Airliners Live Newsletter | January 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Airliners Live Newsletter | January 2024 Issue

Release: 1st Jan 2024

Happy New Year

Hey all!  Mrs AirlinersLive here, welcoming you to the first newsletter of 2024 and wishing you all a very Happy New Year! 

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and managed to take some time to rest, do the things you enjoy and spend time with loved ones. 

Martin and I had a busy but lovely Christmas Day with family and have had a very chilled out few days in the run up to New Year.  By the time you read this, we'll have welcomed in 2024 watching fireworks from the cliff tops, and will have had a refreshing walk on the beach on New Year's Day.

Whatever you are doing to bring in the New Year, enjoy and stay safe!

So here's to a happy and healthy 2024; to new adventures, to making memories and to having the patience and courage to face any challenges.

Much love,
Jen x 

 

TAS Memorabilia Fair Around The Corner!

Andy

At the end of next month, on Saturday the 24th of Feb, as per usual we'll be attending The Aviation Society Winter 2024 Memorabilia Fair with the Airliners Live stand. We treat this as a fantastic way to meet the community, hang out for a day, get photos, and also allow you to get your hands on some Airliners Live 'swagger' in person!

Not to mention, it's also a fantastic event in general. With a whole host of fascinating, and often rare or unusual, aviation items of all shapes and sizes. So why not make a day out of it!

The whole event is hosted inside the Concorde Hangar at the Runway Visitor Park, Manchester Airport. Whilst you're there, book yourself on a tour of the British Airways flagship Concorde "G-BOAC", or explore any of the other four static aircraft they have, as well as the 360 degree motion simulator, the RVP Cafe, or ultimately, go spotting at one of the best plane spotting locations around. The famous RVP Mound!

The event is completely free to attend (Just pay for parking on site if required), no pre-booking required, just show up, and I believe it opens at 10AM, and typically wraps between 3-4pm.

We don't often stock many different sizes of clothing, so if there is something specific you want, don't hesitate to get in touch!

I can confirm that this year we'll be joined by the legend that is Henry Tenby of Jetflix TV, the host of the Airliners Live Vancouver show. And of course, the usual extensive number of Airliners Live team will be there to have a chat!

Lastly, card payments are massively preferred, but if you do plan on using cash, please bring some change :)

So what are you waiting for? Get Saturday the 24th Feb in your calendar!

A Record Breaking Stream!

Martin

As we saw yet another storm forecast for Manchester Airport, myself and Andy checked the weather and noticed a particularly nasty crosswind for Manchester Airport. This is something we have seen before however recently it hasn't seemed to have materialized. 

However, Storm Pia was something else! Crosswinds blowing over the terminal made for some extremely interesting landings and the display of pilot skill was exceptional! 

The wind woke me up at 3am and I am one of those people that, once I am awake, that's it! Get up, brew up. 

So I messaged Andy and said I was going to head down and see what happens ready for the park opening at 8am. 

Initially we weren't actually planning on going live, just getting some recordings and spend some time together at the airport, which believe it or not, is a rarity these days. We do forget how nice it is to just meet up, with your cameras and watch the planes! Something we certainly want to make more time for in 2024!

However, we were so glad we went live. The strong gusts, and busy chat attracted a huge audience, all enjoying the awesome aviation Manchester had to offer. 

Somehow, we also got "Manchester Airport" trending on X (Twitter) too! This has never happened before and it was awesome to see all of our footage at the top of the page. We welcomed in lots of new viewers and due to a certain Finnair landing, we were pleased to welcome lots of new viewers from that part of the world following the clip being shared on their news networks! 



I loved spending a couple of hours replying to the twitter comments and welcoming new viewers to the channel. It takes a while but its something we really like spending the time doing as we think this helps to make people feel welcome in the community on day one. 

As I said on the live stream, I get a huge buzz watching the pilots battle the aircraft down and land - it really shows off what they get paid for! However, of course, we all enjoy the noise and view of a go around and we got plenty of those!

