Do you enjoy flying?
 

Do you enjoy flying? The airports? The transits? Anything about the actual journey door to door about an air trip?

I find the whole business tedious in the extreme. It's never simple, always tiring and a real chore.
Problem is that these days to do anything or go anywhere one needs to fly.
Sitting on ones backside in various forms of transport for up to thirty six hours door to door was only made worthwhile by my choice of destination, and the period of time I could stay at that destination.
The choice of airline is quite important methinks, but not THAT important, as no matter what company one flies with, one still has to sit still for most of the flights.
Problems became more difficult as I got older, and I had to be wheeled on and off all aircraft, as my mobility was severely affected by the onset of flue, and my COPD condition which prevented me from walking for miles through airport terminals. It was very handy being wheeled everywhere I suppose, but it didn't do much for my street cred :)
Todays flying is so different from the flying I did in the 60s - 70s when I was young and considerably fitter. Plus it was fun and exciting then.
Because of mobility issues transit hotels were out, I'd have likely overslept in a hotel anyway. The longest journey as far as hours go was from the Isle of Wight - Heathrow - Singapore 12hrs (8hr stopover) Singapore - Adelaide 7hrs (9hrs stopover) then a 20 minute flight down to Kangaroo Island. The best part of 45 hours without a kip, and so tired when I got to KI I wouldn't drive the hire car, and had to ask someone from where I was staying to come to the airport and collect me. I collected the car the following day. I was wrecked for days, and with jet lag on top, you can imagine :)
I guess my flying days are over now, too much hassle :(

Have to agree with your sentiments mate. My last trip brought it all home for me especially landing at Manchester. we came in hard and hot. hit the deck. brakes on hard we came to a halt a long way from the terminal with engines shut down. after sitting there wondering what had happened I noticed the blue lights flashing on the fire trucks which were surrounding us. after a few more minutes a tug came out to us and towed us into our gate. when we made our return journey we got to Manchester Airport in plenty of time but, It took an age to get through the final baggage check (hand carry) when we eventually managed to reach the departure lounge we had only 15 minutes to wait before boarding. we are talking over three hours from check in to departure lounge. eventually Airborn and on our way to Munich. get off the plane and back on again then take off for singapore. Change planes at singapore and a two hour layover. then take off for Cebu, once again get of and back on again. and finally we land at Davao. Our son met us there and drove us the one hour drive home. we felt like we had been around the world several times. No I dont like flying, nervous passenger me. Anyone ever seen a large plane stop to change a tyre at 35,000FT. I dont mind admitting them there big planes scare the heck out of me......LOL

Absolutely hate it! My first rule of flying is avoid if at all possible, if not possible to avoid, someone else must pay the fare! My sum total of flights:
Manchester - Eastleigh
Manchester - Bilbao
Liverpool - Manila
Yokohama - Liverpool
Houston - Liverpool
Liverpool - Genoa
Valencia - Liverpool
Liverpool - Abidjan
Sete - Liverpool
Lyneham. - Ascension Island
Ascension Island - Brize Norton
Brize Norton - Ascension Island
Liverpool - Cape Town
Plus a two helicopter flights (free) during Falklands (Wasp & Wessex). Then one freebie from Cape Town to land on Esso Atlantic south of the Cape of Good Hope, change the crew, and then fly back to Cape Town in a Wessex. That was quite enjoyable. Missed a chance of going on patrol with the army from Port Stanley in a Chinook in '83, but prevented by bad weather - would have liked to have done that one!
The first two were OK, but the rest sheer torture (apart from the helicopters). I have never been as uncomfortable at sea in 31 years as I was in aircraft on long flights. At the age of 73, we no longer have passports, and never ever intend to fly again!
Bob

If I NEVER have to traipse through an airport and get on a plane again, it'll still be too soon. :eek:

Longest flight I have done is 15 hours 2 minutes Manila to LHR on a A340.(F-OHPJ) It saved walking.

