For the aviation fans

[Bonus]

taking off from LHR heading to JNB on a night flight more often than not the flight would fly directly over the town of Worthing, where I was living at the time. I knew the layout of the town (I use Google Earth a lot) so I could make out my street and just about my house.

 

Taking off from JNB I could only see our house on the west rand if we took off south and then swung west and then north. Otherwise it was straight out over Midrand north.

 

Coming into JNB I would often see Northern Farm and the west rand first and then customers factories in Alberton and the ERM on final approach. Once or twice I landed at JNB from the north but I barely recognized anything until the last 2 mins.

 

Once had an aborted landing coming in from the north. We were seconds from touchdown and the pilot opened the throttles and we started climbing. Apparently the plane to land before us hadn't cleared the runway yet. We flew did a loop to the east so I got to see the plots out near Benoni etc.

 

On a flight from HLA to DUR and back once I got to see several of the big power stations out near Witbank where I grew up as a kid.

[Bateleur1]

I took a recording as we landed and lifted off at CPT. Was sad when they switched on the cabin lights. The sights at night was amazing. All the little dots of light at a cruising altitude of 10km was a pleasure to see and made me feel like a little kid spotting all the little towns from above

 

The most beautiful approach I ever experience was when we came to Germany for my wife's interview.  We flew with Swiss via Zurich.  On our flight from Joburg to Zurich we were I think the first plane to land that morning.  It was well before sunrise but they had a good snow shower during the night.  The snow reflects all light and all over you saw maintenance vehicles cleaning the roads and also later runways/taxiways etc as we approach.

[Bateleur1]

Nice shot of the queen.

 

[Lotus]

Just spotted this bad boy flying over Fourways. Quite a bit louder than the usual crowd over here.

[kosmonooit]

Yeah flew overhead here, on short finals for ORT as we speak ...

[Long Wheel Base]

Just spotted this bad boy flying over Fourways. Quite a bit louder than the usual crowd over here.

You should hear that rubbish on take off from JNB. The hanger doors in Technical rattle. Those things use the curvature of the earth to take off.

[SwissVan]

You should hear that rubbish on take off from JNB. The hanger doors in Technical rattle. Those things use the curvature of the earth to take off.

And it’s usually at some crazy time of the day like 3 or 4 am.....

[Bateleur1]

And it’s usually at some crazy time of the day like 3 or 4 am.....

 

... on a Sunday morning.  It often took off from Waterkloof AFB then, straight over our house in the northern parts of Pretoria.

[SwissVan]

... on a Sunday morning. It often took off from Waterkloof AFB then, straight over our house in the northern parts of Pretoria.

I used to live about 13 km from ORT and would be woken up by this rolling thunder sound of those Russkie military engines during the early hours, they were clearly loaded up to max and I would often wondered what would happen if they lost an engine on TO

[DJR]

I used to live about 13 km from ORT and would be woken up by this rolling thunder sound of those Russkie military engines during the early hours, they were clearly loaded up to max and I would often wondered what would happen if they lost an engine on TO

Hole in the ground and silence?

 

There is a story about 2 guys in a little spotter plane, think it was a bosbok, in the 1980s at Rundu in Namibia. The plane was loaded to the gunnels and on a hot mid summers day it wasn't too easy to get it in the air, and worse with a load. So, they revved the little thing to within an inch of exploding and ran it for a million miles on that forever long runway, but just before the point of no return, threw anchors and returned to the starting point. The passenger got out and removed two boxes of beer which he left on the tarmac. The whole process started again and with a bit of fighting and a screaming engine they got the plane up and cleared the fence at the end of the runway with a few metres. Everybody sighed with relief..........and then noticed that the pilot just circled and landed again.........taxied to where he left the beer, picked it up and the 3rd time cleared the fence with nothing to spare..........but his mates somewhere at a forward base got warm beers to drink that evening! 

[SwissVan]

Another airline (albeit a much more minor airline) going the Thomas Cook route....

They have about 500 employees

 

[Bateleur1]

Another airline (albeit a much more minor airline) going the Thomas Cook route....

They have about 500 employees

 

Adria.JPG

 

There is quite a few of the smaller European airlines in trouble.  Condor is a bigger airline that got left high and dry by Thomas Cook going down being a sister company to them.  It is actually a very profitable company but got left in trouble with Thomas Cook going down.  The German Government will lend the 380 mil EUR now that should pull them through.

[SwissVan]

There is quite a few of the smaller European airlines in trouble.  Condor is a bigger airline that got left high and dry by Thomas Cook going down being a sister company to them.  It is actually a very profitable company but got left in trouble with Thomas Cook going down.  The German Government will lend the 380 mil EUR now that should pull them through.

 

Unfortunately its not an industry for the feint hearted.... or in some cases for those without govt funding

[Ed-Zulu]

Hole in the ground and silence?

 

There is a story about 2 guys in a little spotter plane, think it was a bosbok, in the 1980s at Rundu in Namibia. The plane was loaded to the gunnels and on a hot mid summers day it wasn't too easy to get it in the air, and worse with a load. So, they revved the little thing to within an inch of exploding and ran it for a million miles on that forever long runway, but just before the point of no return, threw anchors and returned to the starting point. The passenger got out and removed two boxes of beer which he left on the tarmac. The whole process started again and with a bit of fighting and a screaming engine they got the plane up and cleared the fence at the end of the runway with a few metres. Everybody sighed with relief..........and then noticed that the pilot just circled and landed again.........taxied to where he left the beer, picked it up and the 3rd time cleared the fence with nothing to spare..........but his mates somewhere at a forward base got warm beers to drink that evening! 

Was told the exact story from a mate that flew choppers during the bush war

[DJR]

Was told the exact story from a mate that flew choppers during the bush war

Probably a non-urban legend 

[kosmonooit]

Built in three years and cost less than the Runway 3 @ Heathrow plan  #GoChina