But I love the ******s going a few feet over my head!!

In that case then, why not get even closer and use Sheldon Country Park? Park the car in Marston Green station (Adjacent to the 15 threshold) car park and then take the short walk down and round to the end of the runway. Or, take Hazeldene Road off the Radleys and park somewhere up the top and walk into the park. Excellent views to be had from all around the park which runs right around the 15 threshold. Mind you, be prepared for the world and his wife to have the same idea! (As per the days of Concorde)

Pity the A380 ain’t got speys!!

Hot summers day, de-min water injected into speys on take-off. A sound that could wake the dead!. Talk about snap, crackle and pop!!!. Ah memories……………………

From the press……..(Believed to be accurate)

On Wednesday September 9 Emirates will operate its prestigious 489-seat A380 into Birmingham from Dubai.

The idea is to celebrate the airport’s 70th anniversary and it’s the first time the super jumbo has operated a scheduled service at the Midlands airport.

On this day only the three-class (first, business and economy) A380 will replace the regular two-class B777-300 aircraft on flight EK39 (departing Dubai at 0805, arriving Birmingham at 1235) and flight EK40 (departing Birmingham at 1415, arriving Dubai at 0015 on September 10). Flights can now be booked onemirates.com

Passengers will access to Emirates’ latest in-flight accommodation including flat-bed seats in business and suites in first class.

The one-off service on September 9 is expected to be popular not just with Brummies and other Midlands passengers but also those located within the airport’s catchment area which covers Bristol, Manchester and the northern Home Counties.

But there is a sting in the tail. The A380 being used for these flights is normally rostered for popular flights EK1 (departing Dubai at 0745) and EK 2 (departing Heathrow at 1415) between Dubai and London. These services will now be operated (on September 9 only) by a smaller three-class B777-300ER. So Heathrow’s loss is Birmingham’s gain.

Prices to fly on the A380 from Birmingham on September 9 start from £361 in economy, £1,965 in business class and £2,867 in first class.

Doesn’t it also coinside with the opening of Emirates dedicated departure lounge?

What’s with the’ 100′ on the nose of the EasyJet Airbus???

I think it’s because that airline is the 100th A319 of the EZY fleet? … I might be wrong

Correct. 100th Airbus A319 delivered to easyJet 14 Apr 05

Am I supposed to believe that?

Commonly referred to as ‘Wacko Jacko’ with a ‘dark obsession for children’. He dies and suddenly he’s elevated to ‘iconic cultural hero’………….priceless!!

Creaking Door
Is this why some of the first few rows of a 737 are often ‘roped off’ when travelling in a nearly full aircraft?

It is not necessarily so. There could be several operational reasons why seats are blocked off. Balance restrictions being just one of them. They may be roped off for:

VIP use
Group bookings
The crew may want to use them
IFE systems not working in that section
Some sort of malfunction with the seats (Armrests/tables etc)
Soiled seats/carpets

The situation you describe does not apply to all ‘nearly full’ B737’s. If it is a weight and balance issue, the probable reason for blocking off forward seats is due to the load in the forward hold creating a nose heavy situation with the centre of gravity of the a/c being well forward. To compensate you sit the passengers towards the rear of the a/c which has the effect of bringing the centre of gravity back and balancing the a/c more evenly. To achieve the same result, unless there is a specific reason why the forward hold is utilised so much, you could move some of the load to the rear hold but that takes time and manpower. It’s all very simple really and is something a seasoned Load Controller / Master is well used to dealing with, and forms part of load planning which takes place well before departure. In normal day to day a/c operations it is something which goes on without the general travelling public being aware that this aspect of flight safety is going on.

Whilst it is obvious to some it is worth pointing out that all individual a/c types have their own weight and balance characteristics and the standard loading procedure for one type does not follow for another type.

Without knowing the full details regarding this particular instance, it appears that either:

A. Some sort of communication breakdown took place somewhere between the airline / load control / check-in to address the problem before involving the passengers

B. Passengers were advised of the problem in a manner that turned out to be inappropriate (Possibly due to language differences)

C. One/two, or a small group of misguided passengers managed to influence other passengers into taking the actions they did.

I also imagine that several folk involved in this have had to prepare individual reports into this incident for further investigation within TCX

Do you know when the rest are going to be delivered?

Sorry, not at the moment

I’m no expert, but having seen the video clip a few times it strikes me that this latest incident appears (And I stress ‘appears’) to be a maintenance issue rather than a part/s failure.