Here in Oz one has no choice but to fly. Flying is certainly an uncivilised way to travel no matter what. Flying QANTAS is usually out of the question as it is normally much more expensive than the other mid-range carriers. Nor does QANTAS go where we want to go in Europe except via the dreaded Heathrow and British Airways both of which are on OUR NO FLY list.
Next year QANTAS is opening a new Perth - Heathrow non stop (18 hours or so ??) upon which we WILL NOT be travelling.:(

I, or at least my Secretary doing the bookings, really booked me an exhausting trip to San Diego where I was to present a paper at an oil spill conference. She booked me Cape Town to London (SAA round the bulge at this time), London to Dallas, Dallas to San Diego virtually non-stop. The longest wait over if I remember was three hours in Dallas. I got to the hotel in San Diego put my gear in the room, showered and changed and went looking for a quiet large drink. No sooner had I sat down than a young lady on roller blades screeches to a halt to take my drinks order. All the flights were excellent which is more than I can say recently.s Airport security, security. I know it is necessary but I have a knee replacement and a pin in my left ankle so you can imagine the problems I have.

Several memorable flights. Flew an hour in a Hughes 500 with the passenger door missing through a rainstorm, (first wetting) then offshore to the local airport, (Jefman) via longboat, (wet again) to catch a fixed wing. Three forced landings in helicopters due to weather. One dodgy flight in a heli after a diver had placed his air tanks in the tail boom storage. Heli dropped off the wellhead and I believe we remained airborne to due to 'ground effect'. Aborted take off, hard braking, at Brunei when the pilot realised the a/c hadn't been refuelled. Eight hours in a Trident on the runway at Athens AP surrounded by military vehicles which had blocked take-off. Nowadays twelve hour flights in scheduled flights pure luxury!

My first long flight was from Okinawa to London in 1972. The plane was a 707 and landed in Hong Kong, and Bangkok where due to engine trouble we were delayed. It then flew to LOD airport in Israel for my connection flight which had long since gone. I sat in that airport all night guarded with suspicion by a tough looking Israeli soldier with an Uzi (this was a few months after the LOD airport massacre.)
Next morning was I ever glad to board a British Caledonian plane for home.

I flew quite a lot in the mid 1970's, the most memorable (for all the wrong reasons) was Heathrow to Malaga after Christmas. The aircraft was a British Airways DH Trident. Apart from a late take off, the flight ended with a blind landing in thick fog at Malaga. After entering the fog, the 'plane flew out over the Med before turning to make the approach to the airfield. The next time we saw any land was when we touched down. Cue heavy sighs of relief from the passengers. One other memorable flight was in a Northwest Orient 707 from Seattle to Newark in daytime. Seeing the vast empty land of the prairies was quite awe inspiring. We flew across one state, and apart from a road running from North to South, and another crossing it from East to West where there was a small town, the countryside was empty. I remember thinking, "Who would live there?"
My worst airport experience was at Heathrow on the very first day that strict controls had been imposed on what you could take onto the 'plane as hand luggage. Checking in was a nightmare, and the passenger halls were full of people trying to get checked in. Queues snaked around without any apparent organisation, and I was still a long way from my gate when they got ready to close it. There were about six of us still trying to check in for the flight to Bilbao, and by shoving our way down to the front we got into the departure lounge OK. During the wait, this rather large chap was jostling his way through the crowds, trying to catch a plane to Germany at the other end of the hall. I felt something nudging me, and I turned round to see a large black holdall pushing against me. Holding it was Jens Lehman, the Arsenal goal keeper. I'm 6ft 4 ins tall, but he was bigger than me, so I let him through.:eek:

Flew to France once, flew back to Leeds Bradford, that's it for me, I'll walk. It won't catch on.

I enjoyed the flying. All the bits round it were bad.

Flying short distances I could live with. I'd seriously love to fly in a hot air balloon or a glider, that would be fantastic. But sitting in airport after airport, or standing in queues that stretch to infinity and being treated as nothing more than cargo (which of course, is what you are) ... no, I've had enough of that. Never again.

