Quite common on old brake callipers, try and ask for a new calliper at cost price and go to an independent Audi service garage to get it fitted.

Personally after owning various hot Audis, I always used independent Audi garages for servicing as main dealers are not known for their expertise on old models.

Caught the last few songs at Glastonbury ’95 after seeing the Prodigy first, ‘cos I’m from Essex, innit!

Hurghada is great for diving and watersports, generally big all inclusive hotels, only been in the town once and it was typical tourist fare.

Excursions are available but I think it is difficult to do your own thing (don’t bother with Sharm el sheikh, as its advised not to leave the town)

Depends on what you want from a holiday, I’m guessing you are restricted to Hurghada?

Have a look at Marsa Alam from Gatwick, far more chilled than the fleshpots of Sharm and Hurghada!

Which airport are you flying from?

Favourite leaflet so far, would vote for them but not a fan of baked beans…

Green Party leaflet was not even printed on 100% recycled paper.

My current MP is Mogg, July 4 hopefully will see him off I hope!

Went out looking for Hares on Solstice eve and this red kite came very close, still recovering from whooping cough, so no riding at the mo.

Can the supercomputers model the very high ocean temperatures?

I’m guessing they use years of data and now that the oceans are so warm, its throwing everything out of whack.

I’ve had whooping cough now approaching 4 weeks, get the occasional coughing fit throughout the day and still very fatigued.

How do you know when its safe to exercise?

Nice!  Are they still quoting a November arrival in the UK?

Aircraft are very capable of dealing with turbulence, it’s the unsecured self loading freight inside that isn’t.

Severe turbulence is serious and whilst we have forecast maps, they just give you a general area of turbulence and if it ain’t bumpy the seatbelts signs are not on.  We tend to rely on Pilot reports ahead on our routes.

Have had moments where it feels like you’ve gone the down the worst pothole imaginable, colleagues have had +/- 30 degree roll and the autopilot kicking out.

The 6000ft drop apparently took place over 4 minutes, which is only 1250ft/min descent rate, so nothing crazy, it was probably the flight crew looking to get out the turbulence area.

Turbulence is definitely getting more common due to more energy being in the atmosphere (global warming innit).

Here’s some turbulence definitions, never heard of ‘extreme’ turbulence being encountered in the cruise

Light turbulence is the least severe, with slight, erratic changes in attitude and/or altitude.
Moderate turbulence is similar to light turbulence, but of greater intensity – variations in speed as well as altitude and attitude may occur but the aircraft remains in control all the time.
Severe turbulence is characterised by large, abrupt changes in attitude and altitude with large variations in airspeed. There may be brief periods where effective control of the aircraft is impossible. Loose objects may move around the cabin and damage to aircraft structures may occur.
Extreme turbulence is capable of causing structural damage and resulting directly in prolonged, possibly terminal, loss of control of the aircraft.

Always wear your seatbelt!!!

Thanks, have heard there is a cough going around too, probably coincidental with the visit to FoD.

Must stop snorting the tyre sealant!

Can Hayfever cause a phlegmy cough?

After visiting FoD developed a horrible cough and fatigue and it ain’t shifting but no itchy eyes or sneezing fits.

Hammer frozen catnip into your neighbours front lawn.

If it works for your derriere then fine, used it for bike packing and cross country with no issues.

I’ve got a Secan, lovely bike, bought mine as a frameset and built it with 2x GRX, definitely get the 700c wheels for your road duties, I did manage to get a set of Prime wheels super cheap for gravel tyres but have not used them in anger yet due to the weather!

Because they don’t have electricity on Scottish Islands?

For example Mull only has 7kW public chargers as far as I know, last time I was there I drove 600 miles in a week, so that would be 5-6hours x3 to charge an EV, you realistically cannot charge a modern EV from a 13A plug!

To go back to the OP. What’s the rationale for needing more ground clearance?  Would the BMW be an msport version, being a 340? I’d bite your hand off for that if I didn’t have 3 kids!

I was going to suggest a 330e, but I guess that’s out!!

And I thought I’d seen some Kuga’s on the road badged as AWD if that’s needed.

Personally I’d consider a good set of all season tyres before swapping cars! Can you telli miss having a beemer?

Love my M340D but have been venturing onto quite rough gravel tracks and parking on verges due to my other hobby of wildlife photography, so need a higher ground clearance vehicle unfortunately.

What about a small full EV for regular commute and van/suv for trips away? That’s our solution, little electric Mini for local stuff and T6 camper for holidays and longer trips.

not enough driveway space as only have room for two cars.

Test driven the RAV4 on my work route and it had plenty of battery left.

