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The Airplane Fanatic Thread


Hornsareus

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In rare happenstance, we have almost limitless options on our next trip in with Star Alliance.  The total trip time, layover time, arrival time, price, all are equally suitable.

From Swiss, Austrian, Lufthansa, Brussels, and LOT, we have A330, A340, A350, B767, B747, B787.  

Never tried B787 but its LOT which isn't said to be the best.

LH has B747 for nose+upperdeck seating, but Lufthansa said to not be the best J class.  Curious about A350 but it's also LH.

Fallbacks are the the Swiss or Austrian options which we already know well... 

Preferences?

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Last time I flew Lufthansa was in J back in 2006, think it was ORD-FRA on my way to India...was an A340 and perfectly serviceable. However I’m sure their hard product has drastically changed.

All my experience since then in a premium cabin has been OneWorld in BA, AA, JAL, or CX so I’m no help...however this being the airplane fanatic thread, flying upper deck in a 747 from HKG-LAX on CX was an aviation highlight I’ll never forget even if it was their old coffin herringbone seat.

Going up the stairs, the feeling of your own private cabin, how being so far from the center of roll leads to more dramatic banking movements, very quiet, etc. I’ve also sat in regional J in the nose of JAL between NRT and MNL..was weird with that closet at the front, but you can almost see forward from the first row so that’s cool...

Honestly I’d go 747 upper deck if feasible, as they won’t be around forever plus I’m assuming it’s the new 748 so should be fresh. If I couldn’t get upper deck then I’d explore my other options and make a choice based on hard product, lounge access, schedule and bird...in that order.

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Yeah I'm thinking the same thing.  My last upper deck was also CX, and the opportunities are dwindling.  

Nose is out - the woman said NO in case there will be a crash... (i couldnt even make this up.)

LH wont accrue any miles for me to Turkish, but i already secured re-qual so its no big deal.  Only other difference is getting into EWR or JFK which seems a coin-flip.

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Speaking of AA...remember to check those award booking status, kids! Had to call AAdvantage several times to get our Phuket trip in J changed from ‘on request’ to ‘ticketed’.

Initial booking agent made some goof on the return where my cc wasn’t charged right, it woulda stayed in ‘on request’ forever, leaving a nasty surprise trying to get home, if I hadn’t stayed on top of it...our transpac leg on the return is via CX, which often takes a day or two to ticket, so I’d been watching closely.

Can’t wait to see if there are any differences in the seats on the 77W between AA and CX.

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Guy in club just got his commercial. I was updating his credentials and asked about his new medical, said he is still 3rd class.

Without diving into 61 or 62 (I think?) Is that even possible to fly commercial with a 3? Seems like no fucking way to me. 2 minimum.

In his defense he just wanted to grab the 182 and go to OKC tomorrow.

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The upper deck on the 747 is just magical.  It's so small and intimate up there--it really can't be beat.
By the way--that Gate 2 at AUS (pictured on the last page with the BA 744 at it) has the longest jetway known to man.  It's insane.


My wife and I are flying our LAX-HKG leg on AAs 77W in business, in their mini-cabin between F and the rest of J. It’s only two rows and we are in the first with a bulkhead in front of us. I’m hoping for an experience somewhat like the upper deck on a 744...will see, at least we turn left from the L2 door.

My guy says this will be our last trip to Asia so trying to make it count. I’ve flown to the Philippines twice, India twice, Bali and Malaysia all in J so I’m spoiled rotten.
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We got the 747-800 , so it's a the larger 8-deep upper deck rather than the 5.5-deep 747-400 (which was also an option).  Also a daytime flight so dont care much for seat comfort.

On the way back found availability on the mini cabin on Swiss a330 , will be good for sleeping.

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On 5/17/2018 at 8:19 AM, Homercles said:

Why was the ass of that A321 sticking into the alley so far? A330 driver obviously responsible for wingtip clearance

 

It looks like they’re missing marshallers unless it’s one of the automated, self parking setups. 

 

Btw, Cubana dumped a 737 in Havana today. 

Edited by Bobby_Batronic
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On 5/18/2018 at 11:33 PM, markstanco said:
On 5/16/2018 at 4:41 PM, Bobby_Batronic said:
Asiana has trouble driving airplanes. Whodathunkit?

They have a lot of accidents or am I missing a slight here?

777 crash at SFO on a perfect weather day by getting too slow and none of the check pilots onboard saying a word to the senior captain ring any bells?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Haven't read the NTSB report (if available yet) but obviously a lack of radio use or misunderstanding of intentions.

Helicopters use runways for some odd reason. Maneuvering I guess.

Heli pilots are always right, fixed wing pilots are always wrong. Dont your forget your place, boy.

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The NVA types didn't think so in 'Nam, and my cousin found out the hard way in his Huey gunship in 1970:

https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/K10553.HTM

After the Army finally recovered his & the crew's remains weeks later, they couldn't tell if his cause of death was gunshot, shrapnel, burns, or extreme RPG  trauma. Guess it didn't matter which. They ded.

I forgot how many choppers we lost over there.... 1,800? 3,000? Bell did a booming business back then.

Edited by Armybrat
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On 6/24/2018 at 9:56 AM, markstanco said:

Haven't read the NTSB report (if available yet) but obviously a lack of radio use or misunderstanding of intentions.

Helicopters use runways for some odd reason. Maneuvering I guess.

Heli pilots are always right, fixed wing pilots are always wrong. Dont your forget your place, boy.

Every time I've flown in a helicopter we took off and landed from the ramp avoiding the runways like the plague.  We also fly opposite traffic patterns from the fixed wings in order to avoid exactly what happened in the video.  Lastly, we've always yielded to to fixed wing traffic (it's a lot easier to go in reverse in a rotor than a fixed)

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42 minutes ago, markstanco said:

That's an interesting look at it, I dont believe there is anything in FAR 91 on right of way for fixed wing vs helicopter but it's been years since I looked. I know a balloon has FU go around me right of way rules. Converging planes, it's easy, go right.

You are correct. 91.113 doesn't say anything about different categories of powered aircraft (e.g. airplanes and helicopters). 

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Preliminary report says that helicopter was making correct radio calls but airplane calls were not heard by a third party.  My guess is right of way goes to the party who made a radio call. 

Helo was doing flight training with an instructor, so you gotta believe they made their calls. 

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10 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Not trying to go CR, but is there any truth to this column about the ATC training program?

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2018/06/27/diversity-and-inclusion-harm-ii-n2494161

Mr. Williams appears to have been picked up a quite a few conservative web publications' respective opinion columns.

Give this a good read, including the tabbed section at the bottom.  Compare it to the opinion piece you linked.  I can't quote him, but he suggested at some point that the FAA opened up hiring off the street (again, maybe not exact language, but somewhere near the bottom).  I got the feeling reading the FAA's page on the subject that it was interested in diversity reflected across the people employed by the FAA, but it did not say anything that said the FAA was throwing caution to the wind and hiring up all the crackheads either, many of our experience in the TSA lines notwithstanding. Truth is, I honestly don't know, but am wary generally.  The official statement is probably your best bet though.  Happy reading.

https://www.faa.gov/jobs/diversity_inclusion/

Edited by dcbc
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So I just booked tix to OSH for this year. I can only squeeze in the second weekend because of limited vacay days. But I’m pretty excited. The Mrs. and Chad Jr. are coming with so I probably won’t make the rounds as much as the posts from the old place.

That said, there have been a couple of remarkable restos this year I’d like to see in addition to poking around all the newest stuff. Watch this space...

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