Some time ago, a hot air balloon used to fly from a field very near the house when conditions were right. They came at about 5.30, and always woke us, which we didn't really mind. The house (no longer mine) was very isolated, so we were the only ones bothered. To say thanks, they gave me and a friend a trip of our very own, so just three of us in the balloon. It was quite magical and a real thrill. Unfortunately, I was feeling very low at the time so I never took a camera or even as much notice as I wish I had done, I would love another go but not as one of 25 in a big bunch.

Further back and far away, the farm I was working on was the venue for a World Ploughing match, what a jamboree. One of the most impressive sights was a slim young lady arrived, flung out a small hot air balloon and inflated it very quickly and flew off, advertising Nimble bread, made from knitted pubic hair by the texture of it.

Was her name Maggie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NopAq6tUHVk

That certainly was the effect, I thought "You wouldn't get me up in one of those", and of course, I was right. Too much plum duff.

At least she got a bread and butter sarnie to munch with "Nimble Aviation" - more than you get nowadays! :rolleyes:

I think many of us would like to fly in space, I mean, just to experience the weightlessness. But getting up there means sitting on top of a giant bomb, and Steve Buscemi's words from the film 'Armageddon' would be haunting me at that point:

"We're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder." :eek:

In a scene from a series a few years ago which told the story of the Space Race, Werner von Braun meets some engineers who have been trying to work out why their latest missile doesn't work reliably. They need it to take the next step in their program to get a man on the Moon. He meets them in a diner near Cape Canaveral where they tell him that they have now got the thing to fire up every time, so they can now proceed with the next launch.

"That's good," says von Braun. "What was the problem?"

"Errmm, we don't know. All we know is, it works now," they replied.

Now THAT is worrying!

Love flying...started in Air Scouts aged 12 and had about 90 hours in RAF planes,no jets but things like Shackleton , Neptunes, Dakotas,Hastings,Anson,Chipmonks and small helicopters ...thereafter businesswise West Africa ( Mauretania) and lots of European travel......But last December did trip to Bangkok and back via Dubai, loved the flying but airports which stretch for a mile or more,middle of night and no indicator boards did take edge of my love. Daughter,based in Thailand loves airports, in past month has been in and out of Japan,Vietnam and Malaysia...and doesn't mind hanging around.

geoff

Flying doesn't bother me it's the crashing that scares the crap out of me.:eek:

Rocket Scientists/Engineers.
They lovingly work on a vastly complex and beautiful machine for years on end, but when they decided to fire it up, they prefer to be about two miles away in a concrete bunker.
That should tell you something .... :eek::D:D

Richard,

To be perfectly honest, I don't like flying anymore.. too much hassle here in the Colonies with the TSA and their BS rules.

The only flying I really enjoy is on the two warbirds I volunteer with.. a B-25 and a B-17... the pilots I usually fly with, on the B-25 specifically, I trust implicitly... same on the 17.. but the jets nowadays I don't feel safe on..

Despite all the horror stories and bad experiences related by members, you must admit that sitting in an aeroplane in flight is a lot less wearing on the arms.:rolleyes:

I agree that long haul has become tedious in my old age (76) and struggling with suitcases is no longer easy. That aside, I have always loved flying. I got a PPL in the early 1960's for single and multi engined light aircraft and also flew gliders. Later I got night and instrument ratings. I kept the licences going for years and never regretted the money I spent. My longest trip, shared with two other pilots, was a trip from Bournemouth to the Med and North Africa and home via Gib, Spain, Portugal and France in a single engined Cessna. Having time to fly beat me in the end as I had three jobs ( two of them part time ), was a hobby diver and had a family to raise. Having said that, I had a trip in a microlight from a farm strip near Lymington to Thruxton and back last month and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Andy

Now that is something I would not fly in/on is a microlight, a friend had one and used to fly from an Airfield in N. Yorkshire, he was always very safety conscious, however he got that many rectification/modification notices for his make of Microlight he thought it was best to get rid of it and just hire a light aircraft to keep his PPL active, I flew with him to share the cost.
I would recommend Gliding it is a superb feeling when you are soaring, the Gliding Club I was a member of had an open cockpit Glider and it was surprising what you could hear from the those on the ground-------------and sometimes see:wink::wink: when you quietly glide over them.

