Tredigraph
I would go Ice Cream and some Rays rather than the the drain and dust / humidity, though Elizabeth Line should have A/C at least. You could also have some Rose pre Ice Cream with the paper or book of your choice !!
Cheers
Mr Mac

Well I eventually got home to Hull, no thanks to the ruddy trains

All 4 flights were on time and landed on time or early

Trains were an absolute nightmare of epic proportions

Sunday rail replacement were horrendous

Today I had signal failure, a broken down train and trespassers on the line which ended up taking a different route and a 90 minute delay getting home

As far as the ATR is concerned I am not sure I really like them. They are noisy and they behave like a demented squirrel and by that I mean they never fly straight and level and upon landing they virtually stand on their nose. On a personal note I found that they are way too close to the runway, my brain had an issue with the fact that it felt like I was sat much too close to the deck. Apart from that Aer Lingus Emerald did a brilliant job (even if I did start to think a 21 hour layover in AMS might have been better given the crappy trains

You should have flown in the Shorts 330/360. Your bum was entirely too close to the deck, especially if you were in the seats at the back, at take-off. It's a problem with all high-wing aircraft. People are used to being a lot higher up.

On the 4 flights I flew aboard the following aircraft.....I believe on of the has had a bit of a bumpy history - MT smushed its nose gear a couple years ago apparently, which might explain the squirrel behaviour maybe.

3 x flights were aboard G-CMMT, all 3 flights sat in seat 16A (out of a possible 18 rows)
1 x flight was aboard G-CMJL, seat number 14A (again out of a possible 18 rows)

Could not fault the crew, both up in the sharp end and the CC's (same crew for first two flights, then two different crews for the second two flights)

Other than my own brain "ground proximity warning" going off every landing...as you rightly state justapax the distance tween bum and deck is insanely small when sat in the tail end and yes, I did miss the wing being underneath, the flights were not too bad....the last one being the smoothest of the 4. Just a bit lumpy and bumpy that was more noticeable than when aboard something larger.

My next flight is aboard a Loganair ERJ145 and I have already decided and booked which seat on that...it ain't in the tail, it's upfront instead. That'll be on the 27th, looking forward to that experience.

Turbo props generally have a lower maximum 'ceiling', which means they cannot fly in the relatively calm air above the "weather" as jet aircraft do.

(which is another reason counting against your UK-wide air taxi suggestion, unfortunately).


I try to avoid trains on Sundays if I can. Unfortunately, in my direct experience; today's workforce sometimes show less responsibility and are more inclined to take sickies - especially on Saturday mornings and Sundays - days after the nights before, if you get my drift. Or likewise if there is a significant football match on that day.

Of course, us medium-to-oldies, who have a proper attitude to work and responsibility, are prevented from getting work by ageism......

I have been waiting on platforms being told the train is late owing to not enough drivers and thinking, well, you ignored my train driver application, you :mad: muppets.

I found the ERJ to be more noisy and more claustrophobic than an ATR. I have a dislike of most of these pencil jets.

It does seem a little perverse to be promoting the use of a flying "taxi" service on the one hand, and then complaining about comfort levels on the other !

Previous flights many years ago in HS125, King Air and C421 Golden Eagle aircraft were extremely comfy and quiet...but then they are not built to be used on "bus route" type flights like the ATR.

The ATR does have brilliant legroom up in the tail, the seats are a tad numb bum after a while (which is fine when only doing an hour or so flight times)...but the noise at the rear end is not exactly conducive to napping as I discovered.

This is why I have chosen a seat, and paid a supplement for, in the pointy end rather than the engine end of the ERJ, hopefully avoiding the worst of the racket from the attached hair dryers :p

I used to like flying in the F50 of Luxair in the 90's. The good 'ol Fokkers. Also, really like the ERJ-135

Hmm - thinking back to the early 80s when I regularly flew from LBA to GLA, the flight ceiling never exceeded 10,000ft, iirc. Comfy was never a word I would use !

Ah but when you're a teen or early 20 something year old and the flying is just for fun, everything seems comfy (and posh). I used to help out at weekends at Rogers Aviation back then which occasionally meant taking trips...erm...flight tests (armed with obligatory clipboard) when no-one else was available and the very very occasional jaunt to go get a bacon sarnie on quiet afternoons (disguised as a flight test, obviously) aboard customer aircraft. Those were the days when I got to mess about in aircraft a lot (and see for myself how the other half live). One of my favourites was an old HS125-600, YU-BME (I think it has probably gone to the big airport in the sky now but at the time it was nearly brand new).

