LHR-GLA-LHR Trip Report.

Hi all. Report of yesterdays flight to GLA from LHR.

Got to the airport a little late due to bad traffic then getting stopped by a plane crossing the East Church Road at LHR. Eventually got to Terminal to meet Michael just after 7am.

Terminal one at this time was its normal bustling self. When booking our tickets online, michael opted to try out the self service check-in at LHR. Very easy and Straight forward. But in my opinion not a very good idea at all, due to the fact that if you do the self service check-in, your passports/photo ID isnt checked at all. Plus on the screen of the Self Service check-in desk, it asks you if you have packed any sharp objects… and to answer all you have to do is touch the screen either yes or no. How easy is this service for a terrorist to use!!! 😮 Anyhow, we passed through the metal detectors with no problems, and walked to gate 8, where we were depating from, little did we know at that time it wouldn’t be on time.

We sat near the window at gate 8 which over loooked runway 27R.

After about 5 minutes of getting to the gate, someone from BMi came over the PA system – “Ladies and gentleman, due to a computer faliure this morning at the swanwick ATC centre, bmi is sadly having to cancel some of its flights…5 in total will be cancelled this morning.” We thought – ****! 😮 He then came over on the PA system again – “BD002 to Glasgow will not be cancelled, but will however be delayed”. So luckily our flight was still going! The flight before ours to GLA was cancelled, and people were re-booked onto the empty seats on our flight.

Looking out of the window at the 27r arrivals, it got very quiet around 8am-9am, with only the odd trans-atlantic and BA arrivals. Heathrow landings had more or less come to a stand still. Whilst waiting the Euro 2004 England team’s A320 aircraft taxiied past us (G-EUUI), named “Three Lions”. I took a picture, but it didnt come out at all well.

By about 9:30ish, the Bmi guy announced that our aircraft was here and was ready to board. Everyone got up and rushed to the desk to form a que. He then came back on the PA system again, and told everyone to sit down, as the aircraft needed to be cleaned and re-stocked of food and drink first. At around 9:45 we were on board! (hooray!) Michael had got seat A in row 33 and i was in front of him in 32A – Both window seats. Our aircraft (G-MIDK – Old Livery) was parked up next to Bmi’s newest A319 – G-DBCC. We pushed back more or less right away and taxiied out to RWY 27L for our departure. Ahead of us were about 7 aircraft waiting to depart, one of which was a Royal Brunei 767.

Finally we were on the runway – take off! (at last). I filmed our takeoff, but so far have been unable to watch it on my computer, as my computer wont let me access any sort of media program. :mad:. About 15 minutes into the air, we hit the clouds, which was our view for the entire journey. Very un-evenful flight. Inflight snack was nice however – a Bacon and Omelette wrap, with a cup of tea. The tea however was nasty, very weak and watered down.

We touched down in Glasgow just after 11 i think, around that time anyway. Waiting to take-off there was a Twin otter and a BA ERJ.

We exited the plane via the rear door, giving me a chance to get a pic of the aircraft. In doing so, i also managed to snap the Air Canada 762 leaving.

We met up with Allen in the arrivals area up stairs. From there he took us to the first stop on the list – round by the Loganair Hanger. There was a Islander parked up and near to there, there was a BA ATP in Landor livery parked up (G-MANL).

Onto the next spot, the famous rubble mound – Great spot (as mentioned by Allen, in his report) for pictures. We were there for around an hour, before the police came along, and told us to come down for a “chat”. Little did we know at the time this chat would turn out to be a terror check on each of us! After about half an hour they let us go on our way. Allen then took us (by car) to the next spot on the list, in front of an emergency gate at the airport. This gave good views of the terminals, taxiway and the runway. From here we saw: An Aerocondor Shorts 360(CS-TMY), Prince Charley’s 146(ZE701), TCX 757 (G-FCLJ), Both Twotters (G-BVVK & G-BZFP) and a few Dash 8’s and 146/737’s/erj’s. After awhile, it became very quiet – The earlier computer fault at Swanwick had hit GLA, causing nothing to come in or go out.

We moved to the next spot, another emergency gate a bit further down, which was situated alongside, where the aircraft hold for the runway. Sadly none o them did hold. Because the airport was so quiet, they tured straight onto the runway and took to the sky. But again it went very quiet. So this lead us to move to the final spot of the day, the corn field under the 23 flightpath. Great spot for catching the aircraft come right overhead. Most of the aircraft were fighting crosswinds though yesterday over this field. It was pretty chilly/windy at GLA yesterday.

By about 5pm)ish) we’d all pretty had enough of waiting in the cold, so we headed back to the terminal where we went for a drink in the Garfunkels bar. Allen departed around 7, whilst michael and me, nad yet another 1:20hrs at least to wait for our flight back to LHR. Our sheduled departure time was 19:25, but we didnt take off until 20:25. We boarded at about 20:20, i got seat 29A and Michael got 27F, again both window seats, but this time apart from each other – this puzzled me and michael (self-service check-in computer at LHR assigned us theses seats automatically). We were airbourne by about 20:50 i think in the end. Luckily we had a tail wind which helped us get back to LHR a little quicker, but not much quicker. Food on-board this time was a choice of a Chicken and Sweetcorn sandwich or an Egg/Mayonaise sandwich. I passed on both, because i felt very unwell at one point on the flight home (still feeling the same way today). Upon our descent over London, i began to get very bad pains in my head, which worked their way all over my face ending up in my ears and more unusually in my teeth! In my teeth – that Frigging hurt!!! 🙁 Not a clue what caused it though – still got the pains in my ears and teeth as im writing this now (though not half as bad as last night). Micheal to was complaining of pains in his eyes and head after we got off the aircraft. Not a clue what caused it. :confused:

We eventually got on the ground just before 10pm! The landing was a rather hard and fast one – The pilot took up about 2 thirds or the runway to bring the aircraft to a stop. In doing this we got a trip around up bear the T5/ fuel tanks area, where i was looking out for the Eva Air 744 which collasped the other week – Couldnt see it though, so i think it must have left LHR or its in a hanger. Upon taxiing to our gate at LHR, i was able to see the aircraft lining up for takeoff on 27R – China Eastern A340-600! (first one i have seen), Qatar A330 and a few others. We taxiied around to our gate, going past a Cyprus Airways A330 (5B-DBS) and a Finnair A320 (OH-LXL). We pulled up next to G-MIDL, the Star Alliance bmi 321.

Ah well thats the report, a little long (sorry) Hope it was worth the read.

Thanks to Michael and Allen yesterday. Was a good day overall, just a shame about the weather and the delays. Also cheers to Allen for ferrying us around in your car. 😀

Heres the pics. 🙂

1. G-DBCC – Which we were parked next too in the morning.

2. G-BOAB – Taken from our plane.

3. Inflight.

4. Our aircraft – Taken after i got off.

5. C-FBEG – About to leave GLA in the rain.