Hey,

This trip came about in early April, I had just come back from Paphos and I fancied going on a day trip somewhere in early June. So I looked around the various airline sites and decided to go to Glasgow.

I was just about to book a return trip with bmi regional and just remembered that flybe. had just started a daily service from LPL to GLA with the Dash 8 Q400. So I decided to fly up to GLA with flybe. on the Dash 8 and return with bmi regional (to MAN) on the Embraer 145.

I was really looking forward to these flights as they would be my first flights on these two aircraft and airlines.

So here is the trip report for the first leg (LPL-GLA), the return trip (GLA-MAN) will follow very shortly!

Enjoy! 

June 2, 2005
flybe. BE 204
Liverpool - John Lennon (Speke) (LPL / EGGP) to Glasgow - International (Abbotsinch) (GLA / EGPF)
De Havilland Canada DHC-8-401Q Dash 8 G-JEDM (CN 4077)
Gate Departure Scheduled/Actual 1210/1240 Local Time
Gate Arrival Scheduled/Actual 1310/1346 Local Time
Seat 7A

View Large View Medium Photo © Justin Wood

View Large View Medium Photo © Simon Boothroyd

G-JEDM was delivered to flybe. in August 2003

We left the house at around 0850 and made the hour's drive to LPL. Luckily the traffic wasn't that bad at all this morning. The weather outside was cold, wet and miserable with a few mean looking clouds around. We soon arrived at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport and said goodbye to my sister and dad (I was going with my Mum on this trip!). 

We had a quick look on the departure screens and it was good news, we could check-in. As we had no bags this was a very quick process and we were quickly handed our "Ryanair" style boarding cards.



Other flights checking-in were easyJet to Madrid, Belfast and Geneva, Ryanair to Limoges (which was full to the brim by the way) and EuroManx to the Isle of Man.

I managed to take a quick shot of the terminal building at this point.



We then went to the food court area (you get quite a nice view of the aircraft and runway here). We both fancied something to eat so we decided to go to Burger King. At this point there was no aircraft at the gates just an Emerald BAe ATP parked at a remote stand.

We then watched a flybe. Dash 8 Q400 land on 09 from Belfast City, I pointed it out to my Mum and said this would be the aircraft type we would be flying on to Glasgow.

We now decided to go through security as it there was about a 1 hour and a half to go. We went through with no problems and I took a pic of the departure lounge.



Rather nice don't you think.  

Liverpool was getting much busier now (movements wise), numerous easyJet aircraft were arriving, a Ryanair B738 had just arrived from Reus and the EuroManx RJ85 had just arrived from the Isle of Man. What a superb looking colour scheme!



We then had a quick look round the lounge and the Duty Free shop. Someone came on the tannoy and she said to expect a 30 min delay for BE 204 to Glasgow, due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. It was now around 1215 and I saw our aircraft land G-JEDM, it looked great in flybe's colourful livery.

Another announcement was made saying please proceed to the gate, which was on the downstairs level. A few minutes later another announcement was made saying the gate had been changed so we walked to the new gate on the upper level.

I went over to the gate and I had a look at the flight details on the desk (as no one was there!), TOB was 48 passengers so not full. The inbound passengers on BE 203 had disembarked and we were then allowed to board.

The excitement was building as I was to board my very first turboprop (although I have flown on a DC-3 but you can't really compare).

As we were going to board from the aircraft's own stairs I could take a photo or two of this spotless looking aircraft. I took this rather weird angled shot.  



We were welcomed on-board by the two cabin crew stood in the Galley (there was 3 cabin crew overall on this aircraft) wearing a professional red uniform (I think they have had this since the days of British European). First impressions of the cabin were very good indeed, it was clean, spacious and the leather seats were very comfortable with plenty of legroom, the seatbelts even said Dash 8 on them! 

Most of the passengers had now boarded and the First Officer (I didn't catch his name) told us some flight information. He said the Captain (Ted Williams) would be flying us up to Glasgow today and the flying time would be roughly 50 minutes.



The doors were now shut and we were ready to pushback. The safety demo was done before pushback. Pushback had now begun and the number two PW150A was slowly starting to wind up. The parking brake was set and the number two engine was now beginning to start.