What was planned to be a couple of hours at best, turned into a 6hr 40min stream with over 340,000 views! We also welcomed in over 3,300 new subscribers to the channel! During the show we also had 10,000 concurrent viewers just as the A380 arrived touching down on the first attempt! Another viewer record smashed for the channel! 

Matt also did a follow up show on the Friday which again, attracted a big viewer base! With 5,000 concurrent viewers flooding in to enjoy the content! Well done mate!

Thanks to everyone who tuned into that stream, it certainly made some memories right at the end of the year!

Thanks, but no thanks...

Martin

It has been asked a few times on stream - "Why don't you share your footage with the news outlets?" and our answer tends to confuse people because we usually say no. This seems counterintuitive right...

On occasion we do share footage with them but it does come with specific requests from our side. 

The issue with the modern media is that they LOVE drama. Anything that gets a response from the public is exactly what they want. To be completely honest, we just don't like drama!

For example, Sky News. They are somebody who we have worked with in the past and to their credit, their story was positive about how well the pilots did, given the weather, and explained in their article that go arounds were normal procedure. Following our request to make this clear. So we were happy to work with them.

However most outlets just want

"WOW Plane nearly CRASHES!! at Manchester Airport!!!!!!!  with 182 onboard - coming within inches of the tarmac...."

or

"PILOTS STRUGGLE - To land a plane in CRAZY winds at Manchester Airport"

Nope.

We will not put the Airliners Live name next to content like that. It isn't what we believe in and it doesn't matter how much exposure we risk losing because of it - its just not us. We also value the pilots and we want to make sure their skill is not questioned with Airliners Live footage.

To be honest, the exposure is very little too. They make very little effort in crediting / linking back to our channel. Usually only including a tiny watermark somewhere so the chances of people coming over and looking for us is extremely small. 

This is something myself and Andy have discussed a few times and its still hotly debated between the mods but we just don't think its a good fit for the channel. 

Hence why you will only see our footage / explanations of which we allow the news to embed if they wish. 

Hope this answers the question :) 

 

And of course, let's not forget this classic:

2023 Moderator Magic

Andy

With it being the end of a big year for the team at Airliners Live, as a feature, I thought it would be fun to do something slightly different for this issue.

As you may know, a lot of the credit we give to how great this community is goes to our moderators, who are essentially volunteers. But in reality they're more like friends, who do a lot of the front facing community management, and a surprising amount of behind the scenes work, such as suggesting ideas, giving feedback, maintaining the social apps such as Discord and the chatbots, answering questions and helping out the community.

I pitched the idea to allow each of the mods to submit their own "Best Memory Of 2023", with the one extra condition that it must be aviation related. This allows us to see a bit more about the various mods you see week in/week out in the chat, as well as let them share a bit of magic from their year, and honestly there's some great stories here, I'd recommend you give them a read.

Here we go, in no particular order:

Terry’s Spitfire Experience Flight June 2023

Terry Edwards

I’ve been interested in the WW2 Spitfires since going to the cinema with my father and watching the film The Battle of Britain when it first came out. After retirement from my job and with more time on my hands, I decided to go ahead and book an experience flight and also take to the skies with my partners two sons.

June arrived and when we got to the airfield, the weather wasn’t looking great. Flight time came and went without a propeller blade turning due to low cloud. Luckily by early afternoon the cloud have lifted enough for us to fly. Pre flight briefings completed, we were suited up and ready to go.
The noise of the Merlin engine was tremendous, nothing like the familiar sound from outside the plane. After take off we joined up as a 3 formation, my partners sons in extra 300 aircraft. Following a few maneuvers in formation, the Spitfire climbed and did a dive “attack” on the Extras.

After that the Extras returned to base while I continued my flight. Soon after that I was invited to take the controls and I flew the Spitfire for about 15 minutes. Very responsive and only small inputs required to control the plane. Control was handed back to the my pilot, Ben, and we climbed above the clouds.

Floating on cotton wool doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling. Then it was time for some aerobatics. We did a loop followed by 2 barrel rolls and a final barrel roll and dive to bring us back below cloud level.

