Flybe

[textarea]Hunt for glider after Exeter plane comes within seconds of mid-air collision

An Exeter-bound passenger plane came within seconds of disaster when it almost collided with a mystery glider in mid-air over East Devon.

The Flybe aircraft carrying up to 78 people missed the unidentified light aircraft by around 300ft (91m) on the final approach to the runway at Exeter Airport.

A report by the UK Airprox Board concluded the near-collision, on January 2 at 1.30pm, was caused by a "late sighting" of the glider by the pilot.

The report adds that the primary radar system at the airport was out of service at the time of the incident after developing a fault during the Christmas break when the supplier was closed.The airline pilot managed to avoid the mid-air collision during the 'busy' phase of the inbound flight from Newcastle, travelling at around 200mph.[/textarea]

Full newspaper article at http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/H ... story.html

The article added that the incident occurred in uncontrolled airspace and that the glider (never subsequently identified) was not indicated to the Flybe pilot on the aircraft's collision avoidance system.

The report said both pilots shared an equal responsibility "not to fly in such proximity as to create a collision hazard".

It said the pilot would probably have been "startled" to see a glider. But added that it was entitled to operate in the 'uncontrolled' airspace, and said the airliner pilot was required to "give way" to the glider.

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I know Exeter isn't exactly Heathrow but it still sees it's fair share of passenger airliners so one has to wonder why the airspace on it's approach path is classed as 'uncontrolled'?

Glasgow

Flybe will reinstate EDI-GLA from the end of October flying 4 x weekly (Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays).

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/1 ... southampto

Flybe is retiming its flights between Exeter and London City. Judging from the comments of posters at the bottom of the linked article it's not being universally welcomed by regular travellers.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/B ... story.html

Passenger fined for not turning his phone off on Exeter to Amsterdam flight

Full article at below link.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....er-Amsterdam/story-29211695-detail/story.html

Got off pretty lightly at court in my opinion, but these people invariably seem to.

Terror in the air as Flybe flight prepares for emergency landing at Exeter Airport

A plane passenger has described the terrifying ordeal she endured on her flight home when the aircraft she was onboard developed a problem with its brakes.

Mitzi Stapleton and the other passengers on the Flybe flight from Palma Mallorca when it had to circle around Exeter Airport for an hour to burn off fuel. During that time they were issued safety advice, including being taught the brace position, because of concerns over the ability of the plane to land as a result of the fault.

The airport was closed and the emergency services were called to be on standby, but they were not required as the plane managed to land safely.

Full article at this link.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....eter-airport/story-29758616-detail/story.html

Usual 'panic in the skies' story but I suppose it probably was frightening to some of the passengers. The article suggested a link with another incident recently when the airport had to be closed. However, the aircraft on that occasion was not a Flybe aircraft although it had been serviced at the airline's EXT maintenance facility.

I suspect the Flybe aircraft with the brakes problem was an E195 and not the Dash 8 used to illustrate the article. This newspaper seems to use the same Dash 8 picture whenever they have a Flybe story.

nothing like a lot of news paper drama.how ever serious it was,they all landed safe which is the main thing.

Flybe Winter 2017/18
Alicante 3 weekly E190
Amsterdam 7 weekly
Belfast City 4 weekly
Chambery 1 weekly from December
Dublin 5 weekly
Edinburgh 7 weekly
Faro 2 weekly in November resumes 20th December 2 weekly then only 1 flight in Jan none in Feb
Glasgow 4 weekly
Guernsey 6 weekly
Jersey 6 weekly
London City 5 weekly
Malaga 2 weekly E190
Manchester 19 weekly
Newcastle 6 weekly
Norwich 4 weekly E190
Paris CDG 7 weekly

London City seems to have been cut back. I seem to remember it was reduced (from 3 x daily to 2 x daily?) a few months after the route began a year or two ago. I thought it was doing all right at 2 x daily. I thought that MAN was 4 x daily (on weekdays anyway) with a reduction at weekends. 19 x weekly suggests this is being cut back too.

Elsewhere on this website mention has been made of Flybe's intention to cut back on capacity within its network.

TheLocalYokel said:

London City seems to have been cut back. I seem to remember it was reduced (from 3 x daily to 2 x daily?) a few months after the route began a year or two ago. I thought it was doing all right at 2 x daily. I thought that MAN was 4 x daily (on weekdays anyway) with a reduction at weekends. 19 x weekly suggests this is being cut back too.

Elsewhere on this website mention has been made of Flybe's intention to cut back on capacity within its network.

