LPL-IOM-LPL on 3W

By: green320 - 9th January 2005 at 22:18

I was travelling with my dad to see Hoylake RFC play against Isle of Man, and since my dad is a selector, he had to go. Sadly, Hoylake lost in the event, but it was a close game

3W404 - 02/10/04
Aircraft: PH-RAQ
STD: 10:45
ATD: 11:03
STA: 11:15
ATA: 11:33
So on the Saturday morning, my dad and I left for the rugby club where the coach picked us up. We travelled along the M53 and through the tunnel over to Liverpool before we turned and headed towards Liverpool John Lennon Airport. We arrived at the airport around 09:30 and went straight to check in with the massive amount of kit bags which were our luggage. It took 10/15 minutes to check us all in and we proceeded through to security. Several of the players got bleeped by the detector and had to be frisked. We then proceeded through to the quiet departure lounge. I went to the window and saw only a single Easyjet 737-700 (G-EZKA) parked on the apron. The group all split and I remianed by the window during which time the Easyjet had left and an Emerald ATP arrived. Time passed quickly and I began to get worried as the aircraft hadn't arrived at its scheduled arrival time, but just 18 minutes behind schedule, it landed and was pleased to see an ATR landing on the runway. It taxied back and parked well out on the apron, far from the terminal. Soon, we were called for boarding at Gate 1 and we proceeded down to the apron to catch the bus that took us out to the aircraft. We arrived at our aircraft (PH-RAQ) and we boarded the small aircraft. I managed to grab a seat by the window at the back, next to my cousin who had been with me to Spain. It took a while for the team to get organised and sit down but eventually they sat down and the pilot welcomed us aboard Euromanx. He gave us a few details for the flight, including the flightpath which would take us over the ground where Hoylake play before heading out into the Irish Sea and approaching Ronaldsway from the south. The two propellers started and the crew began their demonstration. As we slowly taxied out to the runway, the propellers got louder as we came nearer the runway and the crew finished the demonstration. We waited for an Easyjet 73G to arrive (G-EZJD) and then taxied onto the runway and commenced a rolling take off. It took a while for the ATR to get to take off speed but eventually, we lifted off the runway. We headed out over the Mersey and over the Wirral, passing over my house and the teams' ground before heading out over the Irish Sea. The service came round which was a drinks and snacks service and I got a bottle of water. All too soon, the aircraft began the descent into Ronaldsway and the crew came round to check we were all fastened in. The aircraft soon came onto final approach for the runway and we touched down smoothly with the brakes applied firmly making the engines get noisier before we slowed down to taxiing speed. It was a quick taxi into the apron and we were soon disembarking and we headed through to arrivals where we were collected by the coach.

The Match: It was a very good match and both teams did well despite a howling gale but the Vagabonds (home team) came out 15-10 winners.

3W405 - 03/10/04
Aircraft: PH-RAQ
STD: 11:45
ATD: 11:48
STA: 12:15
ATA: 12:13
After a night in a hotel, we got dressed and packed and headed out to the awaiting coach that would transport us to the airport. After a short journey, we pulled up outside the terminal building and we unloaded the coach and headed inside. We checked our stuff in and headed through to the departure lounge which was very bare with barely anything there to do except sit around and wait. The airport was, as you would expect, very quiet with very little traffic, with the arrival of our aircraft cheered by the team, who by this time, were very bored. The aircraft taxied in and parked up outside the terminal, the 5 passengers disembarked and we were called for boarding. We walked out to the aircraft and boarded the aircraft which was again PH-RAQ. I got the same seat as the outbound journey and again, was seated next to my cousin. The crew did the demonstrations and the captain came on giving us a few details for the flight, saying that we would make up time to arrive ahead of schedule. The engines were turned on and we taxied out to the runway, When we got to the end of the runway, we waited for the PH-RAK, the other ATR of 3W to arrive before heading onto the runway and commencing a rolling take off. We were soon in the air and headed out over the Irsih Sea towards LPL. The service came round about 3 minutes after take off and again, I got only a bottle of water. The descent commenced over the Rhyl, and we headed down over the Wirral and onto approach to the runway. We glided over the runway and touched down to a busy LPL. On the ground were 2 Emerald ATPs, a Monarch A320 (G-OZBB), a BY 757 (G-BYAR) and 3 Easyjet 73Gs (EZJD, EZKA and EZJM). We parked up next to the albino 757 of Britannia (G-BYAR) and we got on the coach and headed off to collect our luggage. We went through immigration quickly and immediately collected our bags and headed out to the coach, before heading back to the Wirral and Hoylake. Overall, it was a pleasant weekend despite the result, with 2 very good flights onboard my first ever flight on board a propeller aircraft.