Sick bag was provided but not required thankfully. It was then time to return to base and land. After taxing back with the canopy open I could appreciate the full roar of the Merlin. Once the engine was off and all made safe, the family members returned for a photo call.

What a tremendous day we had and a once in a lifetime experience for myself.
Many thanks to Ultimate Warbirds for making my day so memorable.

A BIG Year For Matt

Matt "Cam" Smith

Hey everyone, and a happy new year!!

Matt “cam” here, to reflect on one or two personal highlights from the crazy year that was 2023.

First off the bat for me has to be our (what seems to have become) annual trip to Lanza (back in march), such a great place to chill with top friends, some 10/10 plane-spotting and the nightlife…..well yeah!!

Secondly.. is the sight of an Airbus a340-600 series at Manchester once again (15th May), although circumstances surrounding the diverted Lufthansa trans Atlantic flight weren’t the best, such an awesome experience to witness this seldom seen airframe frequenting MAN.


My 3rd and final highlight has to be my introduction to solo streaming..
Such an honour to have been given the chance to represent the channel by Martin & Andy! No easy task running a live show on your own, but the lads are always on hand for any tips or help when required.

Honestly been such a pleasure to bring the Friyay shows to you ladies and gents, and I cannot wait to bring you more pre-weekend action in the next 12 months!

Hope to see you all very soon, and wishing you all a great start to 2024, take care.

Sam's Been Busy!

Sam (aka Mach Two Photography)

What's my favourite aviation memory of the year? Well... My proudest moment of 2023 will have to be "becoming a northerner". I swapped delicious Oatcakes for a new life with a new job at Barton Aerodrome which... I suppose it is aviation related? Moving house, job, a small human, all of the paperwork and childcare arrangements to sort... Boy it was a challenge but it had meant that Andy and I had completed our 2023 goal and 2024 already has major goals lined up...

AS for aviation... The key to my heart is through our Dakota (oh and chocolate sea shells) so it is only natural for my favourite aviation memory that comes from my favourite two people. April 2023 saw our daughter turn 3 (or threenager as I like to say). Dakota was given an option for her birthday: a party or a trip on an airplane. Of course she was more concerned about cake but soon realised she could have both cake AND a plane so to Málaga we went.

Jet2 spoiled her rotten with a card, stickers, and free choccy buttons. She was delighted. A gentleman sat on the window seat with us having a middle and two aisle seats. He gave up his window seat for Dakota so we could all be together for which I am ever so grateful for.

At the end of the flight, the Jet2 staff made a special announcement for our Dakota. She was so excited to hear her name on the PA... Until that is... everyone clapped, making her rather embarrassed to our entertainment. As per most of our holidays (even without Dakota as Andy is a big kid) the flight was completed with a trip to the flight deck.

I'll never forget the kindness and love everyone had for Dakota that day.

Thank you Andy for being a super dad that day and help to plan the trip!

Sunny's (Slightly Longer Than Planned) Super Adventure! 🌆

Sunny (Aka Sunny23Uk)

This year I took a trip to New York for my Birthday in May. Flying from Manchester to JFK with Aer Lingus on one of their A330's. The flight out was fairly routine and I had a window seat, no-one sat next to me, nice food and plenty of films to watch.

New York was great fun, meeting up with my school friend who now lives in Canada, we visited the Stardust Diner where the waiters sing show tunes around you as you're eating dinner, seeing Times Square at night, shopping, walking the High Line, watching the sun set from the heights of Summit One Vanderbilt, which has amazing views of New York and seeing another friends band, Bury Tomorrow, headline Gramercy Theatre at the end of their US tour.

My trip home ended up slightly more eventful, after managing to lose my passport somewhere from the hotel room safe, I spent an additional 2 days in the Big Apple before being able to fly home on an emergency passport. It was certainly a trip I won't forget in a hurry!

Loopy's Highlights

Loopy

When I look at the figures for the past year, it’s incredible to think we started on the 1st of January 2023 with exactly 265,000 subscribers and end the year with 700,000 subscribers more. With less than a month to go before we hit the massive achievement of 1 million Subs, that is a memory worth keeping.

