A return to Dublin with Ryanair (12/4/06)

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Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

I'll get on with it straight away...

Flight FR113
Gatwick - Dublin
EI-DLL B737-800W

Sched Time of Dep - 1000
Actual Time of Dep - 1035

Sched Time of Arr - 1115
Actual Time of Arr - 1135

After a short delay at check in zone H, where it seemed all 180 passengers had turned up at once to check in at 1 desk, finally got through security at around 8.30 and headed to the viewing area, which was packed with noisy kids playing on the play mats :rolleyes: . Lots of flights were going, and combined with the close proximity of Easter, the departure hall was incredibly full. Among the departures was a delayed Excel flight to Sharm el Sheikh and a Thomas Cook service to Cayo Coco which was delayed by 2 and a half hours.

The Jet2 BAe146 made an appearance and departed 20 minutes late after vacating stand 10. Soon after it had departed, passengers for FR113 were told to go to Gate 10, which has a shared seating area with Gate 9 where an EZY 319 was boarding for Belfast. Very little seats and full loads on both flights created a bit of chaos for a while before our wingleted plane taxiied up 10 minutes late.

After a typically short RYR turnaround, boarding started for the preboards and those with noisy kids :). them gone, passengers with sequence number 1-91 were asked to come forward. Today, we were using only the rear steps for some reason :confused: , and this is when i saw to my delight EI-DLL basking in the Gatwick sun. She is RYanair's newest plane, being delivered yesterday (11th April) and the Flight Crew said the previous flight was her first Ryanair flight.

The interior was very clean and nice, with everything smelling nice etc.. One thing which i had never noticed before (if they had it then) is the life jackets now being located in the overhead 'hat bins', so you push a panel and they come down. Quite a cute system I imagine.

After a short delay, the doors shut and we pushed back at around 1015 after a Thomsonfly 767. Our Eastern European cabin crew ran through the safety demo and record speed, so quick that infact you couldn't hear a word of it :) . Not that it'd matter of course on our brand new aircraft :cool:

We taxiied to 26L behind the TOM 767 and parallel to an Astraeus 757, which departed before us.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/April%2012%20DUB%20LGW/0e362c72.jpg

At about 1030, the crew were told to take their seats and we lined up and waited for a few minutes as the runway was checked by the 'Checker' vehicle. Then, the CFM engines spooled up and we raced down the runway and took to the air, following the KENET2M departure, which i have become familar with through flight sim.

The crew started the service soon after and the flight was uneventful. The co-pilot came on and said we'd be landing at 1030 zulu time :) - obviously reading his FMC straight off then:D.

Descent into Dublin to land on 28 was uneventful and smooth and was a good landing considering the strong winds.The usual Ryanair fast taxi followed and we parked up at stand 6 30 minutes late:(.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/April%2012%20DUB%20LGW/ecdd282a.jpg

part 2 in a minute

Original post

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

Flight FR116
Dublin - Gatwick
EI-DLL B737-800W

Sched Time of Dep - 1545
Actual Time of Dep - 1605

Sched Time of Arr - 1705
Actual Time of Arr - 1704

Boarding was through gate A12 and many flights were going, all with 30 minute delays, I guess due to the lack of availability of a plane due to the Paris flight incident. The Leeds/Bradford flight left from A7 30 minutes late I think with 171 people on board (I heard the dispatcher saying the figures on the radio). The 1505 LGW flight left on time, but by 1525 our plane had yet to turn up. Everyone began fearing a long delay, but at around 1535 EI-DLL turned up again and the passengers (another full load) disembarked, along with our crew earlier this morning.

The next crew arrived and one of the less senior members came and did the boarding, which was a bit of a farce as always. We got through soon after and headed to -DLL, in vastly different conditions to Gatwick earlier. It was blowing a gale now, but I managed to take this shot as we climbed the now working front airstairs.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/April%2012%20DUB%20LGW/85c8c4fa.jpg

Our 'Number 1', as Ryanair call them, for our flight was Manuel who checked the boarding cards and we took 10F, level with the engine as the last remaining passengers boarded and the doors shut. A 20 minute turnaround including a crew change is massively impressive, and ensured we got back on schedule.

Taxi out to rwy 28 was swift and we did a rolling take off after a A320 had vacated. I love that whine that the 737NG engines make on take off and climb, and we climbed into the clouds quickly after a smooth take off and headed for the Irish Sea. The cruise was as per usual with the descent coming very quickly, which included a nice tour of the south coast plus my home town :). The gear was lowered about 3 miles before touchdown and we landed just on time after a TCX 757. Several easyJet A319s landed after us and the Ryanair flight which was at Dublin earlier was ready to depart to Ireland West airport.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/April%2012%20DUB%20LGW/89e2954f.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/April%2012%20DUB%20LGW/97ee033b.jpg
Arrival was at Stand 10 again and ended a great days flying with Ryanair. I had a quick peek inside the flight deck before disembarking.

Hope you liked it,

Tom

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 2,561

A good well layed out easy to read report there mate. That new 737 you speak of is i belive ryan airs 100th 737NG

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,289

Excellent report Tom!! :D:D

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 1,614

Great report as usual!

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 433

Fantastic report!!!

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 565

Acccording to airlinerworld today,the 100th FR 737 is EI-DLH,great report by the way,the reflection of the aircraft in the engine cover looks great!

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 5,530

Great report Tom. I just can't get enough of seeing those FR 738 winglets!

Paul

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,645

A great report, and nice pictures too! :)

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Excellent report, lucky to get DLL!

171 people on the LBA flight, not bad, always seem to be full the FR LBA flights!