Have you battened down your hatches??

[Blue Hills]

On Sunday morning I flew into Stansted on Pegasus Air ( budget Turkish airline). The pilot called off the first attempt at landing and we didn't actually touchdown. It was a pretty scary attempt and the poor girl opposite was throwing up. We circled at altitude for 45 mins then made another attempt. This one was even rougher and I threw up. The pilot grew a large set of cojones and put us down firmly on the tarmac and we all clapped. It was the scariest flight I have ever been on.

The trains were all cancelled so I had to wait 4 hrs for a coach.

Glad you made it - I'm not a particularly nervous flier but I think I'd find that pretty terrifying - you can't stay up there forever and if a trained pilot aborts he clearly has a good reason.

Any idea why he waited so long for the second attempt?

 

[Blue Hills]

I was surprised my flight arriving at M/cr just before 8am on Sunday touched down 1st time. On the approach we were bobbing around all over the show, engine power was on/off/on/off repeatedly as the pilot fought the violent gusts. I fully expected the landing to be aborted because of the extreme rolling movements which threatened to slam the wings into the runway, then suddenly we touched down like we had landed on a pillow, possibly one of the softest plane touchdowns I have ever experienced.
I was of course grinning like the Cheshire cat all the way in because I must have a bit of a thrill seeking streak and it was quite an exciting ride!

>>"I was of course grinning like the Cheshire cat all the way in because I must have a bit of a thrill seeking streak and it was quite an exciting ride!"

Glad I wasn't with you. You would have freaked me out - did you freak the other passengers out?

Were you by chance singing "yippee we're all going to die"?

 

[I like Skol]

Were you by chance singing "yippee we're all going to die"?

Not quite. There were only about 20-30 people on the flight and I had a row to myself, but was thinking "He's going to do well to put this down nicely" and he did.

I was also wondering if we end up sliding down the runway with no wheels would the plane set on fire. Just idle curiosity....

 

[ColinJ]

Not quite. There were only about 20-30 people on the flight and I had a row to myself, but was thinking "He's going to do well to put this down nicely" and he did.

I was also wondering if we end up sliding down the runway with no wheels would the plane set on fire. Just idle curiosity....

You are the reincarnation of Major Kong and ICMFP!

 

[Blue Hills]

Not quite. There were only about 20-30 people on the flight and I had a row to myself, but was thinking "He's going to do well to put this down nicely" and he did.

I was also wondering if we end up sliding down the runway with no wheels would the plane set on fire. Just idle curiosity....

The other 70 passengers had seen you in the departure lounge and left the terminal.
You are the angel of death.

 

[Fab Foodie]

On Sunday morning I flew into Stansted on Pegasus Air ( budget Turkish airline). The pilot called off the first attempt at landing and we didn't actually touchdown. It was a pretty scary attempt and the poor girl opposite was throwing up. We circled at altitude for 45 mins then made another attempt. This one was even rougher and I threw up. The pilot grew a large set of cojones and put us down firmly on the tarmac and we all clapped. It was the scariest flight I have ever been on.

The trains were all cancelled so I had to wait 4 hrs for a coach.

It’s all part of the glamour of jet-set international travel!

 

[classic33]

With another night of stiff breezes still going on. And the wind over the weekend, the irony is the local windfarm has applied the brakes, as well as feathering the blades, so they're not generating anything.

The only one seen working was a three metre one on a local farm. The rest are doing nothing.

 

[Globalti]

A pal of mine has a small 12v wind turbine at his cottage on the cliffs in Pembrokeshire. One very windy day it was spinning like mad and he noticed strands of brown stuff streaming out of the back of the alternator, which he realised was the resin insulation from the windings. Deciding he had better stay away he watched through the bathroom window as the alternator overheated and seized and the blades flew off, one slicing through one of the steel guys allowing the mast to break and the turbine to topple slowly over, the boss punching a neat hole in the roof of his new Passat estate. Oops.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Just woken up to grey cloud, snow, and thunder and lightning.

Oh, and it's still windy.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Still wild out, had a short very heavy snow fall, weird..

 

[Beebo]

4 idiots rescued from Ben Nevis in trainers with no maps or winter equipment.
they should have to pay the rescue costs. You wouldn’t walk up Ben Nevis in June like that let alone in a howling gale and blizzard.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-51447226

 

[PeteXXX]

Some idiot even took the dog for a walk around Pitsford Res!!

 

[Yellow Saddle]

I raised the periscope this morning but hell is still loose out there.

 

[Globalti]

Got a bad bit of roofing around a kitchen flue that sticks up though our roof on the west side and on Sunday we had rivulets of water running down the kitchen wall. Went up and placed a bucket to catch the drips, went up again last night and the bucket was 1/4 full and a gale howling round the attic as somebody has absolutely massacred the sarking felt in that area and I think the wind is blowing water in.

 

[ColinJ]

4 idiots rescued from Ben Nevis in trainers with no maps or winter equipment.
they should have to pay the rescue costs. You wouldn’t walk up Ben Nevis in June like that let alone in a howling gale and blizzard.

I was in Scotland at the end of May in 2011. My family were planning a walk up Ben Nevis with their dogs but I took one look at the weather forecast and called it off. There was some muttering about it being nearly June. Then we read about this tragedy...

As for 'battening down the hatches'... despite everything in the house being closed there is a freezing draught coming through the building. There was excessive ventilation in the cellar so I have blocked off about 75% of the vents - there was enough air coming through to flap the pages of a newspaper! I can't block any more though because the cellar can get damp and I don't want to risk the woodwork rotting.

I can't believe how much cold air is coming down from my big attic bedroom round the door at the foot of the stairs. I haven't a clue how the cold air is getting into that room. I really hope that I haven't lost a chunk of the roof! (Nervous inspection trip outside is scheduled for later...)

I think I will just put some duct tape round the edge of the door for the next few windy days and not use that room. The heating is only managing to get the room to about 8-10 degrees anyway with all that air blowing through.

This storm is supposed to have originated in Texas about a week ago. A mate of mine is out there and said that they had one day at 0 degrees C and the next day it went up to 26 degrees!