Ops-Normal.org

Social distancing at airports, as stated by the CEO of LHR recently, (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52504183), and on aircraft will not work We have observed two A380s arriving at the same time at JNB. That is approximately 1,000 passengers plus any other arrivals just before or after. Say a total of 1,500 pax trying to get through immigration. It is about 200 m from the door from the apron to the start of the immigration queue. This zig zags with lines right along side each other. So they will have to leave every other line empty reducing the number of pax in the line. So the rest have to queue up before the official line. If this just leaves 1.000 queuing that is 2,000 m with two meters between people. OK couples will stand together so it will reduce this slightly. 2,000 m (2 kms) takes you back through the door across the apron almost as far as the nearest runway.

On departure they are talking about reporting 4 hrs before departure. What are they going to do with all those people standing/sitting 2 m apart.

On aircraft it is a joke. Aircraft designers are way behind the ball game in preventing the spread of viruses on board. Also the idea of leaving the middle seat of a triple empty is a joke. In cattle class your neigbour is still going to be closer than two meters as is the guy across the isle from you if you are in an isle seat. Looking at the model in the article below it will not make much difference anyway. Also some other very interesting facts.

My conclusion is try to sit row one in First you stand a better chance. However, I still do not trust the a/c systems to filter out a virus.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... story.html

Bring out the smoke hoods.

The filters will protect you, but you’ll catch it from someone before the air is recirculated

Ex-Ascot wrote: ↑

Mon May 04, 2020 2:21 pm

Aircraft designers are way behind the ball game in preventing the spread of viruses on board.

De Haviland had it right, with the Tiger Moth!

Sorry about my typo in the OP. 'aisle' not 'isle'. Don't worry Ricardian I am sure that you are keeping 2 mtrs between isles.

You haven't, perchance, downloaded PN's spell checker, have you?

The air on board all SWISS aircraft is cleaner than on the ground. It is made up of 60% fresh air from outside. The air circulated in the cabin is filtered to remove impurities such as dust, bacteria and viruses. Filter standards and airflow meet the standards for hospital operating rooms.

I actually do not believe this. Anyway, according to Sister Ex-Ascot who spent half her working life in operating theatres the filters do not deal with viruses 100%. Also as Woody points out, what if it gets to you before the filters. Not that we can but I would not like to fly at the moment. A friend of ours, who is very vulnerable, gets a common cold every time he has been on an aircraft. They are not healthy environments.

Would love to compare the standard of the air onboard nowadays to what it was before the smoking ban, anyone remember the state of the ceilings down the back

I remember seeing the air filters on the 707s that we operated during the smoking days, they were changed after so many hours of flight, I've forgotten how many, but they were quite disgusting.

https://www.aerotime.aero/gediminas.zie ... 97-sterile
Sophisticated filters
The air on airplanes is highly sterile. The planes, especially the latest generation ones, have efficient and modern filters called high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA), which are identical to those of hospitals and therefore manage to capture and block up to 99.97% of the microbes present (numbers estimated by IATA). A percentage that some companies confirm on their aircraft board rises to 99.999%, thus stopping small viruses of even 0.01 micrometers in diameter, while coronavirus size ranges from 0.08 to 0.16 micrometers. It is important to understand that air filters in aircraft are capable of dealing with far smaller particles than coronavirus, thus it is wrong to assume that airliners are a place for virus to spread freely and unhindered.

How do they purge the HEPA filters?

Do they blow air through them in reverse?

I think they are changed!

My conclusion is try to sit row one in First you stand a better chance.

As people cough out viruses (viri?) in the forward direction, wouldn't the back row be safest? Or does the front row get the clean air first?

unifoxos wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:17 pm

My conclusion is try to sit row one in First you stand a better chance.

As people cough out viruses (viri?) in the forward direction, wouldn't the back row be safest? Or does the front row get the clean air first?

Another reason to have aft facing seats, just like Transport Command in the 1950's

Airflow normally front to back.

Seats still pointing backwards in the 80's. Not sure how that would help, ian?

was in an aft facing seat in March when i was escaping from Oz, didn't like it at all.

1DC wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:36 pm

was in an aft facing seat in March when i was escaping from Oz, didn't like it at all.

Used to have requests for flight deck visits on the VC10 on normal pax routes. At night they would walk forward from their seats to the back and open the centre door where there were to urinals but no pilots

1DC wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:36 pm

was in an aft facing seat in March when i was escaping from Oz, didn't like it at all.

What didn't you like? I can only thinking about the need to forcefully push your self against the back of the seat of you were seated forward.

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:49 pm

1DC wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:36 pm

was in an aft facing seat in March when i was escaping from Oz, didn't like it at all.

What didn't you like? I can only thinking about the need to forcefully push your self against the back of the seat of you were seated forward.

Pilots should be at the back facing backwards using screens fed by cameras on the nose. You are last to arrive on the scene of an accident and sitting over the black boxes which nearly always survive a prang. With this recent crash in India they would have survived to face the inquiry.

What didn't I like??
I was travelling in business and when the bed was flat I couldn't get comfortable, when facing forward I usually drop off to sleep quite quickly.

1DC wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:19 pm

What didn't I like??
I was travelling in business and when the bed was flat I couldn't get comfortable, when facing forward I usually drop off to sleep quite quickly.

It seems like a waste of money this bed!