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The Electronaut posted:Holy gently caress, all of this. Thank god I'm not the only one who thought this. gently caress Frankfurt's seating. And as if the universe is listening to me, they just announced the 757 that we were slated to ride had a bird strike and they have to find another plane. Oh boy. 
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May 23, 2012 05:01
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Ridge_Runner_5 posted:Not sure which terminal I came into at LAX, but I had to ride an underground moving walkway for a good distance to get to baggage pickup. I swear, the air in there had not been cycled since at least the early 80s. It reeked of cigarette smoke and polyester in there. This was in I think 2006. Would be Tom Bradley International, they are currently working on a new extension for the terminal too.
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May 23, 2012 05:04
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I gave ATL a backhanded compliment earlier, and it really isn't a bad airport considering how huge it is, but the worst take-off I've ever had was out of there. We took off in a horrible storm, I'm not sure who the gently caress cleared that, and maybe 10 seconds after we left the ground the plane got hit with a crosswind and went perpendicular to the ground, with my window facing down. First time I'd ever felt like I was actually, for real going to die, that turned me right off of flying. I've never enjoyed a flight since, which is a shame because I've always loved airplanes.
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May 23, 2012 05:23
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Delta is officially picking up all 88 of Southwest's ex-AirTran 717s on lease. They are picking up 70 76-seat frames to replace their little 50-seaters as well. http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=1624
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May 23, 2012 07:09
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 Cue Wagner... by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr I snapped these People's Liberation Army Z-9 choppers over Victoria Harbour (Hong Kong) last week. A rare sight!
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May 23, 2012 07:16
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Holy poo poo for a second I thought those were Commanches and was very confused.
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May 23, 2012 07:48
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Bomb scare on a flight from Melbourne International to Perth, Air Maruitius plane turned around and landed at Tullamarinequote:Emergency crews race to Melbourne Airport after bomb threat on Air Mauritius flight 13 fire trucks + airport firetrucks were on scene apparently.
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May 23, 2012 08:20
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So I keep thinking about propellers. Propellers are pretty wrong. (your average one, that is.) This article goes into it with good depth. http://www.eaa.org/experimenter/articles/2009-02_elippse.asp Tonight I broke out the spreadsheet and started trying to replicate the math. In large part because Paul Lipps died, and his son is now working on drones, instead of the recreational aviation market. So starting with the most obvious, I started with this statement: Your available lift goes up with the square of speed. And wing lift is also a linear relationship to area. I calculated the speed of the propeller at every 2" along the radius. But that's only good for when you're not going anywhere. As your forward speed goes up, you're adding to the perceived airspeed of the propeller blades. This has some really funny effects on blade chord. With a 64" propeller, and an 8" hub, you'd need a 64 times more chord to provide equal lift! But as airspeed goes up, that ratio drops off rapidly. The slower the prop speed, the faster that ratio drops. At 100mph, and 3000rpm, that ratio drops to 22 times. (for giggles, at 400mph, it's only 3:1, but the tip speeds are at a freaky 697mph) While typing this I figured out that I am forgetting something. Swept area. All of the math I have done (or, in this case, OpenOffice Calc has done..) only tells me how to produce the same lift across the blade. This would produce a lift profile like that of a constant chord wing. I need to think about how to compensate for that, if it's even worth compensating for.
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May 23, 2012 11:55
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EnergizerFellow posted:Delta is officially picking up all 88 of Southwest's ex-AirTran 717s on lease. They are picking up 70 76-seat frames to replace their little 50-seaters as well. Is this supplanting that rumored purchase of the ex-JAL MD90s? The MD90 is quite a bit bigger, and even the DC-9-51 that Delta's replacing with the 717s is larger than the 717. Are they flying the 717s mainline or regional subsidiary? The article makes it seem like they're mainline, so if that increases the number of mainline aircraft and reduces the number of those horrible, no good, very bad CRJ200s I am totally down.
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May 23, 2012 12:20
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Is this supplanting that rumored purchase of the ex-JAL MD90s? The MD90 is quite a bit bigger, and even the DC-9-51 that Delta's replacing with the 717s is larger than the 717. They're going to be mainline. Depending on seat count, their contract with their pilots might not have enough slack for them to be flown by regionals.
