Episode 594 - VR Walkrounds and Holidaying Planes in Spain

You

Well hello and welcome to episode number five hundred and ninety four of the planes

all the UK podcast. I'm Carlos and in this week's show it's VR flying, Air India, send

the wrong aircraft and one airline sends some of their fleet on holiday to Spain.

In the military news this week we're off to Japan and Armando brings us another great

update as well and he's not with us this week. Unfortunately, Nev is he's off having

a trip somewhere, probably having a few beers or a curry, no doubt knowing Nev. Nick's not

with us this week but back with us in the pub studio. It is of course our resident captain

of the Airbus A320 and sim captain it is course captain Andy, hello Andy. Hello nice

to be back two weeks in a row. This is a rare thing isn't it? I know it's the money

we pay you I think is what it is isn't it? The what? Sorry the money. Tell you we've got

about six years of invoices that are outstanding me. I'm getting I'm going to small claims court

before long. Actually not not to small claims court. Where where there's blame there's a

claim. Yes. So that's very true. How are things are you Andy? Very good. Thanks. Yes

busy at work. Just completed writing the next training cycle. So that's all been released

which is good. Now I'm moving on to other bits and pieces. Then next week I am flying

and I'm instructing so I won't be on next week. I'm very busy. But yes, all is ticking

along nicely. Thanks. Excellent. Excellent. It's been a very busy week this week in Aviation

isn't Andy. We're crossing the globe. Very very busy week. But hopefully joining us as

well this week across in a remote studio and by remote I mean in the back end of nowhere

but it's a very nice part of he's staying here. It should hopefully all being well be

Matt Smith. No, he's not there. Excellent. That's how we like to start things here on the

show. He's disappeared. Well, hopefully we'll be back soon Andy. He's currently tending

to the dogs. Yes, he's tending to the dog. Well, Matt Smith is here. He's tending to the dogs.

He let the dogs out but he's got to get the dogs in. So yeah. But we have got loads to get

through on the show tonight including our retro airline ad of the week to Adverts this week

from the 1980s back to back which is going to be good. But Andy, would you like to introduce

the first part of the show please? Yes, it's the commercial aviation segment.

So it's a news that has dominated all the news feeds and social medias this week. It is of

course the sad news coming to us or came to us from New York's La Guadilla Airport. This is from

the BBC.co.uk and two pilots sadly died after an air-Canada aircraft carrying dozens of people

collided with a firefighting vehicle responding to a separate incident at New York's La Guadilla airport.

41 people were taken to hospital, Port Authority Executive Director Catherine Garcia confirmed

32 of them were later discharged but others had serious injuries she said. La Guadilla's airport

remained closed until at least 2pm local time on Monday, Garcia's dead and New York's mayor

or city mayor Zoran Mamdani, hope I pronounced that correctly, described it as a tragic collision

and said the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating a Sunday's incident.

He said I'm grateful to our first responders who swift actions saved lives he said.

Around 2340 local time on Sunday shortly after air-Canada flight 8646 had landed from Montreal

collided with a firefighting vehicle as we know on the tarmac. The fire engine from the

border authority of New York and New Jersey was responding to a United Airlines aircraft that

reported an issue with Oda, Garcia said during the news briefing.

Video footage on social media showed the aircraft which is operated by air-Canada's regional

partners Jazz Aviation coming to arrest with his nose upturned. In audio from the air traffic

control tower at La Guadilla a staff member can be heard saying truck one stop stop stop in the

seconds before the crash. The aircraft ACRJ900 model carrying 72 passengers and four crew members

suffered significant damage. All onboard the aircraft have been a count of four Garcia

said while adding that the sergeant and police officer who were inside the fire fighting vehicle

were in a stable condition in hospital with no life threatening injuries.

Hundreds of flights were affected with carriers including American Airlines, Delta,

Airlines, Southwest and United Airlines and Air Canada and as of 8am local time terminal B

from where air-Canada operates the board showed every departing flight for Monday by one

have been cancelled. Earlier La Guadilla Airport authorities released a statement stating that

the emergency response protocols were immediately activated after the crash with the agency's chairman

and executive director on the scene with port authority police. Now I can say that for those

you follow the NTSB and the National Transportation Safety Board on YouTube and I do

they've released two separate videos on their YouTube channel in regards to this incident

I'll watch both of those today and they kind of go through the preliminary findings but I think

you've still got quite the investigation to go Andy on this. Yes and that story must have been

lifted from the BBC quite early on because sadly it doesn't mention the fact that the two pilots

sadly died in the incident. Yeah it's an absolutely horrible situation for the controllers to be in.

I certainly don't blame the controllers nobody goes to work to especially aviation we're all

mission-oriented we're there to do the job and do the best we can. Nobody goes to work to be negligent

but there's something has broken down massively in this system here. I've heard the audio

which I'm sure we all have where it started. This is where all you we always talk about the Swiss

cheese and you need all the holes to line up for something bad to happen. Well the first line is

the united aircraft declare an emergency so that takes a lot of capacity to do with that.

Then with the weird system they have in the states where the ramp is not controlled by air traffic

controls they're trying to find a stand for them. All the capacities getting sucked up then they

want to get stairs over so they're getting the fire trucks. There's quite a few fire trucks.

The controller had already cleared the the jazze aircraft to land and then cleared the fire crew to

cross the runway. The weather it was night time it was misty visibility would be very difficult.

I'm sure that the fire crews checked before they went across the runway but it's New York.

There's lights everywhere and aircraft's lights could just disappear into the the ether and

background and sadly all the holes lined up and by the time they realized it was just too lit.

It's a really tragic event and this is not the first incident in Laguardia in recent times. There's

a very close call recently where two aircraft were on the crossing runways and nearly hit as well

so this investigation is going to have to go quite deep into systematically looking at how this

airport operates. It's a very small airport heavily congested. You know you listen to the

design of ATC recordings Andy and you know obviously you can't listen to ones in UK because they're

not broadcast and like they are in the US but having an air band you know civil aviation

band receiver many years ago you could listen to like Heathrow and Gatwick and Stans the Dan

Luton talking to aircraft and everything was very slow but it was quite pronounced and spoken

reasonably you know slowly. When you listen to these air the ATC in the US it just feels like

everything is just done at about 760,000 miles an hour. Where's that just me? Oh yeah absolutely

no that's correct in the UK we have a very structured phraseology system for air traffic

control. There's a document cap 413 which is the radio telephony manual that's by the CAA and

it's slow and it's deliberate in the speaking so that everything is clear and understood and

structured and aware that everybody can understand. In America I've noticed listening to a lot of

these ATC channels the language use can be quite plain at times and in my opinion there needs to be

a more standardized and better system used around the world so we standardize everything else via

IKEA we really need to standardize air traffic control as well. How big a part and is you know

when you're doing a SIM train how big a part is the ATC or the radio calls part of I mean is that

part of the syllabus for when you're training pilots and the SIM? Yes to a degree but unfortunately

we don't have the ability to add like background chatter in and other aircraft it comes down to

the instructor the instructor has to be an instructor air traffic control ground crew cabin crew

company they have to be everybody outside of the flight deck and at times you cannot you cannot

make realistic air traffic control in the SIM it's just not possible in the morning unfortunately.

