Hey guys
Ok, first thing is first. I don't normally do trip reports, however due to the fact that this was fairly odd, I felt obliged to do so!
Apologies if it isn't great, like I said, I don't normally do trip reports.
Date: Thursday 18th October 2007
Flight Number: BA025
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft: B747-400 (G-BYGF)
Class: Economy
Seat: 54F
I woke up Thursday morning thinking that today's flight would be totally normal, how mistaken I could be!
In the afternoon, I packed my bags, set my room and jumped in a taxi heading for Heathrow. Once at Heathrow's Terminal 1 I walked up to the self check in machines... spending a few minutes trying to figure out how to work it, I finally wacked in my flight reference number and I was set!
Printed out my bording pass and then I checked my bag in, it weighed just under 20kg.
After I got through security I didn't have much to do until the gate opened at 17:20. I slept a little in the lounge and also had a look at the new iPod nano 8gigs... it looks so nice!!
17:20 came and I saw my gate: 56... Typical... oh well!
Walked to the gate, waited... blah blah. They finally started boarding the passengers.
The long walk down the back meant I caught a glimpse of the new club world!! It looks really stylish and comfortable.
After settling into my seat I had a chance to get a few snaps around the aircraft.
We were served dinner which included: Rice with sweet and sour Prawns, a mini kit kat, salad, strawberry cheesecake, bread and butter, and a coke.
After the meal, which wasn’t actually that bad, I realised that this aircraft was fitted with the new On Demand IFE! Great stuff! I watched Knocked Up and Surfs Up. Both quality films! I looked at the air show and as we were flying over Russia the time left before arrival in Hong Kong was becoming less and less. 5 hours to go. ZzZzZzz Z zZ zzZzzZZzz
Yeah, I fell asleep.
Then it started to go wrong... I woke up to the sound of this PA.
Captain: Ladies and Gentlemen I regret to inform you that due to the health of a passenger we will be diverting to Irkutsk, Russia. Once we land we will try and get him medical treatment before disembarking again onwards to Hong Kong."
Considering I just woke up my reactions were pretty mellow-dramatic, turned to the passenger next to me and said, "yay, I always wanted to go to Russia."
We neared our new unscheduled destination and prepared for landing.
Pointless fact: That lake on the right of Irkutsk is called Lake Baikal and at 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and is the largest freshwater lake by volume (23,000 km³), containing approximately twenty percent of the world's total surface fresh water.
After we finally touched down on Russian Soil!
The runway was cracked and narrow, the taxi-way even more so. One hell of an experience, a 747 bouncing around like a jumping jack! Boy it was fun.
We parked on a taxiway and were allowed to walk around the aircraft.
We then saw the stairs move up to door L5. The Russians were coming.
Believe it or not, one of the stewards spoke fluent Russian, if that’s not luck I don't know what is!
>>
From left to right: Steward who spoke Russian, Big green hat = Russian, Captain, another Steward.
After about 10 minutes, a lot of Russian staff came onto the plane and headed to the front, we still did not know exactly what was wrong with the bloke.
We waited for about an hour. The Captain made a PA again.
Captain: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I understand that it is getting a little restless and that you want to be informed on what is happening, however at this time we have told you everything that we know. The passenger is now off the aircraft in Russian medical care. We are awaiting a fuel truck before we can refuel and make plans for our journey back to Hong Kong. However I am saying, that there could be a possibility that we will not be able to continue to Hong Kong today. This is because the CAA imposes a strict rule that we must have 12 hours rest minimum. Depending on how long this takes, and judging by the way things have happened so far, I’m sure it will take some time, we may or may not be able to continue to Hong Kong today."
The news did not impress a lot of the cabin.
The refueling truck arrived, along with multiple Russian news crews. We were famous!
Ok, first thing is first. I don't normally do trip reports, however due to the fact that this was fairly odd, I felt obliged to do so!
Apologies if it isn't great, like I said, I don't normally do trip reports.
Date: Thursday 18th October 2007
Flight Number: BA025
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft: B747-400 (G-BYGF)
Class: Economy
Seat: 54F
I woke up Thursday morning thinking that today's flight would be totally normal, how mistaken I could be!
In the afternoon, I packed my bags, set my room and jumped in a taxi heading for Heathrow. Once at Heathrow's Terminal 1 I walked up to the self check in machines... spending a few minutes trying to figure out how to work it, I finally wacked in my flight reference number and I was set!
Printed out my bording pass and then I checked my bag in, it weighed just under 20kg.
After I got through security I didn't have much to do until the gate opened at 17:20. I slept a little in the lounge and also had a look at the new iPod nano 8gigs... it looks so nice!!
17:20 came and I saw my gate: 56... Typical... oh well!
Walked to the gate, waited... blah blah. They finally started boarding the passengers.
The long walk down the back meant I caught a glimpse of the new club world!! It looks really stylish and comfortable.
After settling into my seat I had a chance to get a few snaps around the aircraft.
We were served dinner which included: Rice with sweet and sour Prawns, a mini kit kat, salad, strawberry cheesecake, bread and butter, and a coke.
After the meal, which wasn’t actually that bad, I realised that this aircraft was fitted with the new On Demand IFE! Great stuff! I watched Knocked Up and Surfs Up. Both quality films!
Yeah, I fell asleep.
Then it started to go wrong... I woke up to the sound of this PA.
Captain: Ladies and Gentlemen I regret to inform you that due to the health of a passenger we will be diverting to Irkutsk, Russia. Once we land we will try and get him medical treatment before disembarking again onwards to Hong Kong."
Considering I just woke up my reactions were pretty mellow-dramatic, turned to the passenger next to me and said, "yay, I always wanted to go to Russia."
We neared our new unscheduled destination and prepared for landing.
Pointless fact: That lake on the right of Irkutsk is called Lake Baikal and at 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and is the largest freshwater lake by volume (23,000 km³), containing approximately twenty percent of the world's total surface fresh water.
After we finally touched down on Russian Soil!
The runway was cracked and narrow, the taxi-way even more so. One hell of an experience, a 747 bouncing around like a jumping jack! Boy it was fun.
We parked on a taxiway and were allowed to walk around the aircraft.
We then saw the stairs move up to door L5. The Russians were coming.
Believe it or not, one of the stewards spoke fluent Russian, if that’s not luck I don't know what is!
From left to right: Steward who spoke Russian, Big green hat = Russian, Captain, another Steward.
After about 10 minutes, a lot of Russian staff came onto the plane and headed to the front, we still did not know exactly what was wrong with the bloke.
We waited for about an hour. The Captain made a PA again.
Captain: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I understand that it is getting a little restless and that you want to be informed on what is happening, however at this time we have told you everything that we know. The passenger is now off the aircraft in Russian medical care. We are awaiting a fuel truck before we can refuel and make plans for our journey back to Hong Kong. However I am saying, that there could be a possibility that we will not be able to continue to Hong Kong today. This is because the CAA imposes a strict rule that we must have 12 hours rest minimum. Depending on how long this takes, and judging by the way things have happened so far, I’m sure it will take some time, we may or may not be able to continue to Hong Kong today."
The news did not impress a lot of the cabin.
The refueling truck arrived, along with multiple Russian news crews. We were famous!
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