RE: Heathrow should close!

Manston is an even worse prospect than Cliffe!

RE: A Career in Aviation?

Yes, Andrew can you explain the effects of Aspergers Syndrome. While it would ultimately be down to a CAA doctor whether you could get a medical or not, perhaps we can give you an idea. BA recruitment is a very different process to most other airlines as they seem to be more interested in a desire to become management that a desire to actually fly a plane!!! Some airlines claim that they want A levels in Maths and Physics (BA do but they still took my brother!). I feel that successful education to A level standard shows that you have the aptitude to tackle the groundschool subjects, however if Maths and Physics have been studied to A level you will find that 10% of the syllabus is already familiar and the mathematics required for certain ground school calculations will seem pretty straightforward.
In years to come the UK recruitment scene is likely to swing massively towards sponsorship schemes. In this scenario it’s all about being the best candidate attending the interview, not just meeting the basic requirements. Obviously the right academics are essential but this is where work experience, etc will really elevate you to becoming the dream candidate. Most recruiters are looking for complete dedication in return for their investment. Live, eat, breathe aviation!

RE: A Career in Aviation?

Wholeheartedly agree with everything said before. Get those qualifications. I got 9 ‘O’ levels and 3 ‘A’ levels (including maths and physics) and found that this knowledge base allowed me to find the groundschool much more straightforward than some colleagues who hadn’t studied to that level before. My brother (BA captain) has a similar number of qualifications but his ‘A’ levels were English, French and Economics! If you are really dedicated you can still get through; I have another pal who has no academic qualifications, used to be a lorry driver but his perseverence ultimately gained him a F100 command at AirUK and he’s now an A300 FO with Monarch.
Getting involved in all things aviation is a massive help for 3 reasons. 1 – You gain a broad knowledge base, 2 – You can start that all important networking with people ‘in the know’, and 3 – in later years when you are job hunting it really shows that your determination means they should hire you rather than anyone else.
I started flying gliders at the age of 12 and had to wait until I was 16 to go solo. I got very heavily involved in the club scene and got myself well known as well as knowledgable about the subject. At 17 I had a PPL and would spend my school holidays working as a prop swinger (hand starting engines on Tiger Moths, etc) for £48 per week. If it was raining I worked as a hangar rat (cleaning aeroplanes, etc). All the time I was networking, networking, networking! When I was 18 the CFI of a gliding club needed a full time instructor and heard I was available (although I didn’t have an instructors rating) through someone I had met networking. He employed me and paid for my instructors course. I worked for him for 2 years. I taught several people from the airlines (networking again!) to fly gliders and motor gliders and they helped me get a job as cabin crew with Virgin when I fancied a change of direction. All my time at Virgin was spent networking and when I had completed my CPL/IR friends there helped me get in contact with their former employers. My time at Virgin subsequently got me opprtunities to fly the A320 for Virgin Sun and the B747-200 for Virgin Atlantic but I chose other opprtunities at the time. My job at Aurigny partially happened because of networking from a friend from the gliding world although JMC came about through different reasons.
In case you missed it(!), networking is everything in this game and the sooner you start the better. Just last night I was able to give a friend some inside info on a job he is after and I was given an inside line from an old friend on a B747-400 job (but I’ve decided to stay put).

RE: low cost long haul?

It’s been done. Remember People Express? BIG disaster! Mind you, I have an open mind, that was then and this is now. However, I wouldn’t be prepared to invest based on history.

RE: Heathrow should close!

I live within 3 miles of LHR (1.5 miles when the new runway is built) and am it’s biggest fan when it comes to development. LHR has done more to bring wealth to this area than any other factor. In fact if it wasn’t for Heathrow this area would be a great big nothing. The locals who complain (in 99% of the cases) moved to LHR after it became a significant international airport, so if they don’t like it they should have paid a bit more attention to where they were moving to.
For my next rant let’s look at noise. With the exception of Concorde (probably the most relatively out of date aeroplane operating regularly out of LHR today!) LHR is actually quieter than it has ever been. Current engine development (particulary high bypass turbofans) are considerably quieter to older jets. For example compare Airbus family, modern Boeings, even dare I say it the One Four Sick to Tridents, VC10’s, 737-200’s, DC9’s, etc. On top of this we have improvements in noise abatement techniques and massively improved performance that gets the considerably reduced noise levels higher up earlier and away from the public ears.
For my final rant let’s consider Cliffe. Gatwick is in effect the first international UK airport you reach when returning from continental Europe. It’s position combined with current commercial aircraft descent performance means that the boundary between England and France is approximately the point where most Gatwick bound traffic is planning to commence it’s descent. If you stick a new airport right on the boundary (or as near as damn it) you are now asking the French air traffic system to take on a lot of the workload for your airport. This is not a prohibitive problem but it would certainly not make for expiditious arrivals. In the last 50 years the French (and most of Europe) have wisely invested in runway capacity. What have we done in the same time in the UK? We’ve added one departure only runway at Manchester! Our developmant plan has been non-existant and now they are panicking. We do not need to build new airports but develop what we already have. 3 runways at Stansted – yes please, a third runway at Heathrow – yes please but make it a proper size one, remain at 1 runway for Gatwick – no way they must be out of their tiny minds!

Rant over, incoming, take cover!

RE: easyjet select A319!

Yes but they don’t need the galleys, so that is where the extra space can come from.

RE: The Russian Civil Aviation Industry in shambles!

Wasn’t there talk a few months ago of Channel Express operating a Tu-204 on a trial basis in a cargo role. Anyone got any info?