(Return flight) American Airlines Flight 890
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 1:28 pmSo I got my wonderful week in St. Maarten. I only got two aircraft shots that turned out good, though. They were taken on two very different days weather-wise - the 2nd day, the sun was shining and there was barely a cloud on the sky, but on the 5th day, it was cloudy and rainy - I was just passing the beach that day. Well, that's the tropics for ya..
2nd day, Air France sending its usual dirty A340-300.
5th day, as I was just passing the beach, this AA Triple Seven emergency landed here due to what I later read was some engine trouble. (Sorry, I don't know what happened to the sign in this shot.. probably some stupid bug)
Later on the fifth day, I guessed it was time to look for my return flight ticket. I looked and looked for it, until I had to realize the truth.
There was no such thing as an "return flight ticket".
I immediatly went to the PCs in the reception. I bought my ticket with AA, scheduled 2 days later. The scheduled aircraft stood there too. I checked. "757-200", it said. I didn't exactly look forward to spend two hours on a narrowbody - again.
But when I turned up at the gate two days later a little earlier than others (for obvious reasons
) there was no 757-200 that met my eye.
It was an old A300. Shocked and in awe about going to fly on this old Airbus, I walked over to the captain, which was doing his preflight-aircraft check. "What happened to the scheduled 757?", I asked. He replied "It had a nose gear failure yesterday, so they asked me if I wanted to fly here, and I said yes." I followed him around, and then went into the cockpit and had a look at the old, non-LCD screen gauges.
An hour or two later we were taking off from runway 9. I noticed the almost non-existant climb rate and felt sure we were going to crash in the hills.
(most of it cropped away due to some blurry ground textures)
Cruising at FL370. Speed 300 knots. Blue is the dominating color.
As we got closer and closer to Ft. Lauderdale, we noticed that the weather was quite different here from what it had been where we left. The old and noisy A300 was being thrown around in extreme turbulence, there was heavy rain and clouds, and to top it all off, the pilot said with a we-are-so-dead-voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, the flaps have failed. Prepare for a rough landing. Flight attendants, prepare for an emergency landing."
And rough it was - 2/3 down the runway due to incredible winds and low visibility, a hard touchdown and it seemed like it would never really enter reverse thrust. But it stopped.
Later, we taxied to a gate with a Delta 767 and an American 757. I met my wife in the terminal, and seeing her after that scary approach blew away all my thoughts of yelling at her for not buying me a round-trip ticket.
Sorry for all my stupid story, but I just feel like posting it - I always think of some story for my flights. I'll try to do it a little less often
Hope you enjoyed.
2nd day, Air France sending its usual dirty A340-300.
5th day, as I was just passing the beach, this AA Triple Seven emergency landed here due to what I later read was some engine trouble. (Sorry, I don't know what happened to the sign in this shot.. probably some stupid bug)
Later on the fifth day, I guessed it was time to look for my return flight ticket. I looked and looked for it, until I had to realize the truth.
There was no such thing as an "return flight ticket".
I immediatly went to the PCs in the reception. I bought my ticket with AA, scheduled 2 days later. The scheduled aircraft stood there too. I checked. "757-200", it said. I didn't exactly look forward to spend two hours on a narrowbody - again.
But when I turned up at the gate two days later a little earlier than others (for obvious reasons
) there was no 757-200 that met my eye.It was an old A300. Shocked and in awe about going to fly on this old Airbus, I walked over to the captain, which was doing his preflight-aircraft check. "What happened to the scheduled 757?", I asked. He replied "It had a nose gear failure yesterday, so they asked me if I wanted to fly here, and I said yes." I followed him around, and then went into the cockpit and had a look at the old, non-LCD screen gauges.
An hour or two later we were taking off from runway 9. I noticed the almost non-existant climb rate and felt sure we were going to crash in the hills.
(most of it cropped away due to some blurry ground textures)
Cruising at FL370. Speed 300 knots. Blue is the dominating color.
As we got closer and closer to Ft. Lauderdale, we noticed that the weather was quite different here from what it had been where we left. The old and noisy A300 was being thrown around in extreme turbulence, there was heavy rain and clouds, and to top it all off, the pilot said with a we-are-so-dead-voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, the flaps have failed. Prepare for a rough landing. Flight attendants, prepare for an emergency landing."
And rough it was - 2/3 down the runway due to incredible winds and low visibility, a hard touchdown and it seemed like it would never really enter reverse thrust. But it stopped.
Later, we taxied to a gate with a Delta 767 and an American 757. I met my wife in the terminal, and seeing her after that scary approach blew away all my thoughts of yelling at her for not buying me a round-trip ticket.
Sorry for all my stupid story, but I just feel like posting it - I always think of some story for my flights. I'll try to do it a little less often
Hope you enjoyed.
Nice shots and a cool story to go with them. 8-)