Tim Byatt
@Tim_the_Pilot
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British civil aviation from a heritage angle. Privileged to fly the B777 & previously the B737, B747 Classic & -400, B757, B767 & TriStar. Clearly more B than A
Joined July 2012
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Farewell !
This could mark the beginning of the final chapter of the B747 at BA, as today all training & recency for the 600 or so pilots was formally suspended.
I feel very lucky to have flown both the B747 Classic in the right hand seat & B747-400 as a skipper.
1971-2020 ?
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This time tomorrow I'll probably be flying my last B744 departure from Heathrow 😢
If it is, I will still have had the best year ever flying the QOTS & it will end, as it started, flying to Cape Town. I hope one thing doesn't change.....we're currently 🤞assigned the Landor ❤️
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The B747s themselves may be leaving, but the memories will forever remain. She is an absolute delight to fly and I was truly privileged to call her my office.
#BA747Farewell
#B747Forever
#B747
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Ever wondered why some a/c tugs models are so low ? One reason is to allow this more unusual towing operation, where the tow-bar is attached to the rear of the nose gear, for when space is limited. This is G-VIIG being towed into the northwest pen of TBA tonight, for some TLC.
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If anybody's at LHR tomorrow morning (Sun) taking photos, I'd be hugely grateful if you could capture me departing. I'm due to push at 10:45, as BA285. It may well be one of my last
#B747
flights & certainly my one & only opportunity to fly the
#BOAC
G-BYGC. Photo
@misaelpics747
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Had the privilege today of flying the newest aircraft I’ve ever flown, just 49 days after she was delivered. Given my propensity to fly mature aircraft, this was a real novelty !
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After 30yrs, I've a reasonable grasp of UK aviation & don't think anyone that knows me will ever accuse me of not wanting the best for BA. I feel the time has come for BA to be removed from IAG ownership & made to work for the good of the UK. (
@HuwMerriman
& the TSC chair) 1/17
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And that, as they say, is a wrap.
Beautiful day to finish with, 11:30hrs flight and a 351t take-off with beautiful views of The Cape on departure.
Any flying from now is a bonus. One year, one month and 13 days of pure unadulterated fun.
She really is the Queen of the Skies.
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10yrs ago today we rolled out of the BA Heathrow TBK engineering base paintshop (which is now been closed) the first
@British_Airways
retrojet,
#B757
G-CPET. A decade on & I still think she looks stunning. I was lucky enough to fly her 5 times that last month before she retired.
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After a gap of 329 days, I had the pleasure this week of getting airborne once again. I’d never spent this long on the ground before in my career, so it feels like being reborn. All the little things you can’t simulate come flooding back & it feels so natural. And the views....
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As today is the very last day of British Airways B767 passenger flights, after 28 years of service, I thought I'd share some memories and musings on its operation over the years in the form of a blog article.
#B767
#BAretireB767
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Another little career milestone passes, as today 30 years ago I joined Prestwick cadet pilot course 8910. I feel so very lucky to have been awarded a place on this course. I was to have joined a British Midland course at Oxford that day, but fate intervened & the rest is history.
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Something that will bring puzzlement to future generations, in both content and format 🤔
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What an amazing day. Fantastic to catch
@Magsmeister23
on his last 747 flight, and then help put G-BNLY to bed as we towed her off the runway and shut her down for the night. I’ve never had a view like this from my car before. So happy Landor is now saved.
#B747
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Qantas without B747s feels akin to Qantas loosing the kangaroo from its tail. I'm so pleased her last commercial flight was captured this way.
#Qantas
#B747
Qantas Boeing 747-400ER VH-OEE operating as QF28 from Santiago to Sydney passes over Sydney Harbour at 2,100ft before landing this afternoon. It may be the last ever commercial Qantas Boeing 747 service.
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How much would you pay to be allowed to stand here and witness this ? One or two people must have some stunning photos ! This is B747-100 G-AWND (later destroyed in Kuwait in 1991), touching down at the new Mount Pleasant airport, in the Falkland Islands, in 1985.
@falklands_utd
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I (officially) joined British Airways in 1992 when BA produced this booklet. We were lead by Lord King as Chairman & Sir Colin Marshall was both our Deputy Chairman & CEO. I was extremely proud of the company I joined. Today our Chairman & CEO is Alex Cruz. Enough said.
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Head to head, 300m vertical separation, on the Mongolian/Russian border, at 10,400m, with an Air Bridge Cargo
#B744
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I must have sat here for 10 mins after shutting down & found the steady stream of people quite mesmerising. Everyone will have had their own reason for travelling, some anticipating an adventure, many returning home, meeting loved ones, and a few sadly saying goodbye.
