TopShelf TG Fiction in the BigCloset!
We fly to Europe fairly frequently; however I think I will continue to take the train to Birmingham. That's not a runway, that's a rollercoaster.
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/21/airliners-struggle-to-...
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Comments
No monopoly
I don't think Birmingham has the monopoly on strong wind landings or on runways which are not quite flat. Look on the positive side - it didn't crash!
But if this frightens you like it frightens me, then stick to rail. Apparently there's a Russian proposal to link America by train to Russia. It's then overland all the way to Birmingham, except for the bit that's underground (and under water)!
Tunnel sous la Manche
When the Channel Tunnel opened I was using it to travel to and from one of my offices several times a week, every week. That would have made my annual crossings in the region of 200pa. Any idea of the "Wow!" factor disappears after the first dozen or so crossings. A train ride from Birmingham Alabama to Birmingham UK via Canada, Alaska, Russia and Western Europe - sorry but I'll fly.
Actually that sounds like a
Actually that sounds like a fun ride, assuming the Russia part is kept safe.
Depends on company
I travelled about half of the existing Russian part during the bad old day of the Soviet Union. After the first few days you can get rather bored unless you have good company.
On the other hand flying domestic flights in the Soviet Union at that time could be "interesting". Aeroflot's domestic safety record was not exactly comforting. I have fond memories of one flight leaving late at night with an overloaded aircraft (most passengers had seats though, the flight was only 5 hours). When the lights at the end of the runway got so close you realised that there was no way the aircraft could brake if necessary and still it wasn't taking off was rather unsettling.
Avoid Leeds-Bradford also.
Avoid Leeds-Bradford also. The weather there is worse (or so I've been told).
Fun fact: you can't load or unload an aircraft if the wind speed is in excess of 40 knots as the wind could blow equipment into the aircraft. This includes operation of air bridges, steps, cargo loader belts, cargo container lifts and fuelling equipment. Found that out when winds cancelled flights at EDI airport a couple of years ago.
You might have fun at Barra airport (Outer Hebrides). The runway is the beach. Not near the beach. Not at the beach. IS the beach. The aircraft literally lands on the sand.
Speaking of Leeds-Bradford....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-290819...
Foreshortening
When I used Birmingham Airport the runway didn't seem at all like a rollercoaster, the lens has made it look a lot more undulating. You can tell from the nearby train line that there is a difference in height from one end to the other but like others have said there are worse airports with worse winds.
Hugs
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You can't choose your relatives but you can choose your family.
Don't get in a flap
Greetings
The area around Birmingham had quite a few days of strong winds during December.
It is not the only airport to have problems with strong cross winds, you can find many more on YouTube. Other airfield problems include a mountain runway that ends at the cliff edge, which drops into the valley below! While in the Caribbean a runway starts just a few yards from the edge of the beach.
Anyway, flying is safer than road or rail journeys.
Happy flying.
The mountain airport might be
The mountain airport might be Charleston, West Virginia. When it first opened, they'd slabbed off half of the mountain top. You didn't get second chances to stop, or take off. Now, they've finished slabbing off the top of the mountain. If you can't quite make it on landing, you have a chance to get your airspeed up for a second try.
Needless to say, it's a "small jet" airport. (The ones with two seats on one side, and one on the other.)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Not only, but also
There are mountain airports on most continents, Charleston might take it for the turbojets though because most of the rest, even those with commercial flights, are only suitable for propjet & piston engined craft.
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You can't choose your relatives but you can choose your family.
Princess Juliana Airport in St Maarten
There's a small access road, a chain-link fence, and maybe fifty yards of tarmac between the edge of the beach and the end of the runway. Poke around YouTube and you can find plenty of videos like this of planes coming in for landings there. And this is the island's major international airport -- airlines are happy to fly 747s and other four-engine jumbos into it.
Haven't been there myself, but it looks like a (jet) blast!
