EDI-STN-LRH on EZY/FR *pics*

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Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

19th May
EDI-STN
EZY244
ETD: 1940
Actual: Err... 2010 or something
ETA: 2100
Actual: Around 2130

B733- G-IGOR

Arrived at the airport just under 2 hours before, there was 4 of us travelling, I got sequence number 66. There was no queues at security. Watched BACON to LCY board at gate 7, all the pax then got chucked off due to the aircraft going tech, the pax were then told that a replacement had been found and that they'd be boarding from gate 9 I think it was, however 20mins later they were then told that their original aircraft had been fixed so they would be boarding from gate 7 again!
Flight had been showing as on time so when I checked the screens was shocked to see that we now had an ETD of 2100! This was due to a crew member on the inbound flight feeling ill so a replacement crew member was going to have to be brought in. However, as luck would have it by the time the flight had landed the crew member had recovered so we were back on track with just a small 15min delay or so. Having orginally been assigned gate 4, this then changed to gate 3.

IGOR waiting, and yes that is an airbridge connected. :wink:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2411/dsc001389oz.jpg

Boarding commenced about 1945 and I took at seat in 23A, however due to the fact that a fairly hefty delay had been announced we had to wait for 15 pax (in the bar no doubt) who all eventually showed up and so we were ready to go. Busy flight as usual for STN, only a couple of empty seats.
We taxied out to runway 24, had to wait for a GSM B736 to land then it was our turn. We climbed to FL350 and had a fairly uneventful flight down to STN.

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/8301/p51905442cf.jpg

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9986/p51905450wb.jpg

It was dark by the time we were approaching STN, the weather was miserable although that did help in producing some huge vortices from the leading edge of the flaps! Runway 23 arrival at STN and we then taxied in and parked on the domestic pier next to an FR B738W which had slightly revised winglets, the yellow pinstripe had gone and had been replaced by "RYANAIR" on both sides of the winglet...

20th May
STN-LRH
FR8746
ETD: 1125
Actual: 1135 or something
ETA: 1355
Actual: 1345 if I remember correctly.

B738W- EI-DAS

Having checked-in online the previous night (and being given sequence numbers 19-22 suprisingly enough!) we arrived at STN at 10am. Took great joy in bypassing the queues at check-in and headed straight for security, where I was pleasantly surprised to find no queue!
Spent a little while wandering aimlessly around the departure lounge before heading to gate 48. What a trek it is to FR's pier!!! When we arrived at the gate our aircraft hadn't arrived. FR's pier offers some good all round views, especially as it is glazed at the end looking out onto the runway, unlike the domestic pier. Watched numerous FR B738 movements, and a very smokey touchdown from a Martinair MD11 until our aircraft arrived on stand.
It was EI-DAS, with winglets (result!). Inbound from Venice if I remember rightly.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9190/dsc001405la.jpg

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/7792/dsc001395nx.jpg

The boarding system at STN for FR works well, it's the same system they attempt at DUB in certain areas of the A pier, but fail miserably. Pax with boarding card numbers 1-90 queue nearest the window, with pax with boarding cards 91 and above queueing alongside. This helps prevent the usual FR scrum because when it is time to board they simply release the pax queuing nearest the window first.
I took a seat in 23A and waited for everyone else to board, the flight today was crammed full, I couldn't see one single empty seat.

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7905/dsc001415vq.jpg

We pushed back and taxied out to runway 23, just managing to get ahead of abother 3 FR B738s who were all taxiing out behind us.
In FR's usual style the engines were spooled up before we were even lined up on the runway so it was a fairly swift take off.
I sat on the left hoping for views of London or LHR, no such luck though (not to worry they made up for it on the return journey!! More on that later ;) ).
We passed over a 1 or 2 airfields as we headed South and climbed to our cruise altitude. Can anyone ID them?

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/9268/p52005470gy.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/1172/p52005544uh.jpg

The cloud broke up a bit as we were over the English Channel which allowed for some nice views....

Nice winglet. ;)
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/7503/p52005462gl.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/stuart87/P5200548.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/stuart87/P5200549.jpg

It wasn't long until the French coast came into view and not long after we started out descent.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/stuart87/P5200551.jpg

This was quite an interesting sight. It was not far off the coast of France, Northwest at a guess.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/stuart87/P5200553.jpg

The conditions at La Rochelle were fairly breezy, which I thought was great, should make for an interesting approach!
Runway 28 was in use which meant an approach overland, the aircraft was getting thrown around a bit on final approach, which I thought was great fun, especially as the runway at LRH is only Cat I which meant the pilot was doing all the work in the fairly tricky conditions. It was a pretty firm touchdown followed by plenty of braking action on the relatively short runway at LRH.
LRH was rather small, well, tiny infact. Something akin to a large garden shed.
Thankfully as we were only travelling with handbaggage we didn't have to endure the wait for any checked-in baggage at 'baggage reclaim'.