On the aviation side my highlight would have to be the spray from the A380 each time it lands in wet weather, and the emoji that now goes with it.

Captain Mark's Mentions

Captain Mark Langston

I’ve got a few highlights from this year that stand out, the first one being the pilot explains video hitting 1 million views!

The next one being meeting, so many fans at the two Tas Fairs!
And the last one coming into land during Storm Agnes and being filmed actually landing after the euro wings in front had done two go arounds and buggered off back to Düsseldorf!

Here’s to many more memories being made with you guys next year!

Pilot Progress and Radio Man

David Long (aka The Flying Architect)

What a year 2023 has been! Cannot believe how quickly it has passed!

Highlights for me have been my continued flying adventures with my PPL (Private Pilot Licence). Making use of my instrument rating and actually flying through and above the clouds in IMC has been particularly satisfying. As I am sure you know I am working towards my Commercial Pilot Licence so I can earn money and make a living from being a private pilot. This year has been about hour building in the PA28 to get to a point I can move onto the next phase of my training. I am nearly there so 2024 should be the year I get my CPL.

From a channel perspective, the growth we have seen is stunning and very much deserved. At the heart of this is the global community we have at AL. It’s second to none, simple as that. It is you reading this that makes it all worth while. I love being a small part of this community and what it stands for. This extends to the fact I can turn up to the RVP on any given day and know I will bump into many of our VIPs, then spend the day just chatting about what we all love, aviation.

This year I have also been behind the keyboard relaying live ATC information into the chat with the AL-ATC account. Not only does listening to the ATC help me with my training but also allows me to relay relevant information to you all to hopefully enhance you’re understanding of what is going on and taking away any speculation in the chat. If there is anything you want me to add to this in the chat then let me know on Discord and will see what I can do.

Here’s to an awesome 2024

ChesterMike's Mentions

ChesterMike

What great memories we have of 2023 watching the channel growing along with the Airliners Mod Squad Team & Community , being part of our Airliners community on the Rocket launches , Crazy Storms , Snow On The Mountains live shows along with FlightSims.. Also meeting many of you at the TAS Fair putting faces to familiar names. Many of you will know me providing the flight information on the live show which is a challenge in itself the way the chat has expanded and can be so fast moving but we do our best . Its nearly 60 yrs since my first visit to Ringway with my Aunt & Uncle where I got hooked and have enjoyed this year doing the same with my niece and great nephews of same age as I was back then, living on the Liverpool approach path I get them watching Radar and identifying the different planes, who knows one may be a budding pilot in early training. They cant wait to go to the RVP for a family visit & tour on Concorde. Bring on 2024 !!

Mr Bing Bong’s aviation highlights of 2023!

Paul "Bing Bong" Davies

Hey up!

Hope you’ve all had a wonderful festive period.

My aviation highlight this year had to be flying to Lanzarote both ways on Jet2’s AirTanker A330. I was hoping for both, one each way, to complete the fleet for ‘haulage’. Sadly we got G-VYGM both ways, which is disappointing, as G-VYGL is still required. I was secretly hoping for a ‘downgrade’ to a 757 for one of the flights, but both flights were packed to the gills, so no hope of that! The take off from Arrecife airport’s relatively short runway was incredible, the colossal Trent 700 engines singing beautifully as they gave a good amount of beans to get us airborne.

It’s been a great year for the channel; and as someone that’s been around from nearly the beginning, I’m so proud to watch it hurtle towards a million subscribers. I’ve enjoyed my odd times on mic this year. It’s a really fun thing to do, taking me out my comfort zone and challenging the old grey matter. Thank you to those of you who sent in the lovely feedback. The step change in quality of the shows this year with the introduction of Matt Cam has been phenomenal and I’m made up he’s doing so well with his own shows.

It’s also always a pleasure to catch up with my fellow mods and all you guys at the TAS fair. I’m hoping to see you all in February. Speaking of February, I’ve another holiday to Lanzarote flying on a A321 out and the venerable 757 home. I’ll hopefully get some nice pics and videos for you. Best wishes for 2024. Bing Bong!

