To La Rochelle/from Bordeaux with Ryanair.

[airazurxtror]

Last friday :
Charleroi-La Rochelle, flight FR 4071, 26,91 euros - Boeing 737-800 EI-DYP
STD 06.30 - push-back 06.31, take-off 06.43 from runway 07
STA 08.00 - landing 07.58

The flight was uneventful; the landing was a bit unusual, I enjoyed it. (It should be noted that I am not a pilot and that the following is based on my impressions as a passenger).
La Rochelle has a runway 09/27 (just east-west !).
Arriving from the north-east, we made a left turn west of the airport, then following more or less a parallel to the runway; then a 180° turn to the left, to align with runway 27, I guess. Flaps half down, making a normal descent to land.
We were already rather low, in finals when the pilot applied power - not full power in order to gain altitude but just to maintain the same low altitude, keeping the flaps in the same position and banking a bit to the right. He then made a 180° turn to the left (by then we had made a complete circle round the airport) and landed on runway 09.
Was it because of a sudden change of wind direction, I don't know - there was not much wind, it seemed.

La Rochelle has one of the smallest terminals that I know ! An urban bus takes you to the place de Verdun in 15 minutes. I had a look at la Rochelle, a nice and picturesque little town - then took the train to Bordeaux - a 2 hours ride.

From Bordeaux Saint-Jean (the main railway station), a bus takes you to the airport at Mérignac in 30 minutes (the bus goes now via the south périphérique - not long ago, it was via the city center and took around 50 minutes)).

Bordeaux Mérignac - Charleroi, flight FR1389, 31,69 euros - Boeing 737-800 EI-DHX
STD 17.20 - push-back 17.43, take-off 17.54
STA 18.55 - landing 19.06 on 07, engines off 19.08

Departure from Billi, the low-cost terminal, rather crowded today; I had not bought a seat of my choice and I ended up with 11C : aisle, and no window - no left window on row 11 !
Flight completely uneventful - uncharacteristically, not a word "from the flight deck" during the flight.

[sn26567]

Nice report. Thank you.

What was the load factor of these flights? I guess the return flight from BOD was pretty full, but the flight to La Rochelle? Who would want to fly there?

[EBAW_flyer]

Sounds like a normal procedure called a "circling approach". This is because there is no instrument approach on runway 09. So you would make an instrument approach on the opposite runway (27 in this case) followed by a break-off and perform a visual maneuver to land on the other side.
The wind was probably just a little too strong to land on runway 27.

[airazurxtror]

What was the load factor of these flights? I guess the return flight from BOD was pretty full, but the flight to La Rochelle? Who would want to fly there?

Yes, the flight from Bordeaux was full, and the flight to La Rochelle was pretty full, too.
The region of La Rochelle is touristic (it has a large "port de plaisance" and the île de Ré is nearby).

[fets]

I returned from LRH once in 2010 I think... it is indeed "just a bus station"... We were staying on Ile de Ré at the time, but I had to get back to Belgium for work. I returned to France by TGV since it was more convenient...

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Another report of a nice day trip !
Like your own invented day trips and special combinations...
Visited Bordeaux last year, Sabena technics and ZERO G airbus were the two main view-points that day..
Pity Volotea cancelled their flights to LILLE LESQUIN, would have been nice to catch up a B717
Keep on flying !


CXB