I was once overtaken in the ramp car by an FR 732 at MAN going past the FLS hanger. I sped up to keep apace with him and looked at the speedo, I was going 45mph.

Yes I know I shouldn't have been speeding in the ramp car, but I'd always been curious to know roughly how fast they were taxiing and had no other way of finding out.

:)

I gather thats 38kts on a straight section of taxiway then? problem ?

I have read this thread with great interest, my opinion of Ryan Air is not a negative one, yep they taxi damn fast, yep they shut both engines down as they coast to the stand. Yep they are reliable in dispatch and have courteous crew. Funny enough EXACTLY what the pax want:ok:

But JW411 & stargazer02 your comments and slanging match against Capt Numpty is disgraceful and I for one would be interested how you approach CRM issues in your aircraft, hopefully with more profesionalism than you have shown in this thread.... To breate a fellow pilot, demanding his experience be stated.
I am glad that the majority of decent first officers and captains out there do not share your worrying traits.


come on dont disapoint I am sure you will take great pleasure in destroying me:ok:

in respomse to leezyjet, i followed one in our ramp car and it was doing over 100 (clock limit on our fiesta) when it took off. how fast is that?

Ryanair
 

Why is it Ryanair aircraft have too taxi at high speeds!!! surprised they dont fit a horn to them!

:cool: i will be flying to dublin in four weeks time from edinburgh (the faster the better)..and have flown with ryanair a few times from prestwick and have no complaints whatsoever.. very pleasant crew..;) ;)

Hollywood
Six pages of posts,and you're still asking the original question?(I didn't read them!)

Ryanair taxying speed
 

This has all been discussed before but I just had my first Ryanair experience this weekend, Newcastle to Oslo and back.

I think they squeeze a couple more rows of seats in than Easyjet do. Also the seats don't recline.

I was amazed at how fast the taxying was at Oslo - just like being on coach going down a bumpy road. So much for walking speed - more like sprinting speed. Obviously on a mile or two of taxying it might save a minute or two if you go faster - but it does contribute to the feeling of being treated like cattle in a truck (which we are of course). 2 miles @ 20mph = 6mins, 2 miles@40mph = 3 mins. I'm not sure its worth it.

Also I was impressed/amazed/shocked at how quick the turn around was at both Newcastle and Oslo - from arrival on stand to push back starting I timed at about 21 mins (pax off, luggage off, fuel on, luggage on, pax on etc). In fact we actually left the ground 5 mins early at Oslo. Net effect was we arrived at Newcastle about 33 mins ahead of schedule!

Pax numbers were very low on both legs with only about 50 pax on board (737-800 seats around 198), so go to Norway cheaply while you still can - cost me just £27 inc taxes.

Easyjet's 737's are either older 300's or new 700's, both of which are smaller than the 800's of Ryanair. That explains the extra seats. Ours no longer recline as recline mechanisms are susceptible to breakage leading to additional repair costs. Maximum taxi speed is 30 knots in a straight line, not fast walking pace as in light aircraft. Your calculations are quite correct, however let's not forget that 2 extra minutes per flight with the incumbent additional fuel burn multiplied out by thousands of flights per year adds up. Also, that extra two minutes taken taxiing out just might delay the aircraft an extra few minutes due to landing traffic and even greater delays if due to missing a slot.

Please understand that we don't do anything without a reason and we ARE thinking about the operation continually. Thank you for your observations.

As a passenger, I'm no great fan of Ryanair. But that is purely an opionion, and has nothing to do with the professionalism of their flight deck crew.

I can honestly say that I find flying with Ryanair, no different to being on board an aircraft of any other carrier. It doesn't feel faster, the landings aren't any harder. Ok, I may have seen the odd FR taxiing a wee bit fast, but then I've also seen the same thing with EI, BA and EZY.

I'm afriad that I find all this talk about fast approaches, a little hard to believe. I'm sure that Ryanair have the same "stable approach" criteria, as any other 738 operator. The whole concept of 738's screaming down the glideslope at 300 kts just sounds a bit far-fetched to me.

My qualifications only extend to light aircraft, so maybe I'm not qualified to pass judgment, but I can't see any justification for some of the comments that I've read on this post.