VIVA FEZ VEGAS!

Jon Fezza

Towards the end of 2022, I received an opportunity to go to Las Vegas with my cousin and her friend. How could I say no! My second time visiting the states came in May this year (or last year depending on when you're reading this!). When booking up with British Airways, since I was late to the party (a late invite instead of a nee invite!) my cousin was going from Newcastle to Heathrow to Los Angeles to Vegas. We live in the norf so direct flights are a bit expensive. So whilst looking I found a nice connection from Heathrow to Dallas then Vegas. But it wasn't on any old 777, it was on the big boy, the KING of the skies, the Airbus A380. I had previously flown on the 747 with BA back in 2015 to New York on a school trip but back then, I had no interest in aviation so didn’t really care for it. Oh, how I was I was 14 again!

So the day arrives and we get to Newcastle Airport. Pit stop at Greggs first of course! Then we had to check in and drop the bags off. BA systems are awful so we couldn’t check in on the app or reserve seats. I found that with BA, since I was flying economy, they actually had economy seats on the upper deck! So I was praying that I could bag one since on the wings, they are in a 2 seat configuration.

It’s now my turn to check in. I give my passport to the Swissport lad behind the counter. He looks at it then looks at me. He then says, do you do the flying on YouTube? I was like yea! This was the first time anyone had recognised me outside of the RVP! We had a good chat and that. Since I’m now some famous YouTuber, I explained the issue with the app and if he could sort me out with the upper deck seat. The praying paid off and he did! Cheers David, enjoy ya red wine on a Monday neet son!
We then had our airport pint at 7 in the morning of course! Then flew down to Heathrow on a BA Airbus A321 NEO. My first time on one and they’re mint. I then left the lasses (women in normal English 🙂 ) whomst were flying a BA Boeing 777-300ER and went to Terminal 5C and found my King of the skies.

Onboard, BA’s A380’s are very dated and the in flight entertainment came with a remote! Didn’t realise we were in the 90s again! Hang on I wasn’t even born then! Bar this, the flight was great and I really enjoyed the A380. We were even delayed an hour on the ground due to baggage but made that time up easily in flight. I then had a long wait in Dallas as my American Airlines Airbus A321 (which was older than me) flight got delayed and by the time I landed in Vegas and got to the hotel it was midnight Vegas time and I had been awake for 27 hours!

After 10 days it was time to come home. We got to Harry Reid as it's now called and boarded yet another Airbus A321, still with American Airlines, and my 3rd A321 this trip, to Phoenix. I was on the last row and the flight was bumpy the whole way. I love turbulence as it’s nothing to be worried about, so I was in my element. The girls a few rows in front, not so much 😄 We then landed in Phoenix, had a pint and boarded our Boeing 777-200ER with the Rolls Royce Trent 800s back to Heathrow. Since I was late to the party and on a different booking, I didn’t sit with the girls but a few rows in front. Being in the middle row sardined in economy really isn’t any fun but the endless amounts of Johnny Walker Whiskey and Top Gun on the IFE, sorted me out.

At Heathrow, I managed to try the new scanners which are in trial at the UK and it was quite smooth and easy. Cheeky Pret coffee (quite cheap for London prices at £3.50) then boarded an A319 for a change, still older than me, back to the toon! Only 6 flights later!

Thank you, Moderators

Many thanks for everyone who sent in a story, and once again, a huge thank you for everything the guys and girls on the moderation team at Airliners Live, you all do a huge amount for the channel, and it goes a long way in this wonderful community.

Keep Warm and Dry this Winter

Andy

Currently in stock, grab yourself the super warm and water resistant Airliners Live beanie!

Rock the Airliners Live logo, and support the channel with this fantastic double-knit layered Thinsulate kit, these are essential for those cold winter walks, or even braving the elements such as those of Manchester Airport on a brisk and wet winter's day.

I've been super impressed with the Durable water repellent treatment, often manages to keep my head dryer than if I just had my hood up

Get yours NOW here

Lanzarote Trip | Liverpool Airport Experience

Sam (aka Mach Two Photography)

4AM wake up... Not going to work... That only means one thing: airport time!!

