Discussion
CAPP0 said:
Thanks chaps, I was really meaning commercial, fare-carrying planes. Interesting stuff. When I walk the dog at lunchtime, there is a regular 4-engine flight which passes over where I am, I *think* it's a 380 but not 100% certain.
if you have a smartphone, install Flight radar. It will tell you everything about the flight. Type, number, altitude, origin, destination.Its a free ap, hours of fun
onyx39 said:
if you have a smartphone, install Flight radar. It will tell you everything about the flight. Type, number, altitude, origin, destination.
Its a free ap, hours of fun
Which has reminded me finally to switch off all the messages it send on my iPad. Many thanks, the first time round it was scary, beyond that it was tedious.Its a free ap, hours of fun
brenflys777 said:
The 777 is an incredibly efficient aeroplane that's easy and pleasant to fly regardless of the conditions. The A380 is just amazing in terms of performance available for the sheer size, it's fun to fly but presents a more challenging aircraft to operate. Both are great at what they do, but the lower noise levels and cabin altitude seem to leave most passengers preferring the big bus. As a piece of engineering the 380 is absolutely remarkable IMO.
What the hell is it with laptop computers seeming being standard bits of A380 pilot cockpit equipment?creampuff said:
What the hell is it with laptop computers seeming being standard bits of A380 pilot cockpit equipment?
I thought laptops were fairly common for commercial flight these days - effectively the charts/forms/manuals they used to carry in a big bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_flight_bagcreampuff said:
What the hell is it with laptop computers seeming being standard bits of A380 pilot cockpit equipment?
I can't see what the issue is with them? They are just tools to aid flying the aeroplane safely and efficiently All modern jets have computers to a greater or lesser extent. The 380 utilises them as planning tools, performance calculations, communications and charts. It doesn't take away from the pilots job, it's just another tool to use.
Anyway, Merry Christmas!
Here's BA's rudolf 380 Christmas picture off Facebook:
Edited by brenflys777 on Wednesday 24th December 17:01
onyx39 said:
Brenflys777, ( I assume an abbreviation for Brendan, if not I apolgise), do you know how BA are getting on with their A380's, or is if too early to say? Not sure if are Ba, or know the answers, just putting it out there in case.
The outfit I work for has a policy of people on social media not speaking for them on pain of ejection without parachute, or something like that!I've heard the 380 is regarded as reliable, very popular feedback with passengers and with just a few recurring niggles and foibles. It's only a small fleet for them but likely to stay that way because so few destinations support 380 ops without cheap Middle Eastern fuel! The 380 course is heavy going but if passed the pilots all seem positive
IrateNinja said:
My girlfriend didn't appreciate me excitedly pointing out the numerous flaps on the wings operating independent of one another when we were landing in one last year for some reason, possibly didn't appreciate the engineering that had gone into it.
I have to agree! Until you sit and watch them tickling the air you won't understand!Watch the first minute of this video and check out the engineering!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cb7hqBZcJ4&li...
brenflys777 said:
The outfit I work for has a policy of people on social media not speaking for them on pain of ejection without parachute, or something like that!
I've heard the 380 is regarded as reliable, very popular feedback with passengers and with just a few recurring niggles and foibles. It's only a small fleet for them but likely to stay that way because so few destinations support 380 ops without cheap Middle Eastern fuel! The 380 course is heavy going but if passed the pilots all seem positive
I have mates in Engineering, so hear internal news, allegedly... On the weekend I finally flew on one for a change, as I fly routes every month that use 772/77W/747's. It was quiet (upper deck), but I slept 80% of the flight.I've heard the 380 is regarded as reliable, very popular feedback with passengers and with just a few recurring niggles and foibles. It's only a small fleet for them but likely to stay that way because so few destinations support 380 ops without cheap Middle Eastern fuel! The 380 course is heavy going but if passed the pilots all seem positive
The one thing that strikes me looking at the timetables BA run, is unless you have a lot of them, or enough destinations, the utilisation on them isn't very good. Example, BA send one down to JNB once a day leaving early evening (they run a daily 380 and 747, which replaced 2/3x747's depending on the weekday), arrives 0700, and then sits around until around 2000 for the return flight, landing at LHR pre 0600. Until IAD route got added, there was an LAX morning and afternoon departure, else the next outbound flight from LHR was the evening JNB/HKG/SIN routes. So it appears that BA have had to pay a lot of money in A380 aircraft, to free up LH slots at LHR, and it only works by keeping the more expensive to run old 747's to fill those 'recovered' landing slots to pay for it in higher overall LH passenger numbers.
Same sort of thing flying to SYD with a 77W, 24hrs getting there, and then it is parked up all day until it flies the return leg. When a 77W was on the LHR-SEA route during summer, often the same airframe was used for weeks going there and back since it is about 9 1/2hrs flying time with a 2-3 hours turn around so it works assigning one plane on that route (and there is only 12 777-300's, so makes planning easier).
Oh dear, that just proves, I have spent too much time on BA long haul metal the last 2 years
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