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MME-LHR-MME with bmi

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  • MME-LHR-MME with bmi

    Morning all,

    Yesterday flew to London Heathrow from Durham Tees Valley and returned on the same day, here's how the day unfolded:

    06:30, arrived at airport, checked in at the very user-friendly bmi self-service check-in machines, checked in for the return flight as well which made the day a lot easier. When we went through to Gate 2, on the apron was Thomsonfly Boeing 737-800 G-CDZI, bmibaby Boeing 737-300's G-TOYB/F and of course, my ride, bmi Airbus A319 G-DBCF.

    When we boarded the aircraft the interior was very modern and new and seats were comfy with ample leg room. Sat in seat 21F, I looked out of the window to see the ground crew removing the baggage conveyor belt, only to return it a few minutes later to put more bags on (damn they were slow!). We were scheduled to leave at 07:55 but it was 08:10 when we finally got airbourne.

    Take-off is not my favourite part of any flight, so I was a little tense, but once we got to about 10,000ft I was fine. Prior to this however, just after departure, I spotted my village and my house, I never would have though if it wasn't for the farm across the road from me! They built a new cattle milking parlour or something and the sun reflected from its roof. Shortly after passing Barton I also spotted my dads work place, another farm, (the largest pig farm in the country, not that I like to brag! ) where I new he'd be watching for my flight! (and he had seen it!)

    We got to our cruising altitude of FL270 and from that point it was pretty uneventful, passed loads of disused military airfields, as well as an airport which was next to a huge river mouth, probably Blackpool, Liverpool or Cardiff (I'd be grateful if someone could ID it for me). We started our decent and in no time we were over the city of London, and before long we could see Buck House, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Hayde Park and Tower Bridge, never saw the Millenium Dome or LCY unfortunately, but still a breathtaking approach! We only had to circle once before Heathrow let us in, and after passing all the famous landmarks, I made visual contact with Heathrow on the right hand side of the aircraft.

    Whilst turning to line up with the runway, a Boeing 747-400 (looked like United Airlines old colours) shot in front of us, we were probably two behind it and it was the only other aircraft I saw during the flight. The landing was very interesting indeed! It was the smoothest I've ever experienced but the right main landing gear touched down before the left and thanks to a cross wind the aircraft landed at an angle to the runway, which was corrected quite easily. We taxied to the gate and stopped for about 8-10 minutes, the pilot came on the intercom and explained that for some reason we'd be put on an international stand so we had to wait for two other aircraft (A BA A319 and a bmi A319) to get the hell out of the way!

    Because of parking at an international stand we had to disembark onto buses rather than through a walkway and straight into the terminal, but it was fun. That's all really, I just took one photo during the flight so I will upload it as soon as I can.

    As for the return leg, very basic, take-off was similar to the landing, cross wind was forcing the aircraft to swerve down the runway! Quite scary at one point! The rest of the flight wasn't too interesting so I won't go into detail, the landing was fine and we returned to Durham Tees Valley to find the same aircraft parked up as what was in on the morning! We landed at 21:00, 10 minutes late. Oh, and the return flight was operated by bmi A319 G-DBCA.

    Good points:
    -Pilot was VERY informative, kept everyone up to speed with what was happening on both flights.
    -Excellent aircraft, both interior and exterior!

    Bad Points:
    -Not a single TV on either A319!
    -Poor safety briefings.
    -Cabin crew uniform should have been made from silk rather than cotton.

    Although there are more bad than good points, the good points well out-weighed the bad!

    Regards,
    Chris Smith
    DTVAirport

  • #2
    Originally posted by bmiChris2k5
    Bad Points:
    -Not a single TV on either A319!
    -Cabin crew uniform should have been made from silk rather than cotton.
    Im not one to bitch about cabin entertainment, but did they have any entertainment on board?

    Why Silk? I personally preffer cotton.
    -Kevin

    Comment


    • #3
      No, there was no entertainment whatsoever, I had to entertain myself with a vodka and lemonade instead

      I think cotton looks tattier than silk.
      DTVAirport

      Comment


      • #4
        nice report!

        Comment


        • #5
          There is no point to IFE for a domestic flight in the UK- I flew MAN-LHR on BD last summer and by the time we had taken off the flight time was just 35mins! (the flight should have taken an hour and 10 from departure to arrival) The flight to Durham is probably only a few minutes longer.

          Glad you enjoyed BMI- they are my favourite airline and i think that the aircraft are in great shape!

          Squeaky
          "It's a gift...and a curse" (Adrian Monk)

          Next Flights:-
          EMA-PRG Easyjet
          PRG-EMA Easyjet

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          • #6
            Nice report, very informative as well, good to read your home airport manages to attract a good share of visitors. I counted 4 airliners on ramp to start your day, does this happen on early mornings and late evenings or does it spread day long ? If the latter, they are additionnal reasons to visit your airport.
            Alain
            Thanks for visiting
            *Avimage's Monthly Slide list *
            *JetPhotos*
            Airliners*Pbase.com

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            • #7
              On average there can be 2-4 aircrafts on the apron at any one time, but you do get periods of up to 2 hours where very little happens.
              DTVAirport

              Comment


              • #8
                "Cabin crew uniform should have been made from silk rather than cotton."

                Ok...I don't see why that matters. But anyway, nice report!
                sigpic
                http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=170

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                • #9
                  Just read this again, eight years on, and though I still have very found memories of the day, boy was I lacking in the head department back then!
                  DTVAirport

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    And I saw the thread title and thought you must have meant BMI Regional since they are the only part of that company still around using the name. Or rather, technically the only part of the company that is still around at all. Even though they were not a part of BMI to begin with either and were a company BMI bought and made a subsidiary. Its still nice to see at least a part of bmi survived though.

                    So its just a really old thread.

                    Some might say you are still lacking for bringing back a necro thread.

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