IEH Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 We flew back from Majorca last year in a Thomson Dreamliner, I think they were using it to introduce the aircraft to some of their staff. Nice environment with plenty of leg room in economy. It was very quiet to travel in, every time the flaps operated you could hear them and when the undercarriage came up/down it was very noticeable. A little unnerving but caused I'm sure by the extraordinary quietness and by our seats being around the wing area. I'm not keen on flying but I enjoyed this flight and it cut quite a bit of time off what was already a short journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPARKIE Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 Any !!!!. It is a beautiful aircraft, the best engineering money can buy. Sit anywhere and enjoy the whole experience. I build a major component of that aircraft, if the buyer has specified our parts, but it is a fantastic thing. Prefer the 380 myself. It's got the correct number of engines for a long range airliner. Ie 4 The Dreamliner fly's with a pair of rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines, or the equivalent **** and Witney,and The a380 flys on 4 rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. Both the 900 and 1000 are the pinnacle of large civil engines. These British built, and designed, engines are the most fuel efficient aircraft engines in the world. British engineering at its very best. Something to be proud of. do you work for rolls-Royce I work for the prod test department testing the Trent engines... Best hope sparkie was awake when at work that day. Think I left a spanner in the engine. Not enough costa's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEshooter Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 If you can get the upgrade I think it's well worth it. We flew premium with thomson to Mexico for our honey moon. Me, the mrs and our 5 month old daughter. The look on the guy next to us was a picture when he saw the baby. The whole experience was good, fast check in, better seats and the flight crew could not have been more helpful. The baby was a dream and with the extra space a lot easier to get comfortable holding her. We are going again in April but my daughter will be 2 so has to have her own seat. It hurt paying it but we will be in premium. Got another baby due in January so could be an interesting flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achosenman Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Prefer the 380 myself. It's got the correct number of engines for a long range airliner. Ie 4 Get used to not seeing it. Orders have dried up and Airbus want out. 2018 may we'll see the end of it. ETOPS aircraft are better designed, systems redundancy wise and can fly on 50% of their engines at max take off weight. No 3/4 engine aircraft can do that. The fly by wire system on the B787 makes the Airbus system look archaic. Engine failure rates for ETOPS jets are not what causes concern for crews that operate them. Our #1 fear is a cabin fire 3 hours from the nearest suitable alternate. We carry very small numbers of fire extinguishers. If the CC don't spot the fire early and deal with it, that's game over. 3/4 engines makes no difference. The other concern these days is oxygen escape routes. We fly over routes that don't permit us to descend to 10,000 in the event of a depressurisation. You guys only get 22 mins of air. Unless we have a cunning plan, you all start turning a funny shade of blue. 100 engines hanging on the wing don't help. In short what the travelling public fear most when flying is not what gets us sweating at night. Pay for the upgrade if you can. I walk the cabin every flight on my way to the crew rest area. The folks in front look happier and more comfortable to me. Atb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Get used to not seeing it. Orders have dried up and Airbus want out. 2018 may we'll see the end of it. ETOPS aircraft are better designed, systems redundancy wise and can fly on 50% of their engines at max take off weight. No 3/4 engine aircraft can do that. The fly by wire system on the B787 makes the Airbus system look archaic. Engine failure rates for ETOPS jets are not what causes concern for crews that operate them. Our #1 fear is a cabin fire 3 hours from the nearest suitable alternate. We carry very small numbers of fire extinguishers. If the CC don't spot the fire early and deal with it, that's game over. 3/4 engines makes no difference. The other concern these days is oxygen escape routes. We fly over routes that don't permit us to descend to 10,000 in the event of a depressurisation. You guys only get 22 mins of air. Unless we have a cunning plan, you all start turning a funny shade of blue. 100 engines hanging on the wing don't help. In short what the travelling public fear most when flying is not what gets us sweating at night. Pay for the upgrade if you can. I walk the cabin every flight on my way to the crew rest area. The folks in front look happier and more comfortable to me. Atb Yeah got to agree I don't think a cabin fire onboard would be much fun when you have a 3hr escape route! It must be bad enough when runway is nearby and you are relying on us lot to sort it for you ;-) The Qatar one I was on didn't appreciate the lightning strike on approach to Edinburgh and ended up grounded for a couple of days! Is that unique to the Dreamliner and their modern high tech materials or would an older 747 have suffered similar issues? Surely with the 10,000ft issue, the flight crew would drop down regardless of if they were cleared once they knew us lot in the back were getting a touch cyanosed lol??? I would rather someone was firing up in the hope of hitting us than suffocating at 35,000 feet :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLuke Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Get used to not seeing