Do you think this communication is what when it comes? Yeah and when it comes to flying

it's FNC or ANC depending on which matter and the effect you aircraft to use so Aviate

navigate communicate communicate comes last the most important thing is to fly the airplane and make

sure I mean somebody's going to have to be ultimately held responsible because that's the way

the world works these ways doesn't it but it's just like I mean the pilots don't stand a chance

because they're I've figured me if I'm wrong in saying this but obviously then those is going

to be up in the air because they're coming into land and usually I believe the object for the

exercises for the back wheels to hit first normally yeah and you know as you say it's a busy

airport there's going to be lots of things going on like within the airfield and stuff as well

if you're in a big old fire truck your visibility is not necessarily fantastic so the chances of

seeing something coming down you know like from above you if you see what I mean is almost going

to be non-existent it's just such a tragic it's just a tragic tragic incident is that

once those wheels were on the ground and the reverses were selected their fit was sealed really

you can't go around you don't have the energy for that from the video footage they clearly spotted

very late as they tried to yore to the right to get away from it but yeah this the fit was sealed

sadly much like the UPS crash there was nothing they could do there it's very tragic but hopefully

as with everything in aviation when it comes to accidents we just want to learn from it

yeah try and ensure it doesn't happen again yeah absolutely this is going to be quite the

investigation I think yeah but I don't know whether the NTSB have released another video on

their site did I haven't checked but no it's just the two just the two yeah but for if we've

not seen them they are up to watch you can watch both I think they're about 25 30 minutes long

but they are quite interesting obviously puts a bit more of a focus on the job that the NTSB do

in situations like this so yeah well worth a watch rights moving on I mean you stormed my story

they call this story yeah you can you can tell you can have the next one I'll do the next one

so the next ones from flyer.co.uk and it's Logan airshaws how electric beta delivers across

highlands and islands Scotland's airline Logan air has given a real-world demonstration of how

an electric aircraft can transform aviation Logan air Royal Mail and US company beta technologies

officially kicked off the UK's first real-world electric flight demonstration series today

on the 20th of March it features the beta alia C-Toll so conventional takeoff and landing aircraft

the first official demonstration flight successfully connected Glasgow and Dundee marking a

marked day for European aviation Royal Mail which serves all 32 million UK addresses

realize heavily on Logan air's regional network to reach the most remote communities in the

highlands and islands as part of its strategy to reach net zero by 2040 Royal Mail giant is now

exploring how electric aviation can replace essential domestic flights this is a real tangible

program of flying across our network which will provide invaluable data on how an electric aircraft

could perform in a real commercial environment said Luke Faradjala hope that's right see your

of Logan air the alia C-Toll is an all-electric aircraft specifically designed for regional cargo

and passenger operations its specifications make it a natural fit for Logan air's frequent short

hop routes it has a payload capacity of up to 560 kilograms a demonstrated range of 336

and its charging time is only 20 to 40 minutes using beta's fast charge system and the aircraft

can operate from existing runways and requires no new airport infrastructure the demonstration series

isn't limited to a single route either over the coming weeks the aircraft will carry

representative letters and parcels across several key Scottish hubs to see how the technology

integrates into the existing logistics network the plan routes include Glasgow to Dundee which

has already been completed and I guess in Glasgow Aberdeen in Venice Wick and Orkney according to

beta technologies Scotland's unique geography with short distances between islands and mainland

communities make it one of the most compelling environments for validating electric aviation

I think we might have actually found a use for electric aircraft it doesn't actually looks

it looks all right you know we've obviously talked about electric aircraft on on the show a million

times and the other you get the paint jobs grit yeah you get these computer generated versions but

this is an actual actual flying actual aircraft that's actually flown it does look quite I think it's

brilliant and a fun it's also if they can if they can commit this work for this sort of specific

market the sooner you get this into full service you can develop it far quicker then and

make more changes and then we might actually see this becoming really useful yeah Richard Adams

and chatroom says reminds me of a skiver does look like a skiver and like a mini skiver yeah does

yeah yeah yeah from yeah that's look very good Darren Smith says in a chatroom there's

there's a push bike inside there and a man paddling like Matt do you get a little black and white

cat to sit on the other seat as well hey that course from Pat love that excellent now it's

so it works it's so it does work it'd be good to especially on these little short hops up north

where they have to go to these little tiny islands and that with small kind of airstrips awesome

getting supplies to people so yeah good to see it's it's really good if you if you do a few hops

between five or six islands see then you recharge for half an hour and you can hop back that's

that's really good yeah mr Smith if you would like to take the next one it's VR training

it is indeed the source on this one is afm dot arrow and the headline is uk aviation training

technology developer secures regulatory approval for VR based pilot walk around trainer oh this

is interesting sinian a uk based aviation training technology company had quoted an exeter

science park has secured approval for the uk civil aviation authority are from the uk civil

aviation authority for its tacit walk around as an other training device otd marking the first

time a virtual reality based device as received say cAA approval for pilot training the tacit

which stands for training aircrew competencies using eye tracking that's the the acronym for tacit

so this walk around system creates a repeatable high fidelity virtual environment for pre-flight

inspection training resolving the operational constraints of traditional walk around training

including aircraft availability weather dependency and the inability to safely replicate

airside defects and hazards the system uses integrated eye tracking technology to objectively

assess where trainees are looking during an inspection in measuring scanning efficiency

situational awareness visual attention inspection time and hazard detection providing quantifiable

competency data in support of the industry's transition to competency based training and assessment

at the core of the program of the platform is sinian empathetic learning engine ELE described as

an emotion AI API trained on millions of humans interactions which interpret its behavioral

and eye tracking data to generate adaptive evidence based feedback the tacit walk around is

compatible with multiple aircraft types including the Boeing 737-800 near bus a321-neo and is

positioned as a scalable solution across airline fleet as an alternative means of regulatory

sign off jet to one of the UK's leading leisure airlines is is the launch airline customer having

installed six vibe focus vision headsets across its Manchester and Bradford crew training centers

becoming the first airline to deploy the cAA approved solution operationally the tacit platform

extends across sinian's aviation and defense portfolio with the flight training module already

deployed in both civil and military pilot training environments now this does sound very very

cool very very interesting it is very techy but I mean and the obviously I mean you're used to

like dealing with simulations and stuff I mean this seems like a like a useful tool as part of

that this is awesome so it's part of a line training once you get to an airline you have to

be checked out on the walk around it's one of the requirements we do before every flight the air

check where we go around and check every part of the air frim that we can see for any damage or

anything that's unusual and it's very difficult to point out things that are wrong when they aren't

wrong on the air frim and the whole point of this walk around is that we need to be able to spot

things that are wrong and we can get rectified so this software and these devices are fantastic

because as trainers we can input defects and see if the training is actually pick up on it and

we can use the eye tracking and everything else I think it's fantastic it's the way forward

and you can sit inside in a warm room and do it in the middle of winter when normally you'd be

walking around an aircraft in a big court desperately trying to get it done as quick as possible

to get back inside in the warmth but I think there's a future exactly Andy and I think for me

that the thing that's so so good about this is in an ideal world every aircraft that is presented

to you in preparation for you know for a flight flight is presumably operationally ready if you

see what I mean so you'd like to think there is nothing to pick up if you like as part of your walk

as we're in this scenario you can like you do in the simulator you can you can throw certain

situations and scenarios at the candidate and see if they notice yeah absolutely and when you

get an aircraft as well normally it's ready but sometimes you can go out to a flight land somewhere

go out and do the water and a fan that you've hit a bird or on part of the wing which is part of

the check but yeah you will be at a design so many scenarios to use in this and because it's

competency-based training as well we can design scenarios for specific competencies involved

in doing this walk around so yeah it's it's so flexible it's expandable as well what will be

to do with it I think it's fantastic so another job for you Andy now to obviously do the scenarios

and the sims for flight for actual flying I bet you'd like to get your hands on it now you've

got to do scenarios for walkgrounds well yes and fun enough the lkn I worked for we are developing

something similar to this with another company as well so it is something we're getting stuck

into and we want to expand it further as well so cool yeah it is so cool yeah yeah it really is

right Andy we're off to sunny spine yes and this one is from the FT of all publications and

its Qatar Airways has sent 20 of its largest aircraft to a site used for long-term storage

in a sign the airline is preparing for months of disruption across the Gulf the carrier has

been transferring aircraft to a rural airport and spin which specialises in heavy maintenance

and long-term storage in the past week it sent five more aircraft on Sunday in addition to the

15 already at the site according to data from flight radar 24 many are air 380 air 350 and Boeing

787 aircraft among the largest in its fleet which typically carry passengers to its doha hub

to transfer to onward flights the airline has been running a limited service with much of its

airspace affected by the conflict in Iran which is now entering its fourth week it said the decision

to move some of the aircraft out of the Gulf was a Gulf was a temporary move until the airspace

was fully reopened due to the current situation in the region and the resulting disruption to

flight operations Qatar Airways has positioned some of its aircraft at selected airports outside

Qatar the airline told the FT this is a temporary measure and the aircraft will be progressively

returned to service as flight operations are restored to normal levels Qatar Airways is currently

operating less than a quarter of its normal services making it the most affected of the major

regional airlines while regional carriers Emirates and Etihad have resumed some schedule flights

from their bases in Dubai and Abu Dhabi Qatar's efforts to restart have been held back by the

closure of its airspace Qatar Airways told the FT it would resume operations once the Qatar

Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe full reopening of Qatar airspace Ali handrawe ibrahim

general manager of Tural Airport said the site has seen increased activity since the conflict

began we're getting more customers arriving with their aircraft he told a local television station

airlines were downsizing their fleets revising their routes and trying to keep their aircraft

in safe locations such as Europe Tural Airport is used by the industry to store aircraft for

extended periods during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic it offered several services

said John Strickland an aviation analyst including temporary storage where engine intakes were

covered and deep storage for longer periods when windows were also covered to prevent

onboard electrical systems from overheating it's a great place to store aircraft knowing they're

not going to degrade and at least at least in terms of humidity he said because of the age of

the Qatar Airways fleet it's unlikely the aircraft will be undergoing heavy maintenance at the

site he added the number of planned centre Tural does suggest it could be potentially for longer

storage with Qatar also taking opportunity to move key assets away from the risk of damage

when we saw this airport or this airfield used heavily during the pandemic

British Airways sent a lot of aircraft there as well as lots of other airlines they also had

British Airways I believe they had the 747 fighter when they had one parked here during the

pandemic as well but I think it's a wise move by Qatar to be honest if you can't

if your airfield where you keep most of your aircraft normally is in the firing lane from Iran

it's probably a good idea to move as many out as you can to keep them safe until

Qatar's business is safe again yeah I wonder if Emirates will do the same thing Andy

with a huge fleet hmm be interesting to see because Emirates are a little bit

further aware whereas Qatar is is right in the the famine lane um we have be interesting

yeah it's also great for your a few aircraft spotter all I wonder how accessible the site is

there in it's in the middle of nowhere ah probably not then I mean you can get there by car

I'll take quite some time offline and later craft or something I was going to say I get get a

local taxi driver to take you out there I'll make for a for an interesting day just hire a car

yeah be cheaper right we get where we going to now let's go to me with this next one air India

this is on erotime dot arrow air India I can't get this this is weird this story because I saw

this earlier on the week air India sends wrong Boeing 777 to Canada forcing flight back to Delhi

so air India sent a Vancouver bound flight back to Delhi after departing with what India media

described as the wrong triple seven variant for entering to Canada forcing a costly mid route

you turn after several hours in the air the airline confirmed the flight AI185 returned to Delhi

on March the 19th this year due to an operational issue and said the aircraft landed safely

according to multiple Indian outlets the aircraft operating as flight AI185 was a Boeing

triple seven 200 LR while air India approval for service into Canada covers its Boeing's

triple seven to a hundred sorry 300 ER fleet and not the LR variant the mistake was reported

discovered only after the aircraft had flown for more than four hours and reached Chinese air space

near Kunming at times of India reported the aircraft departed Delhi at 1134 local time

landed back in the Indian capital at 19 minutes past seven in the evening are nearly after

nearly nine hours a total flying time air India did not publicly confirm the wildly reported

explanation in its statement instead the spokesperson said that only that at the air flight

AI185 operating from Delhi to Vancouver returned to Delhi due to an operational issue

at the airline said the aircraft landed safely passengers were crew with disembarked and ground

teams provided assistance including hotel accommodation while efforts were made to send passengers

onward to Vancouver as quickly as possible international operating permissions can be tied to not

just an airline but also to a specific aircraft type fleets or in even individual tile numbers

depending on the destination country's regulatory process in this case the reported problem appears

to have been with the aircraft assignment error involving the two different Boeing

triple seven variants never heard this before Andy I'm guessing you probably have

well a lot of routes especially long haul routes have aircraft that are assigned to them and

approved to operate into certain countries I'm not sure in this case if it's due to maintenance

issues like when Pakistan was allowed to operate into Europe I mean it's currently blacklisted

still I believe from EASA it was on a specific set of airframes and registrations so this could be

the same thing and somewhere in the system it's got mixed up and they've just sent this aircraft

completely by or must be completely by mistake unless they were really just trying to chance it to

get in there but I believe it was the Chinese air traffic controllers that pointed out to

to the Air India pilots that you know this aircraft's not approved for entry into Canadian airspace

so yeah it's weird that it's happened there should be some form of barrier to stop this sort of

thing happening I guess that's not a problem you have with your airline Andy

no it's all the same error plans thankfully just one family nice and easy nice and easy exactly

yeah interesting story that slightly weird I wasn't expecting that but Air India been in

Singapore in the news a lot this year or is it just me I think it's I think they've been in

the news quite a lot this year I mean I I think it's been over a number a number of years

isn't it because Air India I think when they involved in one of the Boeing yeah the dream

things when that when yeah when all that sort of happened and stuff so yeah I think it's I think

it's I don't think it's narrowed down to just this year is essentially what I'm going with that

right stick him with you Matt and this is hopefully not going to impact anyone's holidays this year

but better not do anyway I think you could almost guarantee that it'll certainly happen to you or

me Carlos because that seems to be the way these things happen anyway Mira.co.uk is the source for

this one and the headline is airlines making plans for jet fuel shortages including possible

cancellations to airlines are drawing up emergency plans to cope with jet fuel shortages according

to reports industry chiefs fear a hits to stocks could begin to be felt within a matter of weeks

as the Middle East conflict threatens the flow of supplies the price of jet fuel has already

doubled since the US and Israel launched missile attacks on Iran at the end of March the surge

if it continues grisks higher fares for passengers airline chiefs also complain that they are unsure

about the availability of jet fuel supplies beyond next month it comes as many families prepare

for the looming east to get away although the bigger impact could come in the summer unless the

war has been resolved some countries including the UK and elsewhere in Europe are believed to have

sufficient stocks of jet fuel for now the bigger issue is for long haul carriers when traveling

elsewhere and nervousness about having to refuel for the return leg Ben Smith chief executive of

Air France KLM said that we're putting in plans today to draw up scenarios on how we would

deal with a shortage of fuel the hit two supplies could be felt more in some areas of the world

than others however Mr Smith told not me told the financial times south east Asia is much more

dependent on fuel coming over the Gulf than Europe is we can get fuel out of Europe but when we

go to a southeast Asian city we're not going to be able to fly the plane back there's no fuel you

can't fly a Kenton Kenton Jarvis use the boss of budget airline easy jet said that supplies

had that supplies had assured it of fuel deliveries for the next three weeks but no one's telling us

we have no immediate issues in six weeks because they're not prepared to say that Mr Jarvis

added will you also the director of general of international air transport association

and form of us of British Airways warned this is a bigger supply issue than we've seen before

a hit to supplies could result in airlines reducing their number of flights with a knock-on to

passengers from availability and potentially higher prices yes I know there lines are currently

looking at their shed jewels from April onwards and starting to chop out routes that are not

they forming but yeah yeah absolutely and I suppose the other

side of things I suppose if you're lucky enough that you've got a flight where it's returning to

where you know so like if it's a UK-based flight and it's going out to you know somewhere in

Europe and then coming back then you think what because you know the situation where you are at

the moment but I mean realistically how much information is going to be reliable if you like as

you say with the long haul people where you've got to go out to let's say Australia for example

I mean what's the you know are you you know are you going to potentially run into problems not

having enough to get home yeah and you can tank tank a fuel which is carry as much as you can so

that you don't need to pick up as much down route there's always a cost with that because it's

makes the aircraft heavier so there's more drag and you burn more fuel than you would have normally

it's all got to be balanced up but yeah South East Asia as it serves in the stories heavily

reliant on fuel from the Gulf I believe where in Europe and America it's topped out a $100

a barrel down in the Asia you're looking at $200 a barrel at the moment oh wow that's how much

they rely on it so yeah it's unless this gets resolved pronto it's going to start dragging

into summer and start making things very interesting and difficult as long as it doesn't drag us

back into the same position we're enduring COVID really people will start to get nervous about

traveling and then we have to start thinking about jobs then as well so let's hope it doesn't get

to that point yeah Darren Smith says in the chat room that the Logan air electric plane

but could become very popular when that fuel arrives yes yes it took quite a few hops to get down

to down to Alicante stopping off to charge up every time and only taking around 10 passengers but

you know it could it could be an option oh dear need that huge solar plane that the

flew a few years ago do you remember that one man yeah there's six million solar panels all the

way along the wing yeah well as long as I can make it to Maltor and June I'll be happy oh yeah

I mean as long as you're all right Carlos I mean you know yeah I agree everyone else hey

where would I be like my usual mecca to multi each year true true that yeah it's a lovely

segway here into the next story really if you do manage to make it abroad this Easter Spanish

