I thought it was an excellent programme. I know I am pedantic but the aircraft was from Birmingham and it showed it taking off from Heathrow and I don’t know the airport it was shown approaching to land (view from cockpit) but it certainly was not Southampton although the pictures on the ground were obviously taken at the time of the emergency.

Can anyway give me the actual date of the taxiway opening and the first aircraft to use it? I am sure there was another thread on this info which I meant to run off but I can’t find it.

Northwest Airlines. First All Women DC-10 Transpacific Flight (Apr. 12 1997): CA Sharon Finch, FO Suzanne Skeeters, FE Eva Akata.

Fair enough but what is their parking like?? 😀 :p

Very nice shots – even taking the weather conditions into account. The wheels on the Lear Jet look too small for the size of the aircraft.

These are nice photo’s.Are you sure it is an ambulance? It seems to be a S.A.R helicopter as it has a winch.Anyway,what are “base jumpers”?

Yes you are probably right about it being an S.A.R. helicopter, my brother in law only thought it might be some kind of exercise with the Base Jumping. As has already ready been described what that is. Each to their own sport I suppose but it looks like madness to me.

SOC

I would suggest that unless you have large amounts of money to spend, you should concentrate on a small area of collecting. I have a fairly large collection of pre decimal UK coins and I concentrate on Florins and Half Crowns. The most importatnt thing apart from rarity is the condition of the coin/note and will make a lot of difference to the value. Talk to other collectors and do some research before you start laying money out.
If you should come accross a threepenny bit from 1937 with King Edward VIII
on the reverse please let me know. They were minted in 1936 just before he abdicated and a few got into circulation and are reckoned to be worth 25,000 each, check with your older relatives. I will give you 500 quid for it :p
Good Luck
O.G.

For the record… I challenged since I assumed that LFC24 was suggesting something that – for his 16 years of experience – seemed less than likely. Yet his answers suggested that he was slightly more familiar than I, so I just acknowledged his response.
I was also unsure of him saying that he had done Hajj (or Hadj according to my dictionary) in a different way, since a quick search on Google shows that all pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia is Hajj to Mecca – and the knowledge that, apparently, westerners are not at all welcome was the cause of my wavering emotions – so was left open to interpretation any way you want.

Flood

I think this has had a good airing now but to clear up any up any misunderstanding on “Westerners not at all welcome in Mecca” etc Anyone is welcome in Mecca of any race or colour (westerners included) provided they are Muslims. There are check points as you go into Mecca and anyone who is not a muslim is turned away (this can be seen from your visa or internal passport which is an offence not to have with you at all times). The road around Mecca is nicknamed the “Christian Bypass”. It is correct that any Muslim making a trip to Mecca for the purpose of Pilgrimage constitutes Haj (The spelling is virtually irrelevant just as it would be trying to convert English words into Arabic script) and there is a set period for this. Anyone making the same pilgrimage outside the set period is performing “Umrah” and still constitutes having undertaken the Haj which LFC24 has performed and fair play to him for having done it at such a young age.