We’ve had proposals from Gatwick and Stansted in recent weeks, so now Luton has joined the fray with this proposal.
I’m sure Lorraine Chase will be pleased.
In some ways though building a major airport at Luton does make sense.
- The train lines will be good to London, the North, the East Midlands and the South Coast.
- The airport will be just off the M1 and could easily be linked to the A1.
I doubt there are many people, who think that Bedfordshire is a county with any great landscape, that wouldn’t be improved by a well-designed airport. It also seems to have produced a lot of writers, but few artists, which probably says they had nothing to draw.
October 24, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Airports, archit, Flying |
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Apparently, an airline is going to cut down the amount of cabin baggage, we can take on a airliner.
It took me about forty years to moderate C, my late wife’s packing for holidays. In the last year of her life, we had seven holidays and by that time we could do a weekend with a small bag between us.
Sadly she died of cancer in 2007 and I doubt at 65, I have enough time to find or train another lady.
I would solve the problem in another way. Some of the things we take are quite bulky, like hair rollers, laptops and books, but they could easily be picked up or even rented at the other end.
If we were really seriously about cutting the weight on flights, which of course is the way to better fuel efficiency and lower fares, then all passengers should be weighed and charged accordingly.
Since C died, I did meet one lady, who had an obsession about buying the largest case, that she could use as hand baggage.
On the subject of weight with aircraft, there’s always the story of the charter pilot, who used to fly the flat jockeys around in a Piper Seneca. Brimful with jockeys and a few saddles, he could fill the fuel tanks completely and not exceed the maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft. After a summer flying jockeys around the UK and Europe, he then had a job to fly a group of businessmen to a meeting. He followed the habit of the last few months and filled the tanks, only to realise that with his passengers, the plane was too heavy. So he had to drain some fuel out of the plane! He never made the same mistake again!
October 12, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Flying, Weight |
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In my exploration of the Gospel Oak to Barking line, I decided to follow the line on Google Maps. All went well and I was able to see where the electrification stopped and kicked in around South Tottenham. And then I found this image, as the railway passes south of Seven Sisters station.
I wonder how many stray planes are available to view on Google Maps?
Can anybody identify the tail to determine the airline? Judging by the silhouette, it looks like it’s some variant of Boeing 737.
If you want to find it, type “Seven Sisters station” into Google and then select maps. The plane is just south of the station.
As someone, who has over a thousand hours in command of an aircraft, you are taught under Visual Flight Rules to fly with the line feature on your left. So it could be they’ve taken off from Stansted and they’re following the railway. But then, they wouldn’t be under these rules over London, except in very special circumstances.
Identifying the airline would help solve the puzzle!
September 20, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Computing, Transport/Travel | Flying, Google, Gospel Oak And Barking Line, Map, Trains |
6 Comments
The Sunday Times is saying today, that it would be quicker to build a completely new airport in the Thames Estuary, than to add a third runway to Heathrow.
I’m not sure, but I do know that project planning engineers always have ways of building things faster, if they look at a problem in depth.
If we look at Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong, that was effectively built in eight years. That is a massive airport and involved a similar type of construction to say building an island in the Thames Estuary with two terminals and four runways. Admittedly Hong Kong didn’t have to deal with our planning system.
But hopefully, there will be less planning problems with putting an airport in the middle of the estuary, as several have proposed, like this guy.
To get another estimate on the minimum construction period, look at the London Gateway port. They estimate a construction period of about 10-15 years.
The Sunday Times says that a report has said, that the Thames Estuary airport would take 14 years to build and a new runway at Heathrow would take twelve.
Given that the third runway at Heathrow doesn’t solve any of the other airport problems like moving traffic away from London and good passenger access from a lot of the UK, it would appear that this report bangs a big nail in the third runway at Heathrow’s coffin.
There are several things that all of these plans ignore.
The first is flood protection for London. The Thames Barrier should give protection until 2060-70, but it would need to be supplemented or replaced in the future. An estuary airport could be designed to eventually incorporate another flood barrier.
The M25 is not the best designed of roads with a real pinch point at the Dartford Crossing. Every estuary airport proposal incorporates road and rail links to both Kent and Essex, which would add a lot more capacity between the Channel Tunnel and the Midlands and North.
So a properly built estuary airport would probably take longer to build than they have planned at present.
On the other hand, none of the estuary airport proposals seem to pay much attention to the handover from Heathrow. Would it be on a one-night basis as the changes in Hong Kong or Paris or would it be on a gradual basis, as the airport was completed?
This is where the project planners come in.
I suspect that the optimal would be somewhat different to any of the proposals.
Remember that Brits are rather an inventive nation and a cussed lot to boot, so the obvious solutions wouldn’t happen. There would be so much inertia to keep Heathrow, as moving it would effectively change the working lives of millions of people.
So perhaps the most cost-effective solution would be to build the road and rail links from Kent to Essex and create the island for the airport in the first phase. These would improve transport links from the UK to the Continent and take a lot of pressure off the roads in the south-east of England.
The road and rail links would also join the massive port and logistics centre at London Gateway directly to the Continent and probably to the North and Midlands as well. At present, it’s assumed they can fit the trains on the tracks through London, that are shared with the London Overground. Fat chance, that’ll work well!
I’ve not done any calculations and I am just kite-flying, but I’d like to see this planned and costed.