We started to taxi slowly to the south-westerly runway (27).

Our taxi to the runway:





The Ryanair B738 to Limoges was taxing in front of our Dash 8. After waiting for him to depart we holded for a short while to wait for a Tomahawk to land. After a few minutes we started to turn onto runway 27.



At this point the condition prop levers were put to the maximum position and the thrust levers were pushed forward to take-off thrust position and the noise and vibration experienced was amazing!



The acceleration was very powerful and after a 15 second roll we steeply rotated into the dark Liverpool skies like only the Dash 8 Q400 can.

Gear was retracted soon after rotation, and I got a shot of it. 



We now were climbing steadily; here you can see the River Mersey.



The condition levers were now put in a reduced setting, which means reducing the RPM of the propellers to reduce cabin noise. At this point the cabin crew were let out of there seats by the flight crew.

The departure (SID) that we were following today was a POL (Pole Hill) 4T. So that meant a series of right turns after departure.



We were now pretty much at our cruising altitude for this flight (16000 feet) and it was smooth although we were in cloud for most of the flight.  



Seat belt signs were switched off, and the cabin crew told us what was on offer on today's flight. They offered a selection of sandwiches and snacks, the Chicken Tikka sandwich sounded nice but we were going to have something to eat in Glasgow so I decided to pass and just have a Pepsi instead (Note the full can).



The aircraft noise levels were still pretty high the vibration was still quite high but I think this was more noticeable because we were adjacent to the propellers.

The First Officer came on again and told us some route information, we were over the Lake District and we were going to begin our descent into Glasgow in around five minutes.

Here is a photo of the empty cabin during the flight. The cabin was actually much wider than the Embraer 145 that I was to come home on!



Our descent had now begun from FL160, still very cloudy outside but smooth flying conditions nonetheless.



Seat belt signs were switched on and the cabin crew were told "10 minutes to landing". Rubbish was collected in and now we were descending quite steeply probably to be at a certain Flight Level by the STAR we would be taking (Standard Terminal Arrival Route). The arrival (STAR) into Runway 23 at Glasgow today would be a LANAK 1 A.



Soon we were making a right turn intercept the Localiser for Runway 23. Gear was lowered at this point and we were still going through thick cloud over the hills.



We were now fully established on Runway 23 and a nice view of Glasgow was to be had. At this point the condition levers came to the maximum position again, thus a higher noise level in the cabin.



We passed over a golf course at a fairly low height.



We must have been a bit high on the glide slope so the Captain pushed the nose down, as you will be able to see on this shot.



This was what I was really looking forward to, watching the gear touch down! 

Flaring over Runway 23.



Touchdown!



It was a pretty firm touchdown; the structure of the Dash 8s wing makes a smooth landing difficult. Full reverse and braking was utilised to make the high speed exit.

It only took us a minute to arrive onto stand and then the engines were shut down.



The seat belt sign was switched off and the doors were opened almost immediately. I waited for the passengers to disembark first because I was going to ask for a flight deck visit.

I asked, he checked with the Captain and he said it was fine. They were a really friendly bunch of guys. Both of them were surprisingly old (Captain was in his late 50s and the First Officer was around 40-43). They talked about where they had been this morning (Birmingham) and this was there last flight of the day. I asked if I could take a picture, and they said yes no problem! 

Here it is.



Excellent modern flight deck, it was surprisingly roomy up there. They where in no rush to get rid of me but I had to go because my mum was waiting! D

While we were walking into arrivals I took a nice shot of our aircraft next to a company Dash 8 Q400.



-----------------------------

A great flight on a great aircraft. I really enjoyed flying on the Dash 8 Q400; it was surprisingly smooth and roomy for a turboprop. flybe. is an excellent airline with very friendly crew. I would recommend flying on them if you have the chance, I certainly will be using them again!  

I hope you have enjoyed this report, its not very often you get a Dash 8 Q400 report on Airliners.net so I hope you found it interesting. Any comments or questions will be greatly appreciated!  

My return flight to Manchester on bmi regional on the ERJ 145 will follow in a few days.

Cheers
Ryanair737