*27R Departures until 3pm and then 27R Arrivals* - some from the afternoon session: 4:09:30 Qantas QF10 B789 to Perth - named Gangurru 🦘 4:22:50 British Airways BA1448 A21N to Edinburgh [G-NEOW] 4:23:50 Thai Airways TG911 B77W to Bangkok - the CC bus 💜 4:36:26 Icelandair FI451 B38M to Reykjavik 4:43:22 Virgin Atlantic VS316 B789 to Bengaluru - named Amazing Grace 4:53:59 KLM KL1006 B738 to Amsterdam 5:18:44 SriLankan Airlines UL506 A333 to Colombo 5:19:54 British Airways BA285 A388 to San Francisco 5:23:55 British Airways BA273 A35K to San Diego - the Beluga Bringer 5:28:27 Turkish Cargo TK6289 B77L to Billund 5:59:18 Air Baltic (operating for Swiss) LX319 BCS3 to Zurich 6:11:55 British Airways BA107 A388 to Dubai 6:23:28 Emirates EK2 A388 to Dubai - with BA451 A320 from Amsterdam landing on 27L 6:48:23 Etihad EY64 B78X to Abu Dhabi 6:54:23 British Airways BA1484 A319 to Glasgow [G-EUPW] 6:58:12 Qatar QR4 A388 to Doha 7:08:36 Singapore Airlines SQ308 A388 from Singapore 7:10:23 All Nippon Airways NH211 B77W from Tokyo 7:11:51 Japan Airlines JL43 A35K from Tokyo Cheers to the FF365 crew, mods and chatters
*27R Departures* - some from the morning session: 4:41 Lufthansa LH923 A20N to Frankfurt - with AF1680 BCS3 from Paris landing on 27L 35:36 DHL QY6741 A306 to Brussels 49:30 British Airways BA206 A388 from Miami landing on 27L 54:26 British Airways BA564 A319 to Milan - BEA Retro Livery 1:15:55 Qatar QR10 A388 to Doha 1:39:41 Air Canada AC869 B38M to Halifax 1:41:04 Etihad EY62 A388 to Abu Dhabi 1:45:43 Singapore Airlines SQ305 B77W to Singapore 1:49:07 KLM KL1002 B739 to Amsterdam 1:54:32 Air France AF7551 A318 to Nice 1:55:16 British Airways BA192 A388 from Dallas - landing on 27L 1:58:02 British Airways BA574 A20N to Milan - BA Better World Livery *the Slayer* 2:02:10 Emirates EK8 A388 to Dubai - with AY1331 A359 from Helsinki landing on 27L 2:29:59 Saudia SV110 B77W to Riyadh - 75 Years Retro Livery 2:40:06 British Airways BA714 A319 to Zurich - Double Duff 3:05:32 British Airways BA207 A388 to Miami 3:20:03 DHL QY6769 A306 to Leipzig 3:26:44 Emirates EK1 A388 from Dubai - landing on 27L 3:28:23 Virgin Atlantic VS103 A35K to Atlanta 3:29:41 Singapore Airlines SQ317 A388 to Singapore 3:37:48 Vietnam Airlines VN56 B789 to Hanoi - with BA307 A320 from Paris landing on 27L 3:55:15 Qatar QR3 A388 from Doha - landing on 27L 3:56:54 British Airways BA208 A388 from Miami - landing on 27L 3:58:44 Loganair LM652 E145 to Londonderry Cheers to the FF365 crew, mods and chatters
Shout out to the ground ops crew 3:41 wide shot - LHR on a frosty morning 🤩 4:41 Lufthansa lining up - another wide shot and pan 3:14:52 UA taxi / SQ pushback 4:03:58 BA taxi / TG pushback
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Comments, I reappear, even more annoying than before: the Don't Panic Fairy 🧚👀 (in spangly scarlet thermals today), trying to make nervous flyers feel a teeeeeeeny bit less nervous with some additional FAQ stuff. Did you notice how some pilots waiting to take off today paused and 'revved their engines' but didn't go anywhere? Crank up the audio and it's easily noticeable. Jet engines don't rev like clunky internal combustion car engines; instead they 'spool up', which is a sort of slower, more gradual, much smoother process. Once you know what's happening, it's one of the greatest sounds in the world. Jet engines work best in really cold, humid conditions and less well when it's hot and dry. They LOVE frosty weather like this. So what's going on? Ice. In cold/icing conditions pilots will carefully spool up/down their engines before using takeoff power to check for ice formation on the turbine blades. On a day when planes have their wings and other flying surfaces de-iced, they have their engines