Trip Report:GCI-LGW BE BAe 146

I thought you all might be interested in my report on my trip to London, so here it goes.

We arrived at Guernsey airport in the unhealthy hour of 6.30 a.m. for our flight to London Gatwick. We checked in at the British European check-in desks which only had two people queued up in front of us compared to Aurigny which had a long line of passengers waiting to check-in for the inter-island and UK early morning flights.

Very quickly after checking in we were called for boarding, it seemed as if we had judged the times right! We proceeded to the gate where we then waited till we were asked to board. From the gate you could see two Aurigny Saab 340s and a Channel Express Electra parked up at the cargo terminal. After a ten-minute wait we were called to board the aircraft.

We were sat at row 12 on the right hand side of the BAe 146 (G-JEAC) which meant I had a good view of the engines and flaps though I wanted to see the views, which were unfortunately obscured by the wing. Everyone boarded pretty quick and we were soon taxing up to runway 09,which meant it would be a departure over the sea, on time. The engines started to roar and the brakes were then released. Quickly we speed down the runway and eventually we were up in to the low clouds. Our cruising height was 19,000ft and our route was Alderney- Goodwood- Chichester- Gatwick. The flight quickly got above the clouds and we were given beautiful sunshine compared to down below!

In-flight service was amazing (well amazing for BE) we were actually given real edible food in the form of a ham and cheese croissant and the choice of ever tea, coffee, or orange/ Apple juice. The food was tasty enough and filled me up for the morning. Duty free was available because the Channel Islands still have it unlike the rest of the UK, though because it was available on our way back on the boat, though I asked for the Dash 8 model which was stocked. The crewmember said that there were no Dash models but said she would look in the back to see if they had the 146. I waited until she came back and informed me that they didn’t have what I wanted but told me if I was to take the booklet I could order whatever model I wanted so that is what I am going to do. The cabin crew was very helpful and friendly. There were two BE female stewardesses as well as one Air France female stewardess which must have been part of their code-share agreement.

Descent began over the south coast and we soon began to see all the early morning aircraft descending on to London. I saw: A DC-10, RJ 100, 757, Dash 8 and many other aircraft whizzing around us, it was incredible. As we went through the clouds it got bumpy and some people seemed terrified though I don’t see why because I’ve seen much worse turbulence! I stared out of the window and saw numerous towns, golf courses and roads as well as the occasional field of cows. On final approach to Gatwick runway 1R, a very busy M23 came in to view and then the large car parks, the Hilton, the train station and finally the south terminal. Aircraft visible were: A MyTravel A330 and A320s, JMC 757, BA 737s and 777s, EasyJet 737s, US Airways 767, Air 2000 A320, Air Zimbabwe 767, European aviation 747s, Transjet 747, Continental 777s and American Airlines 777s to name a few.

We taxied quickly to pier 2 gate 19, next to us was an Easyjet 737 with ‘Big @ Gatwick written on it’. We disembarked quite fast and then went to immigration where we went through the regional gate and handed our boarding passes in. Then we walked to the monitors where we waited for 10 minutes for BE… to appear, finally it did and so we went to baggage reclaim 4 where we picked up our bag. From then on we headed through the arrivals hall to the train station where we caught our train to London Bridge Station.

Hope you’ve enjoyed that, quite long but very descriptive. Any comments?