The longest flight I ever did was about 30 hours in the 80's to join a ship in New Caladonia. London To Paris then a U.T.A. flight to I think Vienna, Istanbul, Dubai, Calcutta, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney and eventually Noumea. On reaching Noumea there was an announcement to collect my baggage and board a helicopter that was waiting to take me to another port in the island called Nekete . On arrival there was a boat ready to take me out to the ship that was loading at anchor. there was no such thing as a rest as the guy I was relieving was anxious to hand the job over and depart. The difference between flights then and now is that a lot of the places that you stopped at you could disembark the plane while it refuelled etc. before re-embarking for the next leg. This seemed to break up the monotony of the flight and allowed you to stretch your legs. I have recently done long haul flights to Kuala Lumpur (About 12 hours) and Hong Kong (About 16 hours) Both trips were non stop which is to say the least boring.

Flying to and from work!
 

Remember flying from London Heathrow to Montreal to join a ship in Sorel about 50 miles up St.Lawrence river from Montreal. Plane was Boeing 707 of B.O.A.C and was quite bumpy over Atlantic managed to survive the turbulence but glad to get off it in Montreal.
I was rushed out there and told ship was waiting for me!! After waiting for three days in hotel the ship finally arrive for me to join!!
Flying home from a BP tanker from Piraeus via Rome to London Heathrow
one crew member was stopped from boarding because he was drunk out of his brains!
Another crew member decided he wanted to open the door after about 10 minutes after take off from Athens to Rome leg of the journey, about 5 other guys jumped on him and held him down till he was calmed down.The guy was eventually taken up to 1st class seating and made to sit between Captain and Chief Engineer, what a way to get an upgrade to 1st class---just be a clown and away you go.This was on a Trident three of B.E.A.
Whilst working for KH in London was sent to France to fix a radar on a French ship
after job was done flew home from Breast to Paris and Paris to London Heathrow on another B.E.A. Trident three.
The approach to London landing on runway 27Left after we touched down the Captain came on over the tannoy and calmly said we have just done the "1st hands off landing"
and thought to myself if I knew he was going to do that I would have waited for the next Plane.
Anothe trip from Liverpool to Isle of man just after take off the Captain came on the tannoy and introduces the crew says I am Captain Smith and my first officer today is Miss
Jones, that being said and the plane virtually all male passengers all cried out oooowhhhh!
a womann flying the plane the Captain said that Miss Jones would be flying that leg from Liverpool to Isle of Man.Most passengers were quite panicky about this as obviouslyit was our 1st trip with a female pilot, aircraft was a Shorts 360 (was a mainly dominated male environment) but heard that there are plenty of female pilots nowadays and seem to do a great job.
Regards FTF

I wouldn't be bothered about a female pilot ..... but !!! Smith and Jones ?? :sweat:

That sounds a bit suspicious ... :wink:

Had my first flight when Brocklebanks sold the Mahsud (1917) in Antwerp and we signed off on 16 May 1955. Three DC3s were chartered to fly us to Renfrew, some of us were reluctant but Marine Superintendent Captain MacKenzie who had come over to deal with sale,scoffed at us and said this was the way of the future. He then went home via a ferry! It wasn't too bad but a bit bumpy at times. Can recall seeing an Asian crew member decide to have a ham sandwich, he probably thought he might as well chance it as he was airborne. The crew were going to the new Maskeliya, and the rest of us made our way back via train to home towns. Flew lots of time after that, but can distinctly remember my unease prior to this maiden flight. Cheers, Roger

For bob clay
 

Hyer Bob
Sorry about the Smith and Jones but could not think of there proper names as so many years ago, memory starting to QSB now. 73's de ftf

I was a pupil of the RAF gliding school at Woodford airfield in Cheshire (the airfield was Avro's operational flying base for the development of the Vulcan and the Shackleton Mk III at the time). At one end of the runway was a disused sand quarry, much overgrown with shrubs and birch saplings. We used to train every Sunday (when Avro rarely made test flights of their aircraft) and the site was relatively peaceful.