it. Orders have dried up and Airbus want out. 2018 may we'll see the end of it. ETOPS aircraft are better designed, systems redundancy wise and can fly on 50% of their engines at max take off weight. No 3/4 engine aircraft can do that. The fly by wire system on the B787 makes the Airbus system look archaic. Engine failure rates for ETOPS jets are not what causes concern for crews that operate them. Our #1 fear is a cabin fire 3 hours from the nearest suitable alternate. We carry very small numbers of fire extinguishers. If the CC don't spot the fire early and deal with it, that's game over. 3/4 engines makes no difference. The other concern these days is oxygen escape routes. We fly over routes that don't permit us to descend to 10,000 in the event of a depressurisation. You guys only get 22 mins of air. Unless we have a cunning plan, you all start turning a funny shade of blue. 100 engines hanging on the wing don't help. In short what the travelling public fear most when flying is not what gets us sweating at night. Pay for the upgrade if you can. I walk the cabin every flight on my way to the crew rest area. The folks in front look happier and more comfortable to me. Atb Coincidentally this one was reported on today.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33985615 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achosenman Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Yeah got to agree I don't think a cabin fire onboard would be much fun when you have a 3hr escape route! It must be bad enough when runway is nearby and you are relying on us lot to sort it for you ;-) The Qatar one I was on didn't appreciate the lightning strike on approach to Edinburgh and ended up grounded for a couple of days! Is that unique to the Dreamliner and their modern high tech materials or would an older 747 have suffered similar issues? Surely with the 10,000ft issue, the flight crew would drop down regardless of if they were cleared once they knew us lot in the back were getting a touch cyanosed lol??? I would rather someone was firing up in the hope of hitting us than suffocating at 35,000 feet :-) The Lightning strike damage seemed to be a resistance problem with the bonding. It should not have resulted in the damaged fuselage the way it did. There was some scratching of heads at Boeing over at one. Auminium wouldn't have reacted the way carbon fibre did, but conversely, carbon fibre retains more structural strength after damage than aluminium. The fire issue has quite simply terrifying implications. Toxic fumes in a confined space, flash over, oxygen bottles going up, structural failure, the nightmare list is endless. As part of our training we dissect incidents within our industry. Swiss Air MD11 that was lost due fire off Nova Scotia was looked at in depth. The pilot was out of his seat beating the fire out with the QRH when the thing smashed into the sea. The 10,000 foot thing is due terrain. Some of our routes take 49 mins to reach an area where we can descend to that altitude. Although we will go down to a lower level, that is usually significantly above 10,000 feet. Atb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 The Lightning strike damage seemed to be a resistance problem with the bonding. It should not have resulted in the damaged fuselage the way it did. There was some scratching of heads at Boeing over at one. Auminium wouldn't have reacted the way carbon fibre did, but conversely, carbon fibre retains more structural strength after damage than aluminium. The fire issue has quite simply terrifying implications. Toxic fumes in a confined space, flash over, oxygen bottles going up, structural failure, the nightmare list is endless. As part of our training we dissect incidents within our industry. Swiss Air MD11 that was lost due fire off Nova Scotia was looked at in depth. The pilot was out of his seat beating the fire out with the QRH when the thing smashed into the sea. The 10,000 foot thing is due terrain. Some of our routes take 49 mins to reach an area where we can descend to that altitude. Although we will go down to a lower level, that is usually significantly above 10,000 feet. Atb Worse than the bonding and resistance issues, I got stuck in the lounge for hours, got ******, flight eventually got cancelled then I got sent home for some very unexpected R&R for 48hrs :-) then got an apology when I went to catch flight 2 days later as they were meant to call me for an earlier flight but forgot, cheeky wee upgrade to business soon set everything back on track! All was not bad trust me lol I know what you mean as fire plus aircraft is a terrifying thought :-( We only cover a small Cat6 airport but even there our response times are tight to ensure some sort of survival for those on board after a crash landing/fire. You guys are not getting long inside sadly. Ah ok my bad re the 10,000foot thing, understand what you mean now :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achosenman Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 You guys are our last best hope in a fire incident. Being surrounded by the fire services when we had a brake on fire was a relief I'll not forget. Re the 10,000 foot thing, I didn't make it clear, my bad. Atb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I love a holiday thread that ends up with a good aircraft fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 You could make a film out of that story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Please stop talking about what could go wrong. I spend too much of my life on airplanes as a passenger and I just don't want to know. I have faith that the airlines companies and crew have my best interests at heart and are trained to do the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achosenman Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Please stop talking about what could go wrong. I spend too much of my life on airplanes as a passenger