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Well in theory an aircraft should be quicker than a train, but in UK there is so much air traffic that you fly in lanes. I flew on it twice from London HR to Teesside, the first time we flew out to the North Sea and then up the coast switching inland across Yorkshire to land at Teesside. The second time they added in a landing at Leeds/Bradford. Leeds Bradford is 55miles from Teesside we just got high enough to be tossed about in the cloud base before starting to land. The train started sooner, took less time and I could have a nice breakfast watching the world go bye. Bang on with the cruise speed, I remember the pilot, sounding like a WW2 bomber pilot on intercom announcing we were cruising at 180MPH.
Thats what I always did. When you have worked all around Europe you understand that a company's appointed travel agent only thinks about the country they are in, so they will propose flying to Frankfurt to visit Saarland instead of landing in Luxembourg and hiring a car. One company I worked for always wanted to fly me to Schipol then to Dusseldorf or Hanover But most of the time you are much better off flying to Schipol then driving to where you want to go in North Germany.
Actually Useless Air preceded the Piedmont acquisition by several (5? 6?) years, and the Piedmont influx kept Useless off the rocks of bankruptcy for a few more.
"Welcome aboard the latest innovation from Short Brothers Shipbuilders, the SD-3-30! Bringing the luxury of wide body seating to the regional airline industry, our new SD-3-30 replaces the traditional cramped small airliner cockpit with a spacious bridge, or wheelhouse if you prefer, in keeping with the nautical heritage of our company. As befits the residents of a seagoing nation, the flight sensations of the new SD-3-30 have been engineered to resemble those of the ferry boats that all Britons are accustomed to, making for a comfortable and familiar feeling ride. We hope you will enjoy the spacious and well appointed cabin, the comfortable seating, and the stellar meal service.I took the train instead of flying Air Ecosse, heres why, the fffing thing was slower than the train.
We had a couple of these at the airline, but they flew over on the 121 side, where I worked as a mechanic for awhile.
I have repressed many of my memories of flying Agony and its w-named successor, Useless.
I never got a PIC check in the Twotter, but I flew right seat on jumper drops and repositioning flights a number of times. Very versatile and flexible airplane, but slower than death and noisy as hell in the cockpit. A short and soft field takeoff is impressive, as the extended flaps tend to raise the mains off the ground first, so you're wheelbarrowing on the nose gear for a bit before you lift off and accelerate into a climb in a nose low attitude like a helicopeter or a BUFF. Those power lines at the end of the grass strip look like they're going to be in your lap until the last seconds.
For a year I managed maintenance on the 3 Twin Otters operated by the USAFA. During that time I had to send all 6 engines to overhaul, rotating a rental spare engine through the 3 aircraft, very taxing as the contractor who picked up this contract was basically a trucking company that won an aircraft contract, some of the people I had to deal with were clueless. I really enjoyed this program despite the BS I had to put up with. My crew were great guys, some of the best mechanics I ever worked with.
Hey, Cadillac of the skies! A dash 300! "The beak". My experiences were in "snub nose" dash 100s. You had the "big engines", you lucky dog. -27s or -28s, right?
"DASH THIRTY FOURS"
Not familiar with those. Isnt that what the Cessna 425 used?"DASH THIRTY FOURS"
"DASH THIRTY FOURS"
Don't know, we went from -28s to -34s around 2007, similar to Viking's -300
www.vikingair.com