French airports fierce hours of Easter delays due to post Brexit checks that old chestnut again

this one's from I thought you done with that but you care unfortunately not it appears

and British holiday makers could be hit by painful delays of several hours when heading to Europe

this Easter travel experts have warned they may need to consider arriving at airports in the EU

early the usual amid warnings the disruption caused by the new post Brexit checks could continue

over the mere bank holidays and summer some people have faced cues up to two hours at passport

control in recent months because of the entry exit system the EES where it's could be doubled to

four hours by the summer airline groups have said pointing to critical IT and staffing issues with

a new system tourists planning to use the port of Dover and Euro Tunnel have also been more

of the potential for gridlock on the roads as they head to France the biometric system which requires

non EU visitors to provide fingerprints have their passport scanned and their photos taken

began being gradually rolled out in October the process which replaces the simple

stamping of passports has been fully implemented on the 10th of April though it comes at the end

of England's Easter school holidays travel experts say a family still face potential disruption

in early July due to rollout problems passport control checkpoints at EU airports have suffered

persistent waiting times of up to two hours in recent months due to the EES checks according to

the Airports Council International Europe the organisation which represents more than 600

airports has warned that cues could stretch up to four hours or more by the summer unless critical

problems are fixed British tourists have had to wait two hours to have passport checked at

Lanza Rottie Airport in Spain recently and travel travellers previously told the i-paper of

horrific waiting horrific waits of one hour and 40 minutes at Malaga Airport was that really

horrific with arguments breaking out and the cues. Lisbon Airport in Portugal where cues reportedly hit

six hours now that's horrific was forced to suspend EES checks entirely for three months from

December. ACI Europe said waiting times have increased up to three hours at peak periods adding

that airports of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been especially impacted.

The organisation said processing times had increased by up to 70 percent during the

phased rollout so far. The European Commission has said member states may suspend EES checks for

up to six hours when congestion is bad up until September. Now I think nobody's saying what the

problems with this system are and I'm finding I back in October when this was introduced I passed

through to go all airport for work. It was a bit of a wait but I did all the fingerprints,

all the pictures everything else and then every single time I've gone to Amsterdam for work recently

I have stood for at least 40 minutes in a queue to have passport stamped. Why are they not

using? Surely if you're getting your fingerprints done in your picture and everything else with a

biometric scanable passport we should be using the eGates again and that would and then get to

the side of the eGates get your passport stamped. That's what happened in Barcelona when leaving

when I was there recently. The whole system just seems to be completely discombobulated and

not the same in every airport when I think the whole point of this is meant to be a standardised

system. Have you two experienced any of it recently? I haven't flown for a long time I have to say.

Last couple of times I think it was last trip but it was to Ireland and you don't have a problem

then. No but I've not really been trying to think. I came back from Dubai a couple of years ago

they were eGates that I was using to get into and out of Dubai. I didn't have any trouble with

those as well my passport worked first go without there was no issues at all. That's not the European

system is it? No it's not. I didn't have any trouble with that at all but unfortunately that's my

only experience really. I haven't travelled in Europe for a while to be fair. Interesting to see

you Carlos in Malta. I was going to say I've only done Ireland a couple of times this year and that's

been absolutely fine but there's the agreement with the UK that we don't have to do that. We'll see

what happens in June when I head back off out to Malta and see what the crack is then but to be fair

in all the years I've been going out there. It might be worse now but last year was fine but they

are normally fairly swift to get you through passport control at Malta. There's times you've

been to an airport and you've come up to passport control and there's six million gates but only

ones open with one member of staff. Yes, three of them so often. So often. I spent like the security

lines at Stanford Airport when you're going through. You've got so many different security lines

there but there's only ever three, three, three. Every time I've been through stands at this year

to Dublin, three of those lines have been open. At the busiest time when the first flights are going

first thing in the morning. I don't get it. There's some interesting comments in the chat room.

Jenny and Rome says I don't know about post-Brexit checks but some family members almost missed their

return flight at 10 a.m. because of slow passage through customs. Jason Trussell says the last 25

years they are making it flying so difficult. It's as if they don't want people traveling around the

world. Very good. Richard Adams says what are the odds that the system gets totally scrapped after

the first big date of reach. It was poorly designed by committee so almost certain to be vulnerable.

It does seem poorly designed. If they can't implement it correctly first time round then it

lost the point. Yeah, Darren says as well. Stanford 11 o'clock at night is also a nightmare.

I've not been late. My flights have always been early out of and into Stanford but yeah,

obviously this year will be a real eye-opener for me because I'm flying out of Stanford and

back into London Norwich airport. London? Norwich. I get to see how wonderful

Norwich are during the whole, you know, security thing when we land. So that'll be interesting.

Right, let's move on to the next story. Matt, it's a tech one for you and this is sort of a shout.

I nod at Nev. I know he's not here this week but a certain airline he loves.

Yeah, absolutely. It's it's good old Starlink raising. We've had a few of these who have

certainly went to some of the American carers and things where they've got Starlink on board.

Now it's the turn thanks to the story on travel tomorrow dot com. Now it's the turn of British Airways

and they're becoming the first UK airline with Starlink on board Wi-Fi. And now it's last

November. British Airways has now officially joined the growing league of Starlink equipped airlines

bringing what is often described as the fastest connection in the sky to its passengers.

The inaugural flight featuring the new system took place on the London Houston Texas route.

The airline became the first UK carrier to introduce Starlink connectivity on a Boeing 787-8

aircraft on the 19th of March, marking a significant milestone in its digital upgrade strategy.

Installation is already underway across the 787-8 fleet with plans to roll out the system

progressively across its entire fleet of more than 300 aircraft, both long haul and short haul

aircraft over the next two years, excluding BA city flyer powered by a constellation of more

than 10,000 low earth orbit satellite. Starlink offers seamless high speed internet access at

cruising altitude. The connection is strong enough not only for messaging but also for streaming

gaming, remote working gaming. Who's going to be doing that on the aircraft seriously?

Bring your Xbox with you, plug in, remote working, shopping online and even if you're organized

enough, ordering a pizza to be ready the moment you land. Developing developed and operated by

SpaceX Starlink relies on reusable rocket technology and expanding satellite networks to

deliver low latency connectivity, a notable improvement over traditional in-flight Wi-Fi systems.

Looting a landmark moment, British Airways chairman and chief executive Sean Doyle said that the

airline was excited to be the first UK airline to bring this level of connectivity to our customers.

We know that staying connected matters to people, whether they're traveling for work or heading

off on holiday and Starlink will give our customers a fast reliable Wi-Fi that transforms onboard

experience he added. Beyond passenger comfort, British Airways noted that the upgrade is also

expected to enhance operational efficiency, improving communication between cabin crew, flight

crews and ground teams. The introduction of Starlink forms part of British Airways wider 7 billion

pound transformation program, which includes upgrades ranging from redesigned lounges to new

digital technologies and cabin improvements. This milestone is part of a wider investment in

elevating every aspect of our customer journey as we continue to modernize our airline.

Maybe you should look at the backroom systems first. Anyway, in a notable shift,

the passengers this service will be offered free of charge access across all cabins.

Until now, onboard Wi-Fi could cost between 499 and 2199, depending on usage with the free

messaging typically reserved for loyalty program members. And I've had some reasonable experience

with certainly the non-commercial version of Starlink. In the main, it's a really good system,

it's certainly the speeds are there. I have to say I have had some significant issues with

reliability and dropping out. So I'm going to put my park radio hat on for a minute. One of our

presenters has a Starlink system and he streams his program into our servers using that and

it will usually and it is very much aligned correctly because I've been unchecked it myself.

It will quite often drop the stream probably two to three times every program.

So in terms of connectivity in flight, it's going to be good enough for a quick video call

and all that kind of thing. But when we're saying it's fast enough for gaming and stuff,

I would say it's fast enough whether it's reliable enough would be my only concern.

It depends on from the other element of this where it's saying it'll give connectivity to

crews, you know, that the crews on the plane connecting with the ground systems. It depends

on how reliant their system is on a stable connection. Laughing at the comment Matt in the chat.

Richard Adams says that you could order a pizza just for your land and then it's stone

coal by the time you've got through the additional euro checks. Well, there is that.

