Do you like to fly?

[FunnyFlyer]

I still love commercial flying - despite all the hassles you occasionally get. My carbon footprint for 2011 and 2012 has been appalling - completing around 20 return flights.

That moment just before the pilot slams the throttles open is always anticipated - and the take off run always gives me goose bumps!

But nothing beats the landing!

Having said all that - on some red-eye flights to Scotland and Paris, I've been so tired that I actually fell asleep and missed take off altogether. Waking at 30,000 feet and thinking "Ooh err - how did I get up here?"

[Simon Chaddock]

Some time ago now - like 30+ years! - I had the opportunity to regularly fly the then new Manchester Heathrow 'shuttle'.

No check in and you could pay on the plane - yes really!

What's more you walked across the tarmac and up the flight stairs into the plane. Proper flying!

To me that whiff of aviation jet fuel was most intoxicating not like the modern walking down an air conditioned tube into an air conditioned plane.

In those days they nominally used BAC 111s but also undertook to bring on a 'reserve' plane if there weren't enough seats available. So if you were at the end of the queue there was the possibility of flying in a Vickers Viscount. Much more exciting with 4 proper propellers!

Of course it did not last. Before long they up graded to brand new Boeing 757s with RB211s (on short haul it had a really spectacular climb) with pre-booking, numbered seats and a proper air bridge so you didn't mess up the brand new plane. It became just like any other airline flight.

Just as an aside on the new 757s you filled in a questionnaire about the flight. On my first flight I commented on the extremely harsh ride as it rode over the joints in the taxiway, it rattled the overhead lockers. On the next flight a couple of weeks later it was more like riding in a Cadillac, all soft and bouncy!

Could they really adjust the suspension like that?

[Bill_B]

Posted by Simon Chaddock on 17/12/2012 13:55:45:

Before long they up graded to brand new Boeing 757s with RB211s

Could they really adjust the suspension like that?

1) The RB211- 535 E4 has been one of R-R's finest civil engines over the last 30 years for reliability and popularity. TheTrent 700 (mainly on the A-330aircraft) is fast becoming extremely popular too with an excellent reliabilty record. Well over a thousand of these are in circulation to date with the production line still churning them out on a daily basis.

2) Nah, the tyres must have been flat!

[Tony K]

Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 17/12/2012 11:27:05:

... but with loonies intent on blowing us out of the sky I'm very happy to have people checking everything taken on board.....they are there to keep me safe.....

I hesitate to write this because it is probably not the right forum for this kind of comment but how many people still believe this?

From October 2001 to November 2002 I was commuting weekly between Duesseldorf and "London" Stanstead, about one hundred flights altogether. After the first few times I was rooting through my briefcase and found a six inch steel rule which I had forgotten about. Anyway, being the mischievous person that I am, I left it to see how long it would take security to discover it.

It was never questioned.

Now a piece of steel six inches long can be a very effective weapon, especially if sharpened.

In 2004 I made fourteen flights between Cologne and Manchester, again with my briefcase containing my weapon. I did have a small pair of scissors taken away before one of the flights but again the potentially lethal piece of steel was always at my side.

In 2008/9 I made twenty eight flights between Cologne and Stanstead, again with my minature sabre at my side.

Guess what, I still have that sword. It has now been retired to my modelling toolkit.

I used to watch the "self loading freight" proudly displaying their bottles of aftershave in transparent plastic bags or dumping their shower gel because a "uniform" told them the bottle contained more than X millilitres, smug in the fact that Excaliber was always within reach.

Aircraft security is necessary but the ridiculous, nonsensical measures which are taken these days do nothing "to keep you safe". They are to induce fear.

There are no loonies intent on blowing us out of the sky.

[Rusty C]

One of the worst things I have ever had to go through was a long haul to chch New Zealand, My god was that horrible!

I was sitting at the wings both ways and was going mad with the engine noise 26 hours each way!, Sayin that dont know what I would be like if they went silent at 30,000

rusty

[Phil 9]

Tony K your six inch steel rule was not sharpened nor is it a sword or an excaliber. It is also not a WMD get it into perspective here. I could argue a pair of bare hands attached to a man intent on murder are more dangerious than you and your ruler

[Doug Ireland]

Flying crop sprayers was the most fun I've had with my clothes on! In my present job i travel a lot and im a nervous commercial passenger! I wonder if the guy up front has had his "eight hours from bottle to throttle" or if he had a row with his missus the night before and wants to end it all!

[Tony K]

Posted by Phil B on 17/12/2012 23:28:44:

Tony K your six inch steel rule was not sharpened nor is it a sword or an excaliber. It is also not a WMD get it into perspective here. I could argue a pair of bare hands attached to a man intent on murder are more dangerious than you and your ruler

You are entitled to your opinion. No more to be said.

[Bustergrunt]

Posted by Tony K on 17/12/2012 22:06:16:

Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 17/12/2012 11:27:05:

... but with loonies intent on blowing us out of the sky I'm very happy to have people checking everything taken on board.....they are there to keep me safe.....

I hesitate to write this because it is probably not the right forum for this kind of comment but how many people still believe this?

From October 2001 to November 2002 I was commuting weekly between Duesseldorf and "London" Stanstead, about one hundred flights altogether. After the first few times I was rooting through my briefcase and found a six inch steel rule which I had forgotten about. Anyway, being the mischievous person that I am, I left it to see how long it would take security to discover it.

It was never questioned.

Now a piece of steel six inches long can be a very effective weapon, especially if sharpened.

In 2004 I made fourteen flights between Cologne and Manchester, again with my briefcase containing my weapon. I did have a small pair of scissors taken away before one of the flights but again the potentially lethal piece of steel was always at my side.

