Flight number: BA 297
[b[Date:[/b] 6 March 2006

Type: 777

Scheduled departure time: 12.45
Actual departure time: around 1.5 hours later

Well, this is the report on leg 1 of a long-awaited trip Stateside, as the return is on UA I wil post a different report when it happens. I am looking forward to Channel 9.

Anyway, on the day, the time of departure was great for leaving enough time to get to Heathrow without having to wake up at some unholy hour of the morning. The trip to the airport was unevetful, but ludicrously expensive, at £17 for a period return for a 45-minute bus journey. It amazes me how much public transport costs in the UK, even though I've lived here nigh on 20 years.

Heathrow is Heathrow. It has an ugly look from the outside, what with that jumble of buildings where T1, T2 and T3 are. T4 is far away from the rest, so it feels as though you are going to some other airport. However, the trip to T4 takes you down the runway, and a bus is high enough that you can see takeoffs and landings as you chug down the parallel road.

Check-in for BA297 was quite busy, with a long queue, but there were lots of check-in desks manned and so I only had to wait around 15mins in line. The check-in itself was really fast, and the lady was very friendlly, asking me where I was off to, and comparing her trips to mine.

The queues took 20-25 minutes through security. However, this was only because they sped 12.45 departure passengers to alfway down the queue to give them priority. In fact, the queues would have taken much longer. However, I didnt mind as it's a good sign that the security arrangements are being taken seriously, and it's kinda reassuring.

At the gate, we didn’t board the plane directly but were taken to the plane with a bus, lots of views of 777s and 767s as we went past. Boarding was quick, world traveller was nearly full. I was in row 34, towards the back, with a window seat on the left of the plane.

Before long, the engines were started up and we taxied out towards the holding point. At this point, I noticed that a lot of planes joining from the other side of the runway were leaving in front of us. I also noticed the engines being run up and down a few times. Then the captain came over the intercom and said that a ‘valve’ on the engine wasn’t opening and that we’d be taxiing back to the stand so MX could be done on it, with a projected 45 minute delay. Off we went, and we were soon back on stand, with mechanics at the engine. The cabin was very warm so the FAs went round with water and juice, although they could have been a bit more proactive as they just sped past looking straight ahead and it was hard to catch their attention! In fact, very few people got juice as everyone was a bit uneasy at calling out for a drink as they walked quickly past with their eyes fixed in the distance.

After about an hour, the captain came back on and said that the problem was fixed, but that we’d need to take more fuel onboard to go to ORD. So the fuellers rolled up and plugged in to the wing and we waited again, probably around 20 minutes. Finally, the captain came over the intercom again and said that after he did some paperwork about the engine problem, we’d be underway. That was another 20 minutes. I have to say that while the wait was tiring, and pushed the square-buttocks time from 8 hours to over 10 hours (see further on), all the passengers were calm and very reassured that the captain knew what was going on and that everything was being taken care of. It was also much better to have a problem on the ground than in the air!

Meanwhile I saw a Sri Lanka A340 in beautiful livery come taxiing in. We also saw a lonely BA short-hauler come in to the big boys' area...

We soon were underway after this, and taxied out. We had to wait for a SAS (I think!) 737 and a 747 (can’t remember what airline), and we were then lined up on the runway. I had never been in a 777 before, so when the engines were spooled up, I was disappointed at what seemed like an initial lack of thrust. But these things must work like Porsches, because a second or two later the noise blasted out, I was pushed back into my seat and we really rocketed off – I could really feel the power. Rotation was soon achieved and we climbed steeply out, banking left and towards the north. I was really pleasantly surprised at the rate of climb on this thing – we got up to 29,000 feet in what seemed like no more that 15 minutes, and were at our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet well before we reached Northern Ireland. By this time, in-flight service had started and I settled down with some G&T (I never have this except when I’m flying!). The movies and TV were disappointing and my screen flickered anyway, so it was kinda pointless to watch those. I looked down instead, at the clouds blanketing the Atlantic, and took a trip to the lavatory and to check out the back galley. I didn't pluck up the courage to ask the FAs to see the crew rest, and dubt they'd have let me see it anyway...