I'm just being a miserable middle-aged man here. I don't want to hear people's TikToks,

Instagrams. I don't want to hear them video call and granny saying that they're on an

aeroplane. I certainly don't want to hear their Netflix blaster now. Just use the Inflight

Entertainment, put your headphones on, don't ring anybody, chill out. You don't need your net on

an aeroplane. It's a place of quiet and naceness and please do not let flight crew be using

this internet as well. Yeah, I mean, I'm assuming that I'm assuming they're referred to using

it for operational purposes if you like as your communication, you know, like channel,

if you like. My dad said that would be protected. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I have concerns.

I mean, at the end of the day, if there are any being used for entertainment and the odd video

cool then, if it drops out, it drops out. But as I say, my only nervous would be if I don't

understand enough about in flight systems and communication links required with the ground that

would use an internet connection, if you see what I mean, as to how critical they would be

in the event of a dropout. I'm guessing that this is something that your particular airline will

probably never ever invest in having on the aircraft. Certainly wouldn't give it away for free,

that's for sure. That's not with an out business model. Every time I get on a B.A. aircraft that

has Wi-Fi fitted, it's not working. So how many times is this not going to work as well?

And that's when people get in there. If you're charging people for it, the guy's not working,

oh, and I'm not going to pay for it. But if you're having it as part of your ticket essentially,

people are going to start getting annoyed when this doesn't work.

Yeah. I mean, I think it will work because I don't know, you see?

No, I mean, like the actual hardware, not working on the aircraft.

Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because I suppose at the end of the day, although it's got a

styling on the end of it, it's still got to essentially plug into the plane's router to

have a connection to change that. Are they? I mean, that's just going to be the same.

In infrastructure, if you like, they're just adding the method of connectivity has changed.

Interesting one. Definitely an interesting one.

Yeah. We've talked about this for years on the show. We internet on board commercial airliners.

And God, I mean, I loved it coming back from, so I had I treated myself. I think it was,

I think it was 2199 with American Airlines. And I was coming back from Charlotte. And I'll

be honest with you. I'd had a lovely time. And so I was a bit bloomin' miserable, to be honest with

you. And it was actually, I know this sounds bonkers, but it was actually really lovely.

I'll also think you'll appreciate this in the fact that I was boarding a plane and

John O'ables about to start his breakfast show. And to be able to listen to that when I was

feeling a bit miserable on my way home, all the way home. And it didn't drop out once. I have to say

for that, like for the whole three hours that I listened to his program, it didn't drop out once.

I mean, I was more excited about our system, not letting me down as well if I'm honest, but

but the fact that the onboard Wi-Fi with American Airlines, and I don't know, I assume they were using

the Philip system, which is what I know BA have used in the past, I found it pretty reliable,

to be honest with you. I mean, yeah, I had to pay the 2199 for it, but yeah, that was that was

just lovely to listen, to have a familiar face in my ears, listening, playing the music that I

like and all that kind of thing, as I was coming home. And it made what was otherwise a sad time,

a very nice time. So I mean, so there are some advantages to it, but you know, I guess me wanting

to listen to the radio, essentially, my chosen radio is very different to these people who want to

watch TikToks all day. And you know, I mean, I was able to listen to the radio. With your head for it in.

Well, yeah, don't get me started on that one. I was definitely wearing headphones.

Definitely. Good, I'm glad you were. Yeah, yeah, I was very considerate for the passengers.

Yeah, it's absolutely right. Also, I didn't want them to have to, you know, I didn't want them

listening to what it was for me, not for them, but anyway, but to be able to, you know,

when they're looking out of the window. And so I mean, because I'm listening to music,

but I'm enjoying what, you know, I'm doing looking out of the window and seeing all the clouds and

and all that kind of thing, you know, it's, yeah, I'll shut up. No, it's nice. It's nice. And

listening to John O'able's breakfast show, it always makes you happy. It makes me smile every time.

Honestly, forget the social media side of things and the watching videos and all that kind of

stuff. And do you not think Andy that on the flight deck as flight, you know, flight deck crews

that something like this has been more beneficial to you guys up the front to do certain aspects of,

you know, your, your job or not? Yeah, the connectivity is fantastic. You can get live

weather updates on the EFB, live turbulence charts, live updates on the flight plan. If they want

to reroute us, much quicker communication than via VHFA cars systems. Oh, yeah, operation,

Lee, brilliant, really good. Except you haven't got a pay for it, Andy, which is always a bonus.

Oh, yes. Yeah, um, can't unfortunately get Netflix on the PFD or the NAF display, certainly.

That would be, there must be a H in my port somewhere you could just,

just plenty of serial ports all over the aircraft with no HGMI.

Yeah, Amazon will have one, don't worry. There'll be a C port converter to a HGMI.

Darren, Darren Smith and Chapman says he used a sky phone on Delta flight back in the 1990s

to find a football score. He said that was an amazing moment for him. I mean, do you remember

the ones, is that the ones where they lift them off and then you put your credit card in the bottom?

Oh, good lord. Yeah, that kind of cost you, Darren, just that curiosity.

He's still paying off now. Yeah, that is, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, three segments, yeah. Yeah. Honestly, the technology these days, it's incredible.

Anyway, moving on. Next one, ChronicleLive.co.uk. Good news if you live in the northern part of the UK,

especially in Newcastle, Newcastle. The story is here. Based that is EasyJet opening a new

basic Newcastle airport running 86 flights a week. The opening of the three aircraft base at Newcastle

has created 140 direct jobs. That's always good. Pilots and cabin crew with the airline operating 86

flights a week on 22 routes. The opening of an EasyJet base, which we'll see three aircraft

station at Newcastle Airport has been described as a vote of confidence for the North East.

The budget carrier opened its new base officially on Monday this week, which will support 140

direct jobs for Pilots, cabin crew with 86 flights per week to 22 destination, which is said to have.

There are 800,000 seats on offer for this summer with 22 destinations. 14 of these, which are

new to EasyJet from Newcastle and the airline's first flights to Antalya,

Corfu, Dalman, Infaida, is that Matt?

Enfida. Enfida. Thank you, Andy. Faro, Lisbon,

Malta, niece, Prague, Ruze, Ruze, Rhodes, Rhodes.

Yes. Thank you. Shamel Shake and Senna Reed. Can tell I've not been there before.

Kenton Jarvis, CEO of EasyJet said that he was incredibly proud to be operating the new

base at Newcastle. He told ChronicleLive. He said we've seen a strong demand for Newcastle

and with the growing EasyJet holidays we know that's fantastic opportunity to offer our holiday

choices to the North East. He said so what we are doing is by basing three aircraft we will be

able to increase capacity by 85% on the levels we've had before and more destinations through Europe

and beyond. The new base opens against a backdrop of uncertainty for oil and fuel prices,

as we were talking about earlier in the show, due to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Mr Jarvis said that the airline was well hedged and had brought fuel in advance.

Oh, there we go. But it encouraged families who are thinking of booking holdings to do so as soon

as possible. So there we go. If you're living up in Newcastle in the UK here,

you have more child choices of destinations and way to fly with EasyJet. Good news.

Yes, some long routes in there. Well, Charmel Sheik is quite a schlep from the North East.

What's that four hours, Andy? Oh, that's five and a half to six hours,

depending on the weather. Oh, blind. Yeah, a long old trick.

Wow. But the good thing in these is, though, it's jobs. It's more piloting jobs.

Well, all the pilots have transferred from other bases.

So they have to travel? No, they've moved there. There's quite a

there's a few new pilots there as well that have drained this airline. But yeah,

no, transfer base. So within companies, you can bid to move to other bases.

Actually, on that note, Andy, question for you. When you join the airline

and get your job, your dream job, sitting in the right seat, do you get a choice of where you're

going to be based or is it the airline that says to you, you will be based at this airport

and you have no sign that matter. Sometimes, depending on your work at four,

if you've gone for someone like British Airways, you've got very limited choice of where you're

going to be based. But like the likes of jet two, two E Ryan Air, easy jet, etc, they may offer

you a choice or they may just say, this is where we need you, that's where you go on.

And that's part of the game. When I joined my airline, it was Luton or nothing. So I

moved everything and myself were not to Luton itself. I didn't live in Luton,

but I was based there for eight years. Blimey. And did you enjoy it, Andy?

I enjoyed living where I did. I lived in several places around the area. It was good for me.

