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Hi again everybody and welcome back on board for this afternoon sortie. sadly, weather was not on our sides. The day was November 6th and the background was a special charter laid out on behalf of the Paris' mayorship. More accurately, the department in charge of the water dams, reservoirs and supplies which dedicated a new dam/reservoir near of Troyes, about 100 miles east of Paris ... All onboard, enjoy the excursion and don't hesitate to post your comments.
Alain
The cast
Lead roles
Air Jet's Bae 146-200QC F-GLNI, cn E2188, BQ/KS as for the selcal, Y94, leased by BNP Bail, the BNP bank's aircraft mid/long term leasing subsisdiary.
The crew
Captain Berris, First/officers Hiriart and Parthuisot
Mrs Galibert and Tual, the flying attendants
Supporting actors
Lognes-based Heliplaisance's single EuroCopter Ecureuil (Astar for our US fellow members)
F-GPAT, crewed by the company's founder and boss Rémy Patriarca.
A couple of motorcoaches and their drivers for transfer between airport to location and back ....
Unfolding the scenario ....
The action starts at Le Bourget at Transair's terminal and ramp on which AirJet's Bae 146 F-GLNI was pulling along next to a micro ferry from CDG. As a request I had asked to also fly the ferry legs from CDG and back, but due to the airline's insurance policy, this could not be fullfilled.
ETD for a mere 90 nm away Troyes-Barberies was set at 14.35 with an ETA at 15.15, but although daylight was dwindling, some precious minutes could be saved for a projected flypast enroute. So we 65 passengers set our ways for boarding as soon as 14.15, much to the delight of Mr Toubon, a former minister and then a top brass with the Dams & Reservoirs. There was the real VIP along two deputies for whom the Squirel/Astar was chartered.
After checking the party numbers, I sat on 01F and at 14.26, engines were spooled up. Exiting Transair's ramps occured at 14.28 and finally we rotated from runway 10/28 at 14.36. Our altitude was set to a low FL50 at a speed of 250 knots, which allowed us to be over the dams and reservoirs for the promised flypast within twenty minutes or so. But low ceiling ruled otherwise and we somewhat retreated pitifully back to Troyes Barberies and initiated the descent at 14.53, then translating into long finals at 14.59 and touching down at 15.11 on runway 36/18. Finally we were at stand at 15.15 and walked to the diminutive terminal. The motor coaches were there and my boss and I funelled the party to the vehicles, which left us behind
Left as two (your choice) in the terminal but not for long, as an airport rep together with Captain Berris flew to our rescue while I triumphly said "The chopper, yes let's contact the chopper ...."
The Astar program was to ferry from its base at Lognes to the dam & reservoirs location called l"Etape and once the dedication ceremonies over, to wisk Mr Toubon and two deputies as they WANTED not to fly back with the charter and had DEMANDED to be lifted straight back (in fact to Issy-les-Moulineaux) with minimal road transfers ... yeahh grrrr . We nethertheless thanked Mr Toubon's special request as the Astar hovered on Troyes-Barberies within minutes. Another couple of others were enough for us to get on board the true chopper styles and we immediately set our way to L'étape at an altitude of 450 feet, at a speed of 110 knots with the RPMs kept at 400.
During the 30 miles or so hop, we passed the motorcade made up by the motor coaches and local officials vehicles and landed on location well ahead.
The ceremonies were surprisingly short. Not left behind this time, we were back at Barberies for the return leg and Captain Berris confirmed his invitation for the Jumpseat ... First Officer on duty was Mr Parthuisot who helped me in strapping. Time was 19.00, playload red 4.875 lbs, fuel on board was a minimal 3.700 lbs and filed for take-off weight was 26.000 lbs.
At 19.05, engines were spooled up and taxi logically came next three minutes later. Runway in use was still 36/18 from which we rotated at 19.17 at a speed of 105 knots. We made a short climb to FL 60 and stayed there at a speed of 250 knots or so. Descent was initiated at 19.33 and four minutes later short finals took over at 130 knots. Finally we touched down on runway 07/25 at 19.40. Speed was reading 118 knots. Four more minutes later, we were back at Transair's ramp.