checked at the same time that any fluid is applied. If there's too long a delay between the de-icing and takeoff, ice can form again. But engines are toasty hot, right? So how can ice be a problem? Tell us, Don't Panic Fairy, tell us! Oh, all right. But pay attention because I may be asking questions later. Yes, engines are hot. Even on a day like today the combustion zone in the middle is at something like 2,000°C (3,600°F), the exhaust is 900°C, but the fan at the front is freezing thanks to the huge pressure drop ahead of it caused by the inlet blades drawing in around a ton of ice-cold air every second. In 'floof' conditions like today's [floof/fluff = condensed water vapour showing up as white puffs of cloud caused by low air pressure], look at the front of the engines when the plane's on the ground. As well as a curtain of white candyfloss inside, you'll sometimes see miniature tornadoes or vortices forming between the wet ground and the bottom edge of the cowl. They look like twisted ropes of floof and show that the engine's literally vacuuming the runway clear of debris. (Think of a gigantic Dyson 'cyclone' vacuum.) Any ice forming will be full of dirt, so the fan blades won't be all nicely coated in an even film of ice, they'll be lumpy and bumpy and unbalanced. Incidentally, that massive suction is one reason why airports don't use crushed rock-salt to clear ice from runways. (The term 'grit' annoys me because it makes it sound as though they're spreading gravel. They're not. Winter 'road grit' is not gravel, it's chunks of unrefined salt which slowly dissolve.) Jet engines would draw it up and the crunchy stuff would wreck their internals. Engines are tough - built to survive lightning and rainstorms, and even the occasional hailstone or bird-strike - but there are limits. The second reason why crushed rock-salt is never used is that it's horrendously corrosive; it'd be a costly mistake to treat airport runways like ordinary roads in winter. Salt would also (gradually) kill the airport's grass, which is needed for runway drainage in places with a lot of rainfall. Instead, airports use liquid de-icing solutions based on ethylene glycol (like the antifreeze in a car's cooling system) to keep planes, runways and taxiways clear. An iced-up out-of-balance jet engine needs careful handling. Think how badly a 1,000 rpm washing machine wobbles when it's spin-drying a load which isn't balanced. Now imagine if it spun at 10,000 rpm and cost £20 million. Yep, big jet engines cost around £20,000,000 each. An A380 has four engines, so if you want to keep your Captain's hat, you don't take chances with (possibly) £80 million of iced-up engines and thrash them to bits. So... partially spooling up before takeoff gives the plane's engine monitoring systems a chance to check for excessive vibration caused by ice (just like they check for FOD [Foreign Object Debris] ingestion or damaged blades); if ice is present a warning will appear on the cockpit instrument display telling the pilot(s) not to proceed until the front of the engine's been de-iced. Usually just spooling up will sling any ice off the blades, and the takeoff can go ahead immediately, but in severe conditions the ice may stay put, meaning the engine can't be used fully until it's been cleared. Not a problem - giant hot-air blowers will do the job - but it causes annoying delays which can disrupt schedules. Cue grumpy passengers and smiling cabin crew handing out free chocolate bars, champagne cocktails and £20 notes. (Your experience may differ.🤭) But a delay is better than a pilot damaging a £20,000,000 jet engine and being told to stand in the Naughty Corner for ten minutes. I've been in the Naughty Corner all my life. But then, I am very naughty.
