Happened on Monday. Apparent fault in the aircon system. Still in MEL getting repaired.
Yes fuel stop. Hawaii, Guam and Fiji are the 3 most often used if required when heading from the US to Australia and the aircraft doesn’t have the range
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What’s the flight experience like?
It would fly like a commercial jet aircraft, so very smooth.
I assume it’s pretty well fitted out, so it would very nice experience.
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I haven’t flown in hers 
It all depends on the individual fit out as people have different requests as to wants or needs.
Most have very good dynamics and handle turbulence well and offer a smooth ride and have a high level of sound suppression. Would be a very comfortable flight
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I flew Sri Lankan from Delhi to Melbourne in October. Quick stopover in Colombo. It was an A330, which is quite an old plane, but it seemed well maintained and it was a pleasant flight. 1-2-1 lie flat business configuration.
The were pretty decent at one stage but they are in deep financial strife now and I fear some corners are being cut. They still have delays due to some airports refusing to refuel them until cash is deposited in their account
I think as an airline they’ve been broke for years, but the Government keeps them flying, presumably for national pride. I did know that before I flew and I wondered about the safety, but decided I’d take the risk. You’ll be relieved to know that the plane didn’t crash. Or run out of fuel.
They were absolutely fantastic when Emirates owned them but the Sri Lankan government purchased it in 2008 and it’s gone backwards ever since to the point they are trying to flog it off now.
My favourite of those low-cost full-service airlines is Vietnam Airlines, but in Europe they only fly to Paris and London. They have great planes, mostly A350s, at least the ones I’ve flown.
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Frankfurt also which is a great hub.
Yes they are a gem though
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Vietnam airlines are great.
They didn’t kick me off a flight once despite passing out waiting in line to board because I was enormously hungover/dehydrated.
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I have flown with Vietnam Air a few times, and have been impressed. The first flight was from Bkk to HCMC on an old Tupolev. It was a bit disconcerting when we first got to see clouds of mist falling from the aircon, but it was just starting up. To this day it remains the most comfortable flight l have ever been on, The take off was so smooth we couldn’t tell when we had actually lifted off, nor when we had actually touched down either.
Vietnam Airlines had a couple of big crashes in the Tupolev with a heap of fatalities.
There was still an old abandoned one parked at SGN when we were last there, paint has faded but you can still make out the old livery
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There was also for many years an abandoned Caravelle at the city end of Don Mueang.
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Yeah, the old Air Cambodge Caravelle was still there when we last went through Don Mueang which would have been around 2010. We have only used Suvarnabhumi since then so no idea if it’s still there but I’m guessing it still would be
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Courchevel PC-12 accident.
This is quite a challenging airport in the Alps, with a 18.5° up-slope and a huge snowbank at the end.
Inevitably there are accidents every year, usually not fatal, but some are.
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The things that can go wrong at Courchevel.
This is a previous accident in a Piper Malibu
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A rather late rotation severely damages a Embraer 195.
A Marathon Embraer ERJ-195 on behalf of Air Serbia, registration OY-GDC performing flight JU-324 from Belgrade (Serbia) to Dusseldorf (Germany) with 106 people on board, had lined up runway 30L at taxiway D5 (TORA/TODA/ASDA 1273 meters/4175 feet) and departed at 17:38L (16:38Z), but overran the end of the runway before becoming airborne. Following a collision with the high precision approach lights of runway 12R past the end of the runway the aircraft became airborne about 500 meters/1650 feet past the runway end, climbed through 50 feet AGL about 2050 meters/6700 feet past the runway end, stopped the climb at 4000 feet, burned off fuel and returned to Belgrade for a landing on runway 30L without further incident about 55 minutes after departure. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
Moral of the story - don’t mess with the HIRDLICKER
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They are getting ready for the float I’d presume. Hopefully Qatar end up with the keys
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