#AirTravel
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Once upon a time my mum bought me this book as a 9 year old interested in aircraft. It inspired me, including for this school project. Today I realised that dream of becoming a
@britishairways
jumbo jet captain & coincidentally got to welcome the same livery back into LHR.
#BA100
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Job done. 442 sectors, 61 destinations, of which 38 were new for me, over the last 4 yrs 8 months. The 'triple seven' has been a lot of fun with many memories from some great trips, and with many great people. I've even now learnt which islands are where in the Caribbean !
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Today closes a chapter of my life, that started with my first ever B747 flight in Dec 1985, aboard G-BDXL. In Dec 1997 I flew my first sector as a 747 first officer on G-AWNA and in Feb 2019 by first sector as a 747 captain on G-BNLN. Today they’ve all retired. Just me now to go.
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Queuing in T7 a pax said to me "Did you see the 777X fly today ?", "Yes looked great" I replied. "Super cool, are you getting any ?". Yes 18 starting 2022. "Oh great. What do you fly ?". The 747. "Oh man no, really ? You're the luckiest guy alive".
What could I say but agree 🤷♂️😊
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Just like the buses, you wait for one and then 8
#B747
's come along. Happy 50th birthday to the iconic 747 which first flew on this day in 1969.
#WhyILoveThe747
@BoeingAirplanes
@British_Airways
#BA100
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Now it's just the CAA's paperwork......
I've been cleared to fly, and officially join the fleet today (albeit still under training), but another step closer to realising my long held ambition.
#B747
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I’m pleased all my Gatwick touchdowns don’t get such high levels of media scrutiny….
Nice landing !
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In around 7hrs 44mins time (appropriately) the current matriarch of the BA fleet, B747-400 G-BNLN will land at Heathrow for the final time. She will be off to St.Athan very soon (but not tomorrow now) for scraping, after nearly 29 years of service. She was the first B744 I flew.
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In what will bring to a close the BOAC & British Airways B747 era, tomorrow the times of the final flight just released are departure Cardiff 13:15loc, arrival St.Athan 13:45loc as BA747P
Treasure the memories, as beautifully captured here by Ben Suskind from
@AirlineGeeks
#B747
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For those wondering, BA could become a wonderful airline again, one this country is proud of once more, but only if politicians are willing to put their faith in the staff that make BA what it is. Take control, not ownership of BA, from IAG & refocus on the UK’s aviation needs.
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Now I’m not a huge fan of the oneWorld livery on our B747s, but I might make an exception for this wonderful shot taken by Mike Bartils this morning of G-CIVK departing her LHR home base for the last time. Mike sent me this, asking me to share it with everyone. Thanks Mike
#B747
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I very much hope space can be found on land either owned by BA at BAMC or by
@Cardiff_Airport
landside, for G-BNLY City of Swansea to be preserved, maybe under a geodome. The B747 fleet has a very special association with South Wales & hope the
@WelshGovernment
would support this
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When someone offers you their entire collection of civil aviation photos from the 1990s, taken mostly in Hong Kong, well what else could I do but very gratefully accept. Everyone loves a bit of Kai Tak action !
#KaiTak
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Head set operative "Do you know a bit is missing from your wing".
Us "If it's a flap fairing on the left wing, yes, it's been removed, but thanks for asking"
"That's ok then. I thought it might have fallen off"
😆
We can fly with all sorts of bits missing, just not all at once.
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Another little chapter of BA’s 747 story closes today, as it’s the final day of BA operation of the 3 remaining B744 full flight simulators. They have been sold, although they will remain in situ. I took the opportunity to say goodbye to them yesterday, whilst still “ours”.
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From tomorrow we will be seeing this classic look of a BA B747-400, in the iconic Landor livery, back at Heathrow, as seen here with her distinctive heavily fuelled wing droop. She will be seen in such places a Miami, Cape Town and Vancouver very soon.
#BA100
#LandorReturns
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And today's award for the most inappropriate photo accompanying an aviation story on Twitter today goes to......🙄
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I am pleased to report there was no seismic event detected in the Western Cape earlier and the good ship G-BNLN is still in one piece after my first Jumbo landing in just over 18 years.
Does she fly well ? Oh yes...... she handles just as beautifully as she looks.
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Homeward bound on my last flight as a First Officer before my command course. BA142 from Delhi to Heathrow overnight on 8th/9th November 2000 on board my favourite Utopia B747-236 G-BDXK “Chelsea Rose”. The design wasn’t one of the originals, but was a competition winner’s entry.