Three 'Interesting' airports
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
Heimay, Iceland
Petropavlosk, Kamchatka
The first time I flew in there in 1992 we had to abort the landing because there was a Bear near the Runway.
Bear? Sounds more exciting
Bear? Sounds more exciting than kids flying kites on the runway.
You need to listen to Ray
You need to listen to Ray Stevens' song, Southern Air
It's available on YouTube.
It has Ray Stevens, Minnie Pearl, and Jerry Clower.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras Airport
This is a one way in, one way out airport surrounded by 8,000 foot mountains. The airport is at 3,200 feet. There is an abundance of Youtube videos about landing there. I have been in there twice and both times the passengers in this predominantly Catholic country were praying and crossing themselves. When we got off the plane, many kissed the ground. Some women were in tears. When the plane stops there is around 100 feet to a 50 foot drop off onto the road below.
Olaya Herrera Airport, Medellín, Colombia
I've heard that Medellín, Colombia's regional airport is like that, although it sounds like it's not quite as bad as Tegucigalpa's. The city (and airport) are in the bottom of a valley (~1500 MSL), but some of the mountians around it are up over 2600 MSL, so landing requires a long spiral down from altitude before lining up for final. Thankfully, they opened a newer, more modern airport (José María Córdova Int'l) up on a plateau outside the city back in the 80s, so now the bigger jets can land at ~2150 MSL, and then you take a scenic drive down into the city proper.
The only flying I do these days ...
... is with my feet firmly on the ground and just my aeroplane in the air. I find walking towards my (relatively infrequent) crashes much safer than hoping to walk away :) I love to watch cross wind landings and admire the skill of the pilots and those pictures from Birmingham are brilliant. Those 'humps' on the runway are greatly exaggerated by the camera lens and are nowhere near as bad as they look. I would (and have) fly in and out of Birmingham quite happily.
I used to fly full size gliders and strong winds up in the hills where we flew just meant more slope lift. The theory was if we could manage to ground handle the aircraft it was OK to fly and we did. Cross wind wasn't a problem when our airfield was a huge open grass area and we could land straight into wind regardless. One of the flying instructors did once land out on a school football pitch between the goals by executing a neat side slip to lose height quickly but he was a pilot who used to land powered aeroplanes on beaches in the Scottish islands.
Robi
We have indeed had strong
We have indeed had strong winds in the past few weeks. I thought this post was all to do with Murdoch's morons labelling us a muslim city.
Birmingham
UK? I got a job offer there, as a maid. Is there really a mansion east of Birmingham, off the M42?
Mansions
Well, technically, more than half the country is east of Birmingham, so yes.
There are 'mansions' all over the UK ...
... though we tend not to call them that. There's bound to be a big house and probably dozens, east of Brum. One of the grandest, Chatsworth House, almost qualifies but it's more north east.
Robi
East
Of course by east, I meant the immediate east, maybe like 10-50 miles east. She mentioned that she has a large grounds with a small house (cant recall the term she used) not far from the main house. Her surname's Williams. Got anything?
I'm trying to figure out if she's real.
The salary and working benefits she offered me was amazing (to me, at least).
Near Meriden perhaps?
There are lots of big houses near the Village of Meriden. This lies between Brum and Coventry. Kenilworth is also not that far away.
Names, please
There are a load of small villages all round there. I used to go cycling all over that part with the Birmingham Northern CTC.
Almost all will have a Manor or a Hall or something like that. 'Mansion' is a term that tends to be used in London and/or by politicians trying to get support for another tax.
If you can supply a location name, we may be able to narrow it down.
Penny
Location
Unfortunately, she has not come online, so I couldn't ask her about it. I didn't try asking it before because I didn't want to sound pushy. She only said east of Birmingham, off the M42. I didn't ask about more specifics :(
Chateau Impney?
Chateau Impney definitely classifies as a mansion, although it's to the south west of Birmingham and closer to the M5 near Droitwich.
In my youth, it was a real stately home - ie a house where someone lived. Now it's a hotel.Click on the link for details.