View Full Version : Pilots Eye View
The captain on our Excel flight on Sept 29th took videos of the takeoff from Newcastle and the landing at Sanford and emailed them to me (and many others who gave him their email addresses). After being somewhat uncharitable towards Excel on these forums I have to say that on this occasion their flight crew have to be congratulated on a nice bit of customer service.
For those interested in seeing them, John has kindly created links:
http://www.villatools.com/avatars/newcastledeparture.wmv
http://www.villatools.com/avatars/sanfordfinalapproach.wmv
Hope you enjoy the clips.
Wow, that is brilliant, Kevin. [clap]
I was once totally petrified of flying, but through taking our children on flights and not wanting to ruin their future travel by passing on my fears, I now love it. My dream would be to be able to sit in the cockpit for landing or take-off, but sadly that is not likely to happen!
We flew with Airtours a few years ago and they have cameras too - it was fascinating to watch the take-off and landing.
Glad to hear Excel came up trumps. Recent guests said they had a great flight with them, so it can't be all bad, thank goodness.
walden64
16-10-2005, 12:18
Kevin they are fantastic.
Must remember to show the children these when they get back from football[msnsmile2]
Michelle
Great Kevin. How did you manage to get the camera in?
Kevin they are great[clap][clap][clap]
The flight crew sound American?
I have so much footage like this this, I could watch it for hours[msnwink]
Excellent Kevin, particularly the landing at Sanford. I was waiting for the bump as the wheels touch down!! :D
Dom,
I was sitting on the front wheel of course ![msnwink]
Julie,
We've had an American/Canadian? captain twice now out of four Excel trips. Not sure whether its he same guy but he's a good pilot - nice smooth touchdowns. He seems to have a quirky sense of humour. On the flight out of Newcastle he asked everyone to keep the plane as clean as possible
for two reasons:
1."To give the Sanford cleaners a fast turnround time" and 2. "Because it's MY plane - not yours !"
Everybody looked at each other and said "Did I just hear that right?" :D
Glad you liked the clips. I've often wanted to see the takeoff or landing from the flight deck.
Many thanks to John for converting the video file so it could be accessed.[clap]
lgordon6041
16-10-2005, 16:06
Good video. It is always nice to see things like takeoff and landing from the pilots perspective, makes your flight that bit more interesting.
Also well done to Excel on the willingness to make the video, good customer service that's for sure!
LiesaAnna
16-10-2005, 17:11
welcome back Kevin, did you have a good time??
didnt see you at sanford tho!! did you see me on the stretcher???
great clips!! we too had excel and they were brilliant as was the plane and flight everything , could not find fault with anything on our way there, but coming back, sanford was a different matter, everything was garbled over the microphone, everyone rushing to board instead of being called rows by rows!!
would go again if i had to but only cos the plane was a 767 on way home and was soooooo cramped even tho it was leather seats etc, but there were many travelling with TCD and groups of 14 and more, very noisey!! all through the night!!! didnt have that with virgin!!
our plane is meant to be for canary isles not 8 hour flights!!
eagleydo
16-10-2005, 19:24
Kevin, Thank you for sharing these with us, how great to see the take off and the landing.
Hi Liesa,
Yes thankyou , we had a great time. Watched for you at Sanford (but wasn't looking for a stretcher!!) Are you kidding - or serious? We got called for our flight more or less on time and there was an Air Atlanta flight (Gatwick) called at the same time so I was looking out for you. Was it an Air Atlanta plane on the way back as yours sounds a bit like the Excel "specials" like ours. They have very tightly spaced blue leather seats.
We boarded on time - taxied for a couple of hundred yards and waited for about an hour on the runway due to a fault in the on board computer which was showing and open hatch door, even tho' it was confirmed as closed by engineers. We took off an hour late but the pilot made up about 20 mins.
Hope you had a great time too. [msnsmile2]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by KevinT
Dom,
I was sitting on the front wheel of course ![msnwink]
Julie,
We've had an American/Canadian? captain twice now out of four Excel trips. Not sure whether its he same guy but he's a good pilot - nice smooth touchdowns. He seems to have a quirky sense of humour. On the flight out of Newcastle he asked everyone to keep the plane as clean as possible
for two reasons:
1."To give the Sanford cleaners a fast turnround time" and 2. "Because it's MY plane - not yours !"