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May 23, 2012 12:31
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BonzoESC posted:They're going to be mainline. Depending on seat count, their contract with their pilots might not have enough slack for them to be flown by regionals. Yeah, I think the Delta-ALPA limit for regionals is 76 seats, just based on the fact that Shuttle America's E-175s are 76 seat two class. Woo more mainline aircraft.
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May 23, 2012 12:32
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The worst airport for me is Newark. It's not bad to get around in, and delays aren't huge or terribly common. On the surface, it's a regular old airport. Thing is, you're in Newark. The employees have a Jersey attitude, the security does, and by the time you board a flight, you do too. I have not said "yeah you go gently caress yourself too buddy" as much as I have in Newark. You can probably hear "go gently caress yourself" in a hundred different languages in Newark. It's usually the cheapest of the 3 hubs for NYC, so you get the crowd that comes along with that, mostly business types that realize just then that their company hates them just enough to spend as little as possible on them. Seizure Meat fucked around with this message at 12:49 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 12:47
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VikingSkull posted:The worst airport for me is Newark. It's not bad to get around in, and delays aren't huge or terribly common. On the surface, it's a regular old airport.
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May 23, 2012 14:42
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Is this supplanting that rumored purchase of the ex-JAL MD90s? The MD90 is quite a bit bigger, and even the DC-9-51 that Delta's replacing with the 717s is larger than the 717. Even more good news as the 76-seaters are rumored to be ERJs. No idea where they are going to get them on short notice as Embraer has a 200+ frame backlog of orders.
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May 23, 2012 14:55
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This is like the best Delta related news I have gotten in years. I wonder if they would buy used E175s as other carriers move up to E190/195s.
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May 23, 2012 15:01
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I'm going to rep DTW as one of the better airports I've been in.
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May 23, 2012 15:45
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This guy is the best part of flying with AA: VikingSkull posted:The worst airport for me is Newark. It's not bad to get around in, and delays aren't huge or terribly common. On the surface, it's a regular old airport. On the plus side, when you're at EWR, you're uniquely positioned to do the best thing you can do in Newark (leave Newark).
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May 23, 2012 15:47
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I've never had a good time at CDG. American airports seem to be the most consistenly poorly managed. I got into IAD one evening from france on a 757 (got switched from air france to continental... ugh it's amazing how bad US airlines are too, but anyway...) and it seemed like 2 other international flights were arriving around the same time. Immigration had 2 officers working for 3 airplanes worth of people - one for US poassport holders and one for the others. Luckily our plane was first to queue up and we were sorta near the front. About 20 minutes into waiting, one of the officers packed up and left. Couple hundred people left with ONE!!! person doing passports. And it was no rubber stamp, it was the usual (in my experience) treatment of that sort of being-looked-down-upon grouchy I-know-you-need-me-to-get-in-here attitude. Maybe if I had to do 200 passports by myself I'd be grouchy too! Ko Samui has the coolest airport  http://www.samuiairportonline.com/photo-gallery
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May 23, 2012 16:21
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Infinotize posted:I've never had a good time at CDG. I took the Air France a380 from Heathrow to CDG last summer for the hell of it (cheap flight, and got to fly on a 380!). There was 1 (one) guy manning the immigration desks. For an entire a380. The look on his face as the customs hall began to fill was priceless. Never had a particularly bad time there though, even had a pretty decent time when we got caught up in strike season. Was sure we were going to miss our flight but as these things go (and because I was able to check in from the train back from Biarritz) all the strikes conspired to make our departing flight just late enough to make it through to the gate and have a much needed massive Heineken before departure. The few staff that were there were very friendly. Finger Prince fucked around with this message at 17:02 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 16:58
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:This is like the best Delta related news I have gotten in years. Reduced flight frequency is a given with the larger jets into smaller markets, which is a good thing I think. We'll see how many of the little CRJs stick around for routes Delta needs to maintain due to Essential Air Service. United is moving to more Q400s and Delta may do the same. EnergizerFellow fucked around with this message at 17:52 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 17:34
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I know this was from the previous page, but seriously, I want to run away to Dayton and live in the Valkyrie. I've been madly in love with that plane since I was a kid.
