Who Was In That Microlight???
 

Today in rush hour at MAN, one a340, two a320s, and a J41 were made to hold short of 06L (the a340 reported ready, and was told departing traffic AHEAD!) The reason for this? - A microlight was departing!!!

Somebody please tell me who was important enough to effectively close 06L for a couple of mins?

Who was that man??????

One with a runway slot presumably!

Am I missing something here?:confused:

It's not unknown, though admittedly unusual! Powered aircraft with radio xponder etc, just a very small one - in the past, there have been flights for charity that make use of larger commercial airports - Judy Leden springs to mind, ex. world womens hang glider champ, who flew UK-Jordan in a microlight to raise funds for cancer charities.

It was one of the guys connected with the last Concorde flight on Wednesday. Slot booked and handling arranged - landing fee paid! MAN is after all a public airfield.......

ETOPS

No chance of a repeat performance at LHR tomorrow pm I guess!

FD Standby

The Facts

A DASH8 or ATP departed ahead of the A340 flying the same SID or intial routing for 3 miles before turning,this requires a time separation of at least 4mins.That is why the microlight departed with the A340 lined up .The same rules would have applied to the other Airbuses and the J41 was last in the quequ. Just ATC doing its job whether you are a m/light or A340

Thanks ETOPS.

J17, I dont recall having a go at atc, so no need for the defensive is there??

It was unusual, and I guessed it to be a VIP. Just wondered who?

FD STANDBY

Having read the first 3 lines of your orignal post ,where you say " an A340 2 A320S and a J41 wear MADE to hold behind the m/light "I thought you should know the full facts before making such a statement and I am not defending ATC as there is nothing to defend

j17,

Congratulations - you have finally and conclusively proved that there are folk on here who can make an argument out of even the most innocuous and light-hearted post.

Nice one.

:sad:

Not me this time, but a while ago I was *offered* a zone crossing to save me time whilst flying a microlight. As I crossed the extended centreline of a minor international (not MAN) an inbound BA international flight was vectored around me - seemed to bemuse the BA Captain slightly (judging by the tone of his voice as he read back the instruction), but we were both under Radar control, so ATCs call. Didn't actually inconvenience anybody, presumably just the easiest way to solve a minor problem.

G

The microlight was a camera ship for Concorde, at the request of the Concorde pilot Capt Mark Jealous, who is a flexwing student pilot.

The microlight was flown by his CFI and both were sharing a frequency for some planned air to air shots, but unfortuantely cloud scuppered the plans.

The flexwing microlight that was used is a 100mph machine and the open cockpit would have given some spectacular footage, had Wx been better.

I'm sure the commercials didn't mind waiting a couple of minutes ;)

Wow,

Concorde pilot was student flex wing pilot.

That is just the irony of ironies.

How I love that post.

Be happy to fly everyone.

may Gentle Zephyrs bless your flights

Tony

Gratuitous political dig at BA.
 

Much as I enjoy my own flexwing flying, it is a shame that's the only way the gent can keep flying a delta-winged aeroplane in this country.

G

To avoid wake turbulence from departing microlight?

(Sorry could not resist that ... in one of those moods this morning.)