One year on..

[DaveB]

Hi Nigel,

VMtks for that I know that the introduction of foreign aircraft is likely to be contentious and this is one reason why neither John or I push too hard

When we went the 'final mile' and accepted delivery of the 146's, it was a bitter pill to swallow that this would be our final jet.. more bitter still as the current 146's models are less than desirable (not wanting to be too unkind) and this is confirmed by their almost total lack of use :sad: There is of course one other jet.. the lovely white dart we all miss so much but current operating restrictions mean that every flight would be in minus so this, for the time being, remains a non-starter.

As I said above.. the introduction of 'Johnny Foreigner' may not happen. I personnaly hope it does.. especially with the handful of aircraft I listed above. Few can dispute the looks of these old girls wearing a very proud 'Golden Speedbird' livery.. even (perish the thought) the 747-100 OK.. the Tristar never wore BOAC but were it not for the likes of BA.. it wouldn't have had what limited success it enjoyed

There are a couple of other areas we're working on.. one of which is the use of helicopters. Unfortunately, a problem with FlyNET reading takeoff's has halted their inclusion thus far but this is something we hope will be addressed by Konny and the team at FlyNET at some point in the future. They could be used now in circumstances where a 5kt takeoff roll can be made but we actually bought them for use servicing the rigs and a 5kt takeoff roll isn't viable on a rig platform :roll:

Anyway.. that's enough thinking aloud While I've been typing this, my York has been steadily making it's way from Lyneham enroute Gib at x1 and I notice I've just overflown GCI with a further 800-odd nm to run. I only hope it clears all the pointy bits over Spain as I have to leave it to go down to work!! :shock:

Thanks to all for your kind comments. The real force behind the VA, John, will be pleased (I hope) when he get's back.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Garry Russell]

At least you could justify the 707-420 as it was built especially to satisfy the argument for the types purchase by BOAC.

Not only did it have the Conways but the CAA insisted the fin be increased in size and so was born the taller familiar tail of all 707's except those written off before they could be modified

So an American aircraft with British influence..better than nowt.

The TriStar was ordered by BEA but delivered after the merger. It used the RB-211 as it's sole method of power, so another influence.

Garry

[DaveB]

Hi Garry..

Yes indeedie. These are all things we look at as well as availability of models. HJG have produced some fine models and paints for the 707's and if they're there.. it does seem a shame not to use them

A number of British carriers used the 707 but I can't remember off the top of my head if they were restricted to Conway pwr plants as were BOAC/BA :think: I doubt it somehow. Likewise with the Tristar.. BCAL instantly springing to mind as another UK carrier.

Anyway.. I don't want to get into too much trouble so I'll shush :-$

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Globitz]

Hello all,

Just a quick congratulations from me to all of those who have made CBFS the airline that I have had a pleasant month flying for and hope to continue getting great pleasure from in the future.

As for my tuppence re aircraft and routes. While I personally would not fly most non british classic aircraft I can see why they would appeal to others, however i would prefer to see a bigger more global route structure based on those classic Brits that were sold overseas. For instance quite a number of routes could be found in North America based on the sales of the 1-11 alone, this may also attract more overseas pilots aswell.

Anyway enough from me, I have to fly to berlin nice and early tomorrow for a couple of days work.

Cheers

[stegs]

Congrats on the birthday. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed my six months or so of flying. Having messed around with FS since FS5 I was getting to the stage of downloading an aircraft or a bit of scenery, flying around a bit to see what it was like and then trying something else. The VA got me back to sorting out routes and navigation and having a goal to achieve so many thanks to all involved.
As for more routes and aircraft I quite like the idea of the 707 but not the 747. And the HP-42 please. But it would have to be more than a 4x or a skeleton might be found at the keyboard.

Steve

[DaveB]

Rgr that Steve Due to the 42's normal cruise of 100mph, I think that John will make it x8 as a matter of course

I tend to agree with the 747-100 though to NOT include it for consideration would probably kill the Tristar. It's a rock and a hard place situation

By the by.. we're also looking at the TwinPin and Hermes. Routes for the first are few and far between and to be honest, the current available BEST panel for it (the Mike Stone model) falls below what we want to offer. The Hermes looks more promising but requires the odd tweak on the FD to bring it into 'normal' mode. There is room to manoeuvre going backwards in time though unless we look a little wider, the jet boys have nowhere else to go. We'll see

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[RAF_Quantum]

Congrats to everyone for making CBFS VA what it is today.

Rgds

John

[Captain Pugwash]

just been thinking about you statement about the jet set. no more jets to play with. well what about the classic that everyone knows and flew the flag world wide.

wait for it.

concorde :think:

ok i'll get back to my piston prop jobs and plod along.

ps the beta tristar is a great freeware aircraft with a good selection of repaints. works well with kens panel.

[Garry Russell]

Hi Dave

Sorry

Missed that reply about the Conway 707's :redface:

That was a BOAC thing as they were government owned

Only BOAC (436) and Eagle (465) bought Conway 707's .

So it was only BOAC Cunard Eagle BEA Airtours and British Airtours that used them in the UK.

But that would still give you a substantial amount of airframes

G-APFB-P G-ARRA,B,C G-ARWD,E.........twenty :think:

Garry

[DaveB]

Hi CaptP

I did mention our beloved Concorde above mate and the reasons why we don't have one at the moment. Unless Konny comes up with a 'First Class' tariff for 'special' aircraft.. there is no way that 100pax can pay for the amount of fuel Concorde burns on a transatlantic flight using a standard tariff.

This said, John and I are always revisiting Concorde with a view to how we might operate it.. in fact, we were only talking about it yesterday It WILL make a loss using the current setup and a big one too. The problem is, how can we operate it and make pilots recoup the loss?? One way would be to make them fly a certain number of say 'bucket and spade' flights though the amount required to recoup all the lost revenue might be prohibitive. As mentioned earlier in the thread, perhaps the purchase of a handful of wide-bodied jets (aka.. the L1011) would be a way to offset Concordes loss. We're always open to suggestions

ATB

DaveB :tab: