GLA-LCY-GLA Part two

The piece-de-resistance was yet to come. Richard let us have a go on the 777 simulator – yes!!

The task was a visual circuit at Geneva at dusk in G-VIIA. Wow! What a difference from the 744. The 777 is a hot ship. The acceleration was noticeably greater (even though we weren’t actually accelerating…) and once we were airborne we went up like a homesick angel. It is more responsive as well, not to mention a bit of a beggar when you need to slow it down! As an extra treat we got a TCAS climb instruction with an opposite direction heavy heading straight towards us. ‘Traffic, traffic, climb, climb, clear of traffic, check vertical speed…’

Landing was interesting with the aircraft seemingly floating for ever before touchdown – a consequence of the difficulty in bleeding the speed off – but we managed to stop before the end of the runway – just about! There was still time to do a Cat III autoland at Heathrow. No input at all from me but quite a thing seeing absolutely nothing until a second before the wheels made contact with the runway. I did, however, have to taxi it in (the fog had mysteriously vanished!) to a Terminal 4 stand using the nosewheel tiller which was a lot trickier than flying the thing. The motion on the ground was a bit sick inducing too.

All in all, a great experience, well worth the money, especially as that money was going to charity (a children’s hospice). Thanks to Richard Skinner, BA Flight Training, Naomi House Children’s Hospice, my mate Richard who organised the charity ball and my brother-in-law Martin who came along for the ride and drove us to Cranebank.

Overnight was spent at the Holiday Inn Regents Park, in the shadow of the Telecom Tower:

This brings me to the second reason I was down in London. Now this is not aviation related but I would appreciate it if you would read the next couple of paragraphs. At 09:00 on the Monday morning I turned up at the Haematology Oncology Daycare Unit at University College Hospital. A number of years ago I joined the Anthony Nolan Trust’s bone marrow donation register. Last year, following further tests, I was matched with a patient. Things have moved on since the register was set up and nowadays most donations are not of bone marrow but of blood stem cells. The donor is given a series of injections in the four days prior to harvesting to stimulate production an excess of these cells. The harvesting takes place at the above mentioned unit and involved blood being taken out of one arm, passed through a machine which separates out the cells and then returns the blood into your body via the other arm. The process takes a few hours and a few needles aside, is painless. I underwent this procedure last November and the recipient was subsequently given these cells as part of his treatment against leukaemia.

Unfortunately for the recipient (who remains anonymous), the disease started to fight back and he required another donation, this time of white blood cells. This was why I was at UCH. The process is the same as the stem cell harvest only without the prior injections. It also takes a little less time. In fact it was a doddle – a nice Australian nurse looked after me (they are all Aussies at UCH for some reason) and even the needles didn’t hurt. Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is as a rallying cry for the Anthony Nolan Trust or their equivalent in other countries. There are never enough people on the register and they are especially interested in recruiting young males. So have a look at their website http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/ and get signed up. (For those of you in other countries, google bone marrow donation to find your local register) There was, of course, some very sick yet very brave people in that unit, hooked up to drips receiving chemotherapy, some looking thin and gaunt, all with a large degree of hair loss. Sign up to your local donor register – it might just make the difference for one of them.

Right, back to the aeroplanes.

23 July 2007

EGLC/LCY-EGPF/GLA

BA8730

British Airways Citiflyer RJ100 G-BZAX

The trip to LCY was via the Docklands Light Railway from The Bank station. The quirky little trains never fail to amuse me. I mean they have windscreen wipers on the front yet no driver. However, they are a good way of getting to LCY with the station right next to the terminal. I got there early with the intention of taking a few pictures from one of the benches to the side of the terminal that looks across the water to the runway. However, by the time I arrived it was raining quite heavily. This had scuppered England’s chances of victory a few miles away at Lords and was now spoiling my plans. So I checked in using the check-in machines, went up the stairs and plonked myself in the bar by the window that overlooked the runway. Took a few snaps but the weather and glass conspired against me:

The Titan Airways 146 was operating an earlier BA flight to Glasgow and was late. I passed through security into the departure lounge which was very crowded. Not surprisingly there was a large number of ‘suits’ amongst the passengers with laptops flashing and mobiles bleeping all over the place. Plenty of seats were available with every spare inch of space seemingly covered. I know expansion is difficult there but they could do with a bit more space. The flight was called for Gate 8, a surprisingly long walk away. Managed to get a shot of the aircraft through rain covered windows:

Down at the gate it became apparent that the flight was not going to be busy – there were only fourteen passengers. We boarded (quickly, it was pouring down after all) and guess where I was sitting – yes, 2F again. With ninety spare seats I guess I could have sat almost anywhere but I was more than happy with the reservations computer’s allocation!

Photo opportunities were limited due the weather but I did manage to get the Euromanx as it taxied out ahead of us

We were a bit late pushing back but before too long it was full power against the brakes then we were hurtling down LCY’s rather short runway and disappearing into the low overcast:

Dinner was served quickly, not surprising with so few passengers. There is a chicken breast beneath the mixed pepper sauce. It wasn’t half bad:

Not forgetting:

Of course I had to take another engine shot, in the cruise at FL280:

We had company in the form of an Easyjet A319, probably at FL320 and slowly overtaking us. Alas, my camera failed to cope with full 12X zoom through plexi glass at a tiny target against a blue infinity:

Around the MARGO reporting point, our tracks diverged which suggested he was off the Edinburgh whilst we were routed direct to LANAK, the Glasgow holding fix. This took us west of a smallish CB with a classic anvil top:

One trip round the LANAK hold was required before vectors to the Rwy 05 ILS. We turned final above this loch:

Passed over Paisley’s Phoenix retail park, the site of the former Triumph sports car factory, now an Asda and a cinema:

You would not guess the aircraft type from the shadow cast by the late evening sunshine as we were about to touch down:

Our trip to the stand took us past the Titan 146 I’d seen earlier at LCY

We parked next to the Loganair Twin Otter and had the bonus of the airbridge, something the 146/RJs tend not to use. The missus duly picked me up from the same position that she had dropped me off at the previous day and my trip was complete.

Overall I was impressed with the service offered by BA Citiflyer. BA obviously feel that LCY is a good revenue earner for them as this was the only part of BA Connect’s business (along with the MAN-JFK route) that didn’t get taken over by Flybe. The service is good, the cabin crew were friendly yet professional and the aircraft was surprisingly comfortable. Passing through LCY is a more pleasant experience than you sometimes get at LHR or LGW and the DLR connection to central London makes getting to and from there so much easier. Fares can be had for a similar price to the GLA-LHR/LGW services – I paid £112 for my ticket but it is possible to get them for as low as £80. Sure, the locos get you to STN or LTN for less but sometimes it is worth paying a bit extra. I hope that the low passenger numbers on the return flight are not typical and that the service continues for the foreseeable future.