Couple of questions - simply out of curiousity.

[onetwo07]

Hi all. First of all, I want to make clear that I write this post as a curious semi-regular passenger, nothing more. I occasionally read these boards but very rarely have ever posted and I am more than aware that I have no qualification to talk about aviation specifics!

I have recently flown back and forth between the UK and Tallinn, outwards with RYR and back with EZY, both absolutely fine flights. A few little questions arose, however...

1) Is there any great known difference between the power/performance of the 319 v 738? On takeoff I thought the noises seemed quite different - the 319 had a raspy, loud sound, the 737 seemed to have more of a 'wooshy' sort of noise? Not a question really, just wondered if others had comments.

2) Will a plane/pilot sometimes climb more quickly than others, for example to avoid weather? On a pretty grim day out of TLL we seemed to rocket upwards and pop out of the clouds incredibly quickly with a really steep feeling ascent and no little 'dip' just after takeoff. Just hadn't noticed it before.

3) The way out was 2hrs dead, the way back 2h40. Is this difference likely to have been due to a heavy headwind (Cpt did mention a headwind)? If so, would you not normally associate that with turbulent flight (the actual trip was very smooth)?

I would be interested to read any loosely related comments from those who are more 'in the know'.

[PAXboy]

As another amateur. Different engines make very different noises. Depending on what was fitted and where you were sitting in the cabin (fore/abaft/aft of the wing and window/aisle) will make a huge difference to what you hear. Then you can consider what power setting might have been made - and that you will never know!

[redsnail]

1. I don't know the respective power plants of the two, however, the noise difference could be because of where you're sitting. The cowls are different shapes and may have some bearing on the acoustics. I would hazard a guess that the B738 has a higher thrust rating that the A319.

2. Possibly. However there could be a noise abatement take off profile to consider. More likely, terrain considerations, or even one is "lighter" thus the a/c will climb. Another possibility is that departing from less crowded airports/airspace means a continuous climb, rather than level offs as you'd get in London or Paris.

3. Not all headwinds are turbulent. It depends on where you're riding them. Going across is turbulence. It's the shear (difference in speed and or direction that causes the turbulence at high altitudes. There's other reasons but that's for another day.) Another factor that affects the time is how "direct" you can get. Having to fly a full arrival takes a lot longer than a direct to the final approach fix. If you can avoid it in London you can gain up to 15 minutes.

[Hotel Tango]

Also, approaching major TMAs or airports ATC may, for sequencing reasons, already slow you down considerably quite a long way out. For instance it is not uncommon for European flights inbound to the New York area at peak times to be slowed down over Boston. All this can add considerable additional time to your flight.

[ExXB]

Westbound flights (in the N. Hemisphere) invariably are longer than eastbound flights due to the prevailing winds.

Also flights do not (yet) fly point-to-point but follow paths between specific points Depending on the time of day your east/southbound flight could indeed fly a longer routing.

[onetwo07]

Really interesting answers and comments. Thank you very much to all of the posters above - informative and clear.