Re: 120 Million Pounds Raised to Return One Concorde to Service

The words "fat" and "chance" seem like a decent pairing here.
There are two chances here; one is slim and the other is fat!!

Re: 1988: My year in South Korea

Thank you, Moe, for another fantastic report. Wonderful to look back at how things looked back in the day. Interesting that Korean's livery is much the same after 30 years!

Please do treat us with more such reports in future

Re: LH A350 New Colors - Hideous!

The ring and crane on the tail should be "bolded" to make them stand out more. From not much of a distance, the logo can hardly be made out. Overall, very bland and monochromatic, dull and uninspiring.

Re: Johannesburg Gates

Gang, was just watching some videos of A346s departing Johannesburg. I noticed that they use a lot of remote stands there as gates. I'm surprised a city of that size would have an airport still using remote stands especially for heavies. Does South African Airways get priority. Doesn't look it. I'l...

Re: LH new livery to be ‘revised’ after only three weeks

What would the crane and circle look like in gold I wonder? It would be a nod to the yellow but also somewhat of a move away from it too.

Re: Interesting article on what the Concorde was like

Concorde, for me, provided a number of firsts: The narrowness of the cabin, the pre-boarding hype experienced in the designated Concorde lounge at LHR, from which the flight was boarded. Good views were afforded of the waiting aircraft prior to boarding. Concorde seemed to have right of way over oth...

Re: Boeing admits 747 has no future as a pax model

nikeherc wrote: That said, I regret that I haven't had the opportunity to travel on an 747 #47 7 months ago Thirty six years after taking my first jetliner flight, I've yet to fly aboard 747 of any type. I have flown at least 500-600 times on 747s. I could come up with an exact number if I counted a...

Re: LH introduces revised livery

Changes are very often difficult to accept on first sight. The more one looks at a new livery such as this, the more acceptable it becomes as the initial shock wears off. I couldn't get my head round the A350's nose when it first came out but now I'm used to it and like it. I do feel that the new Lu...

Re: Emirates signs a commitment for 36 additional A380's

Wonderful news! And for the existing A380, too. EK were making it a condition that Airbus improve on the A380 in return for continuing to support the programme. I wonder if there were any riders to the contract that Airbus must look at a NEO version or even a stretch? In any event, a great start to ...

Re: TAP announces new routes for 2018

I'm surprised they don't fly to JNB. They certainly used to with an L1011-500. There is a very large Portuguese community in South Africa - around a million I once read.

Re: If you had a chance to fly on any historical aircraft...?

As you can see from my signature, I've been pretty fortunate to have travelled on many different types. My choices:
Comet 4
VC10
Vickers Vanguard
DC 8
Britannia
Caravelle
Constellation
DC 7

Re: Mispronounced Words

I hate the way a lot of English people say draw-ring instead of how it is spelled - draw-ing. There's only one r in the word. South African English where people refuse to use 're - i.e. "We going on holiday and you coming too and we very happy about that!" Also the habit English people hav...

Re: SAA said to be hiring Peter Davies as turnaround expert

scotron11 wrote:

dredgy wrote:

Only if he’s given real power to make change, but yes, a promising step

From what I've read, not if Dudu Myemi is still in charge! Zumas favorite pet

Re: BA return to Seychelles at last

SEZ has been tried with various combinations as an add-on to a BA route. It was, at one, time added onto a LGWBAH route, was also an add-on from NBO and intermediate point on the MRU route. It was also an intermediate stop on the remarkable JNB-SEZ-CMB-HKG-OSA-NRT-ANC-LHR route twice a week initiall...

Re: Step Back in Time: DLBS Junkers Ju52 "Tante Ju" in Hamburg

[/quote]Yes, I'd heard that they managed to get tyres and also replacements for the engines. After that they were working with Skymaster to obtain an AOC to be able to run charter flights. That was a couple of years ago but I've not heard anything since.[quote] I contacted the SAA Museum Society abo...

Re: Step Back in Time: DLBS Junkers Ju52 "Tante Ju" in Hamburg

Thanks for the report, Roy. Very interesting and informative. Wonder what has happened to the SAA JU52 that also was in flying condition and used to make a number of flights in South Africa. I recall that it was grounded at one stage due to no tyres being available but that some were found in Spain ...