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In 25 years of commercial flying, I'd struggle to beat tonight's approach into JFK, flying up the East River at 2800ft. What a view !!
#NY
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In conclusion, this global aviation crisis gives the UK a one off opportunity to rebalance its aviation sector so that it truly helps the wider UK economy. IAG have lost touch with what BA should be, namely British Airways. Please ask your MP's to consider this throughout the UK.
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At rest, before one last flight later today. G-CIVI sits quietly at the edge of the engineering base awaiting her tow onto a stand, before departing for St.Athan around 15:15 loc. BA9151P. The sky says it all.
#B747
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Delighted this is now official. B747-436 G-BNLY, wearing Landor, is now the most historically significant aircraft in the BA subsonic fleet, so she had to be preserved. Sam Tripp & Mike Bartils deserve proper recognition for their huge efforts since August, in this regard. 👏
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Are we ready for BA Landor everyone ? Here we have the range of baggage labels from across the cabin classes with the prominent red Speedwing.
This is very much my era at
@British_Airways
and the current livery when I joined.
Who remembers these ?
#BA100
#Landor
#LandorReturns
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Starting number 4.....
Happy days. I've just received news of a new confirmed B747-400 conversion course start date of Monday 31st December. It's definitely going to be a very happy new year 😄
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Later we get to fly one of the B777’s most performance challenging departures. Heavy, hot, with extremely high terrain under the route, we normally have to fly a climbing orbit over the ocean before heading inland, even when using full climb power & climbing at best climb speed.
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If I could make one request, to my aircrew colleagues worldwide, it would be take photos and capture your moments on board, and down-route.
I’ve just found another wallet of 36 photos that were frankly boring...but 25 years later capture something that to me is now very special.
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Since mid January I’ve been undertaking a conversion course back into my former chariot, and today completed the simulator stage. I’m also pleased to report, despite all the negative news around, retraining is still full steam ahead, giving hope to those still awaiting their turn
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Whilst the opportunity to do this is available, we should use the occasional empty positioning sectors to/from Cardiff, to arrange some air2air photos of the retro & current
@British_Airways
liveries on the B744 fleet, before it's too late, like this
@BoeingAirplanes
photo.
#B747
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Irrespective of my tweets in the months & years ahead, this will be my reminder of all of my BA pilot colleagues currently waiting to return to the skies. It shall remain until every last one who chooses to return, is back in the seat they deserve & worked so hard to achieve.
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What an exciting period to be joining the
@British_Airways
B747-400 fleet. From tomorrow this will no longer be just a set of models, but reality ! I do hope
@GeminiJets
are watching developments.
#BA100
#BOAC
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A couple of weeks ago I tweeted a photo of the training hall which running through the middle of 4 hangars in building TBA, BOAC's old HQ. It current holds 15 full flight simulators but I found this photo of what it used to look like, when it was used for engine overhauls.
#BA100
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*Last flight of G-CIVM*
Next Monday, 16th March has BA B744 G-CIVM fly her last flight, Heathrow to St.Athan, departing LHR off blocks at 10:10, arriving DGX at 10:55 provisionally. Flt no. BA9171E. This is a planned hull retirement before rumours start flying around !
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Possibly one of the world's shortest B747 flights will occur at around 10am (UK/UTC time) as G-CIVG makes her final flight, from Cardiff Airport to neighbouring St.Athan, for de-commissioning. Flt no. is BA9172E. One to watch on
@flightradar24
Wind is easterly so like a circuit.
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I’ve seen a few questions re engines. Yes, those on G-BNLY are being removed & swapped with time expired examples, as you may have seen on trollies awaiting her arrival. Temporarily the replacement engines will have the current blue cowlings, but Landor blue will be reinstated.
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I once flew as a passenger out of Nairobi aboard one of our B744s. The hot & high take-off roll lasted over a minute. Tonight I get to fly a heavy one of these departures myself. I've been looking forward to this for a long while, having previously flown a B767 & B777 from here.
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This is a great shot. Croydon airport night airmail from about 1930, with a French Air Union (pre Air France) Farman Goliath F-GEAI I think.
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Very sad to hear this. One of Capt Haynes' most important decisions that day was not being afraid to ask for & accept help, from all available sources. Crucially he asked Capt Fitch, a passenger & fellow DC-10 pilot who had practiced this scenario in the sim, onto the flightdeck.
Hero pilot and aviation safety icon, Al Haynes, has died at the age of 87.
In 1989, he was the Captain that led his crew to land the severely crippled United Flight 232 in Sioux City, beating the odds to save 185 of his passengers.
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10 years ago this evening “Shuttle 9 Charlie ”, the ATC callsign for BA1463, headed south from Edinburgh, bringing to a close 27yrs of British Airways B757 scheduled passenger flights.
