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Easyjet Cancels all flights from Bristol


Pierre ZFP

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I doubt it, but aircraft tyres are very different to car tyres. They have to take the impact of an aircraft weighing many tons landing at a couple of hundred miles an hour and are used till the cords are showing through the rubber. They are a very hard compound and the runway surface is expected to disperse the water rather than the tyre, this is the opposite to car tyres.

I would suspect that those aircraft that left the runway did so because of aquaplaning.

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I've looked on a Commercial Pilots discussion group website this evening. The airline pilots refer to Bristol runway as a ski-jump ! Since November there have been several incidents reported by pilots of problems with aquaplaning on the runway....and with the recent heavy rain Easy Jet aren't going to take any chances.....

I think the runway layout at Bristol airport has also been changed; I can remember flying out of this airport and the plane would fly over the main road - where the traffic would be halted whilst the plan flew over the road...but now the runway alignment has been changed and this could be adding to the problems because Bristol Airport is at the top of Lulsgate Hill - a definite ski-jump set-up !!!!!

And it's not just EasyJet cancelling flights; British Airways and another operator are also cancelling flights in and out of Bristol for the time being.

Chessie

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Interesting item on BBC TV news last night - 10 airlines were boycotting Bristol so the owners have closed the airport and are cutting grooves into the runway surface. And the picture that they showed of the runway illustrated that it was on quite a steep gradient. So the claim that aircraft sped up when aquaplaning would seem to support rather than be against the laws of physics.

If 10 airlines boycotted the airport what does that say about the ones that were still landing there attitude to safety, especially that of their passengers?

Paul

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Latest from Bristol Airport:

All flights at Bristol International will be subject to disruption on Sunday 7th January and Monday 8th January, due to the closure of the runway for engineering work up until Monrday morning.  Passengers travelling with easyJet should contact the airline on 0871 2442366 or visit www.easyjet.com for the latest information.  Passengers should check with their airline or tour operator for further information. For some services diverted to other airports, passengers MUST still check in at Bristol International, where they will be then be coached to their departure airport. 

 

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Easyjet operate pure jet aircraft, not turbo prop, and below a certain speed they can't use the reverse engine thrust because it wouuld throw debris up from the runway and cause FOD (foreigne object damage). So if the aquaplaining happened below this speed the engine thrust would be pushing it forward, even at idle. There must be a very embarased contractor there somewhere?
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Ryanair don't operate out of Bristol, yet!

Strange then that they have been quoted in the media that they will cary on flying from Bristol prior to any work on the runway. Also strange that a seach on their booking website will give flights departing from Bristol today!

Paul

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I stand, or should that be sit, corrected. Bristol - Girone too.

Shame they don't do Bristol - Carcassonne? It would save the horrible journey to Toulouse. Not too bad collecting people, but the return hits the rush time traffic on the way back and I ain't in to that sort of carp now! Used to be, but not now!!

 

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[quote user="Jonzjob"]

Shame they don't do Bristol - Carcassonne? It would save the horrible journey to Toulouse. Not too bad collecting people, but the return hits the rush time traffic on the way back and I ain't in to that sort of carp now! Used to be, but not now!!

 

[/quote]

John

Come on now be positive. Think to yourself 'this is why I moved here to get away from this sort of traffic, oh how I pity those still in the UK'. And then place a very smug grin on your face.

Paul

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All reopened now.  As I understand it the tyres were not the issue, it was the runway that had not yet had grooves cut into it following resurfacing; apparently that is standard practice.  That work has been rushed through now, in torrential rain too.

Regards

Simon

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What an earth is all this about grooves in the runway. Sounds a bit like leaves on the line to me!!! [:-))] ( I even know the reason behind that one toooo.)

In the 12 years I was in the R.A.F., 10 of those at Lyneham and Brize Norton, I never saw any grooves in any runway! And you can't say that's because they are large passenger aircraft because so are VC10s and Short Belslugs, sorry Belfasts. The only things that were groovy were the aircraft. Things like Comet 2s and 4Cs, Bristol Britannias and VC10s. Oh yes, you can add Tengah and Changi, Singapore. We still had to operate in the monsoon and there was more water than you could shake a stick at then, still no grooves?[8-)]

If anyone has the reason I would love to know, pretty please?

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Could it be because the new surface laid at Bristol Airport is different to that laid on RAF airfields back in the 1950's (when Jonzjob was there   [;-)] )? 

You can experience different surface water characteristics by just driving round the various sections of the M25 - concrete/old tarmac/new "soakaway" tarmac...

 

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