BHX-BRU on SNBA 3rd November 2004

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Comet
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BHX-BRU on SNBA 3rd November 2004

Post by Comet »

On 3rd November 2004 we went to Brussels for the day to buy some beer. We got up at 05:15 that morning, had a banana and a hot drink and then walked to New Street station to catch the 06:27 train to Birmingham International. We arrived at BHX at 06:44, caught the Sky Rail to the terminal and then went to Eurohub to check in.

We were checked in by British Airways, who also gave us the boarding passes for our return flight later that day. On the outward flight we had been given seats 10A and 10C, leading me to think we would be flying on an Avro, a repeat of our first ever SNBA flight, which was also SN2038, back in March.

We sat in the departure lounge and spotted whilst we waited for our aircraft to arrive. Main sightings were Ryanair 737, CSA 737, KLM Fokker jet, Aer Lingus 737 and Continental 757 arriving from Newark.

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A British Airways ARJ is pushed back from terminal 2.

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The BA ARJ completes its push back.

The space in front of where we were sitting was empty, and it was nearly time for flight SN2037 to land. I could see the handlers preparing for an imminent arrival, so I kept my fingers crossed that we would be lucky, but no....

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This is what arrived in the vacant space. This ARJ was operating a flight to CDG.

Shortly after 08:00, the moment I had been waiting for finally arrived...

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OO-SSK parked at the terminal in BHX.

I was surprised to see that we would be going in an A319 after all, and even more surprised that the aircraft had parked near where we were sitting.

I watched the CDG passengers being called to board, and the it was our turn!! At 08:28 we were called to board flight SN2038 to Brussels. We walked through door C and gate 14. I was wearing my Luchtzak tee shirt, and had waited for this moment for weeks!! It was great to be flying to Brussels again!!!

We were greeted on boarding by a male purser, who offered us a newspaper and a copy of Connect. Two stewardesses were in the back of the aircraft. VC10 thought the purser may have been on our first ever Sabena flight in 2000, but I don't know if he was.

I was pleased to see that we were sitting in the exit row, more legroom on these comfortable leather seats. It couldn't get any better!

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The view from seat 10A.

The scheduled departure time of SN2038 is 08:50, but we were pushed back at 08:46 - great! The screens kept going up and down, before they finally stayed where they were and the safety video was shown. So we would never know if the steward had been on our first ever Sabena flight.

We taxied to the runway, and waited whilst the British Airways ARJ took off for Paris, and a Flybe BAe 146 took off, before it was our turn. Behind us I could see a little ERJ of Swedish carrier City Airline moving into take off position behind us.

Then we were off! After a relatively short run, we were airborne and climbing through the clouds, with some turbulence. Click on here to see a video of the take off

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The current copy of Connect.

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The cloud over Birmingham.

It was cloudy throughout the flight. The screen showed an information map with the aircraft's position, speed, height and time remaining. That was a nice addition to the flight, and was absent from our last A319 flight.

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The information screen.

The two stewardesses began handing out the in flight snack. It consisted of a pleasant cheese sandwich in a bread roll, a cinnamon-flavoured muffin and a carton of tropical fruit juice. I had orange instead of the juice, but the rest was nice.

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The in flight snack.

I checked the screen when we were over London, and our highest point of the flight was 30,000 feet, with a ground speed of 565 miles per hour.

Shortly after crossing the Channel, we began our descent into Belgium.

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Descending into Belgium.

The stewardesses handed out the Neuhaus chocolates, and I took three yellow label ones, and they are very nice :mrgreen:

We made a smooth descent into Brussels and touched down on 25L at 10:46. It was great to be back in my favourite airport and my favourite country again after seven weeks!

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Touch down in Brussels.

We taxied to the terminal.

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United Airlines Boeing 767.

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United Airlines Boeing 767.

I also saw a Delta 767 but it was at the wrong side. Other notables were a Loftleidir Icelandic and a white 737 with Virgin Express titles.

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JAT, Turkish Airlines and bmi at the terminal.

After leaving the aircraft we caught the sh*tty thing into Brussels (we even got one which had armrests at the seats!) and savoured the rest of the day in my favourite capital city!

The flight had been great (though not so great as my first one back in March) and had a load factor around 50%.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by Avro »

Thanks for the very nice report Louise.

