So can I take this to mean that the car park remains open?

Last May when I went down there for the football charters the word was that it was set to close as the car rental firms moved in… are spotters still welcome?

Andrew

If you want to do a degree, do it in something other than aviation. Use the degree as a safety net incase you lose your medical or something.

Couldn’t agree more.

When I was 17 I had my heart set on being a pilot. Lots of people gave me this same advice six years ago and I’m glad that I took it. I wasn’t going to do the ATPL with my degree, but I did want to do a degree in aeronautical engineering thinking that it would help me when I eventually decided to become a pilot…

Instead, I took the “safe” option and now have a very strong Business Information Systems degree. I still love aircraft and spend as much time spotting now as I did back then, but I’ve realised that I don’t want to make a career out of it. I’m as qualified to start an ATPL as anyone else, but things change.

I do still want to get my PPL, but couldn’t be more excited about starting an ICT Teacher Training course in September – a far cry from the flying career!

Add to that the fact that the airline industry is in tatters and there are plenty of experienced pilots out there without jobs… a backup subject is defiantely the way to go (if you want a degree)

Andrew

Thinking about it, when I flew out there with BA a couple of years ago, the advice given by the crew if you didn’t have a confirmed first night’s accommodation was to look in the in flight magazine and just pick a hotel address from there!

In my experience the border control at Logan is pretty friendly!

I’ve been there a couple of times including a stay of a couple of months last summer and getting in was quite straight forward (unlike JFK where I’ve been hastled every time!)

The question is where you should put as your address on your landing card (the green form that you fill out on the plane). I’d recommend doing as it says and putting the address of your first night’s stay, even if that doesn’t match what you filled out online.

After all, plans change, and they know that… but they’re quite good at picking up on Bullsh*t so be honest and you won’t have a problem!

Andrew

Yes but why bullsh*t???

Are you suggesting that people are pretending they’ve flown on lots of different airlines when in fact they haven’t?

I can’t speak for all of us but I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I plan trips around flying with as many different and new airlines as possible, to experience the service and inherent different aircraft types.

For example, I’m flying back from spain this summer from Jerez… I could fly with FR to STN for £1 + tax + luggage + credit card fee, or can fly from XRY to BCN with Vueling and then fly back from there to LGW with BA for about £100… for fun… so I am…

Living about 30 minutes from Stansted, it would be much cheaper to fly everywhere with Easyjet or Ryanair but what fun would that be?

I’m only 23 and through these means have managed to fly with about 25 different airlines, so someone in their 50s with the same approach could easily have flown with 60 or more different carriers

Air Berlin
Air Liberte *
AirTran
American (Eagle)
British Airways
British Midland
Buzz *
Cape Air
Easyjet
Eurowings
FlyBe
Germanwings
Globespan
Go Fly *
Helvetic
Icelandair
Loganair
Lufthansa
Malev
Ryanair
Virgin Atlantic
VLM
Wizz

…and Vueling in a couple of months 🙂

Andrew

G-GFFF also in at LHR Apparently. 🙂

Yes, I’ve just got back. One is parked on near where concorde used to be parked, outside the hanger near the jury inn. This one will probably be about for a few days because it doesn’t have a rudder attached.

The other is parked facing the road flanked by a couple of A321s on the street down towards the runway crossing.

As far as I can tell, neither can be photographed. They are both parked behind that very tightly woven metal fencing that they seem to like to much at LHR – a real shame!