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May 23, 2012 17:40
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EnergizerFellow posted:There's talk the entire remaining 717/MD-88/MD-90 fleet we be reconfigured for Economy Comfort with 12 first and 15 EC. We'll see if that actually happens. 12 first 15 EC would be decent. One of Delta's Things right now is All-Jet regional service, though you're correct Q400s would save money. Delta doesn't operate that many EAS routes, though.
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May 23, 2012 18:05
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Count me with those not having bad experiences at CDG either. Every time they see my wife and I coming with a toddler, we've been escorted to the front of any security or customs line. Not fair for those we cut in front of, but I don't think they want to stand in line with a jet-lagged two year old any more than we do. I'd say on average, the level of courtesy at European airports is much higher compared to the US, where the TSA just sees a potential terrorist toddler with a milk bottle full of explosives.
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May 23, 2012 19:09
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EnergizerFellow posted:There's talk the entire remaining 717/MD-88/MD-90 fleet we be reconfigured for Economy Comfort with 12 first and 15 EC. We'll see if that actually happens. I have an affection for the Dash 8. I presume the Q400 removes all the things that made it good, a slower CRJ. (Also: Get rid of the old CRJs? Are they not fairly new planes?)
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May 23, 2012 22:23
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Nebakenezzer posted:I have an affection for the Dash 8. I presume the Q400 removes all the things that made it good, a slower CRJ. (Also: Get rid of the old CRJs? Are they not fairly new planes?) Some of them might be new, but they're all horrible hateful things. I wish there was something with the E-170 interior but with the capacity to replace CRJ-200s.
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May 23, 2012 22:26
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EnergizerFellow posted:You're in luck as the 717s are going mainline as a replacement for both the DC-9s and CRJs. The ex-JAL MD-90 order is still on as well. The little CRJs are going to be phased out in large numbers due to fuel consumption and airframe cycle concerns. All airports have their own special flavor of suck. My worst experiences in the US have been at JFK and PHL. But to be honest, they all sort of run together after a while. I don't have many specific complaints about the airports in Europe. My worst experiences outside of the US have been in Africa. Makes you appreciate just how nice we have it and how much we take for granted! FAA certification and aircraft inspections, for instance. And how relatively modern DC-9s are. grover fucked around with this message at 22:37 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 22:31
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I love SDF--Louisville. It's quiet as hell and there's never anyone in it. It's like being in a high school after 5pm or something. E: In more ways than one. I just remembered they banned chewing gum.
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May 23, 2012 22:42
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Nebakenezzer posted:I have an affection for the Dash 8. I presume the Q400 removes all the things that made it good, a slower CRJ. (Also: Get rid of the old CRJs? Are they not fairly new planes?) The Q400 is pretty good, why would you think otherwise? The CRJs have had a huge number of pressurization/depressurization cycles and also they are loving awful awful machines.
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May 23, 2012 23:14
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:The Q400 is pretty good, why would you think otherwise? Just cynicism. I figured the new version would screw it all up somehow.
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May 24, 2012 00:08
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I actually like ATL a lot, outside of international flights. The space may be new, but holy poo poo it sucks. Just connected from Honduras to ATL, and made a log of all the insane poo poo that happened. Got yelled at 3 times by ATL guards like I was a criminal, for totally normal things... I stopped to tie my shoe (seriously) 20 feet after customs check walking down a hallway, nobody around, and got screamed at by a local contract dude... "no stoppin! no stoppin! KEEP WALKING" And seriously, the hot new trend of having everyone go through all these different lines and security checks seemingly at random is lovely. At one point, they separated everyone out based on whether you were connecting that day or were staying it Atlanta, into two big long security lines. We got huff from an airport contractor for daring mix up his precious lines since our group had a little of both. After going through the security check, the lines ended up in the same place. All of this with FedGov Secure ID badges hanging around our necks. Special place.
