VA 747's parked up at LGW this afternoon

When I flew into LGW this afternoon from Glasgow I noticed two VA 747's parked up at the back of the apron - VAST & VLIP. Doors were shut & there didn't seem to be any sign of life in the vicinity. Given the time of day, ie. all departures long gone I was interested to know if this is a regular occurrance? I thought the operation was run pretty tightly with not many a/c sitting idle?

Originally posted by Vegascrazy
When I flew into LGW this afternoon from Glasgow I noticed two VA 747's parked up at the back of the apron - VAST & VLIP. Doors were shut & there didn't seem to be any sign of life in the vicinity. Given the time of day, ie. all departures long gone I was interested to know if this is a regular occurrance? I thought the operation was run pretty tightly with not many a/c sitting idle?

A couple of days each week there is often a VS on remote depending on the day, plus this morning the saterlite was busting with four VS 744 AND the VK 343

VS027 isnt operating atm, are these the spare a/c?

It's not just LGW they have them hanging around

Cheers

Phil

[Bazz]

Google Earth the coordinates 51-28-06.53N 0-28-33.08W to see where the pic Peggit links to was taken. Sat pic shows 4 VS aircraft on that part of the airfield.

Originally posted by pegitt
It's not just LGW they have them hanging around

Cheers

Phil

Er...that just looks like remote stands and the aircraft are being turned around...not hanging around!

Originally posted by Bazz
Google Earth the coordinates 51-28-06.53N 0-28-33.08W to see where the pic Peggit links to was taken. Sat pic shows 4 VS aircraft on that part of the airfield.

Those photos can be quite old, but it does show that there are usually some aircraft parked.

thats a cool photo, so clear and big, luv it.
Wonder if one of those will be the VS073, looking forwards to finding out if i will be on a new one ( name I mean )

As Lipstick said these aircraft(in the pics) are being turned around getting cleaned/service on remote stands at LHR before they are towed back to the gates to be loaded. how I know? I work at heathrow.

Originally posted by Lipstick

Originally posted by pegitt
It's not just LGW they have them hanging around

Cheers

Phil

Er...that just looks like remote stands and the aircraft are being turned around...not hanging around!

Ok i guess i was playing on words, what i was getting at is there are times VS have aircraft on the ground and sometimes they may not be ocupied, just look at the 744 in the background, hmm not much activity there.

Cheers

Phil

Yeah, they are just parked up on the Terminal 5 stands. When an aircraft arrives on a Pier stand at T3 unless it is due to depart again in the next 4 hours (sometimes get away with 5) the BAA make us tow the aircraft off to be cleaned, catered etc and it's then towed back on to a gate at T3 nearer departure time.