This photo montage we made to mark the occasion, was placed at the departure gates ..1/6
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I forgot to do my yearly flying summary, so this is the amazing year that was....2019
649hrs 17 mins in 75 sectors operating to the following first time destinations for me :-
CPT, LAX, LAS, PHX, & LOS.
My hours are lower than usual due my B744 conversion course in Jan-Mar 2019.
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In a rare bit of positive news, the first new B777 to join the BA fleet in over 6 years, should arrive on Friday morning from Everett as BA9162P at 10:55am. A B777-300ER, G-STBM will join her sister G-STBL, seen here, based at LHR. She’s the first of four due fairly soon.
#B777
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Managed to capture on camera the atmosphere disturbance (wobbling camera) as we crossed the equator and transition from the southern hemisphere's airmass into the northern hemisphere's airmass.
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Found some photos from my first officer (now a skipper himself) of my first day in command in BA. It was a charter to Kittila, Finland on 28th Jan 2001. You can see the runway state, backtracking R/W16 after landing. We had to tech stop in GOT on the way home. B737-500 G-GFFD
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In just a couple of hours time a view like this, of a pair of operational BA 767's at Heathrow, will be history. They'll join the ranks, like the VC10, Trident, TriStar, 1-11, 747 Classic, Concorde, 737 & 757's, as just memories of historic fleets from BA's LHR past
#BAretire767
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St.Athan incoming !
Not the first to be delivered, but first in the series & in my opinion the nicest of the sub-series from a handling perspective, A-market B777 G-ZZZA (aka Gazza) will have her final flight ~10:30 . We shall collectively shed a tear to see her go.
#BAW9171E
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I took this on a Boeing factory tour at Everett in August 1988, and it’s amazing to think the 767 production line, at that point, had been running 7 years, and now 33 years later there are still B767s rolling off the line. That’s a testament to what a great aircraft she is.
#B767
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Earlier we had a gentleman visit the flightdeck who had just achieved his PPL. He was rather awestruck by getting to sit in the left hand seat, but when I told him I'd also learnt to fly in a C152 & that this was only my second flight, you could see him realise 'I could do this'.
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Wednesday will quite possibly see a record breaking flight for an aircraft within BA’s B777-200ER GE-powered fleet.
G-VIIG will perform a non-stop empty positioning flight from Manila to Heathrow with a block time (chocks to chocks) of 16:05hrs.
She’s due in at 16:00z
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Of the 5 BA B744s heading for parking at Bournemouth (Hurn) today, the first will be the Landor (G-BNLY) retrojet shortly. BA use the maintenance facility there for B744s as an occasional overspill from LHR & Cardiff. One of the fleet was only in BOH last year.
#B747
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From a human perspective, not only did 26th Nov 2003 represent the end of Concorde operations for BA, it also marked the end of BA flight operations involving our Flight Engineer community, who had been flying with pilots for most of the company's 84 year history at that point.
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This afternoon’s final flight of G-CIVU represents the last flight of a BA 747 in the current (brilliant white) livery. Two more remain to be flown in the older off white livery, before the coat of arms was added. Today’s flightpath of ‘Victor Uniform’ formed a broken heart 💔
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This is G-BNWA, the world's first
@RollsRoyce
powered
#B767
on her last ever final approach & landing into St. Athan after 29 yrs of dedicated service with
@British_Airways
Lots of very happy memories flying her & her sister ships over the years. Happy retirement 'Whiskey Alpha'
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Supersonic B777.....well almost.
Watch the nautical miles race past in the top right hand corner. A 180kt tailwind giving a groundspeed of 650kts. The still air speed of sound at FL370 is about 585kts, so that's Mach 1.1 at our altitude (if the air had been stationary).
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So Heathrow's second oldest resident (active) a/c (del Apr 90) retires on Wednesday when BA's
#B767
G-BNWA retires to St.Athan. This leaves LHR's oldest, her sister ship G-BNWB (del 9th Feb 90) for a couple more months. Both have spent their entire lives flying shorthaul from LHR
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I'm rather touched by this wonderful little gift from
@British_Airways
as part of
#BA100
, which arrived with this morning's post and Christmas cards. My first little piece of a jumbo to keep. Thank you ♥️✈️
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2 months in & one of the most striking things about the 747 compared with previous fleets, is the number of cockpit visits requested. It's easy to think most people today aren't interested in planes, yet despite the relative inaccessibility on the upper deck, how many ask to look
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It’s been nearly 20 years since this picture last saw the light of day, but my lockdown project of actually sorting my aviation collection of memorabilia and “junk” is starting to bare fruit as things like this come out of storage. This brings back very happy memories.
