Virgin 747 classics are due to be gone by spring.

Full load of passengers. No problems telling the pax as we just told them the truth. We had a guy on the jumpseat observing prior to him training to be a training Captain so we got him to do the PA as we were somewhat busy.

…because you turn the conversation agressive. Everyone else is capable of debating in a non-confrontational manner. Apologies if that is a bit blunt but if you don’t see it take a look at the forum over the last couple of weeks compared to the last couple of days.

We plan our fuel so that we can taxi, take off, fly to destination (plus 5% contingency in case of unknown factors), go around, divert to our alternate, hold there for 30 minutes and land. If there is a likelihood of delays (weather, runway closures, etc) we will plan extra fuel. I did 2 go arounds at Newark a couple of weeks ago due firstly to a Fedex 727 that was cleared line up and immediate departure before then sitting stationary on the runway and then on the next approach attrocious air traffic controlling vectored me to 4 mile final at 2500 feet before asking if I could get in visually from that position. The answer was NO!!! Fortunately I had departed with an extra 3 1/2 tonnes of fuel as I suspected things might be amiss as one of the 2 main parallel runways was unavailable for a period of a couple of weeks.

quite right too…even if that opinion is 10 foot wide and rammed down our throat twice daily! 😉

W patterns are already planned using the BHX based aircraft but they are looking at the possibility of basing one airframe there.

Don’t jump to too many conclusions just yet…the last skipper BA fired for being drunk on duty proved that he had not consumed alcohol for a long time before duty and had NONE in his bloodstream! I’m not saying they are innocent, just that we need time for the case to be investigated.

For some strange reason I still get e-mails from TCX. They are talking about ops from Finningly (possibly with a based aircraft there). Excuse my geographical ignorance oop north but would that be convenient employment?