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Flight: BE881
Callsign: BEE3XH
From: Glasgow International (EGPF/GLA)
To: Southampton (EGHI/SOU)
Aircraft: Embraer E195 / G-FBEB
Flight time: 1:00h
Date: Saturday March 9th 2013
Arrived at the airport around 6AM. Fairly quiet however gradually getting busier. Already checked in online so straight to security. Fast and fairly hassle-free. Into departures, things had gotten a little busier. Lots of people standing around for the domestic flights. Interesting to note that the terminals are still draped in the Thomson 787 ads that still say May 2013. Soon headed to the gate (can't remember which), passing a row of Q400s on the right. Got our first glimpse of the plane for today; G-FBEB, Flybe's second E-jet, delivered in 2006, parked to the left of the plane was G-FBEK.
Was fairly quiet at the gate area and we were boarding in no time. Once aboard, I found my seat over the wing in row 15 or 16.
All seated, I took a glance around and noticed we had a rather empty flight ahead - load factor was only approx. 40%. Parked next to us was yet another Emby, this time in the form of BA's G-LCYN, the 700th E-jet built with a visible '700' on the nose. The captain then announced to us to expect a flight time of 1 hour and a cruise of FL330. Cabin crew were enjoying themselves, having a giggle at each other during the safety demo. Pushed back on time at 07:15 and taxied out to 05 behind an easyJet A319, passed G-FCLE and G-LSAB parked on their stands. Also managed my first glimpse of the new Thomson livery, in the form of G-CPEU.
Takeoff video:
Departed a miserable Glasgow and soon climbed into some low clouds. Nice and smooth once above the clouds and nice to see the blue skies. Cabin service began promptly and we reached our cruise in no time at all.
Decided to make a trip to the toilet and would advise anyone over 6ft not to bother. Anyways, not much to say about the cruise. Wasn't long before the First Officer announced that we would initiate our descent in around 10-15 minutes as we were already just South of MAN.
Descent began into some dense clouds. Slats extended as well as the initial stages of flap, later accompanied by futher flap extension and gear down, still with no sign of the ground below. The clouds were very low hanging but finally we broke through and I realised how close we were, so had to start recording from late into the approach, followed by an easy touchdown onto runway 20 at Southampton.
Landing video:
After landing, we taxied to the short distance to the single terminal, where we met Echo Bravo's sistership, G-FBEA, Flybe's first E195. Arrived on stand with the news that we had landed almost 15 minutes ahead of schedule, shortly after 08:30.
We parked on stand and disembarking began, I waited behind for a quick visit to the cockpit. Headed to the front of the plane where I asked for the visit but, to my surprise, was refused. I was asked if I knew the crew and as I didn't, wasn't allowed in. To be fair, they had a 25 min turnaround and the clock was already ticking. Anyways, down the airstairs as an E175 pulled onto stand and into the small terminal, greeted by a large 'Welcome to Hampshire'. Very small airport, barely anyone around. Flybe was clearly the dominant airline here, operating all but two or three flights on the board. After a wander around, it was then to a taxi which then saw me arriving at the CTC Crew Training Centre within 15 minutes.
Overall, good first impressions with Flybe and the E195.
Flight: BE894
Callsign: BEE1AV
From Southampton (EGHI/SOU)
To: Glasgow International (EGPF/GLA)
Aircraft: Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 / G-JECI
Flight time: 1:15h
Date: Saturday March 9th 2013
Headed back to Southampton Airport around quarter to four for the flight home, BE894. Upon arrival it was interesting to see nothing but Q400s on the apron - aside from an Eastern JS41 - with no Embraers in sight (not that we were expecting one, the flight is scheduled to be a DH8) Already checked in again, so after a snack it was straight to departures. Only six flights on the departures board, namely Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey. Flight was scheduled for 17:25, so plenty of time to spare. Headed upstairs to the Costa which offered a nice overview of the apron and runway. Watched around 3 arrivals - yet more Flybe Q400s - which all did the same thing: touch down with slight left bank, 180-degree turn to backtrack and then shut down the number 1 engine for taxi. Forgot to mention in the previous report that we taxied out on the No.2 engine and started No.1 prior to departure. One of which was in the Kevin Keegan livery. Headed to gate 7 where some more pax had already gathered. Flight arrived on time and the passengers disembarked quickly. Quite entertaining watching some trying to carry their oversized hand luggage down the steps, some looked like they were gonna topple over
Flight was ready for boarding within around 10 minutes.We soon headed outside and saw G-JECI waiting to take us to GLA, delivered 2005. Interesting to note that this particular Dash 8 was missing the coloured dots on the logo on the front of the plane. Very young F/O was doing the walkaround and boarded with the rest of the passengers. Upon finding my seat - 10D - I was slightly unimpressed by the seats on the Dash, they weren't very nice looking compared to the Embraers. Load factor looked a bit healthier for the Dash but roughly the same amount of pax as on the Emby. A lot still had an empty seat next to them and most took the opportunity to stretch out and sleep during the flight. Sat behind me was a soldier who assisted many in battering their oversized cases into the overhead lockers
Also deadheading (does that term apply to cabin crew?) was a flight attendant two rows in front of me. My initial concern was the position of the seats and I thought I wouldn't get any video footage because I was in clear view of many. Captain welcomed us aboard and announced that this would be the F/O's first flight with his parents onboard, who I recognised from departures. We pushed on time and taxied out to runway 20 and after a short backtrack we were lined up and ready for departure.I didn't film the takeoff, sorry.
We departed 12 minutes late with a few bumps here and there and were in the cruise pretty quickly. I couldn't distinguish between sky and cloud from this point, there was clouds above and below us so it looked like it was all white.
The only difference I could really notice about being on a prop was the vibration which caused a small problem. Those who had hand luggage that didn't let the overhead lockers fully close meant they were locked but still open slightly (if you get what I mean). Despite efforts by passing F/As, a loud buzzing noise was heard from them throughout the duration of the flight. A sunset was visible from the left hand side of the plane, but the clouds below were merely coloured a soft pink colour and it didn't last, I was hoping for something a little more spectacular. Again, nothing much to say about the cruise other than another cramped toilet visit, something like this:
Descent began rather unnoticed:
Encountered some moderate turbulence as we turned for finals accompanied with some breaks in the cloud where I could finally see the ground again. Trying to work out if it was a 05 or 23 approach is fairly difficult at night but it was soon obvious it was 05 when the lights of Glasgow were visible to the North East of us.
Cabin crew were seated fairly early and gear down was selected shortly after. Turbulence had ceased and we landed on 05.
Landing video:
We slowed and exited onto C1 before stopping. We were told it was normal procedure to do an engine diagnostic check on Saturday nights so we waited for around one minute whilst they did so before continuing taxi to gate 14 G-LSAB landed behind us. It was then revealed that we had arrived 12 minutes early, despite leaving 12 minutes late.
After most of the pax had left I tried take two of the cockpit visit and was accepted this time round. Had a longer chat than planned with the crew, they asked more questions than I did about CTC and what my plans were, the F/O being a fresh OAA graduate last year. Poor guys hadn't been out of the cockpit since 8AM flying GLA-BHD-GLA-BHD-SOU-GLA, but were keen to stay for a chat. Sorry about the quality of the pic, it was rather hurried:
Having stood there talking maybe 5-10 minutes, I was soon hurried off by a dispatcher keen to get his next flight away
Oops, sorry bout that. Finally headed off, the F/O's parents still sitting in their seats - I think they wanted in too Took one last pic heading to arrivals:
Back into arrivals, things were rather quiet but there was an EK flight that had just landed so things were about to get busy.
Hope you all enjoyed this report
