On the Bristol thread in AA&R I posted the true geographic nos as per http://www.saynoto0870.com/
They work - I've been successfully dialling them from Holland for 1 euro cent a minute (with a geographical number carrier pre-selection works; with 0870/1 it doesn't).

I would suggest, absolutely not. Whoever wrote that perhaps stuck between a rock (flight safety) and a hard place (BIA management).

Flight Safety has no place for diplomatic ar*e-covering, they're supposed to be NOTices to AirMen, not notices to commercial/PR interests.

It was even less helpful before the excursions, at least someone eventually realised that maybe, just perhaps, pilots ought to be given a bigger hint. :ugh:

Update on EasyJey Web site
 

Quote from EasyJet website!


"As rain is forecast for Saturday 6 January, easyJet will operate a large proportion of its services in and out of Cardiff International Airport. Passengers will be required to check in at Bristol International Airport as normal and will be transferred across to Cardiff. A list of the flights the airline plans to operate tomorrow will be posted on the website later this afternoon."

What a farce this is turning out to be! Does that mean everytime its going to rain between now and the scheduled end of the runway work, they are going to transfer ops to Cardiff !

I have taken the following paragraph from the page on Bristol Airports website when they announced the resurfacing work:
Commenting on these works, Carl Lapworth, Head of Engineering at Bristol International said: “The resurfacing of the runway has been planned very carefully, taking into account the needs of the airport, local communities and the authorities. We will be working closely with Lagan Construction to ensure that the works are completed on time and with minimal impact on the environment, our services, and our neighbours"
For those of you that wish to see the whole page it is at:
http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/press/press_releases/article.aspx?newsid={C80C8E97-3329-4A0A-935D-F7B90D167EBE}
I note that they seemed to take into account everyones needs except for the airlines!

This phenomenum (of low coefficient of newly laid surfaces when wet) has recently been the subject of much conjecture in the road construction profession and industry. Combined matrix bituminous materials were developed for 'easy' resurfacing, though research work on the skid resistance of the prototype materials was carried out on surfaces which had been in use for some time. Few, if any, tests were performed on freshly-laid surfaces until motorists reported skidding events, especially when the surface was wet. It has been discovered that the oils in the bitumen leech-out and, as there has been insufficient wear to allow the stone-matrix to rise to the surface, when these oils from the binder mix with the water from rain, the resultant surface can be 'like a skating rink' until dust combines with these oils and/or surface wear uncovers the matrix material.
Of course grooving the surface will accelerate the wear process, as well as providing spaces for the water to collect and drain away.

Balerdino, welcome to PPRune - I see this is your first post. I'm interested to know why you think putting peoples lives first is "a farce"? I do not know if you have any connection with the aviation industry - but if you comments reflect your attitude to safety then I sincerely hope you are not employed in any safety critical role in any profession. :hmm:

I think "the farce" lies elsewhere, and EZY should be commended for taking the bull by the proverbials and telling BIA that they need to get their house in order. I see BA has now followed suit.

In answer to your question, I think it's a certainty that EZY, and probably most other operators will indeed transfer ops to CWL (Cardiff) when the wx precludes BRS. What else would you suggest they do - take a chance - and hope to get away with it - GET REAL!!! :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

A4

I've just heard Mr Skipp bullsh*tting on the BBC Radio 4 5 o'clock news and to say that he was less than convincing at reassuring us all that his runway is perfectly safe would be an understatement.

I would guess that Mr Skipp is soon to learn that a P45 is not, as he has always imagined, a very nice old compass!

So that's why there were 3 Easy A319's and a KLM Fokker 100 in the hold last night (I think) in a light shower which couldn't even be picked up by the onboard weather radar!
I notice Ryanair are still flying there 737's in though:=

I work for servisair at NCL handling the flights for easyjet, I would just like to say how some of the passengers attitudes towards this is terrible. The amount of people who are travelling on the BRS flights and are wanting complaint letters and are wanting to argue about being diverted to CWL is amazing! How do people not understand its for there own safety and that EZY could quite easily cancel this service and leave them to find there own transport

ezy/xla/ba should be applauded for their action and all airlines should stick together puting safety before profit but i'm wondering how my company fca managed their flight to tfs with a 757 which is bigger/heavier than say a a319? i hope fca were not turning a blind eye to the risks!!!!. who picks up the bill for all the coaches up and down the m4 to cwl/lgw/stn/ltn? and at this time of year are cwl really able to manage all the extra flights? i've flown from there many a time it's not the best for handling!!! and thats on a normal day.

Good to see action is being done, it is the Airlines that are getting the most grief.

So the two loosers here the Airlines and the Airport. The confidence in Bristol if this is not sorted out quickly will take a long time to build up again and other Airports might well benefit.

It took several aircraft to go farming, at least that is a lot better than any damaged aircraft of injury to passengers.

All FCA flights will ops in and out of BHX until monday apart from AGP which will ops from EXT.

What about the daily Continental 757 ?