In 2008/9 I made twenty eight flights between Cologne and Stanstead, again with my minature sabre at my side.

Guess what, I still have that sword. It has now been retired to my modelling toolkit.

I used to watch the "self loading freight" proudly displaying their bottles of aftershave in transparent plastic bags or dumping their shower gel because a "uniform" told them the bottle contained more than X millilitres, smug in the fact that Excaliber was always within reach.

Aircraft security is necessary but the ridiculous, nonsensical measures which are taken these days do nothing "to keep you safe". They are to induce fear.

There are no loonies intent on blowing us out of the sky.

that has to be one of the most smug and self indulgent posts I have ever had the misfortune to read

[buster prop]

For me the pleasure of flying is inversely proportional to the size of plane. I was bought a gliding experience for my 60th, wonderful! As an ATC cadet long ago I loved flying in Chipmunks. My best commercial flights have been on small turbo prop planes, I remember flying from Glasgow to Stornoway on the old HS748, superb views of the Scottish western coast and isles, similarly enjoyed a flight across the Carribean on a Saab turboprop flying from Antigua to St Lucia. The last airline trip I did was with B.A. to and from the USA last October, cramped. My wife and I try to get centre and and aisle seats particularly on long haul because we were once trapped by someone in the aisle seat who fell asleep for hours and we couldn't climb out to get to the toilet or for a leg stretch. I also flew on the A380 to Singapore, down the back in economy where we go it didn't seem much different than a 747.

[Keiran Arnold]

Bustergrunt,

I dont read Tony Ks post the same way as you, I suspect what he says is true. If you look at how some of the security measures are applied you have to doubt their actual intentions.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

When I had to go to one of our offices in Liverpool a few times there was no contest. Taxi to Luton Airport (5 mins) check-in and security, a bit of breakfast and read the paper until boarding a bright orange 737 or Airbus, take-off, climb to 19000 feet, descend and land at John Lennon within 25 minutes and straight into (no baggage) a 15 minute taxi ride to the town centre.

The alternative of several hours of tedium behind the wheel of a car (or several more if there was an accident or two closing the motorways) and negotiating Birmingham in the rush hour was too terrible to contemplate.

Sadly, Spiros decided that the route didn't make economic sense and there's no alternative to road or rail transport but if my experience going to Brum on the chuffer last year are anything to go by then I'm still dreading any further expeditions to near the North Pole...at least I still have the option should I need to go to Edinburgh again...

[Tony K]

Posted by Keiran Arnold on 18/12/2012 12:37:59:

Bustergrunt,

I dont read Tony Ks post the same way as you, I suspect what he says is true. If you look at how some of the security measures are applied you have to doubt their actual intentions.

My pathetic attempt at light hearted cynicism appears to have been met with some disapproval.

To answer the OP, yes I love flying. I have taken nearly three hundred commercial flights and passed through forty two airports around the world and I still get a buzz. Yes, the preamble can sometimes be tedious but it is still a thrill to walk out of an airport into a different culture.

Edited By Tony K on 18/12/2012 14:16:03

[Robin Kearney]

Phil I agree, there isnt much to like about commercial aviation. As Tim says, the take off and landing are fun. The rest is dull and uncomfortable.

The beds in first class look like they would take some of the pain away, although presumably you still have to suffer the airport/shopping centre at each end. Not that I'm likely to experience first in this lifetime!

A neighbour of mine took his family to Dubai one year and somehow managed to wangle a upgrade to first for himself, leaving the wife with the three kids in cattle class. To this day I do not know how he swung that with the misses.

r.

[Vecchio Austriaco]

I made myself the work to count my business trips in 2012 and I come to 54. If you take away a 4 weeks holiday (went to Austria - but by car...) you can see that I fly quite a bit more than once a week. Destinations are mainly within Europe, means "woodclass" or even Easyjet & Co.

And if you ask me - yes I still like flying, but I am happy that I came home last week from the last business trip in 2012!

Worst experience in 2012: The runway at Luton was blocked by a plane overshooting it and the plane I was on landed at Stansted... Came home at 2:30 in the morning.

Best experience in 2012: Friday, 7th December EZY2442 (21:40) took off on time and landed at Luton 15min early! this was the first time this year that this flight had no delay

Have a guess - how 2013 starts? Have to go to Turkey on the 2nd of January...

VA

[Greybeard]

I gave up flying a decade ago after several hundred flights when various different airlines began to made serious attempts to kill me; I was of the view if I continued to give them the opportunity that they would eventually succeed. I subsequently took up an offer of a flight in a light aircraft which I accepted on the grounds that I would have some control over my destiny; we had to take emergency action to avoid a midair with a helicopter! Since then I keep a safe distance from them.

[Phil 9]

Posted by Vecchio Austriaco on 18/12/2012

Best experience in 2012: Friday, 7th December EZY2442 (21:40) took off on time and landed at Luton 15min early! this was the first time this year that this flight had no delay

VA

It does not say much if the best flight you ever had one that was on time

[colin nolan]

I'm now retired,but I worked in the Middle East for over 13 years,and then spent 22 years up in the North Sea.I used to love flying,especially out of Schipol enroute to Abu Dhabi,and even originally in the Tiger helis going offshore from Aberdeen.However,after 9/11 it all changed,with officious security officers all too ready to make your life difficult.I now don't fly at all,taking our holidays either on the UK mainland,or getting a ferry from Portsmouth.

I must say that when flying out to Abu Dhabi everyone I worked with avoided Heathrow and British Airways like the plague.The airport is awful,and BA staff have always seemed to have the attitude that they were doing you a big favour by letting you fly with them.My favourite airlines were KLM,Cathay Pacific,Singapore Air,Gulf Air and Emirates Air.