British Airways Open Day - Explore and Discover 2015

            On the weekend of 6^th-7^th June 2015, selected aviation bloggers, enthusiasts, and British Airways Staff were invited to go to London Heathrow for an event British Airways called ‘Explore and Discover’.

             The event was to showcase BA’s latest innovations and they had a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, G-ZBJC, a Boeing 747-400, G-CIVG, a Boeing 777-300ER, G-STBL, an Airbus A319, an Airbus A380, G-XLEA, and a very special visitor in regards to the Airbus A350-900 XWB, F-WWCY, which was flown especially for the weekend from Toulouse.

 Inside the hangars were some of British Airways’ Partners, such as engine suppliers like Rolls Royce, General Electric and Pratt and Whitney, eagerly showing off their new engines with the RR Trent 1000 powering BA’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners, GE with the GE90 which powers some of BA’s Boeing 777-200’s along with all of their 777-300’s and P&W with their latest engine for the Airbus a320NEO family, the PW1000. Pratt and Whitney had demonstrations and comparisons between the newer PW1000 and the older v2500 which powers all but two of BA’s a320 family aircraft, showing the noise reductions and the new revolutionary gearbox design on the PW1000.

Airbus and Boeing also had a stand each, with Airbus keen to show off their A380 and A350 XWB products, with models and explanations of what was new on the A350 and how it makes it so efficient, like the new engines, the materials used and the shape of the wing. Boeing were showing people the 787 with all of its new technological advancements and the 777-300ER and how it was the largest twin engine commercial jet ever built.

British Airways also put up exhibits, one was of their new short haul ‘Club Europe’ seats, which are a lot more up to date than their old ones. There was an A380 escape slide on show and took up a lot of hangar floor as you could expect. The Concorde, G-BOAD, made an appearance as well and was put pride of place in the centre of the hangar. There were mock ups of premium lounges with staff telling people about what was so special about the BA service away from the economy cabin, with amenity kits being handed out from business and first class.

Apart from the aircraft outside, there were demonstrations from different ground crews with tugs and baggage handlers all showing off their respective jobs. There was even a demonstration of how to wash an aircraft with a highly specialised bit of kit on the 747.

We then got to board the aircraft, and starting with the A350 XWB. Although this was an Airbus test aircraft, it had almost a full airline mock up configuration with economy and business class seats, with only a couple of rows taken out to make room for a flight engineers position. The aircraft was fitted in a 3-3-3 configuration for economy and a 1-2-1 for business. The flight deck of the A350 is one of the best around, with a full glass display, lots of room and great visibility.

            The 787 was in BA’s configuration with ‘World Traveller’, ‘World Traveller Plus’ and Business class cabins. People were even looking around the crew rest areas which is obviously out of bounds for everyday passengers. Although cramped above the ceiling it’s still pretty spacious up there, with room for 4 beds.

            In contrast the 747 was outdated but still quite nice inside but with the First class cabin in the nose of the aircraft being recently redone. G-CIVG, at the time of our tour, was the only BA 747 to offer Wi-Fi with a member of staff telling us information while we waited to get in the flight deck. Upstairs is a really nice place to be, with it being quiet and extremely spacious with only 1-1 configuration in business class.

            In the A319, was BA’s new ‘Club Europe’, this makes the aircraft really neat and professional. The designer of the new seats was on board and talking to him he said it took nearly 2 years for the designs to get implemented onto the aircraft from first draughts, saying how many tests they had to perform on them to meet aviation standards.

            Overall we had a great day with the staff being really helpful with explaining things when we had questions and with the amount of knowledge they had we went away a lot wiser about things. If BA do this sort of thing again, we would recommend you going as it is an amazing day for any enthusiast.

You can watch our video from the day here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtWWks107fA

MT Aviation

Thomson Airways 787-8 Dreamliner MAN-BGI flight review

Flight 108 on Thomson's latest Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which was only just 2 weeks old on the time we flew on it. Knowing this I was expecting a very good standard of service and expectation and I was not disappointed.
    We arrived at the airport around 8:30 and checked in smoothly and quickly with a very small queue. We were greeted by a friendly c member of staff who made check in calm and easy. After that we were off to security which again went calmly and smoothly. After proceeding through Manchester airport Terminal 2 we arrived at gate 202 where our aircraft (G-TUIG) was on stand waiting for us to board. Boarding commenced just after 10 am and we were quickly through and walking down the air bridge towards our ride for the next 8 and a half hours. We were greeted by a warm friendly cabin crew member who directed us to our seats. Thomson's latest 787 aircraft was very impressive and I was taken back by the sheer space and height of the cabin. The aisle was nice and wind with plenty of room for hand luggage to be wheeled and the height of cabin created a very open feel with a nice cool temperature and relaxing feel.

The seats themselves were very impressive to look at with a 3-3-3 configuration. The adjustable headrests were nice and comfortable and the same could be said for the seats.

I was seated in row 26  and the nicely sized screen and seat pocket made it easy to store a bottle of water. The legroom was lovely. Myself being 5ft 6, I had plenty of room to stretch my legs. The windows were big and wide which let a lot of natural light in which made the aircraft feel spacious and relaxed. The overhead lockers were also nice and big with plenty of storage space.