Yeah. Yeah. There we go. I learned something new every day.

Right. That is where we're going to bring the commercial news segment to close this week.

But can I hand things over? Just for change this week, because we are missing a

Nev, as we know, over to Matt to introduce next part of the show.

Yes, indeed. It's time for what is a lot of people's favorite part of the show. It is the retro

airline ad of the week. And this week we head off back to the 1980s where one lucky passenger

gets a flight deck visit. And then it's time to slap on some red lipstick. This is just Carlos,

by the way, and jump on to onto the brand new Airbus 300. Or is it the love bus?

Oh,

I'm so full.

I love.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

And there we go. The love bus or the A300. I don't know what to do with that. That one,

I mean, but I mean, different time, wasn't it? Yeah. Explofer lipstick on the side of your face.

Yeah. Good. Just looking in the chatroom down Smith says Philippine Airlines have named their A350s,

the love bus, apparently, these days. Oh, thank you. I mean, that's so for good man,

I'm going to hear that A300. What? What? I presume, obviously, it was the first of the surgeries.

Yes. Yeah, the A300, Matt, you know that obviously the air buses have the side sticks

on the flight deck, rather than a control yoke. The 300s, and I'm correct me if I'm wrong, Andy,

the 300s where they had just a traditional yoke for control.

His conventional flight control system, yes. Flight by way, I didn't come in until the

the A320 partly the A310 as well, which was another variant of the A300 afterwards,

but the side stick didn't appear until the 320 family. There we go. Yeah. Love that.

But I'm glad to see the young lad there doing exactly what I used to do back in the 80s.

Soon as we got airborne. What? Make a nuisance of yourself. Press. No, I was not

for making a nuisance of myself.

Oh, your audio is a bit muffly there, Matt. I think you're. I'll try that. Sorry.

There we go. Sorry, as I say, to be fair, Andy, I don't think he's changed. So he's still making

himself a nuisance on any aircraft even at 40. I'll have you know that the flight deck visits

that I've had in, well, in late or these last few years, they've either been after we've landed

before we've taken off or if we've been delayed, taken off, and I've asked to go up on the flight deck.

Yeah, for no other reason, because you can't. I'm because of a certain incident that took place,

you know, in the States, a number of years ago, Carlos, where if you managed to flight deck visits during

flight, that's called a hijacking. Yeah, absolutely. That's a very different experience when you land.

Carlos, I, I missed those. I missed those that I think they were the best bit about flight. And

it's probably, it's why that I got into heavily inter-aircraft like I did, because I always

have the flight deck visits all the time. But I think I just think it's just such a missed opportunity

nowadays with youngsters and stuff to get them into. I did, I do remember having one flight deck

visit when we were in the air, and I was flying with, I think the company was air 2000, and we were going

to Greece. The air 2000. Yeah, I think that's what it was. The only reason I remember it, because

it had the silly headphone jack where it had two prongs on it, which melted my mind, you know,

because I'd only ever come across the stereo jack right to that. But yeah, I do remember going up

to that, to that. And the biggest takeaway for me from going up there was how peaceful it was,

because I suppose you're the furthest point away from the engine's ascension, as you could

possibly get, especially the pointy bit. And, you know, to be, you know, there was no wind noise

or anything, if you like, it was all very well sealed and stuff like that. And it was nice and

toasty in there as well. It was just, yeah, it was just, it was quite sort of magical to sort of

say, I suppose the only thing is, because it was nighttime when we did it, of course, you

wouldn't see anything, because it's essentially just black, you know, but it was my favorite time to

fly. Like you said, it's cosy or little twinkling lights, you've got to turn down, got the eating,

turned up, nice bit of food on the tree table, because I get an actual table. You do this piece

and quiet. I love it. That's my favorite time of flight to, favorite time of the day to fly

at night. I love flying all night. It's lovely. Really. I was quite, I was going to say, Andy,

you're, you're so young, incredibly young that you probably never had the, the days when

past June. Oh, yeah, we did. Oh, he did. Oh, sorry, it's a pilot. As a pilot, yeah. No, no,

absolutely not. And I wouldn't allow it even if it was allowed. Now, if they brought it back in

for whatever reason, it's just too risky, in my opinion, to know, um, it's me, especially

with you, especially with you. I do not have time for all these questions. Oh, I feel, I feel

deeply upset now. Yeah, whatever. You'll get over it, Carlos. You'll, you'll find another pilot

to pick on. You'll be fine. Let's not forget, I've seen you operate at 320 in the simulator,

so please do not get in my operating seat. Good for me. I did not mean to touch the weather

part of that scene when there was flying. That was, oh, that was funny. That was funny.

Fiddled. That's yes. Yeah, turbulence. Oh, dear.

If there's one thing I could do, and that's what someone do, text stuff, and then follow through

afterwards again, using what I've learned. That's like, never did follow through from the

sand. I nearly did as well. I'm going to be honest. Carlos, stop pressing buttons, please.

Anyway, it's that it's that pleased to do the clenched teeth, particularly.

Yes. For those things, for those of you coming, coming to the 600 show, well, we'll,

we'll regalia of that story at the Sandra. It was quite the interesting time.

Right. I'll leave you to introduce next part of the show, Matt.

Oh, yes. Okay. That's right. Just throw it at me. That's fine.

Yeah. Okay. Not really sure what to say about this. I think we just got the one story this week.

And it'll be no. And all in a little video as well. Of course. Yeah. Okay. A little video.

Are we doing the video first? I will do the story first and we'll leave a video.

Let's do the story first in which case then. Carlos, it's Nev's favorite part of the show.

Press the button.

Oh, there's a link on it.

And the first story this week comes to us from, if it gets to scroll up,

there we go. Ft.com. Another fine engine, Ft1.com. Blimey.

Japan signs alarm over UK's delays to combat aircraft projects.

Yeah. Surprise. Surprise. We're delaying again.

That Japan is growing increasingly.

Don't fool about the UK's commitment to their joint fighter development program with Italy,

the crucial development work, stalled by British budgetary foot dragging.

Surprise. Surprise. The global combat air program or G cap, which aims to put next

generation fighters in the skies by 2035, is a landmark effort by Japan and the UK.

And Italy to challenge US dominance in military technology.

But a series of delays to the UK's defence investment plan is preventing the signing of a vital

contract for design and development work with Edwing, the commercial joint venture between

the three nations leading defence contractors. Frankly speaking, they said it's a terrible

situation, said one person involved in G cap referring to the hold-up of project work caused by

the UK. A second person involved acknowledged there was a sense of growing frustration on the part

of Japan. In addition to funding questions, two people familiar with the matter also suggested

the two capitals had different priorities for the program. Tokyo's main aim is to produce a new

fighter by the mid-2030s, whereas London and Rome are more interested in G cap producing a

cutting-edge system of systems, a jet that operates in concert with a swarm of drones over less

rigid timetables. One of the people said, one of them added that this could leave the UK tempted

to try and slow the timetable to make it more affordable in the short term. The friction between

the two governments comes at a time when anxieties are rising about the global security because of

the war in the Middle East and an unprecedented U.S. under the Trump administration that has urged

it's NATO allies to do more to defend themselves. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is said to have

tried to resure, I reassure even, his counterparts Sanei Takichi of Britain's commitment to the G cap

project during his visit to Japan this year. Kin Jong was in a tent or was intended to create a

successor to the current generation of jets flown by the three nations, helping to reduce

reliance on more advanced F-35 fighter supplied by the U.S., which are a mainstay for NATO air forces.

So once again, the good old UK slowing things down because we're worried about spending a few

or a few million quid to be fair. And I'm pleased to say that joining us via the interwebs,

I think he's joining us for the last, but his favourite bit of the show. Hello, Nev.

Oh, if only I'd known, I would have stayed off for a bit longer.

Have I missed anything? Anything been happening at all?

Oh no, it's been a very quiet show, Nev, as we said.

Okay. Excellent.

But no, we've just done that story. We have got a video story, Nev, this week sent us from Armando.

So yeah, do you want to, do you want to introduce the video segment from Armando, Nev?

Oh, yes. And he's been doing a regular update for us on the situation in Iran,

hasn't he? And this is the second one of his bit of a look about what's been going on from

an operational point of view and what that means for the guys and girls involved.

Hey, team, US and coalition air operations over Iran this past week are still holding a

steady pace, but the airspace is getting more and more demanding. Strike volume remains high.

