Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
Planes, Trains & Automobiles - The Sequel
Flight Log 6: BA1452
London Heathrow (LHR) - Edinburgh (EDI)
The final aircraft of the trip was G-EUYD, an Airbus A320 that would be five years old this month. It seemed to be in reasonably good shape; the only minor quibble with cabin presentation was that the magazines hadn't been changed for the new month. Announcements about the storage of hand baggage led me to believe that it was going to be a fairly full flight, although it didn't appear that the recently introduced 'under seat only' tags were in use on this occasion. Five minutes before the scheduled departure time, the captain announced that there would be a short delay while we waited for two passengers who were understood to be on their way through the airport. I hoped that they hadn't been allocated 1B/C, which were still empty at this point.
In the event, the doors were closed at 1635 as the two final passengers breathlessly made their way down the aisle. Excellent - plenty of room for me! The taxi to 09R took us between the main T5 building and its 'B' satellite, the second engine starting up as we emerged from between the buildings and joined the queue for the runway. Pushback to take-off took twenty minutes on this occasion, which is probably about as good as it gets at Heathrow.
When cabin service got underway, I had a tomato juice, a coffee and bag of the 'Kent'-branded crisps. Our allocated cruising altitude was 32,000ft and the routing was a conventional one via Nottingham, Sheffield and Carlisle. I read for most of the journey - at this time of year, there certainly wasn't anything to see out of the window.
The approach to Edinburgh Airport was the usual one: out over the Forth for a big left turn. Just prior to this, I had managed to pick out the new, larger Ferris wheel making its debut for the 2013 festive season in Princes Street Gardens. We touched down at 1747 and made it onto stand in a rather impressive three minutes.
 |
| Date: Sun 01 Dec 2013 |
| Aircraft: Airbus A320 |
| Scheduled dep: 1620 |
| Actual departure: 1637 |
| Scheduled arrival: 1745 |
| Actual arrival: 1750 |
| Cabin: Economy (Domestic Shuttle) |
| Seat: 1A |
Previous Flight