For the aviation fans

[SwissVan]

Came upon some very sad news recently, Glen Warden a former colleague passed away in a plane crash recently.

Glen will be known to most as the "Black widow" Mirage 111 display pilot 

Here's a great picture of the aircraft with Glen flying

The Journey into Aviation - Glen Warden - Smoke On Go

 

 

[Bateleur1]

32 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Came upon some very sad news recently, Glen Warden a former colleague passed away in a plane crash recently.

Glen will be known to most as the "Black widow" Mirage 111 display pilot 

Here's a great picture of the aircraft with Glen flying

The Journey into Aviation - Glen Warden - Smoke On Go

 

 

Did not know the name but someone did send me this link the other day ... 

 

 

Was he flying the Black Widow when it got hit by ligthing at the 95 Waterkloof airshow?

[MudMuppet]

Was he flying the Black Widow when it got hit by ligthing at the 95 Waterkloof airshow?

I do remember that event as if it was yesterday, as he went through the clouds the plane was struck.... then he disappeared for a while to do system integrity checks. 

[Bonus]

I posted a few weeks ago about my 10 hr flight to Denver, Colorado from Munich on a Lufthansa A350-900 - great flight, no complaints and Munich airport was beautiful and spotless.  "Wendy" and I came back to Spain via Frankfurt together last week (she was there an extra 3 weeks before I got there) and we came back on a Lufthansa A340-300. From the outside it was a nice looking plane - latest Lufthansa colours, shiny & white. Inside, the plane was perfectly clean and tidy but goodness me what a miserable flight!

The seats were the most uncomfortable I've ever had to travel long-haul in, narrow and as stripped-down as you could make a seat and expect someone to still sit in it! In fact I commented on the second leg of our journey - 2hrs Frankfurt-Barcelona - that the seats on that little A320 were not much narrower. On top of the general discomfort of the seats, the aircon was set to the "Ice-Age" setting.  After the flight, Frankfurt airport was awful. So dirty and scruffy I thought we'd landed at Heathrow by accident 🙂

 

[DJR]

12 hours ago, Bonus said:

..........................I thought we'd landed at Heathrow by accident 

🙂

 

😁

[SwissVan]

15 hours ago, Bonus said:

On top of the general discomfort of the seats, the aircon was set to the "Ice-Age" setting. 

Sometimes there can be 2 real baastids sitting at the pointy end, I bet it was a much more comfortable temp at their end.

Normally if it’s a night flight after dinner they set it warm to encourage the pax to sleep nicely.... less hassle for the hostees if everyone falls asleep 💤 

 

[SwissVan]

On 12/22/2021 at 3:02 PM, Bateleur1 said:

Was he flying the Black Widow when it got hit by ligthing at the 95 Waterkloof airshow?

I’m not sure, was there and remember the lightening strike but tbh until you mentioned it I did not join the dots.

 

[Bateleur1]

16 hours ago, Bonus said:

I posted a few weeks ago about my 10 hr flight to Denver, Colorado from Munich on a Lufthansa A350-900 - great flight, no complaints and Munich airport was beautiful and spotless.  "Wendy" and I came back to Spain via Frankfurt together last week (she was there an extra 3 weeks before I got there) and we came back on a Lufthansa A340-300. From the outside it was a nice looking plane - latest Lufthansa colours, shiny & white. Inside, the plane was perfectly clean and tidy but goodness me what a miserable flight!

The seats were the most uncomfortable I've ever had to travel long-haul in, narrow and as stripped-down as you could make a seat and expect someone to still sit in it! In fact I commented on the second leg of our journey - 2hrs Frankfurt-Barcelona - that the seats on that little A320 were not much narrower. On top of the general discomfort of the seats, the aircon was set to the "Ice-Age" setting.  After the flight, Frankfurt airport was awful. So dirty and scruffy I thought we'd landed at Heathrow by accident 🙂

 

I very much like Munich Airport.  It is a fairly newish airport and although it is the 7th busiest airport in Europe, I never get the feel that it is so busy when I am there.  I recently now flew to SA.  Down to SA on Air France via Paris.  And back with KLM via Amsterdam.  I quite like the Charls de Gualle Airport.  As I said earlier the flight to SA was in a B777 which I found to be fairly noisy but overall good service from Air France.  Back on KLM was also on the 777 but did not find it to be that noisy. Think we sat futher back and that might have made the difference.  It was also nice that there were 200 seats open on the KLM flight so each passanger could pick his own row of seats in economy.   First time ever I could sleep over 4 seats. The Dutch crew was excellent and propably the friendliest crew I have ever flown with.  I found Schipol to be a nice airport as well and the staff there to be also very friendly.  Even the passport control folks smiled.  You will never see that at Munich or Frankfurt.  Those oaks never smile.  Part of there job description me thinks.