About the loadfactor. how many pax were seated in business class ?

Chris

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Post by Comet »

Thanks for your comments Chris. I am sorry but I have no idea how the load factor was in business class, we were the first to board the aircraft and it was hard to see sometimes if a seat was occupied or not, and the curtain also obscured the view.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

Jense

Post by Jense »

Nice report.

See, the A319 of SN isn't soooo bloody as you thought :wink:

greettzzz

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Re: BHX-BRU on SNBA 3rd November 2004

Post by sn26567 »

Thanks for nice report, Louise.
Comet wrote:I was surprised to see that we would be going in an A319 after all.
Everybody told you so since a long time already!

Glad you appreciated the Brussels Bistro modge-in-the-box! ;-)
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Post by Comet »

Thanks for comments Jense and Andre.

Jense - I liked the A319 when I first flew on it, but I really wanted to do a take off video like I did with the Avro, and finally got the chance in this flight. This flight was better than the September one because we had the extra legroom and no one in the seat beside us, so we could out the empty boxes on the table of the unoccupied seat instead of having our tables down waiting for the boxes to be cleared away. It was much more comfortable like that :mrgreen:

Andre - I know everyone told me it would be an A319, but I had been told that my first ever Sabena flight would be an A319 as well, and it was substituted then by a regional jet. When I said I was surprised by the A319 arriving, it was because of the seats we had been given - 10A and C, and I thought it was weird if that was an Airbus why we had not got A and B. I usually work out what we are going on by the seat number we are given, knowing that the Avros do not have a B seat. I had been expecting an ARJ to arrive that morning.

The meal was nice, and I was really hungry as well. The service was very efficient, professional and friendly, like we used to get on Sabena, I have nothing but praise for the SNBA crews we have come across, but the flight was not as memorable as my first SNBA flight back in March because on that occasion I had no idea what to expect with the airline, and I now rate my first SNBA flight as the best one I have had, ever.

It was also nice to get the information shown on the screen. Other snippets from the screen - distance to destination from Birmingham - 286 miles. Expected duration of flight - 50 minutes. The names of the crew were given, but I won't put them in here because I don't know how to spell them.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by VC10 »

The last time we had what I would call "Modge-in-a box" was on our flight from MAN to BRU in September, since then the food has been OK. :lol: :lol:
The Voice of Freedom will never be silenced.

Trisha

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Post by Comet »

Apologies but the video of the take off is no longer available thanks to Tripod (I still have the video on my computer and in the camera but not on the internet). I do not know why bloody Tripod allow you to place a video on your site then they delete it under "violations of the terms of service" when people try to view it :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

I will try and do something about it somehow.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by Sabena_690 »

Thanks for the report!

SN did what they are expected to do: transport people from point A to B in a comfortable, efficient way, and on time.

Would like to see more A319's of them in the EU skies as they are much more comfortable in comparison with the ARJ, but that's only wishful thinking I'm afraid.

Frederic
Brussels Airlines - Flying Your Way

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Post by B744skipper »

Thank you for sharing this report with us Louise.
I like the (amount of) pictures that you included. :wink:

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Post by Comet »

Frederic - I too would like to see more A319s around as I agree they are very comfortable. SNBA are doing more A319 flights to the UK just now, BHX has more A319 services - the overnighter SN2049 is A319 and currently the first BRU-BHX departure of the day is A319. The rest are ARJs.

Fabian - thanks for your comments. I always think photos add "atmosphere" to a flight report and I try and include them when I possibly can. The videos are always a problem though, it is hard to find a server where they will not just be swiped :(
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by Comet »

The video showing take off through the window of the A319 is now on this link http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4287284129

If you want to see it just scroll down the list to item 126, that is the video. It is now in mpeg format because QuickTime is a pile of :censored: I will need to get it installed again at a later date because it was causing my browser to keep crashing (the earlier version never did this, just the latest - QuickTime 6) :evil:
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by Comet »

Just as an after thought, that was the first time ever that we landed in Brussels and could leave the aircraft right away without having to wait for a bus to take us to the terminal. Normally being bussed around BRU has been one of the delights of arriving there :lol:
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by MSS658 »

nice report

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