There's nothing a love more than a good early start with the airport on the itinerary, but this time... It was different. An airport I've never flown from or to.

Now we've seen me at LPL Airport before on the old tower for a couple of shows, however this time there were no big cameras, no live equipment... Just a GoPro.

We parked on the Multistorey Airport Car Park which was brilliant as it was way too cold for us. A short walk over the road and we were there within a matter of minutes. Naturally we filmed which is now public so do go give that a watch but I must say... I don't know if I was still asleep or if Greggs had Pilots now in their adverts? Security traditionally pulls me over. Every time. It's become a family joke, I must look suspicious. Well LPL got the memo and there I was getting my leg scanned and shoes back through the x-ray. At least they didn't ask me if I had pins in my leg like a other airport has done previously. Slightly concerning that...

Anyway, less than 10 minutes in, checked over thoroughly, and out. Not bad at all. You can explore the terminal pretty quickly if you wanted to and just walked past everything. It's not large, easily manageable and if you do stop to do things, you'll have plenty to do. We spent out time in the Aspire lounge. It was so nice. They even have employed a robot called Dave but I think HR need to have a word with him as he took a break way longer than the legal 20 minutes required. Nevertheless, the food was lovely and the vodka and coke couldn't have tasted any better (or maybe because it was 5.40am)

Alas it was finally time to depart for our couples getaway holiday together on our EasyJet chariot. LPL was sublime and made the holiday feel like it truly had begun. It was that relaxed that I wasn't even an "airport dad" shouting at the time board and fretting about passports... It was just far too relaxing So... Shall we go again? Say... Same time tomorrow?

You can watch our review video on YouTube here

Noticing a pattern here:

Flightlines by Captain Mark

Captain Mark Langston

Welcome to this months flightlines.

With the strong winds and bad weather we’ve been having there’s been a lot of chat about extra fuel so I’ll try and explain it here.
https://regulatorylibrary.caa.co.uk/965-2012/Content/Regs/06750_CATOPMPA150_Fuel_policy.htm#:~:text=(a)%20The%20operator%20shall%20establish,prior%20approval%20by%20the%20CAA.

The operator shall ensure that the pre-flight calculation of usable fuel required for a flight includes:
(1) taxi fuel;
(2) trip fuel;
(3) reserve fuel consisting of:
(i) contingency fuel;
(ii) alternate fuel, if a destination alternate aerodrome is required;
(iii) final reserve fuel; and
(iv) additional fuel, if required by the type of operation; and
(4) extra fuel if required by the commander.

Fuel

So an aircraft fuel is made up of several different parts. The first bit being Taxi Fuel, that is the Fuel that you use on pushback, engine start, and to Taxi to the departure runway. The next bit is called trip Fuel, this is the Fuel used for the takeoff roll, the climb out, the cruise, plus any climbs or descent According to the flight plan, the descent, the approach, and the landing.
Next you will have is alternate or diversion Fuel, this is the Fuel to fly a missed approach and divert to an alternate airport and make an approach and landing. The important bit is final reserve fuel.

The legal definition is:
Final reserve fuel is the minimum fuel required to fly for 30 minutes at 1,500 feet above the alternate aerodrome or, if an alternate is not required, at the destination aerodrome at holding speed in ISA conditions.

On the A320 it equates to roughly a ton.

If you are likely to go into this then you MUST declare a fuel mayday to ATC. You also have contingency fuel. This may be a percentage of the total fuel or a statistical contingency fuel figure. This is normally how much extra 95% of flights have used over the last year.

It is for UNFORESEEN contingencies that may occur during the flight and IS NOT to be considered at the planning stage. Then you have tanking fuel. Sometimes you’ll fly somewhere where the fuel is sooooo expensive, it’s cheaper to put enough to get back with rather than put any on at the pricey place.