That's it just now, I'll post the return ASAP.

Original post

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 1,614

Great report - really look forward to the return :D

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,645

Good report and photos too! Excellent wingshots and that island is interesting indeed.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,289

Great report there! :D

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 679

Very nice report. Lucky to get on on of easy's B733s, they are in short supply now.

Flex 35

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Very nice report. Lucky to get on on of easy's B733s, they are in short supply now.

Flex 35

Well I suppose... ;)

A couple of days after I returned another one left EDI as G-EZAS arrived from the factory to be based. So now IGOR is the only one left based at EDI, it would have been better if I could have got the other EDI based B733 at the time, IGOM, as well as IGOR but ah well.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,539

Interesting report Stuart, it is indeed a bit of a trek to the Delta Satellite at STN.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,394

Very nice report Stuart with great pics to go along with it, glad you finally got a wingletted aircraft ;).

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

Good report and pics - an interesting read!

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Excellent report mate :).

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 5,530

Nice report Stuart! Looking forward to the return trip. Glad to know FR's boarding system works better at STN than it does at the joke of an airport that is DUB, so hopefully all will be well when myself and Tom (LBARULES) do the FR STN-DUB flight in August!

Hope you don't mind, but I cleaned your airfield shots up a bit in Photoshop. It might make identification a little easier for anyone who knows them!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/MMSR5/More%20Stuff/Airfield1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/MMSR5/More%20Stuff/Airfield2.jpg

Paul

P.S. This is my 757th post. I might not post for a while and keep it at that magical number a bit longer. Then again, I am heading towards the equally magical 777!

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Nice report Stuart! Looking forward to the return trip. Glad to know FR's boarding system works better at STN than it does at the joke of an airport that is DUB, so hopefully all will be well when myself and Tom (LBARULES) do the FR STN-DUB flight in August!

DUB and FR...... a combination so bad you have to love it! The return trip is already on here BTW :).

Why aren't you on MSN BTW Mr Nichols? ;).

P.S. This is my 757th post. I might not post for a while and keep it at that magical number a bit longer. Then again, I am heading towards the equally magical 777!

There really isn't a better number than 757! Except 321............ :dev2:

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

The first airport is I think Blackbushe. I thought the second one was Biggin Hill, but on second thoughts I'm pretty certain it isnt.

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 5,530

Why aren't you on MSN BTW Mr Nichols?

Because, my small ginger friend, when one's laptop goes a little crazy, and one has to recover the whole bloody thing, nice useful little programs like MSN Messenger disappear without trace into the random, dark and generally confusing depths of digital space, never to be seen again (that is, until you download them again of course). I do have Windows Messenger though!

I didn't realise the return trip was already up. I'll try opening my eyes next time I turn my computer on :)

Paul

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

You open your eyes? That would be a first!

At least that reply got you on MSN you daft b*****d!!!

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

Nice report Stuart! Looking forward to the return trip. Glad to know FR's boarding system works better at STN than it does at the joke of an airport that is DUB, so hopefully all will be well when myself and Tom (LBARULES) do the FR STN-DUB flight in August!

Hope you don't mind, but I cleaned your airfield shots up a bit in Photoshop. It might make identification a little easier for anyone who knows them!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/MMSR5/More%20Stuff/Airfield1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/MMSR5/More%20Stuff/Airfield2.jpg

Paul

P.S. This is my 757th post. I might not post for a while and keep it at that magical number a bit longer. Then again, I am heading towards the equally magical 777!

Thanks Paul. Yes FR's boarding system at STN actually works, although beware that the same system isn't in place on the domestic pier so that is the usual scrum. I don't know what the odds of a DUB flight leaving from the domestic pier are though, if it was inbound from say PIK...

I certainly don't mind a bit of photoshopping being done! Like I said in the return, I don't have the use of photoshop just now so they are all un-edited, just re-sized using another program. I normally wouldn't post them un-edited, but as they are mainly just window shots I just posted them anyway. But feel free to do the rest of them. ;)

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 2,343

The first airport is I think Blackbushe. I thought the second one was Biggin Hill, but on second thoughts I'm pretty certain it isnt.

Well done, first one is Blackbushe (well at least it looks very similar to the first picture below. Not sure bout second one, but it is defo not Biggin Hill (see second pic!), might be a French airport, perhaps?

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