Once proper road and rail links are there, they would make the building of the new airport a lot easier. It might even be started as a cargo airport, if that is where the most urgent need is, as it is ideally suited for that because of its position.
Only when the traffic requirements become known, will we build the airport.
One things that strikes me, is that most pushing extra airport capacity in the South-East have vested interests.
As an example, airlines see railways as competition. Could this explain why the UK’s rail link to the Continent was designed not to annoy them? A rational design might have driven the High Speed link to the Channel Tunnel right under London with stops at Stratford, Kings Cross/St. Pancras/Euston, Paddington and Heathrow. But that would have annoyed the airlines. And probably the French as well, who would want passengers in North East France to use Charles de Gaulle rather than Heathrow.
The French will probably fight an estuary airport with a vengeance.
I actually think that in the end, we’ll stick with what we’ve got! Although, I do think that a road and rail liknk across the Thames estuary will be built. Let’s face it, the Dutch would have done it years ago, if only to protect London from flooding.
September 2, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Flying, Heathrow Airport, London Gateway, London Overground, Project Management |
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It is some years now, since I read All Four Engines Have Failed and I suspect i read the book all those years ago quickly on holiday.
Now that I have more time to read it and because of my left hand, I find books physically difficult, I’m savouring the words more. The author, Betty Tootell had a background in PR, so probably has a way with words and she takes great care to paint a graphic picture, as concern starts to spread through the some-filled cabin, as it appears fire is coming out of all four engines. Just like in films like The Poseidon Advanture, there are leaders and those who follow, and those who put together downright lies to keep order on the plane.
One thing that I hadn’t remembered from my previous read was that the incident happened at a time (1982), when there was still large amounts of smoking on passenger planes. So if the same thing happened today, would there be worse panic, as smoke in the cabin is now so rare?
The further I get into the tale, the more I think that it would make a superb film. I’m a bit surprised no-one has, as the author, put a lot of dialogue into the text and the aircraft and its spectacular pyrotechnics could be easily simulated by computer.
I suspect though, that over the years, we’ve got more worried about flying, rather than less and that British Airways probably wouldn’t co-operate with the film company, for fear of educating the punters in the wrong way.
On the other hand, after the fears about the Icelandic volcanic eruptions of recent years, the incident has been talked about a lot in the media and most people probably know the happy ending of the tale.
August 21, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Books, Films, Flying |
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These short haul flights between Manchester and London are just what we don’t need, as proportionately, they generate more carbon emissions per passenger than long haul flights.
Would Virgin be running them, if they still had the franchise to run trains on the West Coast Main line?
As someone, who’s travelled on this line north of Manchester and seen the overcrowding, it could be argued, that perhaps Virgin should be running flights between Glasgow and Manchester. Hopefully this problem will get easier, when the extra and bigger Pendelinos are running at the end of this year.
But really short haul flights in this country are not needed, if we make sure the train service is good. Except of course when you need to get to an island, like Jersey or the Isle of Man, or across the Irish Sea. Having experienced the train line to Inverness, you might argue that the North of Scotland might need flights, but new trains up the East Coast and better connections in Edinburgh and Glasgow, might even force the airlines off those routes.
August 21, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
News, Transport/Travel | Flying, Glasgow, Global Warming/Zero-Carbon, Manchester, Trains, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Trains |
4 Comments
This is a story, that I’m surprised hasn’t turned up in The Sun or one of the other tabloids.
A flight from Paris to the Lebanon nearly ended up in Damascus. The pilot even said, there might be a whip-round for fuel.
August 19, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Flying, France, Syria |
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This book, written by Betty Tootell is a fascinating read and in my view is one of the best that describes how people react under extreme stress.
All Four Engines Have Failed
It describes in detail, the time in 1982, when British Airways Flight 9 lost all power on a flight from London to New Zealand, because of a volcanic eruption on Java.
I’d lost my copy of the book in the move, so my son bought me a hardback copy for my birthday second-hand. It is in very good condition, like other books, that I’ve bought through Amazon’s second hand network.
The book would make a superb film, but I doubt that British Airways would co-operate, as it might put people off flying, despite the superb performance of the aircraft and the crew. The film would have one of the best quotes of modern times from the captain, Eric Moody, as he tried to sort out the problems.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.
Someone I know, a few weeks after the incident flew to New York with Captain Moody up-front and he got a rousing cheer.
If you ever see the book in perhaps a jumble sale or on a market stall, buy it and read it. You won’t be disappointed! And it’s all true! With lots of happy endings!
August 17, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Flying |
3 Comments
Looking at my pictures, I did at least photograph the vapour trails of the Red Arrows over Haggerston station.
If you look can just about see the vapour trails.
The Red Arrows came over my left shoulder, when I thought they would come from my right.
July 29, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Sport | Flying, Olympics |
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This story is a typical case of making a mountain out of a mole-hill. It is headlined.
2012 Olympics plane forced to land at Cambridge
But all that happened was the aircraft had an electrical failure and they had to use maps and compasses to get home. If the pilots couldn’t have handed that, then they shouldn’t have been flying. It also looks like they had to land without three green lights to say the undercarriage was down. But did the pilots fly past the tower for a good old-fashioned visual check, with a pair of binoculars? If they did the check didn’t seem to have given the right answer.
In my over thousand hours of flying,I’ve had a few three greens problems, but all ended safely with one of my usual landings.
But then all planes are designed to take this type of incident.
July 29, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Sport | Flying, Olympics |
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The Anonymous Widower 