In the last 24 hours, we're seeing continued pressure on both sides with ongoing strikes and

continued Iranian missile and drone activity across the region. Over the last seven days,

strike activity has remained consistent with US and and coalition aircraft continuing to target the

missile infrastructure and all of its supporting sites across Iran. Long range bomber missions

are still being flown supported by a steady flow of tanker aircraft, bridging that US into the

Atlantic, into the Middle East, but that structure hasn't changed, but it is being worked hard

in the last 24 hours. There are continued reports of strikes against launch sites,

storage areas along with ongoing air defense activity inside of Iran.

At the same time, Iran continues to launch missiles from drones across the region,

keeping pressure on US positions. All our military bases are partner infrastructure.

There's also a continued movement of personnel and equipment into the theater.

Heavy air lift remains active, reinforcing that this is a sustained operation, not a short-term

surge. So overall, the tempo is stable, but the environment remains active and increasingly

contested. What stands out this week is that operations are no longer happening in a relatively

clean environment like it was at the beginning of the conflict. There are clear signs that Iranian

air defenses are still active and able to reach aircraft operating in and around target areas.

We saw that earlier in the week with a USF-35 that had to divert after a combat mission with

indications that it may have taken enemy fire. All of that is still, well, I don't know if we'll ever

know the answer to that, but that does matter because it shows that even with a strong air power

in place, aircraft are still operating inside of this threat envelope that requires constant

attention from everybody. Over the last 24 hours, that picture hasn't ceased, hasn't eased, continued

air defense activity ongoing strike operations, so just that crews are still flying inside of that

same risk environment with no real reduction in pressure. This does change how missions are flown

instead of focusing purely on timing and weapons delivery crews now have to spend more time

managing risk, watching the enemy picture, the battle space, staying flexible, adjusting in real

time, which is things that we all train for for years and years. At the same time, the support

side of the operation is under pressure. Earlier in the campaign, there was a loss involving a tanker

during refueling operations that just continues to highlight how demanding these missions are,

especially when you're running them continuously. Everything really goes back to timing.

These strike packages depend on multiple aircraft hitting very specific points in space at

very, very specific times, sometimes all the way across the world to a 30 second window.

If anything slips, weather spacing, communications, it absolutely starts to affect everything else.

Now, add a more active threat environment and the margin for error gets even smaller. Again,

something we train for. The aircraft may need to adjust routing, change timing, spend more time

in general managing the situation than an originally planned. All of that just kind of adds friction

to the mission. And over time, that friction builds. The other factor playing in here is endurance.

We're now several weeks into sustained operations. Crews are flying long missions repeatedly.

Maintenance teams are keeping aircraft moving at an incredibly high pace. There is nothing

in the news this week that suggests that the operation is slowing down anymore. But it does

suggest that it's becoming more demanding to maintain. A few other points worth noting this week,

aircraft carrier presence in the region remains slightly reduced compared to earlier in the

campaign with at least one major aircraft carrier operating outside of the immediate strike

carrier after a long deployment. There are also continued signs that strike planning is being

paced carefully and around certain infrastructure targets, suggesting the deliberate control

over any potential escalation. In the last 24 hours, there are ongoing indications of continued

infrastructure, nuclear sites damage across key sites reinforcing that the campaign is focused on

sustained pressure over time. Now, from a cockpit standpoint, this is where operations often start

to feel a little bit different. Early on, everything is structured, everything is predictable.

A few weeks in, the workload starts to shift a little bit. Air refueling becomes more than just

a routine event. It's something that you need to get exactly right because everything depends on

it. You need to manage fuel, you need to manage timing, position, while also keeping track of

everything that's happening around you. But the battle space picker has changed since the forces

planned on going in an initial attack. When the airspace stays active, like we've seen over the

last 24 hours, from a cruise standpoint, your attention gets spread out even more. You're not

just flying the plan, you're constantly adjusting to stay inside of the plan more or less. That's where

the experience of our cruise really matters. Looking ahead, key factor is still sustainability.

Aircraft are there, the weapons are there, the question is whether the tanker support,

the maintenance, the crew endurance can keep up with that pace, and that's what's going to shape

the next phase of this campaign. For now, that's the airpicture for this week.

Thanks for listening, and we will see how this all evolves and pick it up again next week.

Hey, team, US and coalition air operations over around this past week are still holding a

steady pace, but the airspace is getting more and more demanding. Strike volume remains high,

in the last 24 hours, we're seeing continued pressure on both sides with ongoing strikes and

continued Iranian missile and drone activity across the region. Over the last seven days, strike

activity has remained consistent with US and and coalition aircraft continuing to target the

missile infrastructure and all of its supporting sites across Iran. Long range bomber missions are

still being flown supported by a steady flow of tanker aircraft, bridging that US into the Atlantic

into the Middle East, but that structure hasn't changed, but it is being worked hard in the last

24 hours. There are continued reports of strikes against launch sites, storage areas along with

ongoing air defense activity inside of Iran. At the same time, Iran continues to launch missiles

from the drones across the region, keeping pressure on US positions. All our military bases are

partner infrastructure. There's also a continued movement of personnel and equipment into the theater.

Heavy air lift remains active, reinforcing that this is a sustained operation, not a short-term

surge. So overall, the tempo is stable, but the environment remains active and increasingly

contested. What stands out this week is that operations are no longer happening in a relatively

clean environment like it was at the beginning of the conflict. There are clear signs that Iranian

air defenses are still active and able to reach aircraft operating in and around target areas.

We saw that earlier in the week with a USF-35 that had to divert after a combat mission with

indications that it may have taken enemy fire. All of that is still, well, I don't know if we'll

ever know the answer to that, but that does matter because it shows that even with a strong air

power in place, aircraft are still operating inside of this threat envelope that requires constant

attention from everybody. Over the last 24 hours, that picture hasn't ceased, hasn't eased, continued

air defense activity ongoing strike operations suggest that crews are still flying inside of that

same risk environment with no real reduction in pressure. This does change how missions are flown

instead of focusing purely on timing and weapons delivery crews now have to spend more time

managing risk, watching the enemy picture, the battle space, staying flexible, adjusting in real

time, which is things that we all train for for years and years. At the same time, the support

side of the operation is under pressure. Earlier in the campaign, there was a loss involving a tanker

during refueling operations that just continues to highlight how demanding these missions are,

especially when you're running. There we go, and they have just for you, we ran that.

Wow, unbelievable. I'm away for just over an hour and what happens?

And can I ask that we now do that again without referencing it because obviously I will now edit it

also if you just come straight out of it and I'll find the cut point and then just rejoin. So

2023 is my marker point and just come out of it as you would normally Carlos, make sure the

camera's switched to you. Yeah, okay. And thank you Armando for your update this week. We're

going to try and entice Armando to do one of these every week. Well, hopefully fingers crossed,

we'll try and entice Armando to do one these each week. I know that Nev would very much appreciate it

if Armando did the military segment every week. Yeah, definitely.

And no offense to Armando, but I sincerely hope that it won't be necessary for much more than

another few weeks to be fair, of course, because it's horrible. What's happening? Let's be honest.

Absolutely. But we move on to happier things and it is obviously our 600 show, which is

fast approaching 22nd of May this year. Nev, obviously you join us. Good to see you as always.

Any updates on the 600th? Yeah, we have a full house. No more space available. I don't think. So

thank you very much to everyone that is booked to come. Friday the 22nd of May is the date. A couple

of updates for you. We have got confirmed now while the speaker as well, which I'm delighted to

announce that our listener, Derek Smith, known as Grinner in the chat room, has kind of agreed to

give us a presentation about his military and civil aviation career. He says it's a blast through

the last 45 years as he puts it. That's going to be really interesting together with Russell Marriott

from the IWM, the aviation historian who's an expert guide. Alan White will be telling us about

his flying career as well as his varied work on the fixed wing aircraft for the RS Coast Guard.

And also, Armando is going to be giving us a talk about his time in the US military,

whilst based here in the UK, amongst other topics I am sure. So really looking forward to those

for Chaps presenting at our event. Don't forget there'll be a quiz as well for those who are

attending the event. And we'd like to thank John Falk, very much indeed for offering to

providers with some excellent prizes also to Andy as well. It was kind of donating some prizes also.

