Hey, im GE90 or Ben

Hey Ben!  Welcome! Finally another aviation geek like me :D - so I’m guessing if the GE90 is your favourite engine that would almost certainly make the 777 your favourite plane? Genuinely really pleased to have another fan of aviation in the forum. Are you mostly into civil aviation or military or both? 

Heyyy anthony.

My favourite plane is most certainly the 777. Its an awesome piece of engineering. Ive had the privilage of flying on 4 last year. I take it you know ICAO codes? I flew EGSS-OMDB-RPLL-OMDB-EGSS. Insane power, comfort and the crew from Emirates were awesome too. I am also into flight simulation too. I fly most long haul routes in the 777 of course. But i do have a 737 and 747. Airbus' are okay if you are talking about the A350 and A380. Everything else is... mediocre lol. Im a boeing fanguy.

Now you are testing me... EGSS is Stanstead... OMDB I think Is Dubai, RPLL I’m 90% sure is Manila but that’s the one I’m least sure on without checking up. The 777 is nice, only flown in one from Dallas Fort Worth to Gatwick with American, I’ve flown in a 767, 737, A319 and A320. Despite being an aviation geek I’ve not travelled loads. I do like the 777 - revolutionised twin engine long haul travel! I also love military aviation - the Vulcan is my favourite aircraft, Shame it’s no longer flying :( 

I pick up a lot of information but a lot of it is logic. So knowing which 10 are at Chateroux narrows it to 2 aircraft left - a quick check on each planes flight histories and one hasn’t returned from Manila. I knew it was was going there for maintenance - so yeah. The premium version of Flight Radar 24 is helpful as a source to work things out too.  

Thats correct. Cheap labour costs, and hard working employees. How do you know all of this information. For example the regs of the planes in Manila?? Emirates hav got to be my favourite airline. The A380 is an awesome plane to see. When we pulled onto the stand in OMDB we had 1 either side of us. Swamped us :P

Yeah they regularly use Manilla for maintenance of the A380 - must be cost effective to do so. The one that’s there now (without checking I think its G-XLEG) has been there since before they decided to pull the A380 from service. I believe Air France are getting rid of theirs altogether and Emirates are cutting their fleet. 

I actually saw one at Manila when i landed there 8th July last year, had its nose nose sticking out the Lufthansa Technik hangar.

Yeah all bar 2 - one is still in Manila - it went for routine maintenance and they haven’t brought it back yet. There is also one still at Heathrow. 29 at Chateroux - one hit damaged there (and also damaged the taxiway) 

They also sent their A380s to france for storage :( They definitely know the lockdown is going to be lasting a long while

It’s just a shame so few airlines wanted it - and with the 747-400 retirements being accelerated due to coronavirus they are becoming a rarer sight - BA sent 3 to Kemble to be scrapped a week or 2 ago, probably more to follow 

The UPS 748 flies in from Louisville and then out to Hong Kong. Super quiet plane.

Yeah the cargo is where the variety is - converted former passenger carrying aircraft in a lot of cases, also about the only way to see the 747-800 seeing how few entered passenger service! 

Thats correct my local is Stansted. Its also where i work. We are starting to get a bit more variety here. Before corona, we got 2 emirates 777s daily and 2 Air india 787s. Also we get a lot of cargo flights from USA. FedEx MD-11s etc.

Duxford is pretty cool - I was supposed to go to the airshow there with my parents in 2 weeks time but due to coronavirus it got cancelled! The museum there is pretty good - I like Duxford a lot. I assume based on your description that your local is stanstead? I’ve flown from there once (in a Ryanair as it happens) to Scotland. I’ll be honest although pre-Corona Heathrow has a lot going in and out, it lacks variety. 

I have been Duxford. Saw the Concorde there. However historical planes aren't my favourite. We get loads of Ryanairs and EasyJets. However, we get a lot of private jets and BBJs from the middle east, they part over the opposite end of the airport.

I loved seeing it fly - there are a few around in museums - they are such beautiful aircraft! I’m not old enough to remember them in active service but I saw it at a few airshows and it was epic! There’s 3 in the UK in ground running condition too :)

In terms of civil aviation - a bit goes into my local airport - mostly gliders there but some larger aircraft go in for resprays and storage - some of the Thomas Cook planes ended up there. In terms of a major airport I’m about half way between Southampton and Heathrow (not that much uses Southampton since Flybe went under).

There was meant to be a Vulcan pass over a few years ago. However it was too far south for me to see it. I am still yet to see one in a museum.

That is correct! i could probably list over hundred ICAO codes from memory. Despite the 737 being super popular ive never flown in one irl. I can "operate" one on my simulator but thats it. Landing is a different story, i absolutely smash it down . I like the 777, the sound, the size. Even the cockpit looks good. The good thing about using a simulator is you can be in depth with it as you like. I mostly fly IFR (instrument flight rules) routes which you have to program in a SID (standard instrument departure) then the route using so called highways in thes sky and then finally a STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival). Probably confused you already and i could go way more in depth but i shan't bore you

That is correct! i could probably list over hundred ICAO codes from memory. Despite the 737 being super popular ive never flown in one irl. I can "operate" one on my simulator but thats it. Landing is a different story, i absolutely smash it down . I like the 777, the sound, the size. Even the cockpit looks good. The good thing about using a simulator is you can be in depth with it as you like. I mostly fly IFR (instrument flight rules) routes which you have to program in a SID (standard instrument departure) then the route using so called highways in thes sky and then finally a STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival). Probably confused you already and i could go way more in depth but i shan't bore you