A3204eva From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 1060 posts, RR: 21 Posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 4141 times:
Here goes my first Trip Report here on A.net, though I fly this route a lot.
I’ve used my photos that I took. Some are on MyAviation and some our being hosted
Flight details
Our Gate’s do not have a Jetway
Departure
Flight time: 20 minutes
Date: 4th August
Aircraft: Aer Lingus 737-500 EI-CDD
Flight number: EI203
Departure Time: 08:10
Return
Flight time: 20 minutes
Date: 5th August
Aircraft: Aer Lingus 737-500 EI-CDD
Flight number: EI216
Departure Time: 19:15
The Report
I began my day at 04:00 to get a train to Manchester Airport at 05:15. I got up, washed, dressed and packed my final bag.
I left my house at about 04:40 to go to Preston station, and arrived at around 05:00. (The good thing about getting up early is there’s no traffic ) At this time it was freezing, but luckily the train was already there I boarded and sat in my seat and I departed for MAN on time.
I arrived at MAN on time at 06:14, and proceeded to T1 to check-in. I queued for about 10 minutes and finally checked-in (It seems manual check-in is quicker than using computers…. I’m glad I don’t use computers to check-in pax in now ). After I had checked in, I went to T3 to do a bit of spotting out of the café window while I had breakfast. Even though it was 06:30 and the train was empty, all the Terminals were packed with pax. Finally it was time to go to the Gate. A7 I think it was. I saw an Aer Lingus 735 land while watching out of the window of the café, and wondered if that would be the aircraft I would be travelling on. It was. So, the aircraft had arrived early, so we boarded early. We pushedback early and were pushedback across from A British Airways 737.
We began to Taxi out to runway 06L. We held short as an Excel 767 departed, and we were in front of the British Airways 737 that had pushedback at the same time as us.
After the departing 767 had departed we lined up on 06L. With the 767 being heaver than us, we had to wait on the runway for a couple of minutes. We then accelerated down the runway, passing Concorde on display at the AVP, and we rotated into the air. (Unfortunately there was no one there to photograph us)
We landed early and disembarked the aircraft. I proceeded to the Baggage belts to collect my bag.
The Hotel views photos:
The next day
I left for the airport a bit late (oops), and arrived at about 18:55! I headed straight for the Self-Service Check-in. I pressed the button to pick my seat, and found that it was fully booked and everyone had already checked inL So I was stuck with the last seat on the last rowL Because of this I didn’t take any pictures.
Our aircraft was delayed 10 minutes for some unknown reason.
We all boarded the aircraft and sat in our seats while the aircraft was refuelled. And for pushback, we had one of those funny tugs that push the aircraft back via the main gear! We taxiied to our departure runway, and made a straight – out departure.
We landed on 24L (Visual) and it was rainingL. We taxied to our gate and the engines were shut down, and I gathered my stuff. It was now raining extremely hard, and I didn’t have a coat. I was ready to disembarked via the back door, with me being right there. The F/A then told me that we were disembarking via the front door!! As I got o the door, I could see how hard the rain really was and the passenger in front of me asked if he could borrow the F/A’s umbrella , but she said “it’s only a bit of rain” (But they walked off with coats and umbrellas). As I stepped out I was immediately soaked through (I only had a T-Shirt on. And trousers obviously ) After I reached the Terminal I went to the baggage belts, collected my bag and got my coat out (although it was a bit too late now). But my bag was worse off than me. It had changed colour!!! I went to the MAN station and got my train back to Preston.
MAN landing movie (sorry about the quality and the view):
FutureUApilot From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1365 posts, RR: 24 Reply 5, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 3829 times:
Pshifrin From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 235 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 3748 times:
Jsnww81 From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 1725 posts, RR: 21 Reply 8, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 3737 times:
Great report and photos... however, I can't get the video to work.
A3204eva From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 1060 posts, RR: 21 Reply 9, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 3736 times:
Pshifrin,
It's the Jury's in Christchurch
Anyone who cannot see the video
Okay, I know a lot of you cannot see the landing video. This is because I shot it with my Digital camera which saves it as .MOV format. I did use my camcorder for a short In-flight movie and got a bit of our approach but then my batterys ran out...hence my using my camera instead
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From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 1060 posts, 
) At this time it was freezing, but luckily the train was already there I boarded and sat in my seat and I departed for MAN on time.
). After I had checked in, I went to T3 to do a bit of spotting out of the café window while I had breakfast. Even though it was 06:30 and the train was empty, all the Terminals were packed with pax. Finally it was time to go to the Gate. A7 I think it was. I saw an Aer Lingus 735 land while watching out of the window of the café, and wondered if that would be the aircraft I would be travelling on. It was. So, the aircraft had arrived early, so we boarded early. We pushedback early and were pushedback across from A British Airways 737. 
From South Africa, joined Sep 2003, 1872 posts, 
From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1365 posts, 
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