Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2884 posts, RR: 37 Posted (5 years 1 month 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 5507 times:
It all started end of September when I read that topic on general_aviation forum about Swiss' last MD-11 flights: They were going to organize two farewell flights after the arrival of the last scheduled flight on 31 October. Of course I booked immediately, told my colleagues about it and we got four seats aboard the first of the two flights, Economy Class middle seats, 100 Francs per seat, a bargain for the great flight they offered! Christoph (Contact Air on a.net) got his confirmation just a few days before the flight, he got a Economy Class window seat for 150 Francs.
The others left for ZRH already on Saturday, but I had to work on saturday, so I took LX1165 STR-ZRH on sunday morning. I nearly missed that flight because I missed my train connection to the airport, but that's a different story. Alright, so the flight with me on board left STR at 08:20 and arrived at ZRH at 09:05, operated by HB-JAM:
Having arrived at ZRH, I checked in at one of the four dedicated Farewell MD-11 counters. Then I met Christoph and my colleagues and we went through security and took the people mover to Pier E where HB-IWE was ready for boarding soon.
Most of the following pictures were taken by Christoph, he had a window seat so we decided it's best if he takes care of the photos.
Onboard, I met Adam (a.net username: Deltawings), he was sitting just two rows in front of us.
The flight attendants all enjoyed their job today, they all wore special "MD-11: 1991-2004" caps and they were really a great team.
One of the three guys in the cockpit made very informative announcements about the routing throughout the whole flight. Then came the greatest announcement ever: We were going to approach the airport of Berne, with a go around just a few hundred feet above the ground! Yippie! What a pity that I didn't spend the additional money for the window seat Anyway, it was a great experience, and Christoph made some nice photos: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Ndebele/Pict0155BRN.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Ndebele/Pict0156BRN.jpg
"But please take your seat again as soon as we switch on the fasten-seat-belt signs again before landing!", the purser announced. So this was a kind of a "Reise-nach-Jerusalem" game To give you an impression about the atmosphere, here's two photos of the game:
Our further routing was southwest to Geneva, Lake of Geneva, then to the east, north (Lake of Constance) and then back south to ZRH. I have to idea about which photo shows exactly which mountain, lake or landscape, so here are just the links to the photos, the filenames only indicate what I think can be seen on the photos:
After landing, we all applauded the crew - which I usually find very annoying after landing, however on this flight it was really a nice way to show the crew our appreciation for their work, it was really great how they all did their part to make this flight so special!
While we taxied to our parking position in front of Terminal B, the song "Time to say goodbye" was played. So sad to see the MD-11 leave!
then we were invited to have a meal in the old, now unused Terminal B gate area, organized by the MD-11 Club. Here we met also the passengers of the very last flight, which left just after the meal. 500+ MD-11 fans having a meal while having a view facing HB-IWE being readied for her last flight. Thanks again to everybody who was involved in this event!
This day was so great! My last chance to finally fly on the MD-11 (at least on Swiss), the great team of the Swiss MD-11 Club, and of course the go around at BRN, so cool! Also nice to meet Deltawings. The whole day was so cool but also very long, so forgive me if I forgot to mention anything. Thanks for reading my report, I hope you liked it. If you have anything to add or comment, feel free to reply.
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2884 posts, RR: 37 Reply 9, posted (5 years 1 month 15 hours ago) and read 4843 times:
Hello guys and thanks for your nice replies!
@Florian: Looking forward to reading your report of LX9440. It's always important to know the competitor's product Joking apart, of course I'm interested to read impressions of those on the second flight!
Here are some photos taken on our flight LX9438 by Tis Meyer who was apparently sitting only a few meters from us:
TriStar500 From Germany, joined Nov 1999, 4640 posts, RR: 53 Reply 10, posted (5 years 1 month 14 hours ago) and read 4822 times:
Hi Alex!
You guys are really, really lucky to get on the penultimate flight of Swiss' MD-11 - arguably the second best Trijet ever produced (you can take a guess now, what IMO the best model is). But thanks for informing me about the chance to get on this flight - unfortunately, my time budget was rather limited this weekend.
Although one has to contemplate the loss of another characteristically-looking jetliner in favor of a rather generic-looking successor, i.e. the A340, at least the new Airbus will help the ailing Swiss carrier to further streamline their operation and get rid of a maintenance hog, saving a lot of "Fraenkli" in this course.
Homer: Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!
Hoons90 From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 1995 posts, RR: 58 Reply 12, posted (5 years 1 month 13 hours ago) and read 4785 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW CHAT OPERATOR
Nice Trip report!
You are very lucky to fly on the MD-11, I could have had the chance to fly on a JAL MD-11 (award ticket), but unfortunately I could not get my Japan visa in time. Looks like I will have to fly AY or TG's MD-11.
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2884 posts, RR: 37 Reply 16, posted (5 years 4 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 4061 times:
Thanks again for all your feedback! As I haven't had the chance to fly the TriStar (yet?!?), the MD-11 will remain my favourite Trijet.
I know all the photos from various photographers might already start to bore some of you, but here are two really interesting links I found on other forums:
Here's a cockpit view of the go around at BRN: http://www.airliners.ch/temp/md11_belp.jpg
If anybody has a link to a ground-to-air photo of the go around, please let us know - I'd be very interested!
Airsicknessbag From Germany, joined Aug 2000, 4726 posts, RR: 51 Reply 17, posted (5 years 3 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 3810 times:
Thank you Aley for a very nice documentary of a kinda historic day. The sheer amount of pics and reports available for these two farewell flights are stunning and illustrate that MD11s seem to be one of the most loved types around.
Pity I couldn´t join you, I´d have loved to get this exotic airline and aircraft into my log.
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From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2884 posts, 
Anyway, it was a great experience, and Christoph made some nice photos:
To give you an impression about the atmosphere, here's two photos of the game:
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) later today! Watch out for it!!!
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Joking apart, of course I'm interested to read impressions of those on the second flight!
But thanks for informing me about the chance to get on this flight - unfortunately, my time budget was rather limited this weekend. 
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