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LCY departs in the morning and is a late evening return. I believe they use it to fly AMS. I think it does EXT-LCY-AMS-EXT-AMS-LCY-EXT. They used to do the same with CDG until they dropped it from LCY in favour of AMS. I believe that there just isn't the demand from EXT for a 2 daily LCY and this gives EXT the best of both worlds. Hopefully BE will do something similar with CWL's LCY route.
MAN is 3 daily Monday to Friday and 2 daily on the weekend. I think Flybe will in the future will be more cautious about new routes and probably new bases as well.

Jerry said:

MAN is 3 daily Monday to Friday and 2 daily on the weekend. I think Flybe will in the future will be more cautious about new routes and probably new bases as well.

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That will be a reduction from the present frequency which is 4 x daily on M,Tu,W,Th F and 3 x daily on both Sat and Sun. So both LCY and MAN are showing significant reductions next winter.

Palma

It's been reported on another aviation website that the weekly Thomas Cook summer Palma flight, operated on Saturdays by one of the company's BRS-based A321s routing BRS-PMI-EXT-PMI-BRS, will not happen in summer 2018.

Instead, the service will be operated by Flybe on Sundays with speculation that they will use a Dash 8-400.

Press release from Exeter Airport

https://www.exeter-airport.co.uk/next-winters-flybe-schedule-launched/

I've highlighted in bold some of the improvements.

8 MARCH 2018
Next Winter’s Flybe Schedule Launched


Book flights now until mid-Jan 2019

Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline with its headquarters at Exeter Airport, has announced the first phase of its 2018/19 Winter programme. Seats are on sale earlier than ever and are currently available for travel between 28 October 2018 and 13 January 2019.

The Key Highlights of Flybe’s 2018-19 Winter schedule for Exeter:

• Ski routes: Chambery and Geneva
• Winter Sun routes: Alicante and Malaga with expanded schedule to Faro
• Improved weekend schedule on key routes from Exeter with later Sunday returns from Amsterdam, Jersey, Guernsey and Manchester and return of weekend flights to Norwich
• Extra seasonal frequency on many routes including to Glasgow, Belfast City, Dublin and Newcastle
• Bookings can now be made for travel between 28 October 2018 and 13 January 2019 at Flybe.com with car parking at exeter-airport.co.uk/parking

Flybe is providing unparalleled air travel to and from local regional airports to destinations across the UK and mainland Europe, cutting travel time and costs for both business and leisure travel. The airline’s flight network is featuring 127 routes and a choice of up to 2,683 flights a week throughout the UK and mainland Europe.

Flybe’s eleven codeshare partners can also connect passengers seamlessly to the rest of the world through Flybe’s international hubs. Check out the ‘One Stop to the World’ link at that details all the connectivity options available.

Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer, Roy Kinnear, comments: “It is great news for our customers that this year we are putting our 2018/19 Winter schedule on sale earlier than ever before. It gives plenty of time for decision making but also allows regular winter travellers the chance to make their plans. We have an extensive choice of destinations not only for winter getaways but also for essential business travel with the opportunity to book the lowest possible fares. Flybe’s network makes it easier than ever for our customers to travel from regional airports close to where they live, saving valuable time, effort and money.”

Although next winter's improved schedule is obviously very welcome I'm a bit surprised that Flybe hasn't increased the number of routes generally that it flies from EXT. Given the increase at CWL and the likely further increase next year, EXT doesn't seem to have expanded much in terms of the route network compared with the number of routes that Flybe used to operate but are no longer in place.

Brest, Avignon, Hanover are some that used to operate and the likes of Munich, Berlin Tegel, Rome FCO would surely find a market. Perhaps the regular daily flights to MAN to link in with Flybe flights from there is one reason why Flybe isn't providing an increased network of direct flights from EXT.

It may be because EXT is mostly Q400 and the only E jet is tied up with Spain. They may not have enough jets to expand to say Italy.

Are they still doing EXT-LCY ?

I flew a few times LPL-EXT it was very handy, but the went bit of a pity.

Carl0927 said:

Are they still doing EXT-LCY ?

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Yes 1 rotation a day. I believe it operates EXT-LCY-AMS-EXT-AMS-LCY-EXT Monday to Friday then a morning flight on Saturdays and afternoon on Sundays.

Jerry said:

It may be because EXT is mostly Q400 and the only E jet is tied up with Spain. They may not have enough jets to expand to say Italy.

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Jethro's Fleet listings shows four E175s on order with a number of Q400s to be disposed of this year. The Exeter region is probably the most economically dynamic of the Devon/Cornwall area and with Flybe headquartered at EXT perhaps there will be movement in terms of additional routes in a year or two.

Carl0927 said:

Are they still doing EXT-LCY ?

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EXT-LCY carried 33,600 passengers in 2017. EXT-MAN was easily the airport's busiest route with 130,500 passengers in 2017 - CAA stats.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/popular-sun-routes-return-winter-1554088

Malaga and Alicante return this winter. I'm not sure if they flew last winter with Flybe.