I've become a part time plane spotter

after the excitement of last night, if you want a bit of a change Big Jet TV are streaming live flight display team practice......great behinds the scenes
 
Had a couple of these come in today

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….so when trying to figure out when United Airlines is going to screw me by telling me flight XXX is YY minutes late I can figure out precisely the actual multiplier of YY (usually 2-5 times YY) by tracking the inbound aircraft that will become my outbound.

Hey now…you have to convert minutes to what is known on the industry as “airline time!”

And, fwiw, airlines usually update their flights in 15 minute increments, because that’s often what the FAA does. However, when an inbound delay is known, if you add 1 hour to the block in time, you’re usually in the ball park. Airline will post 40-45 mins, but with the speed of pax leaving these days, you can almost bank on 1 hr.

From there, as I like to tell my passengers, “we now have to give ourselves over to aviation!”

When you have a multi-employee group ballet, you can only go as fast as the slowest cog in that wheel. Sometimes it’s the fueler, sometimes the ramp service, sometimes the baggage handlers, sometimes the catering trucks, sometimes the Flight Attendants running between flights, and rarely the pilots!

With the iPads we have now, we can get most information well in advance of the next flight, even reviewing it at cruise and signing off the route and fuel load. Accordingly, if we are ever running late, from walking on to pushback can be 10 mins, if the crew coordination is top quality. I do the walkaround, while the FO programs “the box,” then I simply check his work, check the clearance, check the weight & balance and takeoff performance and off we go!

In short, if we are in the cockpit before the last passenger has boarded, you’re never waiting for me!

:-)
 
I was lucky enough to fly to New York on Concorde (had to come back by 747, unfortunately). It was an experience never to be repeated.

She was a beautiful aircraft, technologically and aesthetically impressive, but economically and environmentally a bit of a disaster. A tragedy that she ended how she did.

The flight to NY was the only one I have ever been on that was over all too soon. At least I have flown at Mach 2.
Overture…Boom Supersonic!

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Funnt you should say that as I am 99% sure that I was on a plane and they forgot about the landing gear

We were on a flight from Gatwick to St Kitts, via Antigua. We left Antigua and it’s a 15 minute flight to St Kitts - we were about to land, we looked almost level with the cruise ships to me then all of a sudden. Woosh! Straight back up, arrow straight

We then circled for 15/20 mins heard the landing gear come down and we landed. I don’t remember it coming up from the first attempt. The pilot put it down to ‘technical issue’

It was only 18 months but was a seemingly old BA plane. Ash trays still in the seats, first class didn’t look much to write home about etc. Maybe they didn’t have the technology to tell them about the landing gear? Who knows?
Most aircraft have both flap & gear warnings, based on radar altimeter under the aircraft.

Within about 500ft of the ground, if the gear OR landing flaps are not in position there is a “TOO LOW GEAR” or “TOO LOW FLAPS” automated voice that will not extinguish until EITHER the gear or flaps are put in position OR you climb back above that threshold altitude.

Obviously, different aircraft have different safety systems, but those two are fairly standard on commercial aircraft now.
 
I love the Antonovs, you can here them coming before they get over you. There was lots passing over offerton a few months back doing runs to Liverpool every other day.
Belated catch up.

They were mostly stockpiling car parts.

Liverpool airport got a noise complaint about an Antonov - as it passed over Kent. Someone obviously used flightradar to see where it was going...
 
Belated catch up.

They were mostly stockpiling car parts.

Liverpool airport got a noise complaint about an Antonov - as it passed over Kent. Someone obviously used flightradar to see where it was going...
That's a surprise a scouser wanting compo money
 
Over the last 6 months or so the Airbus Belugas have been going over loads ( and very active on flight radar) but in the last few weeks there’s been nothing on FR at all.

any one know if this is accurate or if FR is just missing the info now?
 
Looking at Afganistan on flightradar 24 is interesting at the moment, there are a lot of planes, mainly military, from a number of countries flying in and out of Kabul

Edit. Just noticed Royal New Zealand Air force flying there.
 

Nice chance to see the arrows today.
That goes with the aims of the climate conference later in the year , getting the use of fosil fuels reduced .

err maybe not
 

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