are the sort of people that make my job worthwhile.

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[BigJETS]

Best flight was also my cheapest. UA757 First Class SFO-ORD ---$90.00 employee rate --first class open on standby.
Awesome scenery. Great lasagna. Fantastic wine. Savory coffee. Yummy chocolate chip cookie.
Perfectly clear approach at night above Chicago with 180 degree turn over Lake Michigan.

[bravo 2-0]

Honkers-Conkers!

G-BOAE BAH - LHR in '85

No noise restrictions for Bahrain.....the skipper lined up....did final checks...full brakes on ....throttles to max...count down..3..2..1..brakes off... outoftherelikes..toffashovel!!

Downide was the sub-sonic hour across Saudi Arabia so as not upset the Camels!!

Brillant view as we zipped up the Red Sea to Sinai and the Med at 55plus...
after that the heady mix of RR Olympus and DP mix kicked in... providing for a memorable blur...!!

*************************************************
One more here then we'll go, two more here and then we'll fall over!!!

[Self Loading Freight]

1. First flight ever. Was around seven. Wow!

2. First flight LHR-Los Angeles (also my first transatlantic). It seemed to go on for ever... strange how the trip's got so much shorter subsequently. Amazing going over the Mid-West and realising just how big America really was. Then realising how little was in so much of it...

3. First night flight into Vegas across the desert. You know that scene at the end of Close Encounters where the mothership turns up and flips over with its lights on? That was Vegas, that was.

4. Concorde, Toronto-LHR. Was on the flightdeck when they throttled back for subsonic. That's a LOT of power they've got.

5. My next flight. Wherever, whoever, whyever.

:)

R

[FlyingV]

Update on my favourites :

1) Last lesson - instructor said to return to Weston and I actually knew which way to turn the darned aeroplane ;)

2) First transatlantic - 1st 747 (BA) & 1st time in the states.

3) Approach to New Orleans in an electrical storm http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif

BTW - you MUST visit New Orleans !!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by FlyingV (edited 30 June 2000).]

[Biggles Flies Undone]

BOG - CCS

In BOG on biz and had 5 BA hosties meeting me for the weekend in POS (long story). Avianca cancelled my flight and I was facing a wet weekend in the ar$ehole of the universe. Made such a nuisance of myself at the airport that VIASA took pity on me and squeezed me onto their last flight out. The sound of the wheels coming up was one of the sweetest I've ever heard :)

[ShyTorque]

My first flight in a US Special Forces Blackhawk, by night on NVG. Aircraft started by IP and handed over to me to be handling pilot for close formation with the lead aircraft. Desert transit at down to 100ft agl, lights out landings in desert (dust causing sparkling halo to appear around rotor blades). Further transit, climb to 3000ft. Saw stars go out as lights-out C-130 overtook us, a few hundred feet above. Air to air refuelling, (plugged in at my first stab at basket - lucky!). Descent to 50 ft agl for transit back to base. Magic.

[Groundgripper]

1. Seoul to Hong Kong courtesy of CX.
Jump seat ride into HKG (Kai Tak),clear night, approach over Kowloon - absolutely great

2. 45 minutes over the north west of England in a RAF Hawk, mostly at about 250ft. Downside - it's the only time I've ever been airsick (how embarrasing!!)