Britains Airports

[stevek1969]

So you would be happy to pay alot more tax, so we southerners can improve an airport you never use, so it can be kept open for one week a year. What are they going to cut expenditure on to pay for it then? Health? Education?

How many planes fly into Helsinki anyway? Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world. That alone makes it more of a challenge.

Wined your kneck in Murph,i pay 40% tax so pay enough and us Scots are always the Guinea Pigs for tax so why not.If you read it properly the person from Helsinki did state that it was a smaller airport and yes i do use it maybe only once a year for family holidays,i used it a lot in my previous jobs.BAA make profits from airports so why not channel that into better equipment for the future.

 

[robbest3offthetee]

Smiffy,Totally agree, I would let them all board the plane then like to see their faces when the captain comes over the intercom saying " Ladies and gents we will taxi down to the end of runway 1 and attempt a take off but if not we will crash and burn" ,so if its all ok here we go....

 

[surefire]

It doesn't matter that you pay 40% tax, some people even pay 50%, if the public purse wants to spend mroe money, it either has to reduce spending somewhere else, or raise tax.

As said though BAA run the airport, so its up to them to spend the money. The thing is why would they eat into their profits? Unless they are losing more money from this than it would cost to upgrade the infrastructure required, it's not in their interests to do much.

Even if people and airlines know this, it's not like they've got much choice to go anywhere else.

 

[Smiffy]

Smiffy,Totally agree, I would let them all board the plane then like to see their faces when the captain comes over the intercom saying " Ladies and gents we will taxi down to the end of runway 1 and attempt a take off but if not we will crash and burn" ,so if its all ok here we go....

If I was waiting for a flight and it was delayed through bad weather, I'd be a bit cheesed off. Course I would. But they can't do anything about it. As Bob says, settle down for the duration and make the best of it that you can.
But "technical problems?"
As somebody who can sit on a perfectly good aeroplane and still hear things he thinks are "wrong" you wouldn't get me anywhere near the bloody thing.

 

[viscount17]

There are technical problems then there are 'technical problems'. Real technical problems usually mean somethings broke.

the other 'technical problems' usually mean the plane's in the wromg place, or they don't have a crew - either hasn't turned up or can't fly, or someone else isn't doing their job (strike, sickie etc). These you can legitimately moan about - won't do you any good of course, but you can moan.

 

[Robobum]

As viscount says above, a technical problem will very rarely mean something is broken. It is usually down to admin, staff or scheduling.

Practically every aircraft flies with technical faults and limitations. It has to be soemthing pretty major to stop them flying.

If you saw a limitations log for military aircraft you would wonder how we can enter into conflicts outside of Lincolnshire.

 

[USER1999]

We had a technical problem on the plane I was flying back from China in. Sat on the tarmac, all the lights went out. It took 20 minutes to get an engineer, who spent 30 seconds sorting the problem, and another 20 minutes documenting it.
I can only guess one of the pilots had turned them off, and forgotten where the switch was, because it didn't take much fixing.

 

[JustOne]

We had a technical problem on the plane I was flying back from China in. Sat on the tarmac, all the lights went out. It took 20 minutes to get an engineer, who spent 30 seconds sorting the problem, and another 20 minutes documenting it.
I can only guess one of the pilots had turned them off, and forgotten where the switch was, because it didn't take much fixing.

That's fairly common when the Co-Pilot hangs her handbag on the OFF switch!

 

[Macster]

I think its diabolical that Heathrow cant cope with the snow it has, it is one of THE busiest airports in the world, and quite frankly, should have enough equipment & de-icer in store for this rare eventuality. Sure, they may stay in-store for 5/6yrs, being maintained, but as such an important hub for the UK, its is un-acceptable that it cant cope.

2 yrs ago, I landed in Detroit from denver, and came thru the cloudbase at something like 200' to what I can only describe as 'Winter Armageddon', the runways 'completely snow covered, the whole airport a sea of Planes being de-iced, Bulldozers moving mountains of snow out of the way, and all while the Airport continued to operate as if it was a summers day, I kid you not.
Quite why 10" of the stuff closes LHR down for days is beyond me.
They have even got frickin heated runways !!!

 

[hangover]

i was stuck in belfast 3 weeks ago, my flight was cancelled twice due to the weather. luckily easyjet put us up for the 2 nights. i ended up having to tget the ferry home which cost us a extra £92 but it was worth it just to get home. i couldnt handle going to the airport for a third day to be told my flight was cancelled.

 

[surefire]

Having lived in Michigan, there is a good reason Detroit can cope with it. It is not uncommon to have snow from November right through to April.

Not quite the same as the UK really and a totally unfair comparison.

 

[viscount17]

Macster's point is valid though. If LHR is the hub airport that it is claimed to be then it is not unreasonable that this one, if no other, UK airfield should be truly ALL weather.

 

[Oddsocks]

the key thing in this thread is preperation...... or lack of it, and this is exactly why the couth of england becomes a shambles.

We was given 10 days of notice that snow was comming in my area (between bromley & croydon). My area is one of the most roral parts of croydon near to surrey downs and its one of the highest points in the area. We always get the snow worse from all the surrounding area's and what prep was done to help us cope - Feck All!

If the airports prepared for it im sure they could get through. personally the airports are not my concern to a degree, im more worried about food supplies and deliveries getting tom places that are no receiving them.,

 

[surefire]

Even ignoring the physical issues of the airport itself, which aren't as easy as everyone makes out.

What happens when the tower controllers/pilots whoever else would be critical can't get in to work, because unlike Michigan our road infrastructure can't handle it?

 

[viscount17]

Even ignoring the physical issues of the airport itself, which aren't as easy as everyone makes out.

What happens when the tower controllers/pilots whoever else would be critical can't get in to work, because unlike Michigan our road infrastructure can't handle it?

b****r, mr logical

camp beds?

 

[Oddsocks]

Valid point surefire

 

[Smiffy]

We had a technical problem on the plane I was flying back from China in. Sat on the tarmac, all the lights went out. It took 20 minutes to get an engineer, who spent 30 seconds sorting the problem, and another 20 minutes documenting it.
I can only guess one of the pilots had turned them off, and forgotten where the switch was, because it didn't take much fixing.

I remember flying to Portugal on a golfing holiday when one of the engines on our 737 packed up. The pilot informed us that this would make us half an hour late landing.
My mate said "I hope the other one doesn't go, we'll be up here all bloody day"

 

[bobmac]

My mate said "I hope the other one doesn't go, we'll be up here all bloody day"

I think I heard that one in the film 633 Squadron

 

[richart]

My mate said "I hope the other one doesn't go, we'll be up here all bloody day"

I think I heard that one when i was in 633 Squadron

Sorted Bob

 

[Smiffy]

My mate said "I hope the other one doesn't go, we'll be up here all bloody day"

I think I heard that one in the film 633 Squadron

Good, isn't it