![🇫🇷 400 PLANE TAKEOFFS & LANDINGS in 3 HRS PARIS Charles de Gaulle Airport Plane Spotting [CDG/LFPG]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EHepSnYBvqg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Heathrow Go-Arounds | 22 Minutes | 40+ Go-Arounds | Part 3 | [Credit: Flight Focus 365]](/img/n.gif)
*27R Departures until 3pm and then 27R Arrivals* - some from the afternoon session:
4:09:30 Qantas QF10 B789 to Perth - named Gangurru 🦘
4:22:50 British Airways BA1448 A21N to Edinburgh [G-NEOW]
4:23:50 Thai Airways TG911 B77W to Bangkok - the CC bus 💜
4:36:26 Icelandair FI451 B38M to Reykjavik
4:43:22 Virgin Atlantic VS316 B789 to Bengaluru - named Amazing Grace
4:53:59 KLM KL1006 B738 to Amsterdam
5:18:44 SriLankan Airlines UL506 A333 to Colombo
5:19:54 British Airways BA285 A388 to San Francisco
5:23:55 British Airways BA273 A35K to San Diego - the Beluga Bringer
5:28:27 Turkish Cargo TK6289 B77L to Billund
5:59:18 Air Baltic (operating for Swiss) LX319 BCS3 to Zurich
6:11:55 British Airways BA107 A388 to Dubai
6:23:28 Emirates EK2 A388 to Dubai - with BA451 A320 from Amsterdam landing on 27L
6:48:23 Etihad EY64 B78X to Abu Dhabi
6:54:23 British Airways BA1484 A319 to Glasgow [G-EUPW]
6:58:12 Qatar QR4 A388 to Doha
7:08:36 Singapore Airlines SQ308 A388 from Singapore
7:10:23 All Nippon Airways NH211 B77W from Tokyo
7:11:51 Japan Airlines JL43 A35K from Tokyo
Cheers to the FF365 crew, mods and chatters
*27R Departures* - some from the morning session:
4:41 Lufthansa LH923 A20N to Frankfurt - with AF1680 BCS3 from Paris landing on 27L
35:36 DHL QY6741 A306 to Brussels
49:30 British Airways BA206 A388 from Miami landing on 27L
54:26 British Airways BA564 A319 to Milan - BEA Retro Livery
1:15:55 Qatar QR10 A388 to Doha
1:39:41 Air Canada AC869 B38M to Halifax
1:41:04 Etihad EY62 A388 to Abu Dhabi
1:45:43 Singapore Airlines SQ305 B77W to Singapore
1:49:07 KLM KL1002 B739 to Amsterdam
1:54:32 Air France AF7551 A318 to Nice
1:55:16 British Airways BA192 A388 from Dallas - landing on 27L
1:58:02 British Airways BA574 A20N to Milan - BA Better World Livery *the Slayer*
2:02:10 Emirates EK8 A388 to Dubai - with AY1331 A359 from Helsinki landing on 27L
2:29:59 Saudia SV110 B77W to Riyadh - 75 Years Retro Livery
2:40:06 British Airways BA714 A319 to Zurich - Double Duff
3:05:32 British Airways BA207 A388 to Miami
3:20:03 DHL QY6769 A306 to Leipzig
3:26:44 Emirates EK1 A388 from Dubai - landing on 27L
3:28:23 Virgin Atlantic VS103 A35K to Atlanta
3:29:41 Singapore Airlines SQ317 A388 to Singapore
3:37:48 Vietnam Airlines VN56 B789 to Hanoi - with BA307 A320 from Paris landing on 27L
3:55:15 Qatar QR3 A388 from Doha - landing on 27L
3:56:54 British Airways BA208 A388 from Miami - landing on 27L
3:58:44 Loganair LM652 E145 to Londonderry
Cheers to the FF365 crew, mods and chatters
Shout out to the ground ops crew
3:41 wide shot - LHR on a frosty morning 🤩
4:41 Lufthansa lining up - another wide shot and pan
3:14:52 UA taxi / SQ pushback
4:03:58 BA taxi / TG pushback
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Comments, I reappear, even more annoying than before: the Don't Panic Fairy 🧚👀 (in spangly scarlet thermals today), trying to make nervous flyers feel a teeeeeeeny bit less nervous with some additional FAQ stuff.