#TriStar
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There was a time, long long ago, when Ryanair was not a B737 operator. This is from my days working at Stansted, when they were flying BAC 1-11s & ATR42s. The BA DC-10 (G-BEBL) is doing base training (flightcrew conversion training circuits [and bumps]).
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Transferring some VHS to DVD BBC footage today, including this, of the late Raymond Baxter and Capt John Hutchinson watching 2 Concorde's arriving in trail. If you look closely you'll actually see the third appear as well. G-BOAE, then G-BOAF & finally G-BOAG
#Concorde
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Normally arrivals into JFK involve flying down Long Island via Providence, but occasionally when approaching from the north, as last night, we use a Kingston 7 arrival via Albany. It's not ideal but when it affords views over Manhattan at 20,000ft, you've got to saviour the view.
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Blimey. Stelios is on the war path with the easyJet board and Airbus, and potentially the UK Government. He's just released another bullet point letter. That's one hell of a corporate bust-up. 😬
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"Cleared to push, face west, and on three, One, Two, Three, Ppuushhh" 👏👏
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This video beautifully captures the downhill terrain profile of the final approach into San Diego. The touchdown threshold is significantly displaced (note the arrows) by this. In summer you have the addition factor of landing directly into sun. I love arriving here, nevertheless
🌇 Superbe atterrissage d'un
@Boeing
747 (-400) de
@British_Airways
au coucher du soleil ! ✈
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What 20 years of advancement does to a fuel system. The basic principle is the same - use the fuel out of the centre (& tail tank) first, then burn out of the larger inboard tanks 2 & 3, before going 'tank to engine' once tanks 1,2,3 & 4 are equal, keeping fuel outboard in wings.
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Another little TriStar fact-bite using that same photo from yesterday. You can see the a/c is taxiing with the no.2 engine reverser deployed. This was a nifty little way of reducing brake wear/temperatures, as idle reverse helped slow the a/c, with no risk of ingestion damage.
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Blimey, that's a bit unfair. She only flew a few coronavirus flights for the UK Government. 😬😉
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I thank
@HuwMerriman
for specifically asking PM
@BorisJohnson
about the situation at BA. It’s reassuring to know that government is actively looking at a solution, one of which is to remove control of BA from IAG, installing a new management, working in the UK national interest.
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One last time....my last ever
@British_Airways
#B767
flight. After 11 years of flying them, this one I get to ride as a passenger. They will be sadly missed in Europe by both their passengers and crew. The end of regular wide bodied flying in Europe. Our youngest hull, G-BZHC.
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Three photographs from books of my childhood, featuring the Boeing 747. These are images that have always stayed with me.
I shall try & capture in words my bond with flying this wonderful aircraft over the coming weeks, whilst it’s still fresh and uncorrupted in my head.
#B747
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Flying on a non bunked 3 class a/c yesterday meant our flightcrew rest seat is at the rear of the Club World cabin, in a rearward facing seat. Given I can't even see the wingtip from the flightdeck, this was quite a treat for me. I could watch that spinner for hours.
#B777
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So ends the
@British_Airways
B757/767 fleet as Capt
@JonnyLutton
& SFO
@aston_adam
fly the final sector to St Athan that began with the delivery of G-BIKB from Seattle to LHR on 25th January 1983. 86 hulls flown, with well over 1 million sectors, spanning 35 years.
#BAretire767
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I find this rather sweet, that here we are, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of the B767-300's first flight on 30th Jan 1986, and they are still in production and looking great.
#B767
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The retirement of the BA B777-200 fleet begins. Sister A-market hulls ZZD & ZZE were traded back to Boeing in 2002, but here begins the first end of life retirements. Of all BA B777s, it was these ZZ series I most enjoyed handling, as they felt nicest. More new -300s arrive soon.
Zulu Charlie (G-ZZZC - B772) bows out of the
@British_Airways
fleet today with 24.4 years of service after being delivered on 11-11-1995, BA9171 departs
@HeathrowAirport
for the last time etd1050 for part out and scrap to St. Athan
#britishairways
#boeing
#b777
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A mixed bag of emotions this morning after completing my final check back onto the B777 fleet. Delight and relief to be released to “the line” once again, but tinged with just a little sadness that after today I lose my B747-400 crewing tag forever.
But onwards & upwards.....
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Ever wondered why the
#B777
seems to take a while to commence its take off run after T/O clearance received on a rolling take-off ? The answer is the pilots can't increase power out of the taxi range until lined up straight, because the steering rear axle needs to centralise.
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