Next is my favourite.
Commanders discretionary fuel. This is how much you’ll add per flight for various
reasons, poor weather, lvps, runway closures, ATC, stronger headwinds, tech issues etc. with the storms we’ve been having I would fill up so I’d be landing just under maximum landing weight.
You don’t want to be messing around on days like that!!

Something to consider is when you add fuel, you will burn some of it just carrying it. Can be 3-5% so you have to take that into your planning. Also if you can’t get to the level you want in the cruise, you’ll burn more fuel being at a lower level. This goes up the lower you are. There are ways of mitigating this, the easiest is just
to put more on but it can be costly for the airline (remember you’ll burn some of it just having it there)

The airlines want you to take the minimum amount of fuel to SAFELY complete the flight. You sign for the aircraft at the end of the day and you have to make sure you’ve got enough fuel. If you find yourself in a position where you are getting tight, maybe lower level, stronger unforecast headwinds etc, then you have some options, flying higher when possible will help.

Using a lower cost index in the flight management computer will also use less.
Asking ATC for shortcuts can help if you can get them. But ultimately if you are getting short you have the option of declaring minimum fuel, this means:
An aircraft's fuel supply has reached a state where, upon reaching the destination, it can accept little or no delay. This is not an emergency situation but merely indicates an emergency situation is possible should any undue delay occur.
If you look like you’re going to be in the final reserve then a mayday MUST be declared.

This is:
when the calculated usable fuel predicted to be available upon landing at the nearest aerodrome where a safe landing can be made is less than the
planned final reserve fuel. Here’s a B757 fuel plan The left number of fuel in kgs

The right number is time in hrs and mins. Note the contingency. It’s is 5% of the trip.

Here’s an A321 NEO fuel plan. Big difference in the trip fuel with the lighter aircraft with the new engines.

At the bottom is the increase in burn corrections for increased weight and lower levels.

Note the cont95- contingency 95%

So the B757 will do the flight in 1h55 mins. And burn 6989 kgs.

The A321NEO will take 2h10 to do the same flight but only burns 5109kgs. A massive saving in fuel.

So that’s it. Basic fuel stuff.

There’s a lot more in depth stuff involved but that’s
maybe for a future video? I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas, happy new
year and I’ll see you all soon.

If it rains cats and dogs... take them for a walk!

Martin

Myself and Jen had been looking forward to some walks during our week off over Christmas. I learned last year, that these are an awesome way to not only clear your head but also spend some great time together. We also have a rule.."No phones on walks!!"

It allows us time, undistracted to either chat things through, have a laugh or just take in the views without the every day distractions that are mobile phones. Honestly give it a go! It's surprising how much more chatting you actually do!

Unfortunately, the weather was not playing ball over the Christmas period so with heavy rain forecast, we decided to wrap up, gear up and get out to one of our favourite new places for this year, Reddish Vale. 

It's a great hidden gem only 30 mins away from us and its jam packed full of photography opportunities. As you know, not only do I enjoy aviation photography, but I have found a lot of enjoyment in nature photography. 

I'd say the best bit for me is not knowing what you are going to get. I don't go for particular photos, nor do I "set up" photos which seems to be a thing where people put out branches with bird food on them and photograph what comes. I prefer getting whatever photo was "meant" to be taken on that day. It seems to make the pictures feel just that little bit more special.

I also try really hard not to disturb the wildlife whilst getting the photo. If I'm too close to make them fly away, I'm too close! This is something I learnt watching an awesome wildlife photographer on YouTube Morten Hilmer. Give him a watch! 

So, we decided that if its raining, this will give me a chance to try something new. Use the rain to your advantage and get some moody shots. With modern cameras a higher ISO is really nothing to worry about as most modern software can remove most of it. So I shoot in "Shutter Priority" to ensure my shutter speed is fast enough to hide the shaking from my knee begging for mercy as I crouch for minutes on end avoiding cramp as best I can!

A little tip from me for bird photography. If you can, get eye level with them for the picture. Obviously don't go climbing trees!! But if they are on the ground or in the water, get as low as you can as this really ads to the images in my opinion!

I was extremely happy with the images I came home with and its something I will definitely try again! After a bit of editing, here are my finished pictures.