Post by john1958 on Apr 5, 2009 8:36:03 GMT 1
The idea for this trip started when I noticed BMibaby were having a seat sale, I put some random dates in, and got £40 return......be rude to turn it down I thought!! I enlisted a couple of mates and the planning started!
Toulouse has changed since I was last there in September 2006, a lot more buildings have gone up, mainly for Airbus. And for anyone that has been there before, the "mound" by the side of the runway has gone!! But, in my opinion its been replaced with a far better option.....more later.
Well the 1st April arrived and the brave group of three, arrived at MAN T3 to check in....first problem!!! BMibaby's site had been down, so we had to check in at the airport, and they use a gauge to see if your hand luggage is the correct size, and I'm sure its smaller than anyone else's. But after some small adjustments mine was OK.....unfortunately one of our party had to pay the rip-off fee of £18 to check his in!
We departed on time in G-TOYH, and the flight was an easy 1hour 45 mins. On touchdown we could see Airbus's everywhere, and I mean everywhere! While Ray waited for his bag, I went and sorted the hire car out. So within a short while we were strapped in and off around the airport.
I was relying on my brain to remind me where all the nooks and crannies are, anyone that knows me will say this was risky!! But somehow we got to everywhere we needed to, ending up at the tour centre for the 4:15 tour of the A380 works. They now only offer the A330/340 tour to school parties....which is a pity. This is where we met our number 1 guide Dave.....I'm sure a lot of you will know him, and without his help we would have missed quite a bit.....and stayed sober more of the time too!!! After the hanger tour we all met up again, and went round to Goodrich, where decent views can be had from their carpark, well at least the one next to theirs, as the airport authorities have dug up great earth mounds in front of it! This is a good spot to take pics too, and some of the arrival shots are from here. Gotta say now, the weather was bad compared to my previous visits, low cloud, with the sun trying to peep through sometimes, but on the whole at least it was dry!
After sitting here a while we ventured to the "new" spot. Its on the radar hill to the west of the airfield, it gives you a great elevated view of the field and everything that is happening on it, right from aircraft lining up to take off at the far end, to the A380 plant if anything moved there. It didnt happen while we were there, but if anything landed/took off from this end I'm sure the pics would be even better.
We saw about 70 new frames over the 3 days, which I thought was pretty good, and only a few of them for the domestic or european fleets.
I hadn't planned on listing the aircraft seen, but if anyone wants then I will post a log on here.....let me know guys?
Here are some images taken, hope you enjoy them. Thanks to Dave and Ray for keeping me company.
Lastly a thanks to Dave....Airbus darts champion, and to Camille his lovely wife and our chauffeur late at night when full of beer, without you guys it wouldn't have been such a fun trip....good luck in June.
John
If you've got this far, well done!!! Hope I've not bored you too much!!!
Toulouse has changed since I was last there in September 2006, a lot more buildings have gone up, mainly for Airbus. And for anyone that has been there before, the "mound" by the side of the runway has gone!! But, in my opinion its been replaced with a far better option.....more later.
Well the 1st April arrived and the brave group of three, arrived at MAN T3 to check in....first problem!!! BMibaby's site had been down, so we had to check in at the airport, and they use a gauge to see if your hand luggage is the correct size, and I'm sure its smaller than anyone else's. But after some small adjustments mine was OK.....unfortunately one of our party had to pay the rip-off fee of £18 to check his in!
We departed on time in G-TOYH, and the flight was an easy 1hour 45 mins. On touchdown we could see Airbus's everywhere, and I mean everywhere! While Ray waited for his bag, I went and sorted the hire car out. So within a short while we were strapped in and off around the airport.
I was relying on my brain to remind me where all the nooks and crannies are, anyone that knows me will say this was risky!! But somehow we got to everywhere we needed to, ending up at the tour centre for the 4:15 tour of the A380 works. They now only offer the A330/340 tour to school parties....which is a pity. This is where we met our number 1 guide Dave.....I'm sure a lot of you will know him, and without his help we would have missed quite a bit.....and stayed sober more of the time too!!! After the hanger tour we all met up again, and went round to Goodrich, where decent views can be had from their carpark, well at least the one next to theirs, as the airport authorities have dug up great earth mounds in front of it! This is a good spot to take pics too, and some of the arrival shots are from here. Gotta say now, the weather was bad compared to my previous visits, low cloud, with the sun trying to peep through sometimes, but on the whole at least it was dry!
After sitting here a while we ventured to the "new" spot. Its on the radar hill to the west of the airfield, it gives you a great elevated view of the field and everything that is happening on it, right from aircraft lining up to take off at the far end, to the A380 plant if anything moved there. It didnt happen while we were there, but if anything landed/took off from this end I'm sure the pics would be even better.
We saw about 70 new frames over the 3 days, which I thought was pretty good, and only a few of them for the domestic or european fleets.
I hadn't planned on listing the aircraft seen, but if anyone wants then I will post a log on here.....let me know guys?
Here are some images taken, hope you enjoy them. Thanks to Dave and Ray for keeping me company.
Lastly a thanks to Dave....Airbus darts champion, and to Camille his lovely wife and our chauffeur late at night when full of beer, without you guys it wouldn't have been such a fun trip....good luck in June.
John
If you've got this far, well done!!! Hope I've not bored you too much!!!
.