Alain
Alain
The cast
Lead roles
Air Jet's Bae 146-200QC F-GLNI, cn E2188, BQ/KS as for the selcal, Y94, leased by BNP Bail, the BNP bank's aircraft mid/long term leasing subsisdiary.
The crew
Captain Berris, First/officers Hiriart and Parthuisot
Mrs Galibert and Tual, the flying attendants
Supporting actors
Lognes-based Heliplaisance's single EuroCopter Ecureuil (Astar for our US fellow members)
F-GPAT, crewed by the company's founder and boss Rémy Patriarca.
A couple of motorcoaches and their drivers for transfer between airport to location and back ....
Unfolding the scenario ....
The action starts at Le Bourget at Transair's terminal and ramp on which AirJet's Bae 146 F-GLNI was pulling along next to a micro ferry from CDG. As a request I had asked to also fly the ferry legs from CDG and back, but due to the airline's insurance policy, this could not be fullfilled.
ETD for a mere 90 nm away Troyes-Barberies was set at 14.35 with an ETA at 15.15, but although daylight was dwindling, some precious minutes could be saved for a projected flypast enroute. So we 65 passengers set our ways for boarding as soon as 14.15, much to the delight of Mr Toubon, a former minister and then a top brass with the Dams & Reservoirs. There was the real VIP along two deputies for whom the Squirel/Astar was chartered.
After checking the party numbers, I sat on 01F and at 14.26, engines were spooled up. Exiting Transair's ramps occured at 14.28 and finally we rotated from runway 10/28 at 14.36. Our altitude was set to a low FL50 at a speed of 250 knots, which allowed us to be over the dams and reservoirs for the promised flypast within twenty minutes or so. But low ceiling ruled otherwise and we somewhat retreated pitifully back to Troyes Barberies and initiated the descent at 14.53, then translating into long finals at 14.59 and touching down at 15.11 on runway 36/18. Finally we were at stand at 15.15 and walked to the diminutive terminal. The motor coaches were there and my boss and I funelled the party to the vehicles, which left us behind
Left as two (your choice) in the terminal but not for long, as an airport rep together with Captain Berris flew to our rescue while I triumphly said "The chopper, yes let's contact the chopper ...."
The Astar program was to ferry from its base at Lognes to the dam & reservoirs location called l"Etape and once the dedication ceremonies over, to wisk Mr Toubon and two deputies as they WANTED not to fly back with the charter and had DEMANDED to be lifted straight back (in fact to Issy-les-Moulineaux) with minimal road transfers ... yeahh grrrr . We nethertheless thanked Mr Toubon's special request as the Astar hovered on Troyes-Barberies within minutes. Another couple of others were enough for us to get on board the true chopper styles and we immediately set our way to L'étape at an altitude of 450 feet, at a speed of 110 knots with the RPMs kept at 400.
During the 30 miles or so hop, we passed the motorcade made up by the motor coaches and local officials vehicles and landed on location well ahead.
The ceremonies were surprisingly short. Not left behind this time, we were back at Barberies for the return leg and Captain Berris confirmed his invitation for the Jumpseat ... First Officer on duty was Mr Parthuisot who helped me in strapping. Time was 19.00, playload red 4.875 lbs, fuel on board was a minimal 3.700 lbs and filed for take-off weight was 26.000 lbs.
At 19.05, engines were spooled up and taxi logically came next three minutes later. Runway in use was still 36/18 from which we rotated at 19.17 at a speed of 105 knots. We made a short climb to FL 60 and stayed there at a speed of 250 knots or so. Descent was initiated at 19.33 and four minutes later short finals took over at 130 knots. Finally we touched down on runway 07/25 at 19.40. Speed was reading 118 knots. Four more minutes later, we were back at Transair's ramp.
Alain
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