In the summer the quarry was much favoured by amorous couples. It was a favourite pastime of the instructors, having observed the goings-on from the air on the approach, to perform a steep dive down into the quarry, only feet above the ground and zoom up and over the lip and the boundary fence before landing on the runway.

When the person underneath the couple (more often than not a girl) saw a T21 Slingsby Sedbergh glider diving directly at her at about 100 knots) it really spoiled their day. It wasn't only the diving glider that pulled out!

While taking Nuke and gas training in the army the motto was (In Case Of Fall Out) Re-insert and take shorter strokes.

I did have the pleasure of some private aircraft flying in Austers with my brother back in the late 50's
early 60's. A member of the Luton flying Club. In the days before it became what it is today. Just a grass runway. Then the new tarmac runway was built and the big jets started to arrive.
My first big jet flight was with British Caledonian in 1972 on a B707 from Gatwick to Toronto.
This was during the Uganda problems and our plane was late arriving back into Gatwick after bringing out a full load of refugees. Eventually we took off bound for Toronto. We had very severe turbulence over the Atlantic and did a few high speed lift drops. I was to say the least not too happy. Later we were told that due to the jet ban in Toronto after a certain time we were diverted to New York Niagara. From there we were bused to our destination. In all a very long drawn out day and certainly put me off flying for some years.
Now like most of us I take it in my stride and just planning our next long haul to the West coast of USA.
Flown on many aircraft types now but I must say my favourite at this time is the B787 Dreamliner. A very pleasurable flight to Toronto on it. Home from Washington on a B747 on which we got an upgrade to Club. Said I would never fly any other way again. Earlier this year the normal A319 of Easyjet to Spain!

Neville

Upgrades for whatever reason and regardless of how they are achieved tend to inflate one's perception of flying for all time.

Ten years or so ago QANTAS in a moment of madness advertised business class from OZ to the UK 'two for the price of one'! The YMs and I decided after that if we couldn't afford business class for long haul we would not go at all.

Have done a few long haul business class since but never with QANTAS who ever since seem to be around at least half as expensive again as other mid-range legacy carriers like Swiss, Scandinavian, Thai or Austrian.

Upgrades for whatever reason and regardless of how they are achieved tend to inflate one's perception of flying for all time.

Ten years or so ago we got QANTAS business class from Oz to the UK 'two for the price of one' which was not outrageously more expensive than two in zoo class! The YMs and I decided after that that if we couldn't afford business class for long haul we would happily not go at all. :jester:

Have done a few long haul business class since but never with QANTAS who ever since seem to be at least half as expensive again as other mid-range legacy carriers like Swiss, Scandinavian, Thai or Austrian.

Longest flight?
Hmmm ... including an unintended "stop-over" was 5 days.
Flying out to join my chemical carrier as 2/O in Port Swettenham, Malaysia - c. May 1972, the office bods, in their wisdom, decided to fly me out on a chartered 707 from Gatwick to KL via Rome, Athens, Bahrain, Karachi and finally, KL. Packed in like sardines, we rumbled across to Rome, then on to Athens (7 hours later) and then, as we were looking to take off from Bahrain, the outer starboard engine blew. Fire, smoke, lots of foam ensued and we came to a juddering stop with 100 yards of runway left ...
"Sorry folks, we have a slight problem" - I'll never forget the pilot's cool announcement!
Turns out a new engine would need to have been flown out to Bahrain, and that this would take up to 5 days. So we were all settled into two 5* hotels, air conditioned full blast to compete with the 35 C heat, and with sumptuous food to consume.
My telex to HQ in London (the old ticker tape type) took 2 days to reach the crew department, and a further 2 days before they responded. Meanwhile I had "befriended" a particularly gorgeous Australian nurse who was on her way back home to Sydney after 3 years away ... and what a ball we stranded passengers had - despite the austerity in 1972 Bahrain ! Partying till the wee hours ...

Anyway, the news finally came back from HQ that I was to catch a Quantas 747 two days later which was stopping over at KL. Sadly, the fun and games came to a stop 48 hours later when I checked onto this brand new 747 -
And the irony? There was only Business Class available ! So after living it up for 4 days, the opulent lifestyle continued for a further 9 hours as we winged over to KL. Needless to say, I missed the vessel in PS, but, fortunately (not for me!) her next stop was Penang ... and there I joined her 5 days after setting off from Blighty!

