the jet 2 was empty. mit came in from man. it was doing a rotation to venice.dont know if it was a day trip or a corporate one.dont know if they bused over pax,or it waited for a lot more viz in cwl.it did 2 go arounds at various times.some other airlines cancelled or delayed flts into cwl.
 
The Jet2 B738 had come from GLA & waited on the ground for an hour or so for weather improvement at CWL. It then positioned across to CWL empty before departing for VCE. I believe it was a cruise related charter.
 
Friday 27 May 2016

According to the recent airport consultative committee minutes, on 27 May there will be a recreation to mark the 80th anniversary of the first ever Aer Lingus flight that took place between Dublin and Bristol Whitchurch Airport. I believe the original flight was operated by a de Havilland DH84 Dragon.

With Whitchurch closed as an airport for nearly 60 years I presume that Lulsgate will be substituted.

Does anyone know the timings? Nothing on Mayfly so far as I can see which is probably not surprising as Mayfly seems only to deal with scheduled/charter passenger flights.
 
Friday 27 May 2016

According to the recent airport consultative committee minutes, on 27 May there will be a recreation to mark the 80th anniversary of the first ever Aer Lingus flight that took place between Dublin and Bristol Whitchurch Airport. I believe the original flight was operated by a de Havilland DH84 Dragon.

With Whitchurch closed as an airport for nearly 60 years I presume that Lulsgate will be substituted.

Does anyone know the timings? Nothing on Mayfly so far as I can see which is probably not surprising as Mayfly seems only to deal with scheduled/charter passenger flights.

The event starts at 9.30am with 3 flights during the day lasting 25 minutes, I have been lucky enough to get on board one of the flights, should be good for some video and photos. The flight will go over Bristol and old Whitchurch Airport on Iolar DH84 Dragon
 
Many thanks for that information sierrafoxtrot and lucky you to be able to take a flight on the DH84.

I have a slim volume entitled Whitchurch Airport, not the much larger book by Kenneth Wakefield with the title Somewhere In The West Country which describes in much greater detail the history of Whitchurch Airport from its opening in 1930 until its closure as an airport in 1957 when Bristol City Council moved its airport operations to the current site at Lulsgate.

The slim volume Whitchurch Airport was published in 1997 and the author is Gerald S Hart who worked at Whitchurch briefly as a traffic assistant in 1936.

Mr Hart's book describes the Aer Lingus connection with the Dublin-Whitchurch service originally intended to refuel and continue to London Croydon. However, the arrangement was changed and passengers were instead conveyed by limousine to Temple Meads Station where they travelled on to London by train, often on the steam-hauled The Bristolian (invariably with a Great Western Castle class locomotive in charge - my note), then the fastest scheduled passenger train service in the world.

This arrangement continued until the autumn of 1936 when the superior Dragon Rapide took over the service and it was then extended to London.

The first Dublin-Bristol flight was operated by the DH84 Dragon, Iolar, registration EI-ABI. Mr Hart tells us that this aircraft was later sold to Channel Air Ferries but was shot down by enemy action in the war when flying between Lands End and the Scilly Isles. However, at the end of the war Aer Lingus purchased a Dragon from Western Airways which they restored. It was re-registered as EI-ABI and given the name Iolar.

A re-enactment of the first flight had been intended in May 1986 to mark the 50th anniversary but bad weather put a stop to it.

However, the restored Iolar has certainly visited the Bristol area as pictures in Mr Hart's book show. One features the late Roger Bennett, much loved BBC Radio Bristol presenter, jazz musician and private pilot who was a passenger on one of the flights.

Have a great day sierrafoxtrot. I shall certainly try to get down there. Let's hope the weather is kind.

Incidentally, Mr Hart's book gives a fascinating insight into the then rudimentary (to us) air traffic control systems of the day. I'll come back to that in the future.
 
The DH84 Iolar was very active at BRS this morning. She is a gorgeous aircraft and flew several short flights taking VIPs including the Irish ambassador to the UK.

She appeared capable of taking off almost on a sixpence and on each departure she entered the runway at the midpoint.