    After everyone was boarded and seated the cabin crew did their final checks before we pushed back from Manchester Airports terminal 2 and headed to runway 05L. After a very short taxi we headed straight onto the runway and of we went. The General electric engines powered us down the runway and I was surprised at how quiet the engines were. After climbing to our cruising altitude of 42,000ft the inflight entertainment systems came on and I flicked through the selections of movies and other media options. With over 20 movies and plenty of games and TV shows I was not disappointed.
      The cabin crew also showed the mood lighting system also known as the TUI wave which was very impressive with many different colours which made the cabin feel calm. The windows were also dimmed down to a dark blue colour which also contributed to the mood of the cabin.
       After around an hour or so the first bar service came round with a selection of free alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks.
    Then a few hours after that the meal was served, which was pasta bake which I have to say was very nice. The meal was served with a selection of others elements such a bread role, water a dessert and a few other things.

      After that the flight went calmly and smoothly and I have to say I felt very relaxed and energised the whole journey.
    Around 2 hours before our arrival into Bridgetown an afternoon tea meal was served which consisted of a scone and small sandwich. Then at around 15:30 in the afternoon we touched down at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados. After the nearly 9 hour flight I was surprised how energised and relaxed I felt after coming of a long haul flight.
   After a few minutes waiting we departed by steps of the aircraft and onto a bus to the terminal.
   Overall I couldn't fault the flight or the cleanliness of the aircraft or the friendliness of the cabin crew. The flight went very smoothly and quickly and overall was a very enjoyable experience. From start to finish the journey was excellent. 

First Choice/Thomson Airways Boeing 767-300 MAN-SFB flight Review

On the 24th May 2014, my family and I flew to Orlando Sandford from Manchester with Thomson.
   The flight was operated by a long haul configuration 767-300 (G-OOBL). The saturday morning flight is operated by the 767 opposed to the new 787 Dreamliner on the friday, sunday and monday flight. However i have to say i wasn't disappointed with the comfort or space of the nineteen year old aircraft. The flight was fully booked, as expected, due to it being school holidays and Orlando being a very popular family destination. After passing through check-in and security we arrived at the gate. 

The gate was very busy and seats were hard to find. We had a short wait until boarding began. Premium passengers were called first, then economy boarding commenced starting with the back ten rows. When we were finally called to board, we boarded quickly and calmly. We were greeted at the door of the aircraft by a smiling, welcoming stewardess. We were directed to rows 18 and 19  F and G. The 767-300 V2 had a 2-3-2 configuration. 

   I have to say the leg room was pretty good, and with a 32 inch seat pitch the seats weren't to bad. 

The seat fronts were equipped with a small but adequate tv screen and with two side pockets which were suppost to hold small bottles of water . There was a nicely sized tray table with a cup holder and a pocket with the inflight magazine, safety card and the the menu.
In all a very average seat.

The flight was running on time so it wasn't long until the we pushed back from the gate and taxied to runway 05L where we undertook and quick and simple takeoff. We were no sooner in clouds after departure and climbed for around 10 minutes until we reached our cruising altitude of 38,000ft. 
The flight time was set to be just over 8 hours so i settled back into the seat and explored the Inflight entertainment system. It was fairly simple and basic and had a limited amount of films. The games, music and TV were basic aswell. 
The cabin crew came around with drinks and snacks but we had bought them in the airport due to the prices onboard so we waited until the meal was served later on in the flight. It was served about 2-3 hours into the flight. It was a chicken pasta dish which i have to say was fairly nice. It was served with crackers, a bread roll and a caramel mousse.

After the meal the flight went quickly and simply with no major events. We landed at around three o,clock Sandford time and quickly taxied to our gate.

          In all i have to say i was quite impressed with the comfort and service of Thomson. I would definitely recommend to fly with them.
   
   Thankyou for reading. If you have any questions, please comment or contact us on twitter

MT Aviation

Thomas Cook new Airbus a321 MAN-AYT flight review

This was my first time on the new Thomas Cook a321 with sharklets, and I have to say I was rather impressed. The flight was TCX 2982 from MAN - AYT (Manchester to Antalya). When we arrived at the gate, it was to my surprise that we were flying on the new a321, G-TCDC, as there were three Thomas Cook a321 flight due out that morning, and only new a321 based at MAN.

As we boarded, we were greeted by the stewardess and shown where are seats were, like any other flight. The seats were very spacious and were very thin, aiding in a lot of legroom and also by the clever design of the seatback in front of you, as the pocket at the bottom of seat, that normally houses the safety cards and inflight magazines, was empty as they were housed where an IFE screen would be placed; so this means that nothing was in the way of your knees, so you have more legroom.

The flight was very quick to board and we departed the gate exactly on time. We then taxied out to RWY 23L, but stopped just before crossing RWY 23R to let a Singapore Airlines B777 300 land. Then when we continued we did a rolling take off that felt quite powerful but was actually quite quiet, must have been down to the new CFM engines.

As we took off, we climbed but hit slight air pockets, from the aircraft in front, so the smaller children were screaming. I thought the take off was quite smooth although other passengers disagreed with me afterwards. We did a long graduated right turn so we came back over the airfield, and we exited the clouds to a rather nice sunrise.

As I was busy taking photos of the sunrise, the TV screens popped out every 6 or so rows to some Thomas Cook advertising, which I have never experienced on a European flight, with really no need for it for such a short flight. About 5 minutes of this the screens showed the map of how far we had come and the route taken and were going to take, again I don't remember this on any other European airline. Then the screens continued to play the entertainment as shown in the guide on board.

Then the cabin crew came round with drinks and snacks, but as normal the prices were extortionate. So we bought a sandwich and drink from the airport.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, we made good time and we descended through the mountains, to land on RWY 18L at Antalya.

Overall this was a very good flight. Extremely good aircraft, and I would love to fly on this again.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, then feel free to comment, or contact us on Twitter.