 

Want to take the family to SA in August.  Already looking at prices and Lufthansa have some good deals at the moment.  Still really want to fly the 747-8.  Then we will fly via Frankfurt again.  We flew via Frankfurt when we moved to Germany.  Flew with the A380 still which still wins hands down as the most quite flight I ever experienced and the softest landing (and yes they set the aircon cold as well).  Think it is a Lufthansa thing.

 

[The Ouzo]

1 hour ago, SwissVan said:

Sometimes there can be 2 real baastids sitting at the pointy end, I bet it was a much more comfortable temp at their end.

Normally if it’s a night flight after dinner they set it warm to encourage the pax to sleep nicely.... less hassle for the hostees if everyone falls asleep 💤 

 

everytime I've flown Emirates this seems to be the default setting. So cold the entire flight that people are sitting shivering under blankets.

[SwissVan]

8 minutes ago, ouzo said:

everytime I've flown Emirates this seems to be the default setting. So cold the entire flight that people are sitting shivering under blankets.

Ja i don't understand why its mostly like this, i flew once from Luanda to JNB on an old 747 SP belonging to Angolan airline TAG, it was so cold that there was mist visible from the air vents....luckily its a relatively short flight

[geomark]

18 hours ago, Bonus said:

I posted a few weeks ago about my 10 hr flight to Denver, Colorado from Munich on a Lufthansa A350-900 - great flight, no complaints and Munich airport was beautiful and spotless.  "Wendy" and I came back to Spain via Frankfurt together last week (she was there an extra 3 weeks before I got there) and we came back on a Lufthansa A340-300. From the outside it was a nice looking plane - latest Lufthansa colours, shiny & white. Inside, the plane was perfectly clean and tidy but goodness me what a miserable flight!

The seats were the most uncomfortable I've ever had to travel long-haul in, narrow and as stripped-down as you could make a seat and expect someone to still sit in it! In fact I commented on the second leg of our journey - 2hrs Frankfurt-Barcelona - that the seats on that little A320 were not much narrower. On top of the general discomfort of the seats, the aircon was set to the "Ice-Age" setting.  After the flight, Frankfurt airport was awful. So dirty and scruffy I thought we'd landed at Heathrow by accident 🙂

 

Flew Lufthansa a month back, gone or the days of what protein one may want, the question is now food or no food, everyone gets vegetarian and the second glass of wine is definitely not happening! If you're not wearing a mask don't even make eye contact with the hostess let alone speak, stop eating, mask up, then talk. But the long haul flights still pretty comfy, and there's far worse than Frankfurt out there!

[SwissVan]

7 hours ago, geomark said:

Flew Lufthansa a month back, gone or the days of what protein one may want, the question is now food or no food, everyone gets vegetarian and the second glass of wine is definitely not happening! If you're not wearing a mask don't even make eye contact with the hostess let alone speak, stop eating, mask up, then talk. But the long haul flights still pretty comfy, and there's far worse than Frankfurt out there!

You forgot the “and ve vant to hear only 1 click JA!” When they do the safety demo showing you how to use the seatbelt

I wonder who remembers that tv advert from about 20 years ago?

[Bateleur1]

On 12/24/2021 at 6:58 PM, SwissVan said:

You forgot the “and ve vant to hear only 1 click JA!” When they do the safety demo showing you how to use the seatbelt

I wonder who remembers that tv advert from about 20 years ago?

I do.  Was it not a Kulula add?

[Bonus]

We flew Barcelona-London Gatwick last night on a Vueling A320. Nice flight, only 2 hrs, and there were no more than 40 people on the plane. We had three seats each 🙂

[Frosty]

Apparently this is Jan Smuts, circa 1955. Can’t confirm as I wasn’t around then, and it doesn’t look like the SA flag 

[SwissVan]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Apparently this is Jan Smuts, circa 1955. Can’t confirm as I wasn’t around then, and it doesn’t look like the SA flag 

 

Image search seems to confirm its Jan Smuts