This led to one interesting incident. A Blue Islands ATR42 for Jersey was lined up awaiting take-off at the beginning of runway 09 (the active runway all morning) when Iolar was allowed to nip in ahead half way down the runway to take off. All the time a Thomson B757 from Mahon was on approach. With the ATR still not rolling the 757 did a go around and came back to land about ten minutes later. Ironically neither Iolar nor the Blue Islands ATR are normally at the airport at this time with the Blue Islands usually coming in morning and late afternoon but this week timings were temporarily altered.

Two other matters worth a mention.

This summer the Thomson Lakes and Mountains flights on Saturdays to Verona are being operated by a Neos B 738. In recent years a Mistral B 734 has been the carrier although on occasions it seems a Go2Sky B 734 subbed. Inghams have a separate Saturday flight to Verona with bmi regional.

On Fridays a Freebird A 320 is operating from/to Antalya. This is a welcome return to BRS for this airline after several years' absence.



Aer Lingus marks anniversary with historic flight and new departure
Created: 27th May 2016

Classic Iolar aircraft soars over Bristol 80 years since first scheduled service.

iolar-news-copy.ashx

Bristol Airport celebrated the 80th anniversary of Aer Lingus today (27 May) with a visit from the Irish Ambassador to Great Britain and series of very special flights. The Irish airline, which operated its very first route from Baldonnel (Dublin) to Bristol back in 1936, also marked the occasion by announcing the introduction of additional daily flights linking the two cities and consolidating operations in the South West of the UK to Bristol.

Along with a daily flight to Cork, the current Bristol-Dublin service (operated by Stobart Air on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional) provides an important link between Ireland and the South West of England, as well as opening up onward connections to North America. Its popularity with business and leisure passengers has resulted in demand for additional frequency on the route. The airline will now operate four daily flights every Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, alongside the existing three daily flights each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In total, Aer Lingus Regional will now fly 25 flights per week between the two cities, taking weekly capacity to 4,500 seats – a contrast to the first ever flight 80 years ago which carried just five passengers on a six-seater De Havilland 84 Dragon.

A sister aircraft and exact replica of the original Dragon, named Iolar (meaning eagle), took to the skies over Bristol, taking in the original site of the city’s Airport in Whitchurch, with passengers including the Irish Ambassador, Daniel Mulhall and other VIP guests. The occasion was also marked with a presentation of specially commissioned Bristol Blue glass shamrocks to the Ambassador and senior airline representatives.

Mike Rutter, Chief Operating Officer at Aer Lingus, said:

“As the destination for the very first Aer Lingus flight, Bristol has a special place in our history. Looking to the future, the introduction of a fourth daily Dublin flight underlines our commitment to serving the South West of the UK and carrying even more passengers between Bristol and Ireland over the coming years. For hundreds of thousands of South West passengers Aer Lingus flights have become not only the gateway to Ireland but also their gateway to North America.”

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer at Bristol Airport, said:

“We wanted to celebrate Bristol Airport’s long and successful association with Aer Lingus, and also to highlight the strong links between Ireland and the South West. Frequent flights benefit business and tourism at both ends of the route, so the announcement of a fourth daily service between Bristol and Dublin is great news.”

Martin Saxton, Chief Commercial Officer at Stobart Air, said:

“We are very pleased to be able to mark this historic milestone with the introduction of increased capacity on our Bristol to Dublin route. The route has come a long way since the inaugural Aer Lingus Flight in 1936, carrying a modest five passengers on a six seater plane. Today it continues to prove a hugely popular route for both business and leisure passengers, and the additional frequency will now bring Aer Lingus Regional’s weekly route capacity to 4,500 seats.”

BRS press release at http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/news-and-media/news-and-media-centre/2016/05/iolar
 
UEFA Euro 2016 France

The Ryanair flights BRS-BOD are in next week's Mayfly re the Wales v Slovakia match in Bordeaux on Saturday 11th June. Ryanair has outbound flights on 9th and 10th June and inbound on 9th and 12th of June. Mayfly is also showing an Eastern E45 to BOD early morning 11th June and returning late evening.

The regular easyJet BRS-BOD also operates on 11th June.
 
Is there a Airbus a330 at Brs this morning with BH air or is a certain website playing tricks with me
 
Is there a Airbus a330 at Brs this morning with BH air or is a certain website playing tricks with me

If you mean FR24, annoyingly for some reason the BH flight is not shown in today's BRS arrivals and departures pages on FR24, so it's not possible to check the type and registration. Mayfly for today shows it as the normal A 320.