Re: New York to Mauritius / South Africa on South African, Air Mauritius, AirLink, Rovos Rail

The violet or lilac trees you refer to are Jacarandas and bloom in October usually. The flowers don't last very long which is why they were there when you arrived and were gone by the time you returned. They are actually native to Brazil but are very much a feature of the cities of Johannesburg and ...

Re: British Airspace Full?

rebr wrote:

Maybe more A 380's is the answer?

Re: Classic British / French Jetliners - 1985/1987 trips

Many thanks for the memories, aeromo! Much appreciated. I vividly recall the Super Shuttle services and can attest to the fact that there would be a back up flight if the scheduled one was full. I once flew GLA-LHR on a Trident 1 which carried just 4 passengers. Two were RAF guys in uniform who were...

Re: Vickers Viscount trip reports/photos England 1985

Many thanks for the memories! Great to see those scenes from days gone by. Today's ramps are far less varied, comprising, mainly, of twins both narrow bodied and wide bodied!

Re: Cunard/Queen Mary transatlantic

Yes, I have done it and would thoroughly recommend it! It is a resort with everything laid on - from meals, to entertainment to the wonderful afternoon tea service, formal dinners, talks, art exhibitions and a multitude of other daily activities on offer. This resort, however, takes you from one pla...

Re: BA's "World Images" Tailfins - 20 Years On

Hated them from the get-go. I worked for BA at the time and was always very interested to hear what people thought of the designs. I recall being bussed out to a flight and overhearing one of the passengers remark as we approached the aircraft, "What the f**k is that??!" His two travelling...

Re: Cathay Pacific to restructure and to lay off many 100s of staff

Working for an airline is a precarious business as I discovered, first hand, over more than 20 years with a major. Each time one of these purges came about it was a nerve wracking wait to find out whether you were going to get the chop or not. My turn eventually came in the aftermath of 9/11 as it a...

Re: Airports with only one 747 pax service left

Kickert wrote:

I was going to say JNB with the 748 from LH, but I am thinking BA has a less than weekly 747 in addition to the daily A380 they send.

Re: Concorde Why no 1st class?

kurtverbose wrote:

Aviaphile wrote:

Travelling Westbound you arrived before you had left!

Did you have time to come back and wave goodbye to yourself?

Re: Concorde Why no 1st class?

Flying on the Concorde was a thrilling experience. The seats weren't anything spectacular but were comfortable enough for a 3 hour flight. The food and drink offerings were very much First Class. It was small and narrow and one thing struck me about the size of the toilet, the floor area of which, w...

Re: Single Word or short Phrase you Hate

Certain people in the UK who say, "I was sat there" or "I was stood waiting for a bus." instead of sitting and standing. Seems to be getting more and more common too! And it doesn't happen anywhere else in the English speaking world. Also hate people being described as icons or s...

Re: Where? (AA DC-7)

Brilliant photos! Thanks for posting. Would appreciate seeing more showing other types of aircraft from around the same era. A real journey down memory lane. Liked looking at the cars and other ramp vehicles and the way people dressed to travel back then. There would certainly not have been the Unit...

Re: Phones on planes..dumb question

Not hearing people on phones is one of my favorite things when in the air. Let's keep it this way. Hear, hear! Can you imagine trying to get some sleep on a long haul flight and being disturbed by incessant conversations and ringtones on phones?? Some people hardly need phones they speak so loudly....

Re: International Aircraft Registrations Question

The only example I've seen where the airline two letter code and the registration letters are the same is Ethiopian Airlines with ET. Is there a central organisation like IATA or ICAO that allocates the registrations? Cars and other vehicles leaving one country to go to another also display country ...

Re: International Aircraft Registrations Question

Sorry, I posted this under Trip Reports when I really wanted it under Civil Aviation. Apologies. I don't know how to move it. "Just to let you know, the Berlin Wall is down now. Not sure we'll see CCCP on any tail soon." Yes, I know, Greg! I meant to say that Russia USED to be CCCP which d...

International Aircraft Registrations Question

Given that there are fewer than 200 official countries or territories in the world, how are international registration letters allocated? Some countries have just a single letter - i.e. the UK is G-XXXX, France F-XXXX and so on. The USA is N followed by numbers followed by the airline two letter cod...