and I just don't want to know. I have faith that the airlines companies and crew have my best interests at heart and are trained to do the right thing. I've checked the QRH I couldn't find..."Stick fingers in ears, shout La La La I'm not listening"...checklist complete. I suppose the best thing is for passengers to listen to crew instructions and don't smoke in the toilets. Failing that, you could try not reading the thread Atb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I've checked the QRH I couldn't find..."Stick fingers in ears, shout La La La I'm not listening"...checklist complete. I suppose the best thing is for passengers to listen to crew instructions and don't smoke in the toilets. Failing that, you could try not reading the thread Atb I think the tongue in cheek nature of my post was missed. Easily done. And in my defence the OP was about Dreamliners and holidays. Then you throw in the fact that we are all doomed. That along with your previous posts on how overworked/tired you are. So yes La La La I am not listening because if I did I wouldn't get on a plane. . However you are a bundle of fun compared to the helicopter pilot who flew me and my family on holiday recently. All he did through the 15 minute flight was explain how safe planes were compared to helicopters. His exact words were "all helicopters want to do is plunge you to earth in a burning ball of crushed metal". It kept the kids quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I'm not to keen on flying as a passenger. My fears start when you pull off the motorway, on to the link road and see the sign... TERMINAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebarrels Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Thanks chaps I have a 10 hr flight back from Mexico on Monday on the Dreamliner, BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achosenman Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 (edited) I think the tongue in cheek nature of my post was missed. Easily done. And in my defence the OP was about Dreamliners and holidays. Then you throw in the fact that we are all doomed. That along with your previous posts on how overworked/tired you are. So yes La La La I am not listening because if I did I wouldn't get on a plane. . However you are a bundle of fun compared to the helicopter pilot who flew me and my family on holiday recently. All he did through the 15 minute flight was explain how safe planes were compared to helicopters. His exact words were "all helicopters want to do is plunge you to earth in a burning ball of crushed metal". It kept the kids quiet. I suppose in my defence your post had nothing to indicate a tongue in cheek intention. Try an emoticon, a bit like the wink in my response to you. Secondly, if you look, the slightly divergent discussion was in response to a comment on the safety of twin jet longhaul. More engines being safer is a common misconception. There never was any suggestion that we're all doomed, how could there be, it's what I do for a living. Having spent literally years in the air, I think flying is very safe. It's not because we are lucky, it's because the industry works very hard to make it that way. However it's certainly not like getting on a bus and when something goes wrong there's no pause button and no pulling over to the side of the road. Because I make PA's every month to passengers who think disabling the smoke detectors in the toilets to have a crafty smoke is acceptable, I think it's worth pointing out what the real threat is, rather than what most passengers believe. If I prevent one misguided fool from endangering everyone on board but bore you in the process, then I'm sorry. However, I'm not going to stop. Atb Edited August 21, 2015 by achosenman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 achosenman can I book you to fly my family when we next go abroad cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lister22 Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 how many four engine planes have gone down crossing large ponds v two engine planes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I suppose in my defence your post had nothing to indicate a tongue in cheek intention. Try an emoticon, a bit like the wink in my response to you. Secondly, if you look, the slightly divergent discussion was in response to a comment on the safety of twin jet longhaul. More engines being safer is a common misconception. There never was any suggestion that we're all doomed, how could there be, it's what I do for a living. Having spent literally years in the air, I think flying is very safe. It's not because we are lucky, it's because the industry works very hard to make it that way. However it's certainly not like getting on a bus and when something goes wrong there's no pause button and no pulling over to the side of the road. Because I make PA's every month to passengers who think disabling the smoke detectors in the toilets to have a crafty smoke is acceptable, I think it's worth pointing out what the real threat is, rather than what most passengers believe. If I prevent one misguided fool from endangering everyone on board but bore you in the process, then I'm sorry. However, I'm not going to stop. Atb I read an article yesterday that stated that it is a legal requirement that airplanes have ashtrays in toilets so that passengers who are smoking illegally have a safe way of disposing of a cigarette. Do you know if that is actually true? And I agree with you on number of engines. I never worry how many engines a plane has but am picky on who I am actually flying with. BA only for me (unless completely unavoidable) but perhaps I am misguided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Now that my original post has been completely derailed (surprise surprise) it's time to close this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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