Looking at Wiki, not always the most reliable site for aviation matters, the airline does appear to have one A 330.
 
I can confirm it was their A330 that operated into BRS this morning! Apparently all their A320s were used and our scheduled one tech so this is all they had spare!
 
Many thanks ezy. Don't get too many A330s at BRS.
 
had it confirmed from a friend as was not on shift today. They sent pictures of it to me and was nice to see a larger aircraft at BRS for a change! Wasn't the last A330 at BRS if memory serves me correctly an Aer Lingus for a rugby charter a few years ago?
 
had it confirmed from a friend as was not on shift today. They sent pictures of it to me and was nice to see a larger aircraft at BRS for a change! Wasn't the last A330 at BRS if memory serves me correctly an Aer Lingus for a rugby charter a few years ago?

I think that's right. I believe it's happened more than once down the years in connection with rugby matches.

I don't know the largest aircraft type to use BRS although I have a vague memory that at least one DC-10 may have visited. I think it would have been a Caledonian Airways aircraft on a charter flight.

When BA absorbed British Caledonian in the late 80s they morphed their BA charter arm British Airtours into Caledonian Airways, presumably because they then had the rights to the name Caledonian.

I've always been under the impression that B 747s and even B 777s are too heavy for BRS weight-wise so I'm not quite sure how a DC-10 fitted in unless of course I'm completely dreaming that it did, although somehow I don't think I am. I'm sure it would have been a short-haul charter flight assuming it took place.
 
If you remember back a few years Qantas were planning on bringing in a B744, all the equipment was transported over from CWL but ended up going to MAN, the B777-200 is a lot smaller than the 747 but not far off the A330-200 and 787-8 so could be accommodated at BRS if needed, of course it would be no where near its max takeoff weight so that is a huge factor. As for the DC10 it is smaller than all the above and almost the same size as a 767-300.
 
I think that's right. I believe it's happened more than once down the years in connection with rugby matches.

I don't know the largest aircraft type to use BRS although I have a vague memory that at least one DC-10 may have visited. I think it would have been a Caledonian Airways aircraft on a charter flight.

When BA absorbed British Caledonian in the late 80s they morphed their BA charter arm British Airtours into Caledonian Airways, presumably because they then had the rights to the name Caledonian.

I've always been under the impression that B 747s and even B 777s are too heavy for BRS weight-wise so I'm not quite sure how a DC-10 fitted in unless of course I'm completely dreaming that it did, although somehow I don't think I am. I'm sure it would have been a short-haul charter flight assuming it took place.
i took my son to the airport to watch the b cal land and take off. they did tests with a cargo lift while on the ground. it did a charter to faro for BP. lots of ppl watching it.

they have had various dc 8 also i remember seeing an american trans air tristar. all the interest was generated by the late les wilson,he did a slot on radio bristol with roger bennet,he would always update rare aircraft planned into brs for the week ahead.
 
Many thanks big g and superking for those fascinating bits of information and nostalgia.

I've flown on an MD-11 (KLM Amsterdam-Vancouver-Amsterdam) and hadn't realised it was heavier and larger than the DC-10 on which it was based.
 
red arrows doing a display in weston super mare this weekend. i see they have landed in cwl today,so think they must be operating from there this year.
 
red arrows doing a display in weston super mare this weekend. i see they have landed in cwl today,so think they must be operating from there this year.

Would that be because CWL is less busy and therefore the Red Arrows could be accommodated more easily?
 

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survived a redundancy scenario where I work for the 3rd time. Now it looks likely I will get to cover work for 2 other teams.. Pretty please for a payrise? That would be a no and so stay on the min wage.
Live in Market Bosworth and take each day as it comes......
Well it looks like I'm off to Australia and New Zealand next year! Booked with BA from Manchester via Heathrow with a stop in Singapore and returning with Air New Zealand and BA via LAX to Heathrow. Will circumnavigate the globe and be my first trans-Pacific flight. First long haul flight with BA as well and of course Air NZ.
15 years at the same company was reached the weekend before last. Not sure how they will mark the occasion apart from the compulsory payirse to minimum wage (1st rise for 2 years; i was 15% above it back then!)
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