Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 1: BA1443

Edinburgh (EDI) - London Heathrow (LHR)

I managed to be first on board and received a very friendly welcome from the cabin crew. It quickly became clear that the flight was going to be busy, with several announcements being made about recommended techniques for the storage of carry-on items. We nevertheless achieved an ahead-of-schedule departure and taxied out to the north-easterly runway, where there was no need to hold. I took temporary leave of my native soil at midday precisely. As promised in a pre-departure announcement, we were soon through the gloomy layer of thick, rain-bearing clouds and into much more pleasant flying conditions. Cabin service, such as it is these days, was soon underway and I had coffee and white wine to drink and chose a savoury snack, having already brought on board a two-pack of Walker's Stem Ginger biscuits to accompany my coffee.
		ABOVE: BA A319 at EDI, in utterly miserable weather conditions. On the taxi-way, a Contact Air Fokker 100 has just arrived from Düsseldorf, operating on behalf of Lufthansa.

The savoury offering consisted of "Mediterranean tomato and herb" flavoured snacks of a vaguely cylindrical shape. On consulting the list of ingredients, these were quite remarkably described as "yellow pea tubes".   Despite this, they tasted just fine. My wine was a Pinot Grigio, in one of the new, lightweight plastic bottles. The cabin crew maintained their friendly approach to passengers during the service run.

We followed the usual west-coast route via Carlisle and Manchester. Surprisingly, the full international version of the arrivals video was shown; I didn't realise that Scotland had already attained independence!   Despite the smooth flying conditions, solid cloud cover meant that there was very little to see out of the window. In the all too familiar Heathrow routine, we were instructed at 1250 to enter a holding pattern for 10 to 15 minutes. The first officer said he was still hoping for an on-time arrival, but somehow I had my doubts.

The approach, when it eventually came, was from the west, giving good views of Eton and Windsor Castle. I saw some of the new transit pods in operation during finals, linking various car parks with Terminal 5, before we touched down on 09L at 1318. Taxiing past an impressive pair of Qantas A380s, we made it to Gate 505 within five minutes of landing.  

 

Date: Fri 18 May 2012

Aircraft: Airbus A319

Scheduled dep: 1150

Actual departure: 1148

Scheduled arrival: 1315

Actual arrival: 1323

Cabin: Economy (Domestic Shuttle)

Seat: 1A

Next Flight

Home | Major Trips | Short Trips | About this site | Index