The nurse?
Well that's another story altogether ... but safe to say we met several times as I sailed the Australian coast for 6 months on my follow up vessel....

The trip to KL?
Brilliant ... with nothing to top that thereafter.

The moral of the story?
The office bods learning a very expensive lesson whilst looking to save money flying out a mere 2/O on a chartered flight via 4 continents ... finished up paying through the nose to get said mere 2/O to his vessel on time - by paying triple the fare for his Quantas Business Class seat!

Lesson learned!

I enjoy short and medium flights, but I wouldn't enjoy anything for more than 10 hours.
___________________________
Alexandra

I last flew in an airplane in in 1967 to join a ship in Rotterdam. I hate flying so have not stepped on one since. Although I had a flight on a helicopter in 1982 from Shell gas site in Bacton for a look round one of their platforms. I sh-t bricks there and back.

It has taken a while but this thread has prompted me to list all of the aircraft types I have flown on since my first flight Exeter to Dinard via Jersey at the age of 15.


The list begins in chronological order but falls out of sequence around halfway through:


DC3; Viscount; DC8; 747; BAC1-11; F27; Trident; F28; 737; 727; 707; DC9; DC10; A300;


A319; A320; A380; Saab 340; Islander; Trilander; Shorts 330; HS748; ATP; ATR42; L1011;


RJ145; Twin Otter; and one helicopter S61N.


There is a story to each and the memories came flooding back as I compiled the list.


As I live on a small isolated island, catching a plane is like taking a bus and I fly regularly between the islands or to Jamaica or Miami.

I still vividly remember flying out to my first ship, joining in Durban, in a Comet with a refueling stop in Johannesburg. When I was issued with my flight ticket in the London head office I was astonished to see it marked "First Class". When I expressed wonder I was told "All of our officers travel first class!"

All that has changed in later years I read, as the bean counters gained ascendancy and when they would put us in with the baggage if they could.

But then there were the flights to Bombay via Lebanon and Tehran, Durban again, then New York, Boston, Baltimore. And the European flights to Hamburg, Amsterdam, Antwerp. All much less hassle in them days when security was lax and no-one was trying to blow up the aircraft in the name of some medieval religion. If one wanted a smoke on a long haul one was allocated a rear seat, and if the guy in the seat in front wanted to recline, his doing so didn't stuff one's tray into one's navel and spill one's drink over one's lap.

One memorable trip to join ship in Bombay -- two of us, the 4/E and me as J/E, with a stopover in Lebanon. The flight was half empty, and we got on famously with the Lebanese stewardesses who were drop dead gorgeous. Because of the length of the stopover they invited us to join them land side and, of course, we offered no resistance but we had to sneak out of the airport to do so. Naturally, we missed the connecting flight to Tehran and so we arrived in Bombay two days late, but, fortunately, our ship was also delayed.

We finally wandered into the lounge of the hotel in Bombay (I seem to recall it was the "Airlines Hotel", a rat infested place with rat holes in the lounge furniture) where the rest of the engineers crew change was waiting, as was the fleet commodore chief engineer.The sour look and then "You two again? Late on watch as normal. I might have bloody well known. Where the hell on this planet have you been this time!"

We were all young then, and the world was our oyster. We would fly anywhere any time to join a ship in some faraway place, and we were strictly non-PC. We could easily be diverted by an attractive pair of female legs but, by some miracle we always seemed to join ship more or less when we should. We could find ourselves in Bahrain, the Emirates, Venezuela or where ever and feel quite at home there because we were too simple to understand the local customs or even think about them, and the locals would resign themselves to more British seamen acting the maggot and paying their money into the local economy in various dubious ways.

Sadly, days gone by. I do though sometimes wonder if what is left of the UK merchant marine, with it's obsession with political correctness but once was the largest in the world, is going from here. The adventure of flying to distant places has been reduced to a chore to be resigned to endless checks by foreign immigrant security personnel.