Everybody looked at each other and said "Did I just hear that right?" :D
Glad you liked the clips. I've often wanted to see the takeoff or landing from the flight deck.
Many thanks to John for converting the video file so it could be accessed.[clap]
[/quote]
Kevin a lot of Air Atlanta and Icelandair pilots are US or Canadian and as they are all part of the same group it makes sense[msnwink]
Take off and landing is fantastic from the flight deck - I spent more time in there than in the cabin as at least one of use could normally sit up there, I also stood up in the flight deck going in to Kai Tak in Hong Kong [msnwink]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
Kevin a lot of Air Atlanta and Icelandair pilots are US or Canadian and as they are all part of the same group it makes sense[msnwink]
Take off and landing is fantastic from the flight deck - I spent more time in there than in the cabin as at least one of use could normally sit up there, I also stood up in the flight deck going in to Kai Tak in Hong Kong [msnwink]
Now, Mach2, don't make me even more jealous!
Mind you, in the 'olden' days' before 9/11 it was usually possible to go up into the cockpit during the flight. Have several photos of my son, one in the pilot's seat, from some of these trips. It was amazing to see out of the cockpit at the blue sky and clouds stretching out for miles, and it was so quiet. The crew were always so friendly. Sadly these days are long gone.
LiesaAnna
16-10-2005, 23:51
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by KevinT
Hi Liesa,
Yes thankyou , we had a great time. Watched for you at Sanford (but wasn't looking for a stretcher!!) Are you kidding - or serious? We got called for our flight more or less on time and there was an Air Atlanta flight (Gatwick) called at the same time so I was looking out for you. Was it an Air Atlanta plane on the way back as yours sounds a bit like the Excel "specials" like ours. They have very tightly spaced blue leather seats.
We boarded on time - taxied for a couple of hundred yards and waited for about an hour on the runway due to a fault in the on board computer which was showing and open hatch door, even tho' it was confirmed as closed by engineers. We took off an hour late but the pilot made up about 20 mins.
Hope you had a great time too. [msnsmile2]
[/quote]
yes Kevin i went off on stretcher so ill, but thats another story,
yes we had blue leather seats and very tightly packed!!
we were split into 2 flights with 2 smaller planes, we came home on the euk 533 it was manic at sanford dont fancy going there again!!!
apperently the euk 845 was taken off or something and garaged!
glad you had a great time tho!!! shame we didnt say Hi, but hey theres always next time!![msnwink]
Paula D-S
17-10-2005, 00:56
They are great Kevin.[msnsmile2]
djdigitald
17-10-2005, 12:01
Great Videos Kevin [clap]
Out of interest:
I sent the captain an email to thank him for the video clips (and for a smooth flight). Wasn't expecting a reply, but got one quite swiftly.
He is from Canada and is leaving the Arion group at the end of this month to return to Canada and work for a company called Bombardier Aerospace. [msnsmile2]
What a great guy - He must be very busy, but took the time out to send me a reply. [clap]
Bombardier make luxury private jets, that sounds like a better job for your guy!!
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by KevinT
Out of interest:
I sent the captain an email to thank him for the video clips (and for a smooth flight). Wasn't expecting a reply, but got one quite swiftly.
He is from Canada and is leaving the Arion group at the end of this month to return to Canada and work for a company called Bombardier Aerospace. [msnsmile2]
What a great guy - He must be very busy, but took the time out to send me a reply. [clap]
[/quote]
Thanks for this kevin[msnwink]
Sharon G
17-10-2005, 23:34
Greta clips Kevin, thank you for sharing them with us. I prefer landing!![msnwink]
Sharon I love it all!!! Im am addicted to flying[msnwink]
big peachy
30-11-2005, 16:46
Anyone got anymore of these clips of inflight landings or take off?They are truly magical veiwing.[msnsmile2][angel]