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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
@booboo You obviously didn't check Barrier Airs safety record before you flew
I have flown with them on a couple of occasions out to the Barrier and agree the views are fantastic. Snowy would be better qualified to comment on some of the in-flight manoeuvres than me but I have certainly raised my eyebrows (and recollected the safety rating) at a couple of things.
As for cycling - London's a lot flatter than Auckland but the numbers here that do cycle are steadily increasing. Infrastructure wise it seems to be a case of build it and they will come - as long as the build encompasses something a little more sophisticated than a green stripe on the road.
Akl Transport has some good maps of existing infrastructure. there is more than you would expect
I'm all for dedicated cycling lanes separate from the roads. It's cycling on the roads that is doomed to fail as it's too bloody dangerous with the high number of complete fucking idiots behind the wheel.
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@no-quarter said in NZ Politics:
@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
@booboo You obviously didn't check Barrier Airs safety record before you flew
I have flown with them on a couple of occasions out to the Barrier and agree the views are fantastic. Snowy would be better qualified to comment on some of the in-flight manoeuvres than me but I have certainly raised my eyebrows (and recollected the safety rating) at a couple of things.
As for cycling - London's a lot flatter than Auckland but the numbers here that do cycle are steadily increasing. Infrastructure wise it seems to be a case of build it and they will come - as long as the build encompasses something a little more sophisticated than a green stripe on the road.
Akl Transport has some good maps of existing infrastructure. there is more than you would expect
I'm all for dedicated cycling lanes separate from the roads. It's cycling on the roads that is doomed to fail as it's too bloody dangerous with the high number of complete fucking idiots behind the wheel.
And behind the handlebars ....
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@booboo I think most of their issues were when they had Trislanders and Islanders rather than the Cessna caravans that you would be on Boobs. Basically you will have one reliable PT6 turbine engine rather than 3 (or 2) awful piston ones. From memory they did have a couple of overruns (pilot screw ups), a fire (brakes) and some engine failures but all trislanders when the airline was grounded.
Not sure that I have made you feel any better there...I think that they also changed ownership a few years back.
I spent far too much time in Islanders, hated the things, although they did get a job done - just not really the job we needed them to. The Trislander has an extra engine to increase the chances of one failing. It also pretty much needed them all working to fly.The noise inside one has been described as a thousand skeletons fornicating in a trash can. The aesthetics and aerodynamics "that's not an aeroplane it is the box it was delivered in".
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@snowy As I said I have been across to the barrier with them twice.
First time I was amused that they were so anal about weighing every passenger and their luggage to make sure everything would work but ignored the fucking great dane that flew on its owners lap. Things got quite hairy (groan) when said pooch decided mid take-off that it didn't like flying - no sirreee - and tried to address this issue by jumping out of owners lap towards front windscreen and ended up on top of pilot. Did I mention this was while we were only a couple of hundred feet off ground? I fucking hate dogs. Things settled down after that - by settled I mean the dog howled all the way to Claris.
Last time was uneventful until final approach to Dairy Flat. I think pilot had mistaken Northern motorway for runway because that's where we were headed until he gunned it at last minute and we bunny hopped forward bounced a couple of times on the runway and then came to a stop.
But like @Snowy says @booboo I'm sure you'll be fine heh-heh
Little adventures aside the flight to the Barrier is amazingly beautiful. One other time we came back with a stopover at Mangere. Quite surreal taxi-ing out between an A380 and a 767. Fly up threw the city fantastic views of all the iconic sights Albany Stadium chez dogmeat etc
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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
First time I was amused that they were so anal about weighing every passenger and their luggage to make sure everything would work but ignored the fucking great dane that flew on its owners lap.
That would be because one of their incidents was a centre of gravity issue. Incorrectly loaded plane that the pilot couldn't get airborne. The great dane is different - but I think that has been addressed as well after they read your post
"Traveler Alert: Notice to Travelers with Dogs
All dogs travelling to/from Auckland Airport must be carried in an Airline Transport compliant cage/crate
Barrier Air will have a limited number of cages available for hire starting at $25.00 each way.I looked at their website to see if they had actually got rid of the Islanders (planes not people) and saw that.
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@taniwharugby said in NZ Politics:
@dogmeat did you not know @Snowy had a Great Dane and would often take it flying?
Used to take a mate's Jack Russel flying and discovered that with some negative G you could get the dog to hover and could move the aeroplane around him. He got a bit sick of floating around while we took the piss out of him and hid under the seat. He still loved flying though.
Um, so back to NZ politics and regional airports...
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Fuck. I'm flying QANTAS back to Brisbane ...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12057864
( @ploughboy ... )
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@ploughboy said in NZ Politics:
i wonder why i dont like flying.you guys arnt making it any easier
I refer you here:
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@taniwharugby said in NZ Politics:
@booboo probability and all, you'll be sweet
These things go in threes don't they?
Cabin crew used to sit pilots next to nervous flyers to reassure them - then they realised that we all have the same sense of humour as Monty Python. It didn't really work out.
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Don't worry @booboo QANTAS have never had a serious crash* Or that's what their marketing would have you believe The fact that at least once it would have been cheaper to write off the airframe than repair it is glossed over in the interests of that impeccable safety record**
- At least no one's ever died.
**You're pretty much OK with Qantas once you get in the air but be very concerned while they're taxi-ing. Either the wheels drop off or the pilot takes a short cut to the golf course
- At least no one's ever died.
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@dogmeat Heard a story not long after the BKK incident. ATC asked a Qantas flight going in to SYD if they could accept runway 25 (much shorter). The pilot declined. Someone came on back on the radio and said "you'll be fine, there's a golf course at the end of it".
Apparently that BKK airframe is known as "the dog". Should never have been repaired.
I'm probably not helping with the fear of flying thing. Stop leading me on @dogmeat
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When I visited Lukla in the early 1990s part of the perimeter wall was made of a broken aeroplane wing, which someone had painted "Welcome to Lukla" on.
We didn't get to fly out because the weather was crap for 3 days while we were there and we ended up about 200th on the list of people who hadn't pre-purchased tickets.
The videos don't really do justice to quite how steep the runway is - once you've started down you're pretty much committed!
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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
Don't worry @booboo QANTAS have never had a serious crash* Or that's what their marketing would have you believe The fact that at least once it would have been cheaper to write off the airframe than repair it is glossed over in the interests of that impeccable safety record**
- At least no one's ever died.
**You're pretty much OK with Qantas once you get in the air but be very concerned while they're taxi-ing. Either the wheels drop off or the pilot takes a short cut to the golf course
I worked with a bloke in London involved in aircraft maintenance for a while he had a very very bad opinion of Qantas with similar reasoning to this. I'd never fly with them and not just for political reasons.
- At least no one's ever died.
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