BTW, Debis have just changed their name…can’t remember what they changed it to.

Still not sure why non-precision is to be considered so much more risky than an ILS. After all the lack of precision is more than catered for by considerably higher minima. I guess what you’re really getting at is operating to places where approaches are poorly written procedural ones with little or no radar cover. In that case that is where our professionalism and training should take over and if we can’t justify and descent when below the local MSA then the only way is up. With regard to non-precision approaches, life would have been much more straightforward if Ryanair had chosen an aeroplane that not only was capable of Track and Flight Path Angle but could also couple the autoflight system to it as well (or even present a pseudo ILS on the PFD and fly that fully coupled!) like easyJet can but that’s a whole different argument…

But…BA aircraft operate their fair share of ‘dodgy’ approaches too, Funchal, Corfu, Innsbruk, JFK (Carnarsie), to name just a few.

I was under the impression Boeing usually use Keflavik. World renowned for crosswinds.

Maybe during summer months but it’s been very icy there recently.

I am flying them back to London early Feb. Do they only use the A340-300 on the JNB-LHR route. Also someone was telling me that all the economy seats on this route are actually premium economy, any truth? Also for the record Virgin was cheaper than BA & SAA. The Virgin costs include connecting flights to and from Edinburgh

Hi Kev great to hear from you again. I havn’t yet got my roster for Feb but I’ll let you know if I get a JNB! These days the JNB is mostly on the A346. All A346’s have Upper Class Suite, Premium Economy and Economy 3 class layout.

There are also rumours (last person to tell me this was a senior training captain) that there will be more orders to come for a fleet of 160+ aircraft by 10 years from now. I reckon it will be a mixed bag of more A346 plus B777-300ER and B747-800 (as long as the B747-800 is enough of an improvement over the B747-400 otherwise it would just be A346 and B777-300ER). As for the A380…well I’ll wait and see how that pans out.

…Without excusing any event, BA ops normally result in ILS approaches, something which is often not the case at RYR therefore the higher likelihood of incidents…

Whoa there!!! What are you trying to say with that sentence? I’ve worked for companies making many more non-precision approaches than the average Ryanair flight and I have never found them to be a concern. I trust your not trying to say it’s just Ryanair pilots flying non-precision approaches… 😉

Why?

If I was starting again I’d seriously look at the microlighting side of life. They still seem to have the pioneering spirit that other forms of aviation lost years ago. Gliding is great but no use if you have serious family commitments due to the massive amount of time you need to give it if you want to progress.