Yesterday morning I went on a site visit to Exeter flying from Manchester on a Bombadier Dash 8 Q400 operated by FlyBe.
As you can see from the picture above Manchester was a grey, overcast and very wet place.
This was the first time I have been on a Turboprop aircraft and I was surprised how quiet and smooth the plane was and in particular the way the engines power the plane into the sky on take off.
The Bombadier Dash 8 Q400 is manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace based
in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. They can carry 78 passengers + crew and are 32.8m long with a 28.4m wingspan
Powered by 2 P&WC PW150A 2 x 5075 hp engines they have a 2,500km range (with maximum payload) and a cruising speed of 667 km/hr, maximum altitude is 8,200m.
As you can see from the picture above Manchester was a grey, overcast and very wet place.
This was the first time I have been on a Turboprop aircraft and I was surprised how quiet and smooth the plane was and in particular the way the engines power the plane into the sky on take off.
The Bombadier Dash 8 Q400 is manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace based
in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. They can carry 78 passengers + crew and are 32.8m long with a 28.4m wingspan
Powered by 2 P&WC PW150A 2 x 5075 hp engines they have a 2,500km range (with maximum payload) and a cruising speed of 667 km/hr, maximum altitude is 8,200m.
Somewhere over England, soon after leaving Manchester the solid cloud cover started to break up.
Approaching the Bristol Channel, the villages / towns of St Athan and Eglwys-Brewis are visible. I believe the coastline here is known as Limpert bay which at low tide is a vast expanse of rocks and pebbles interspersed with rock-pools and patches of sand.
The airfield close to the centre of the photograph is RAF St Athan which was built in 1939.
Sadly the bodies of two crew members who were lost following the sinking of the barque 'Ida' were washed ashore along this stretch of coastline in January 1881.
During a storm on New Years Eve 1880 the vessel with a crew of eight was driven ashore onto rocks at Boverton and wrecked. Most of the crew and the Captain managed to climb the cliffs and find help in a nearby cottage. The lost crewmen were buried in a local churchyard.
The airfield close to the centre of the photograph is RAF St Athan which was built in 1939.
Sadly the bodies of two crew members who were lost following the sinking of the barque 'Ida' were washed ashore along this stretch of coastline in January 1881.
During a storm on New Years Eve 1880 the vessel with a crew of eight was driven ashore onto rocks at Boverton and wrecked. Most of the crew and the Captain managed to climb the cliffs and find help in a nearby cottage. The lost crewmen were buried in a local churchyard.
Exeter - Less than one hour South from Manchester and the weather could not be more different.
I flew back to Manchester early afternoon. Exeter Airport has an open sun terrace overlooking the runway and although I only saw one plane land it was a good place to sit in the sun and do some work whilst waiting for my flight home.
I flew back to Manchester early afternoon. Exeter Airport has an open sun terrace overlooking the runway and although I only saw one plane land it was a good place to sit in the sun and do some work whilst waiting for my flight home.
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