Back in my seat, I wished I’d gotten a seat more forward because I could see only part of the wing – I couldn’t see the engine which was a bummer; I could only see the air coming out of it, in a blur. The thing I started noticing straight away, however, was how really noisy the 777 is from the inside. I sometimes had trouble talking to the girl next to me unless I raised my voice. That could have been because she just didn't want to hear my romantic overtures =) Anyway, after 2 long hours waiting on the ground we were finally headed towards the US, in style, on a triple 7 and on a beautiful day. I'd been flying props the day before, and am always amazed at how similar being in a jet sometimes feels - you try to feel rudder movements and all that, and above all I wish I had the chance to be trained up and in the left seat!

The Atlantic was pretty much covered by cloud all the way across. As we reached the tip of Greenland, there were some breaks and we could see icebergs down below. This for me is one of the best things of a US-UK trip. Icebergs! If only people would realise how amazing flight is, to let you see these amazing landscapes. As the sun got closer the horizon, also, there was some good lighting on clouds and on the wing. And then finally that amazing feeling as land is spotted and we are about to go over the North American continent. As we crossed over into Canadian airspace, the landscape was amazing, with pack ice and glacial landscapes below, a real vastness. I couldn't help but keep my nose stuck to the window as I looked down mesmerized. We passed a strange circular lake with a big island in the middle. Then the icy landscape below gradually acquired horizontal lines and some regular patterns and slowly we overflew more and more densely populated territory – it’s amazing what a small belt of land is actually populated in Canada.

We routed down Quebec and over Lake Huron, and crossed into Michigan and US airspace. Lake Huron was a flat mirror reflecting a beautiful sunset...one hour and a bit to go:



Then, just as we are over Michigan, the captain gets on the intercom and tells us we’ll probably be put in a hold before going in to ORD, because it’s busy. This was annoying as we’d all already spent 7+ hours on the plane. However, what can you do? We descended as we passed Lansing and Kalamazoo to the left, and went into a holding pattern just over the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. I went to the lavatory at about this time and could feel some slight Gs pulling on me as we turned those tight turns. We were between 20,000 and 24,000 feet I seem to remember. Luckily however, after we’d done a figure of 8, the captain came back on the intercom and said we’d been cleared on the approach, and we turned over Lake Michigan and descended. Speed brakes were applied as we crossed the western lakeshore and turned for ORD. However we could see nothing as the cloud cover was at around 2,000 feet. Here are a few shots from the approach with speed brakes deployed and lovely clouds over the lake:





Finally, with a few rhythmic bumps, we punched through cloud and found that we were on final for ORD. Illinois looked dark and rainy, in contrast with the sun-bathed sunset we'd just experienced above the clouds. That's one of the wonders of flying....you can live in a three-dimensional world and get out of the murk (especially in the UK!) and get some sun!

The landing was extremely smooth, no doubt helped by windless conditions. The plane braked smoothly and quickly and we were soon deplaning.

Well, the return is on a different carrier so more on that later. But two things I want to point out is that later that day I heard on the news that there had been trouble with the radar at ORD, which had meant that the Midway radar had to be used for the approach, therefore increasing the spacing from 3 to 5 miles on the approach and delaying flights. Could this have been the reason for our hold?

Secondly, I had been dreading the US Immigration experience. Needless to say, we queued for half an hour, and behind me was a group of sniping British businessmen who seemed to wallow in cynicism and bile like many of their kind, going all out to criticise anything American and the super-serious Immigration people walking around. However, I saw nobody treated badly, and when it came to my turn the guy was brief and curt, and it took less than 2 minutes for fingerprinting and visa issuance, and he even had the time to ask a few polite questions about my trip and the UK, which really put me at ease. after he'd fingerprinted me, the seriousness dissipated and we exchanged a few words about where we both came from, where we both wanted to visit in the UK and US, etcetera. I am sure that rude officials exist, but the businessmen behind me were far ruder and prejudiced, having judged the officials before they even had a chance to go through the process. But maybe that’s what you get when you step off from Biz class into the real world…

The ORD international terminal I found dirty and very 1970s. Currency changing facilities were few and very overpriced - if you are travelling to ORD from the EU, just change currency back home as you'll get fleeced here. The good thing is that the El (poorly signposted) was soon reached and I was soon on my way to a steak, a beer and some shuteye in the Windy City...