edi-traveller
Mar 31, 03, 3:55 am
I wouldn’t normally post a trip report for a UK Domestic Flight but this one turned out to be quite eventful.
I had been to a glitzy awards ceremony in London the night before and had to be back in Edinburgh as early as possible for various important business meetings. I had considered going up during the night on the Calendonian Sleeper train, but the Train Guards were on strike and the Sleeper was not running. I was therefore reliant on the first BA flight the following morning.
Flight boarded on time, and seat 1E remained empty so me and the chap in 1D had more room to stretch out. I think this Airbus was a relatively new one as the leather seats were not worn in and therefore quite hard to sit on.
Left the gate on time and taxied out to the runway. Then we did a U turn and began to head back to the gate. Before I could say, “Oh oh something’s up” the Captain came on and said something was up. An indicator light suggested that there was a reduction in tire pressure in one of the wheels. So we went and parked on a remote stand whilst the techies checked it out.
Well of course the tire was bust so they had to replace the wheel. So over the next hour or so they jacked up the plane and replaced the wheel. The cabin crew came around and served orange juice or water.
Finally took off about two hours late and settled down for the usual shuttle service. Actually the hot breakfast was better than it has been recently. Two, yes two (not one) slices of bacon, sausage, mushrooms tomatoes and scrambled egg – with roll and jam. Certainly felt more welcome that usual after the two-hour delay.
No further delays into Edinburgh despite a very thick fog off the Forth and a fully automatic landing.
And the new tire held up!
I had been to a glitzy awards ceremony in London the night before and had to be back in Edinburgh as early as possible for various important business meetings. I had considered going up during the night on the Calendonian Sleeper train, but the Train Guards were on strike and the Sleeper was not running. I was therefore reliant on the first BA flight the following morning.
Flight boarded on time, and seat 1E remained empty so me and the chap in 1D had more room to stretch out. I think this Airbus was a relatively new one as the leather seats were not worn in and therefore quite hard to sit on.
Left the gate on time and taxied out to the runway. Then we did a U turn and began to head back to the gate. Before I could say, “Oh oh something’s up” the Captain came on and said something was up. An indicator light suggested that there was a reduction in tire pressure in one of the wheels. So we went and parked on a remote stand whilst the techies checked it out.
Well of course the tire was bust so they had to replace the wheel. So over the next hour or so they jacked up the plane and replaced the wheel. The cabin crew came around and served orange juice or water.
Finally took off about two hours late and settled down for the usual shuttle service. Actually the hot breakfast was better than it has been recently. Two, yes two (not one) slices of bacon, sausage, mushrooms tomatoes and scrambled egg – with roll and jam. Certainly felt more welcome that usual after the two-hour delay.
No further delays into Edinburgh despite a very thick fog off the Forth and a fully automatic landing.
And the new tire held up!