Departed on BA 6505 on Set. 24th. (operated by British Mediterranean Airways). Check in at T4 was hideously slow; it took nearly an hour queuing to get to the check in desk as BA had only 5 people checking for economy passengers for all destinations. As it happens it didn’t matter because the flight was delayed by 80 minutes or so.
Finally boarded the A320 (could not see reg. number and other than asking the cabin crew for it I couldn’t think of how I could find out- sorry) and prepared to leave but departure was further delayed as there was a technical problem. The captain had to turn off and re-start one of the engines in the hope that it would correct itself, which apparently did.
Finally took off at 14:35 and flew to Beirut in an uneventful and smooth flight. A movie was shown in economy through the LCD screens that come down from the overhead panels (club had a choice of several movies through their personal screens). Which is more than can be said of LH, which showed no entertainment whatsoever when I flew to Amman with them 2 years ago.
Stopped over in Beirut for 45 minutes. The tower looks pretty new and the airport could be described as mid-size but there were but 2 or 3 other airplanes in sight. Did not take any images for reasons stated below. Finally flew to Amman and touched down 45 minutes later.
Queen Alia airport is rather small and tired-looking. Their departure lounge is very basic indeed- only the duty free shop is worthy of mention. However there seemed to be more activity than in Beirut, especially on the return leg.
Flew back on March 3rd and I managed to take a couple of pictures while on the ground. As you can imagine it is generally a bad idea to be seen taking pictures in airports in the Middle East, more so as soldiers can be seen on the tarmac next to the plane, but I managed to take a couple.
[Link no longer works, see below]
As we landed I saw 3 Iraqi Airways planes that have been there since Gulf War I. The following week, as I was about to depart I managed to take a photo of what I thought was one of those 3 Iraqi planes . However the 3 planes I saw on my arrival were 727s so I’m not sure what this could be. Any takers?
A closer look:
[Link no longer works, see below]
No pictures from Beirut this time either but other than a couple of Middle East Airlines A330s in the distance there was not much to shoot anyway.
One last shot (below as an attachment as my Yahoo Photos album seems to be screwed up now) as we flew over Europe, prob. Austria.
In all a pleasant round trip. British Mediterranean Airways is a BA operation in all but the name and there is no visible or noticeable difference between the two. Med. still has its own website but bookings are only taken through BA. I just wonder why it has not been absorbed by BA altogether…
By: steve rowell - 17th March 2004 at 04:46
Excellent report, most enjoyable
By: MEA380 - 16th March 2004 at 23:55
Very nice hearing about Beirut, BEY is served by 40 airlines and I wonder why you didn’t see more then 3 or 4 airplanes, it must be in the afernoon or early evening. Usually Beirut Int’l is so BUSY at night more than the day (very strange though !!)
By: LBARULES - 5th March 2004 at 16:31
Great report and pictures. Nice to see a report about somewhere you dont hear about that often 😀
By: Mark L - 5th March 2004 at 16:07
Very interesting, an unusual destination for these forums!
By: Bmused55 - 5th March 2004 at 13:24
Originally posted by Matthew Murray
Aah, the infamous PTU Sandy! Scares many a passenger! 😀 😀
You and me are gonna have to book a BMI flight at some point, so I can hear this PTU
By: 4 engines good - 5th March 2004 at 10:40
Originally posted by Bmused55
Well thats definately one of the Ex Delta tristars that flew out of the bone yard in california some months ago.
Didn’t see it when we landed, and being the only aircraft I could see parked away from the terminal I thought it’d be one of the Iraqi ones.
Here is the 3 727 still rotting away there:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/387345/M/
I noticed that that the exit door at the back was open and the staircase lowered as well. I wonder if it’s been like that for the last 14 years…
By: Bmused55 - 5th March 2004 at 10:34
Originally posted by 4 engines good
As for the technical problem, the captain didn’t offer any further explanation but before he told us of the problem I noticed something. You know how sometimes before start rolling back you can hear what I believe is the flaps being moved up and down (or some other hydraulic noise) a couple of times, probably to check they’re okay. On this occasion I heard the noise at least 12-15 times in a row. Some people behind me joked that it sounded as if someone was sawing off one of the wings. Perhaps there was indeed a hydraulic problem? Though I don’t know why the shutting down of an engine would be required.
Perhaps that Hydrolic pressure Pump in the middle you were telling me about matt?
Maybe it was refusing to work… lol
By: 4 engines good - 5th March 2004 at 10:32
As for the technical problem, the captain didn’t offer any further explanation but before he told us of the problem I noticed something. You know how sometimes before start rolling back you can hear what I believe is the flaps being moved up and down (or some other hydraulic noise) a couple of times, probably to check they’re okay. On this occasion I heard the noise at least 12-15 times in a row. Some people behind me joked that it sounded as if someone was sawing off one of the wings. Perhaps there was indeed a hydraulic problem? Though I don’t know why the shutting down of an engine would be required.
By: Bmused55 - 5th March 2004 at 10:30
Originally posted by 4 engines good
And the close-up…
Well thats definately one of the Ex Delta tristars that flew out of the bone yard in california some months ago.
By: 4 engines good - 5th March 2004 at 10:28
And the close-up…
By: 4 engines good - 5th March 2004 at 10:26
Damn that Yahoo Photos programme!
Here’s the first one:
By: BigVince76 - 5th March 2004 at 00:06
Nice Report:) Any chance of fixing the links to your pics, don’t seem to be working at the mo.
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March 4, 2004 at 11:51 pm