Trip Report from Feb: EDI-STN-EDI

Just thought I’d post it, as I don’t think I ever did at the time. 🙂
Any comments are most welcome.

13th Feb EZY242 18.00-19.20. actual 18.20-19.22
EDI-STN
B733 G-IGOJ

Checked in 1.5 hrs before and got given boarding card numbers 37-40. Arrived at gate 8 where we were to board, it was still occupied by a BA 146 which was just pushing back. My aircraft turned into the gate at about 17.45. We commenced boarding, I chose to enter through the rear of the aircraft and took seat 18F, just behind the wing. We had an all female cabin crew , one being Spanish, she had a particularly good sense of humour which was nice to see and they were all smiles. The captain came on the speaker and informed us that our route would take us over Manchester and Birmingham and we would be cruising at FL330.
We pushed back from the gate slightly late and joined the queue for takeoff. We were no. 4 of 7. I noticed that this flight was 100% full. The seats were cramped but it wasn’t to be much of a problem for such a short flight.
We lined up and took-off on runway 24 into the night, I noticed how loud it was just behind the engine, but also the flaps were awfully noisy when in transit. We flew runway heading for more than 5 mins then turned south. This being my first domestic flight, I didn’t realise how quick it would be, we must have been cruising for only about 10mins then we started our descent.
Looking out the window, I could see the lights of a couple of other aircraft as we closed in on London. I love watching the the movement on the wing with the flaps, spoilers etc. as we descend! We broke through the cloud at about 3000ft and were briefly put in a hold for a minute or two before turned final. From about 1 mile final the edges of our flaps started producing vortices and just before we touched down a cloud of condensation formed above the wing.
We touched down and braked really heavily to make our turn off which was a high speed one nevertheless. We taxied in past the cargo area where there was a FedEx MD11 (N608FE) on show, which was a treat as I’d never seen an MD11 before, then, next to a UPS 767(in the new colours, which was good) a Cygnus Air DC8 came into view! I stared at that for as long as possible as I never expected to see a DC8 with my own eyes!
We pulled into passenger gate 88, a couple of gates from the buzz yellow 733 with Ryanair titles G-BZZJ with was off to PIK. My plane was apparently off to AMS next.
Next surprise was the terminal building, I have to say I was impressed, the most impressive terminal building I have ever set foot in!

During my stay I managed a few hours at LHR on the Sunday, what a treat that was! To name but a few, I saw Air Jamiaca A340, Aeroflot IL96( )that was a good one!, Syrian and Iran 747SP another good one, 2 UA 744s. After seeing the grey livery, I have to say that the new one looks to be an improvement. I was most impressed by the Varig MD11. It was off to Brazil and yet the amount of runway it used in comparison to the other heavies heading out really was quite amazing! So much less!!
Also took a trip to Duxford and emptied my pockets to the Concorde fund .

17th Feb EZY237 15.05-16.25. Actual 15.25-16.26
STN-EDI
B733 G-IGOH

The luggage belt wasn’t working at U2 checkin so it was rather chaotic, we were ushered to the front of the queue and given boarding card numbers 94-97! I wasn’t happy. Proceded to gate 88(the one we arrived through!) where the aircraft was already waiting, but empty, this was with about an hour before departure. A few minutes later preperation began to ready the aircraft.
I still wasn’t happy about the boarding number but as we were travelling as a family and I have a 12 year old sister we managed to get priority boarding! So, in the end I was first on the aircraft and along a jetway as well!! Rare for U2 and STN. However, we had to wait about 10 mins in this jetway as the aircraft wasn’t ready and they must ahve been a bit keen in boarding us. We eventually boarded and I took my seat, 4F. The captain apologised for the delay and blamed it on a late change of aircraft.(?) I noticed that up front it was much quieter and there was also more legroom. Again, the flight was full.
We taxied out and held for a Eastern J41 before our takeoff from 05, I watched condensation form in the engine and we were in the cloud before we had left the airfield. We broke through the cloud 5-10 mins later and it began to break up as we flew North. I noticed we were catching another plane as we blasted up the UK. However, we never quite caught up with it before we had to start our descent. We descended over the beautiful Scotttish countryside and rolling hills and landed on 06. We taxied in and parked at a remote stand, yet still walked to the terminal.
I have to say that for what was payed for the tickets no complaints can be had. The flights were on time or near anough and the planes were clean and the crew friendly. I shall have no hesistation in flying U2 again, if the price is right.