Hi,Picked up my folks from a holiday in spain.. they flew on an A320.. and I decided to replicate their approach into Humberside.. it was onto 03 and from the west.. was quite a lot of fun actually.. I just jumped into the air then setup while I was cruising around sight seeing.. I wasn't really interested in flying anywhere and taking it too seriously this time.. but the approach I did properly.. touched down beautifully I must say.. and right on the numbers..Oh.. the childish part.. was when my dad and I were discussing something, and decided it would be interesting to find out what a 747 does 0-60 in.. well.. with no cargo.. and 1/3 fuel.. I parked on the tarmac we got a stop watch.. and timed her on take off.. She'll rocket up to 60 in just over 7 seconds.. from a standing start.. I'm tempted to find out the 1/4 mile time too.... She'll do 0-100 in just over 10 seconds too.. pretty impressive really.. Well I find it mildly amusing..Anyway.. just thought I'd share that with you guys.. the 747 can land at Humberside.. and she ain't at all slow up on the uptake!.. Going to look for some more NDB approaches now.. and practice more manual landings.. With the pedals it is a lot easier.. I must say..CheersCraig

Ha !Sometimes we position aircraft from LGW to LHR empty with only 30T of fuel. we have to put a large derate into the takeoff thrust,but if there`s windshear around we get to go full thrust :-)The thing gets airbourne in about 10 seconds and is climbing past 3000ft before the end of the runway!At those weights and thrust is nearing military aircraft power to weight ratios!cheersJon

The performance of an almost empty 747-400 is very impressive.. just gives you an idea of the power the engines actually have.. I mean even on approaches with a significant load you can really get an appreciation for the thrust that the engines are capable of providing.. they make go-arounds very easy to do.. On my first approaches when I was learning.. I found it was necessary to be very conservative with the throttles or it was likely you'd stop your approach descent and float too high.. And they really get you out of trouble too.. again on my learning days.. whenever you heard.. "DON'T SINK" just blip the throttles and that would stop that!CheersCraig