MAN-EDI : 29th May 2006 *No Pics*

Arrived at Manchester with the typical weather … clouds and rain. We parked in T3 carpark and made my way over to BMI Self Check In desks and received my Boarding Pass. We then had a walk through to the Cafe joining T3 to T1 and spotted a few planes, not many surprises really. At 16.15, I walked through to Gate 17, with my iPod being scanned a few times 😮

I sat down and made myself comfertable, and then noticed two BMI pilots across the departure lounge, so I got chatting to them and talked to them for 10 minutes. The tannoy then announced that my flight was boarding, and I made my way onto BMI Regional EMB-145 G-CCYH. I made my way to my seat (14A) and made myself comfertable. I was rather surprised at the leg room as it was rather substantial for an EMB-145. The seats were leather and were very comfertable.

We pushed back from G17, and spun round onto the taxiway, stuck behind a KLM 734 and an all white MD-88 (JetX?). We held short waiting for the aircraft in front to depart. We then lined up, waited for the MD-88 to leave the take-off pattern and the engines started to get going. We rolled out for around 15 seconds and rotated opposite the Maintenence Hangers. I got an impressive over-view of all three terminals, and was surprised how quiet the jets were, considering i was sat right infront of them.

We turned on a left heading and climbed through some thin cloud over Manchester City center. It was an impressive view 😀 The steward and stewardess then passed through, offering free drinks and shortbread 🙂 We levelled out at around 20,000ft just south of Cumbria, and headed over towards Carlisle.

After 10 minutes at cruising altitude, the pilot switched on the seat-belt signs and announced we were ready for our accent into EDI, also telling cabin crew that we were 20 minutes until landing. We started our decent into EDI, decending through many thick clouds south of Edinburgh. It was rather turbulent in the EMB-135/145, so if you’ve never travelled on one before, expect turbulence decending through clouds 😉

We decended to around 3,000ft and lined up with runway 06, and started ILS approach. The views were impressive, with the Forth Road/Rail bridges in sight, and plenty of nice countryside 🙂 On our final approach, the pilot fully extended the flaps and extended the gear. The plane approached the threshold and was being thrown around by the crosswinds, which some of the passengers did not appreciate. We touched down gently on 06 with the pilot activating the spoilers, and slowed down in no rush. We vacated the runway and taxied past the cargo terminal, with two FlyGlobespan 737’s and a DHL 757 parked up. We made our way over to the remote gates and parked up next to two ScotAir Dornier-328’s.

As soon as the pilot de-activated the seatbelt signs, everyone jumped up out of their seats, with me being patient and waiting for everyone to clear. I retrieved my hand luggage from the overhead lockers and walked off the plane. A bus collected us and we arrived at the bus-stop at the end of the pier. I collected my luggage from the carousel and met my Mum and Stepdad in arrivals.

Overall, the flight was very pleasent but short and the in-flight service was very good. The seats were comfertable and the noise was not too bad. The only downside is the turbulence whilst accending/decending through clouds, but it doesn’t stop the flight from being one of the best internal flights i’ve encountered. The price wasn’t too bad either, £22.50 one way ! 😀

Hope you enjoyed it 🙂

Sam