So we're just offering the Lanyards in the next week or so and also the T-shirts as well. So you've

all given us sizes that you are. I think we've just got one or two stragglers. I'll check that

up tomorrow because we're going to be giving you a 600-show T-shirt. No charge. We're paying for that.

You're very welcome to wear it with pride wherever you can. Yeah, hopefully you're going to get

those ordered very soon. And they'll be hot off the press, quite literally, hot off the press.

And as Nev said, they will be PTK branded with the 600th show on there. So it'll be a bit of a

keep-sake. It will be quite nice. But in the sky blue, we're going for the sky blue again, Nev,

as we have always done in the past. Yeah, nice, lovely. Yeah. So Nev, you've joined us. How are

things? How are things in the Bounds household? Yes, very good. Hectic been all over the place

today. Garden centres, coffees, sausage baps. I've got to try and counteract this weight loss

somehow. But no, it's been a busy week or so. Just putting some final touches to the 600th show

of details, just liaising with the Imperial War Museum again a couple of days this week. But no,

and yeah, very much looking forward to it as well, of course. So it will be a good, a good

doubt for everybody. Yeah, looking forward to it. Absolutely, looking forward to it. Right,

so we're going to start to wrap up this week's show. But Nev, would you like to run through the

socials where people can find more of us online? Of course. If you are social media inclined,

then it's Facebook, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. Just search those platforms for plain talking

UK. You can email the show podcast at plaintalkinguk.com or you can WhatsApp us plus 44,

7446, 975, 214 for comments, your aviation pictures, whatever you like. You can also subscribe

to our YouTube channel. You'll get notifications when we go live and you can help shape the

conversation of the show by joining us in the chat room as many people have done today. Just go to

youtube.com and search for plain talking UK. Don't forget to press the subscribe and the like button

as well. As you know, this show does not come completely free of charge for at least for us.

So we are very pleased to offer you the possibility of contributing to it. And a lot of people

already do. And we're very, very grateful indeed, both on Patreon and by PayPal as well. Just go

to our website plaintalkinguk.com and you'll see a button on the top right hand side which says

support us. If you feel you can assist us with any donations, we would be very grateful to receive

them from you. All the details on our website there. Yes, thank you very much indeed,

never for that. So hopefully we'll be back again next week with the next show. But quick round

robin of what everyone is up to, what the team is up to for the rest of the week and the

weekend. So we'll start with you Andy. Any exciting things going on with you? I am very busy.

So as I said, I'm not here next week because I'll be Danny Cowick. I am flying. I am instructing.

I'm doing all of my job next week for once, which is nice. Rest of this week working from home and

then got a gig on Saturday night that I'm playing with a few friends, which should be good fun.

So yeah, keeping busy. Excellent. And just for the benefit of the listeners who might not know,

Andy, what is the instrument that you are playing? Ah, play everything. piano, guitar, bass,

ukulele, anything with strings on, I can play it. Yeah, it's got fun. Jack of all trades.

Master of none. And, Neve, how about you? Yeah, fairly quietish week, although, of course,

tomorrow is being Thursday. It's the keep fit day for the over 60s where we go in feeling very

fit and we leave not being able to move for about two days. It's got off and the lady that takes

the class takes no prisoners, that's for sure. But it's for our own good, apparently. So that's

the thing. I still can't, Jen, you believe that you're over 60 there. Seriously. It's still

very nice. I can't, I can't give a head around it. I don't understand how that's happened.

Well, I'm halfway between 60 and 70, because I mean, my 65th year. So, yes, in November,

stop talking about, stop it. It'd be 65. So, but yeah, I'm surprised I made it this far to be

perfect answer to you. And a lot of people have said that to me as well. Well, we, we're very

relieved you have, sir, a long way, long way there be another 40 or 50 years to come.

Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know about that. Anyway, so yeah, bit of, bit of keep it tomorrow,

bit of swimming Thursday and Friday. And then it's the weekend again. So the week, I tell you what,

when you're retired, you think that the week might drag a bit because you're so used to be so

busy at work, believe me, it doesn't. It goes just as quickly, if not more quickly,

than when I was working full time. That's, that's definitely the case. Your own is old as a car

you drive, Nev. Exactly right. Yeah. Oh, that's a very, uh, we end up version to the one I know,

Carlos. Well, anyway, how are you, Mr. Smith? Well, next week, I'm afraid I'm not here either.

Oh, yes. Where are you going? Well, I'm going to be in the Norwegian Fjords.

Next week. Uh, so I see on daytime TV. Sure. Why not? Uh, yeah, I can't wait. It's going to be

lovely. Um, uh, mums taking me away this time, which is nice. Um, she's taking me off to the

Norwegian Fjords. We've got, uh, one of these fancy little mini sweet things on onto board.

I'm very much looking forward to got our own little conservative tree that we can sit outside

and watch the northern lights if they should appear. So, uh, so yeah, so a very special week that

all starts on Sunday for me. So very much looking forward to that. Oh, that'd be nice. I'll take

you. You got, uh, uh, a hat and scarf, I was going to say, and I'll go and coat. Yeah,

well, no, we're in a conservatory. So we'll just sit outside and turn the heating up. That's how it

works. That's fresh air. That lovely. I mean, I'll do that one. I go for me morning walk around

the deck, I think. Uh, that'll be enough for me. So, um, you're passing through Oslo, you could

pop in and see Darren Smith, couldn't you? Oh, I don't know. I mean, if the, if the boat that is

the size of what I can only describe as a, as a floating city, um, I mean, uh, our room is 5,321.

It's, uh, yeah, yeah, it's, it's quite a scary, um, yeah. Um, yeah, I don't, I don't want to think

about the legit, you know, like the, the science behind, behind how something like that floats.

But, uh, yeah, it's, uh, yeah, if it was possible, I would, we would absolutely drop in for coffee,

but, uh, yeah, perhaps I was coming to see us on the, on the, on the, on the shoreline or something.

I don't know. Yeah. It's, uh, I have done a cruise once before. I did a Fred Olson one. This is

with P&O. Um, and so, yeah, it'll quite, quite excited. The, the, the room, I'm looking forward to the

room and, uh, couple of nights of entertainment are with, um, actual, right, like, real, like, people

off the tally. Uh, so a couple of the nights, uh, entertainment are with people off the tally,

which I'm sort of quite looking forward to. So, uh, so yeah, it's going to be fun. I should tell

you all about it upon my return. Darren Smith and the chatroom says Matt, uh, Operation cold

responses in progress. So keep an eye for fighter jets. He says, oh, goodie. Right. Okay. I was

kind of hoping, I was kind of hoping going out of that way that I could sort of forget that

that was happening to be honest with you. I must admit, we out, both me and mum have been sat

there terrified looking, looking at our emails waiting for our unit to pay us more money because,

you know, we haven't got enough fuel or something. You know what I mean? It's just like,

that's the only thing I've been a little bit nervous about is that the, you know, the fuel to,

to power the boat's gone through the roof. But as Masha says in a chatroom, Matt, it sounds lovely.

Yes, I hope so. I hope so. Yeah, well, because it's, if Carlos and I, it's, uh, it's a big year,

isn't it Carlos? It's a big year this year. It is a big year this year. And this is, uh, and I

fully plan on starting now until my actual birthday. Do it filling it, filling this year with lots of

things in the lead up to that. But yeah, it should be good looking forward to it. Excellent.

And I will be just dude, but I don't be doing a weekend, probably sleeping, falling asleep,

sleeping. And if the forecast days as it is, I should be lighting the wood burner on this weekend.

Well, yes, quite. Absolutely. But, uh, yes. So that is where we are going to bring episode five,

nine, four to a close. Big thanks to all the awesome chat room tonight. Thanks to everyone in there,

all the usual family members in there tonight joining us. Thank you very much indeed. Also,

big thanks to everyone who downloads the shows and audio podcasts each week. Massive thanks to you

as well. And don't forget to send us in an email. Say hello. Let us know what you up to. That'd be

nice. You could also leave us for a view as well on the many places where you download the show

from. So that's it for the show. I, as never's here now, I'm going to leave never to close the show

for this week so I can press all the buttons. Take it away. Very good. Well, yes. Thanks for joining

tonight. Sorry, I was a bit late on duty, but, uh, needs must, you know, and hope everyone has a

great rest of the week and the weekend. We'll be back at seven o'clock on Wednesday of next week.

Hope you have a great time. Bye for now.