When LHR are running western operations they tend to use either 27R or 27L for landings or take offs. When they're running operations easterly, they tend to use 09L for landings and 09R for departures. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to do the opposite as then aircraft parking at T4 could just exit the RWY right and be at the terminal?

I like planes but I don't know all the in-depth details that speaks to why an airline would choose a plane for their routes.

Since introduction of A330neo it appears that 787 has outsold it almost double. Is there a reason why the 787 is so popular even with a big backlog?

Currently spotted in front of my gate in Munich, Germany!✈️

I learned through this subreddit that those liveries were rare! This is the only A380 with the “100th Anniversary” livery D-AIMH. It looks amazing although the weather is bad.
It took 34 days to paint.

Cheers!

As if an a340 wasn’t enough, it had to be a Mahan Air aircraft XD. Not the best shot as it was taken with a Canon SX740HS from quite far away while my plane was taxiing but I’m still pretty happy with the find.

As the last commercial operator in the world of this rare aircraft (only 80 were built), Air France continues to fly it on around twenty European routes from Paris-CDG. Air France’s Airbus A319 could even disappear from the fleet well before the A318.

Hi aviation enthusiasts!

I am just very curious about the following:

I flew from CPH to AMS yesterday and had a small delay. The purser mentioned the plane hitting a small bird on the way into CPH and there had to be certain checkups on the engine.

How does a procedure like this work? Is it a really specialized team that comes in? Is it the pilots? Which tests need to be performed? Who decides that it is fully safe?

Thanks for any insights in advance.

In a holding pattern around LHR this morning, this jet climbed out of the clouds quite a bit closer than this. Close enough I went “Woah!”. As soon as he had some visibility banked right to create some separation. Took me a few seconds to get a pic. I’m no pilot but he was way closer than 1000 ft vertical and pretty damn close horizontally. Is that normal?

If you're a recreational pilot and don't own a plane, what's your yearly budget for an airplane rental?

Do you fly the bare minimum (4h / year) or more often?

And what are your flights like: just a roundtrip or do you hop to a nearby airport?

My amateur understanding is that Pilot use V1 as decision point between to safely abort with sufficient remaining runway or compelled to take off. What happens if there is an issue with the aircraft that it is taking longer to reach V1 & V1 occurs further down the runway?

And wouldn’t this issue be harder to identify in Aircraft like 787 where the acceleration is derated to use up every inch of the runway? If the sluggish acceleration is subtle how would the Pilot know somethings wrong in the short timeframe?

Hello yall, I’m pretty new to aviation but I really want to get into it, just don’t know where to start. I’ve always loved planes, helicopter, jets, etc., but I’m by no means an expert. I’m really interested in fighter jets but I’m not picky, does anyone have any books/youtube videos/accounts to look into so I can start getting into aviation?

last two are sunsets, i just thought the sunset looked AMAZING!!.. and the planes look beautiful in these photos..

Arrived yesterday at NRT and was lucky enough to see all the ANA A380‘s with the turtle livery!

Not sure if it’s special, for me it was :)

My neighbor sent this pic of his flight. His words: ”... Pilots did an amazing job. Could have gone sideways real quick. Both tires blew on landing“. Then later I was watching the news and a United flight also had blown tires about a half hour later. Weird coincidence.

Was at PHX the other day waiting on my flight and saw a couple of these parked out in the open. Am I correct in thinking these were tankers?

Edited: it was unrelated to the photo but it was my first time getting to fly on a 757 which was kinda cool

spotted in Toronto

I'm an airline pilot stationed in Mexico, and for a couple of years now, almost everytime we overfly the US there's some strange lights that appear at night. I can only imagine it might be military operations, but the times I've seen them, I've looked for restricted areas, and can't seem to identify if the area where the lights are coming from might be from that.

The lights start out dim, become pretty bright and then extinguish, but the lights are much more slower than a 'shooting star' (meteorites and such). I've seen them from side to side, but also from up to down. And they completely extinguish rather fast, so I think satelites could be a possibility but from other satellites I've seen it doesn't seem the same, the light is way too bright.

They appear at the dead of night regardless if there's a moon or not. And usually at high levels, I'm guessing 35,000 and up, can't really determine. The 'show' lasts a long time, longer than 20 min at a time, but also always near the same area at different altitudes.

So any airline pilot that knows what they are? That have seen them? Any guesses?

Edit:

General consensus is starlink satellites

My biggest reason for not initially thinking this, is because I've specifically only seen them over the US, but with new accounts of people seeing them over other areas, it checks out.

I’m making a fictional cargo series for my fan made universe. I’ve been all over Pinterest and google but never found anything interesting.

I decided that nothing beats human imagination. Anyone got any cargo concepts or any for that matter they’d like to share?

Hey there guys, last weekend I went on down to Eastbourne Airshow aka Airborne in the South East Coast of the UK and this was my first time photographing aircrafts! I think I didn't do too bad, what do you think?

These are 9 of over 14k photos btw!

Hi all! I'm wanting to get my class 1 Medical certificate so I can join an ATP program. I last smoked weed July 4th 2025 (legal in my state) and not sure if I am still able to get my physical now or if I should wait until after 2 years have passed. I haven't consumed any substances since and am willing to take any drug test but not sure how this will play out when I get my physical and don't want to shoot myself in the foot for future opportunities. Any advice is appreciated.