BACON CDG-BRS Today
 

I took the good lady to Paris for a couple of days and we returned this morning. On appr to BRS this morning, obvious engine power increase and then configuration changes as everything cleaned up. The A/C announced that "due to the runway being a bit slippery, the company don't want us to land there so we're now going to Birmingham".

After landing at Brum cabin crew made announcment that we would be bussed to BRS and said we'd be met in arrivals. Needless to say no-one there to meet the pax who picked up their bags and did their wandering sheep impersonations. When I asked BACON staff what the plan was, I was told "you're at the wrong desk - we're ticketing". Eventually I found a coach outside with a driver who said he was waiting to transfer BA pax to BRS.

Pax aren't pi55ed off at pilots/ops making safety decisions; they're fed up with being treated like mushrooms. Maybe the comd shouldn't have tried to pass it off as something trivial and something he had no part in; it made it sound like a buck-passing exercise. Might it have been better to clarify "this is for your safety".

The attitude of ground staff was just appalling, although not surprising as we see it so often. I can see why BA wants to shift the whole lot over to Flybe.

I applaud the decision of the airlines concerned.

But then, in terms of potential "corporate liability" anyone who continues to operate would be taking a real chance. "What if....."? It would be very hard to defend an accident / incident / injury from the insurance or legal perspective if airlines were to continue operating.

And of course, based on the laws of probability, the based/high frequency operators such as EZY would be most exposed in terms of a likely incident.

Marra,

The problem is that the travelling public just take things for granted. This is because 99% of the time everything works and when it doesn't, they don't understand why. That's not a criticism by the way. A significant number of the public think that "it's all automatic - just push a few buttons and it's all done for you". How many times have I heard that? :rolleyes:

Perhaps the complaining pax at NCL would like to think on the following analogy:

We will give you a gun with 10 chambers in it and load two bullets. Now spin the barrel, point the gun at yourself and pull the trigger. I guarentee that not one person would do it. So why then do they think they know best when it comes to landing an aircraft on a runway of questionable ability. It may be ok, or perhaps you'll slide off the side/end, collapse the gear, rupture the fuel tanks and suffer a catastrophic fire ...... perhaps a bus from CWL isn't so bad.


If anything, these complaining pax should reflect and be praising EZY for putting the passengers interests ahead of any commercial consideration......

As Commanders we carry a responsibility that most people cannot begin to comprehend. I'm not "bigging myself up" - just stating a fact. I am personally responsible for the lives of 150+ people, a multi-million pound asset and the Company's reputation. If I'm not happy about any safety aspect of the operation I WILL NOT go and my company WILL back me up. The passengers should respect that decision - it's taken for YOUR safety - not for your inconvienience :ugh:

So, travelling public, when you get angry because of a slight inconvienience - just take a step back and think .......

A4

I myself felt quite proud to be part of easyjet today.
I'm only cabin crew but I had been following the increasing number of incidents and have to say that I started to be more and more worried about the situation, and wondering if it needs somebody to get hurt before somebody will do something about it.
Therefore I'm more than relieved that easyjet took this step, although I'm quite aware that there might be some dire consequences looking around the corner.
I'm not surprised that most airlines followed easyjets lead. How could they not? If now something would happen after easyjet made the statement about safety concerns... Well, I'm not surprised that ryanair doesn't give a damn...
I just hope they'll find a solution so we don't have to operate out of Cardiff everytime it rains (somebody told me that rain seems to happen on a more than regular basis in this beautiful country). That would be painful for pax, crew and company....and BRS airport too, I guess. At the end of the day nobody (at least I don't) wants BRS airport to get into so much financial trouble that they have to shut down.
But, at the end of the day, it's nice, for once, to be reminded that there is people and companies out there that care more about safety and people than money and reputation. So for me this whole day, despite all chaos, feels slightly up-beat on the pure matter of human nature. The only thing that I found a bit disappointing was a quite obvious seperation between flight deck and cabin crew in BRS crew room today(which isn't normally the case). But that was probably just me, or just because of circumstances.
Plus, I'm not unhappy about the unexpected day off :-)

sorry for taking this thread off-topic..but..
just to correct you there,passenger handling at BHX is down to BA Mainline-Regional, not BACON,and yes they are next to useless,but won't be coming to the new Flybe.

With all todays' developments I'm glad I'm off work for a while now..
has anyone seen any 'official' proclamations on the runway state from our dear C.A.A yet...no..thought not...just a NOTAm which puts the onus of whether or not to operate back in the cockpit?


ttfn

According to BIAs MD live on BBCs Points West this evening the two aircraft leaving the runway were just very minor events :rolleyes:

Whilst they might be "minor" to the MD of BRS- he will be sitting in his office just worrying about how he will justify his position to the Board, whilst the poor crews in the aircraft concerned will most likely be immediately suspended from duties and have to face a lengthy internal investigation and then be questioned by the AAIB etc. etc.

I suspect for these poor people that this will not be a "minor" occurance at all. There but for the grace of God go I! My thoughts are with the crews and not Mr. Skipp, who really ought to consider just what must be done to sort this fiasco out at HIS airport, instead of issuing pointless soundbites to the BBC!