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May 24, 2012 00:11
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Linedance posted:I took the Air France a380 from Heathrow to CDG last summer for the hell of it (cheap flight, and got to fly on a 380!). There was 1 (one) guy manning the immigration desks. For an entire a380. The look on his face as the customs hall began to fill was priceless. We had the same experience six years ago - nearly missed our flight back to the US because of the line getting through passport control because there were only two desks open out of a row of 20. Never flying through there again. Orly, if it has to be Paris.
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May 24, 2012 00:12
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My least favorite aiport is Sitka. No bathrooms on the far side of security and the airport closes at night. Your flight was diverted to Sitka because of weather? You get to pay for your own hotel room or stand outside for the 4 hours the doors are locked. At least it's on the same island as town, unlike Ketchikan. The Fairbanks airport is an assault on the senses. Security is at the top of an escalator so you have to walk backwards down the steps if there's a line (there's always a line). That escalator is immediately behind you from the checkin counters so you have to fight your way through the line to check in and to get to TSA. On top of that, the color scheme is '1970s' even though it's all brand new. Dark brown and bright orange looked like poo poo 40 years ago and nothing about that has changed.
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May 24, 2012 00:15
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I'm just gonna join in on the Frankfurt hate here, since it's my closest airport and I semi-regularly fly Frankfurt-Incheon, which makes the contrast even more pronounced. The seating has been already adressed, and it should come as no surprise that the entire staff shows the usual German warm-heartedness. But what really pisses me off is the completely random layout. Starting out with parking, I have yet to find a parking space that is close to an entrance to Terminal 1, which is where basically all flights leave. This is especially fascinating as you can park either really far away from the entrance to Terminal 1 in one direction or drive past the entrance and then park really far away on the other side. There are parking spaces in between that are closer to the entrance but I have yet to figure out how to get there. (For those in the know: business parking, as it's called, gets you closer, but not that much and it also costs three times as much, so no, that's not what I'm talking about.) I'm also a huge fan of walking through the byzantine maze that is the bowels of Frankfurt airport from your plane to your luggage only to leave the secure part of Frankfurt airport, walk through the check-in area, then enter another secure area where your luggage arrives. The gently caress? Finally, as for denazification: If you ask me whether I plan on taking a plane later when entering a bathroom after I dropped someone off at the airport as if me not taking plane somehow delegitimizes my plan to empty my bladder, I will take a dump, even if I don't really have to. gently caress you.
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May 24, 2012 00:49
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Nebakenezzer posted:Just cynicism. I figured the new version would screw it all up somehow. It's a lot quieter and the original wasn't that good to begin with.
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May 24, 2012 00:58
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:I'm going to rep DTW as one of the better airports I've been in. My flights to Canada usually connect in DTW and I love that airport. Never any real delays or cancellations and they have a disco tunnel. Plus there are usually a few 747s to sit and stare at the A-terminal.
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May 24, 2012 02:21
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The worst US airport is any airport that doesn't have TSA Pre Check
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May 24, 2012 02:25
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:It's a lot quieter and the original wasn't that good to begin with. Compared to the CRJs, the Dash 8 had just decadent amounts of space for each individual passenger. It is admittedly a personal like, (and quite frankly the depth of my airliner experience isn't great) but I also thought they were easy to maintain and handled rotten weather well. When the alternatives are a tiny Beechcraft and a CRJ, I know which one of the three I'd pick.
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May 24, 2012 02:34
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HeyEng posted:Holy poo poo for a second I thought those were Commanches and was very confused. You can download a Comanche for  
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May 24, 2012 02:49
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Amsterdam Schiphol is pretty annoying because a lot of the flights use the newest Polderbaan runway which is like 4 miles from the terminal. So if you connect through there it's like 40 minutes longer than through another airport.
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May 24, 2012 03:01
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Having lived in ATL for a number of years I got used to the airport and honestly never had any problems with it on domestic flights, but I will admit that the terminals are far too claustrophobic with their low 80s ceilings. My main gripe is with non-sensical design decisions like having to exit terminal buildings and wander amongst millions of cabs, vans and arriving/departing passengers in order to transfer from domestic to international flights at LAX. As a sidenote, while it sucks to have to wait for a slow bus to take you between terminals at Sydney, you do get an amazing impromptu tour of the Qantas 747/A380 hangers in the back maintenance areas.
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