The need for bacon sarnies was a very common one...and extremely important...especially for the CFI.

Seems YU-BME had quite a life after you were "messing about in it"! "Delivered new to the Swiss register as HB-VDS on 07 Jan 1975. To the UK register as G-BHIE on 11 Dec 1979. To Yugoslavia as YU-BME on 01 Apr 1980 and operated by INA, an oil company based in Croatia. To the USA as N6567G in Dec 1990. To Turkey as TC-COS on 15 Sep 1992. Back to the USA as N852GA on 25 Jan 2001. WFU and noted stored at Houston IAH on 11 Feb 2009. Registration cancelled on 16 Aug 2013 as broken up." from Kerry Taylor at airhistory.net

The photo may even date to your time............. :ok:

Instructional trips to Le Touquet from the UK with students was always a fave - for lunch (sadly, no wine!). I had a couple of students who would regularly "hijack" their own planned lesson with "Look, could we skip the planned flight for today? I'll buy you lunch in Le Touqs instead!". :)

Yes, that can be troublesome. Probably the airport food........:)


(Sorry - having a childish moment !).

What???
I am shocked. SHOCKED I tell you. To hear of such irregularities in the world of Professional Pilots - I may have to ban you all from the forum. := I shall also ensure that my crew never use my Bombardier Global 99 [G-SOS] for such excursions. (Especially as it has the extra Honda Goldwing fittings and drop tanks.)

Yes, that strange creamy colour with the orange/blue stripes, that is the colour that I remember of the aircraft....the interior was burnt orange velour with similar shade of carpet...very 1970's. The last time I had the pleasure of being on board, the engineers had been working on it again and I was asked to sit in the left seat in the pointy end and when requested to stand on the brakes. I did that a few times before we eventually took off for a bacon sarnie at a very much underdeveloped (compared to now) Manchester Ringway and back.

Le Tourquet was a very popular destination for bored flight instructors, hangar rats and the CFI...along with Wellesbourne Mountford and Sandown (IoW). Back then Ron Campbell (of AOPA flying manuals) and Bob Walker from Rogers used to pootle off for a bacon sarnie or two on a quiet Saturday afternoon using the C172 that Rogers had, G-BEZO.

The consumption of a bacon sarnie was an essential part of the PPL/CPL course and for those quiet days when the weather was not good enough for learners but fine for adventurous bacon sarnie hunters. Brilliant memories from back then.

Hopefully the bacon sarnie hunt still features within the PPL/CPL courses and suspected air tests of customer aircraft of nowadays

I will be much more careful in the future when I test the brakes! :sad: Don't recall anything in the POH's that says that doing that may transport the aircraft to a completely different location! :uhoh: That's quite a feat ..... to do with just your feet........... :} :ok:

I always used to laugh as, late morning there was a continuous stream of G-reg landing at Le T and then nothing until mid-afternoon when, all of a sudden, the sky would turn black with a stream of aircraft heading back to Blighty via Cap Gris-Nez. Very happy daze! :ok:

How DARE you, S.o.S! I can assure you there was nothing "irregular" about it ...................... I did it quite regularly I'll have you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :}

Just booked the Aspire at NCL for Wednesday since I shall have time to kill tween arriving there by train and my flight.....and it means I won't have to organise a meal when I arrive in SOU and go to the Premier Inn for the night (I could have spent the night at my new flat but didn't fancy sleeping on the carpet since furniture etc will not arrive til Thursday morning)

I use lounges quite often if time allows, it is one way of escaping the rowdier children but also a chance to have something to eat and drink whilst watching the aircraft.

SOU has the Spitfire Lounge, not bad but a tad small and not a lot of atmosphere. Choice of munchies was not very exciting but overall, not a bad little lounge.
BHD has an Aspire Lounge, very nice, plenty of space and superb views across the airport to the cruise ship berths in the harbour area. Choice of munchies was really good, for a smaller airport it is very nicely done

Hopefully Aspire at NCL will be as good.

The Guardian have a moment's reading with a beverage of your choice.

The secrets of lost luggage auctions: I bought four bags for £100. What would I find inside?

It told me things i did not know about the problem but I shall not be joining in the activity.

Interesting!

but I can imagine that occasionally you come across something that may lead to you phoning a lawyer to accompany you to the nearest cop shop.