Re: Planespotting
 

It wasn't like this?
Traveling in a Boeing 747 in the 1970s was pretty damn awesome

Re: Planespotting
 

Little is said in that interesting article about the price of tickets back then, not numbers of dollars, which was probably fairly low, but adjusted for typical levels of pay back turn. Flying was a luxury few could afford back then, whereas now we have "pack'em in" planes and much cheaper tickets. If it wasn't for the fees and taxes that have been slapped on tickets over the past decade, air travel would be a real bargain.

Re: Planespotting
 

Okay - I'm back from my trip to Blighty.

My "non-stop" flight from Chicago to Manchester UK, on the Shite AA 757 (Flight 54) didn't go according to plan, as we had to divert to NYC JFK, as the water in the Washrooms had drained out, in flight. I departed on November 29th.

We spent 3 and a half hours on the plane, on the ground at JFK, whilst they blocked off the problem bathrooms. We continued onto Manchester, arriving at 11:05 in the morning, way behind our planned arrival time of 07:15.

Returned yesterday, on AA 55 which went according to schedule, despite some major disruption on the service between my outbound and inbound flights.

Jim.

Re: Planespotting
 

I saw last week, when Airbus announced its results, that one of the executives mentioned possibility that they could discontinue the A380 after around 2018. This idea apparently surfaced after it was noted that Airbus has not signed any A380 orders during 2014.

Re: Planespotting
 

Yep - Saw that as well.

Re: Planespotting
 

So did Emirates' CEO. He was not amused. :lol:

Re: Planespotting
 

The 380's spent more time on the ground after going tech than in the air when I was at LHR!

Re: Planespotting
 

Yet still none of them have had the tail fall off in a strong crosswind....:sneaky:

Who was it on here a few years back that was adamant that the Airbus engineers had missed/miscalculated the effect of a cross wind on their massive tails...?

Re: Planespotting
 

The A380 was just a bad idea - as was the 747-8i. In fact Boeing are ready decreasing production speed on them and will probably look to cancel it in the next few years (according to an article I read) since the 777x will basically the same market.

I think that they really miscalculated the freight market, so much is being carried in passenger aircraft belly holds that the days of needing new build freighters is nearly over. Anyone who wants a 747 can buy a used 747-400 and convert it to a freighter for less than half the cost of a new build.

And there are plenty of used -400s coming onto the market now.

Re: Planespotting
 

Was it that guy who called himself "Patent Attorney"?

Going back to the original topic, the best 'coach/economy' class flights I've ever had in my life were in the upper decks of the Singapore Airlines A380s on the LHR-SIN route...... I even managed to get the exit seats about 3 times and it was better than Business class on some of the legacy airlines :thumbup: the plane is whisper quiet and feels so spacious. I particularly loved being able to descend the spiral staircase at the tail end during the flight to go and stretch my legs at the rear of the lower deck :cool:

Re: Planespotting
 

Not A380 and my airline eventually got it figured out so it didn't happen as often, but for a couple of years our A320's were constantly on maintenance, they were the most unreliable planes in the fleet, 30 year old 737's were more reliable.

The issue was some sort of sensor in the flight deck window was over heating (our hub was in the desert) and tripping all sorts of issues with the computers.

Solution was simple, pilots had to start putting on this blanket thing on the outside on arrival to block the sun.


Overall though the A320's were less reliable when compared to our 737's and 757's which were older, why I have no idea. Suppose having more computers on A320's had something to do with it.

Re: Planespotting
 

Footage of VS43's "Non-Standard Landing" at London Gatwick, after problems with Landing Gear.

Note the leaning to the right, after the plane stops

Jim

Re: Planespotting
 

I see that the single Gatwick runway was closed. .... So WhyTF don't they have a contingency airport somewhere that such problems can be diverted to, say a military airbase? .... Obviously one with adequate emergency service coverage.

Re: Planespotting
 

How much Virgin engineering equipment is at your average military base? It was either going there or Heathrow and there was no way it was going to Heathrow without assurances it would be able to vacate the runway.

Re: Planespotting
 

OK, but allowing a plane to land and block the only runway isn't a particularly smart decision. I understand that there might not have been any alternative. My point is that there should have been.