Did you notice how some pilots waiting to take off today paused and 'revved their engines' but didn't go anywhere? Crank up the audio and it's easily noticeable. Jet engines don't rev like clunky internal combustion car engines; instead they 'spool up', which is a sort of slower, more gradual, much smoother process. Once you know what's happening, it's one of the greatest sounds in the world.
Jet engines work best in really cold, humid conditions and less well when it's hot and dry. They LOVE frosty weather like this. So what's going on?
Ice.
In cold/icing conditions pilots will carefully spool up/down their engines before using takeoff power to check for ice formation on the turbine blades. On a day when planes have their wings and other flying surfaces de-iced, they have their engines checked at the same time that any fluid is applied.
If there's too long a delay between the de-icing and takeoff, ice can form again.
But engines are toasty hot, right? So how can ice be a problem?
Tell us, Don't Panic Fairy, tell us!
Oh, all right. But pay attention because I may be asking questions later.
Yes, engines are hot. Even on a day like today the combustion zone in the middle is at something like 2,000°C (3,600°F), the exhaust is 900°C, but the fan at the front is freezing thanks to the huge pressure drop ahead of it caused by the inlet blades drawing in around a ton of ice-cold air every second.
In 'floof' conditions like today's [floof/fluff = condensed water vapour showing up as white puffs of cloud caused by low air pressure], look at the front of the engines when the plane's on the ground. As well as a curtain of white candyfloss inside, you'll sometimes see miniature tornadoes or vortices forming between the wet ground and the bottom edge of the cowl.
They look like twisted ropes of floof and show that the engine's literally vacuuming the runway clear of debris. (Think of a gigantic Dyson 'cyclone' vacuum.) Any ice forming will be full of dirt, so the fan blades won't be all nicely coated in an even film of ice, they'll be lumpy and bumpy and unbalanced.
Incidentally, that massive suction is one reason why airports don't use crushed rock-salt to clear ice from runways. (The term 'grit' annoys me because it makes it sound as though they're spreading gravel. They're not. Winter 'road grit' is not gravel, it's chunks of unrefined salt which slowly dissolve.)
Jet engines would draw it up and the crunchy stuff would wreck their internals. Engines are tough - built to survive lightning and rainstorms, and even the occasional hailstone or bird-strike - but there are limits.
The second reason why crushed rock-salt is never used is that it's horrendously corrosive; it'd be a costly mistake to treat airport runways like ordinary roads in winter.
Salt would also (gradually) kill the airport's grass, which is needed for runway drainage in places with a lot of rainfall.
Instead, airports use liquid de-icing solutions based on ethylene glycol (like the antifreeze in a car's cooling system) to keep planes, runways and taxiways clear.
An iced-up out-of-balance jet engine needs careful handling. Think how badly a 1,000 rpm washing machine wobbles when it's spin-drying a load which isn't balanced. Now imagine if it spun at 10,000 rpm and cost £20 million. Yep, big jet engines cost around £20,000,000 each.
An A380 has four engines, so if you want to keep your Captain's hat, you don't take chances with (possibly) £80 million of iced-up engines and thrash them to bits.
So... partially spooling up before takeoff gives the plane's engine monitoring systems a chance to check for excessive vibration caused by ice (just like they check for FOD [Foreign Object Debris] ingestion or damaged blades); if ice is present a warning will appear on the cockpit instrument display telling the pilot(s) not to proceed until the front of the engine's been de-iced.
Usually just spooling up will sling any ice off the blades, and the takeoff can go ahead immediately, but in severe conditions the ice may stay put, meaning the engine can't be used fully until it's been cleared.
Not a problem - giant hot-air blowers will do the job - but it causes annoying delays which can disrupt schedules. Cue grumpy passengers and smiling cabin crew handing out free chocolate bars, champagne cocktails and £20 notes. (Your experience may differ.🤭)
But a delay is better than a pilot damaging a £20,000,000 jet engine and being told to stand in the Naughty Corner for ten minutes.
I've been in the Naughty Corner all my life. But then, I am very naughty.