Thats interesting as have read about the Google OS shutting down and you then lose all control of climate, driving modes etc

Tucson is out as coming from a 340D, looking for a bit of pace for overtaking and the Kuga is not AWD.

The RAV4 ticks all the boxes, on offer with a cheap APR and free wall charger but its the interior I’m struggling with as quite low rent compared to the Volvo, the issues I have with the XC60 is not so great mpg when battery is depleted and the google interface is meant to be quite unreliable.

Salsa bikes and bits on sale

https://www.lyonequipment.com/bikes

Hopefully you’ve paid with a credit card and I would just cancel the transaction!

what route are you trying to book?

I would use sky scanner to see what airlines are on the route and then direct to the airlines website to book or use a reputable company like Expedia, lastminute to book.

opinions and A***holes, everyones got one.

Good, luck with your one man crusade @Thols2.  I really don’t think any sensible forum member is listening.

If you attach your pack to your bike, then yes

but for extra kudos

makes sure you use a seat pack or tailfin with a mug dangling from it (to catch all the sheep sh*t)

grow a beard

wear a check shirt

wear shorts over your lycra

etc

Same here, don’t even think about the CVR and actually would quite like management to hear what I say…

If Pilots didn’t trust the engineers, then no aircraft would fly.

Right. The question is then, is this a “minor snag”? How often is this particular protocol employed – i.e. “we trust this plane but not so much that we’ll let it fly over water”? Is this a routine thing then?

See my post above, trust me if it was a major fault no professional pilot would fly that aircraft and definitely would’nt be coerced into it either.

I think there has been significant cost cutting going on for years now

By Boeing, yes, but not by the crew.

Right. That is the mental gymnastics I’m finding it difficult to follow. They clearly knew there was some kind of problem with the plane, but rather than grounding it & fixing the issue they attempted to “mitigate” the potential consequences of the problem (not the actual problem itself!) How can you possibly argue that passenger safety is primary consideration here?

The fault was saying there was an issue with the pressurisation system, of which there are two.  I’m guessing the engineers tested the system and no faults were found but as a precaution Alaska airlines stopped the aircraft flying long distances over water (ETOPS) but knowing airlines as I do it was probably more to do with the fact if the fault occurred down route in Hawaii the aircraft would be stuck there and cause issues with scheduling etc.

Pilots have what’s called a minimum equipment list (MEL) and when we get a technical issue on the ground, we consult that to see if we can carry on with a SAFE flight.  If we get a fault in flight we look at our quick reference handbook (QRH) to see how we can fix it or what actions to take.  There are about 10 faults we need to know by memory as these are time critical, such as a loss of cabin pressure.

But try and be reassured that not one crew member or engineer wants an aircraft to take off in an unsafe condition ever.

I’m sure it’s all in a days work for you but what are you smoking if you think that’s what a paying passenger wants to hear from the pilot, i.e. “don’t worry if the door falls off mid-flight, it’ll be reet’. What we want to hear is “we’ve done everything possible to ensure the door won’t fall off, and we won’t have to make an emergency landing with a hoofing great hole in the plane.”

Of course that goes without saying!  Every flight, engineers, pilots and cabin crew do everything possible to make sure it’s a safe flight for the passengers.  No way am I expecting the “door to fall off” if I was, I would stay in bed.

commercial pilots in the US a dime a dozen

Not at the moment, serious experienced pilot shortage in the US at the mo, can you repeat after me, $500k salary for the left hand seat at the majors.

Well everyone apart from the people that got sucked out of the plane and fell to their deaths anyway.

That’s why you should always wear your seatbelt…

According to the BBC article, the plane had 3 previous flights where (presumably unexplained) warnings were observed by pilots, additional maintenance had been requested but not carried out & instead restrictions were imposed about where that plane could fly so that it “could return very quickly to an airport” if need be 😂 Doesn’t really sound like a culture of “safety first” by anyone involved tbh but IANAP 🤷‍♂️

The warnings were in relation to the pressurisation system and would have been checked by the line engineers on reporting, if not faults were found then the pilots would have been to told to report further instances, it looks like they stopped that aircraft from flying ETOPS routes, ie over long distance of water but they still would have been able to fly at least 60 minutes away from any airport.

If you are at cruise altitude and you lose cabin pressure through either structural (bomb, loss of door, panel) or system failure (you have two, double redundancy), you instantly go onto oxygen (masks are by your leg), passengers oxygen masks drop down automatically.  Then you perform an emergency descent to get down to breathable air at 10,000ft, once you are there, everyone is safe!

You have to remember pilots don’t go to work thinking how they can get around safety issues, they all want to get home at the end of a working day to see their families.

If an engineer tells me the aircraft is safe, I trust them.

@thols2

the reason why they kept the CVR running was to cover up the damage, the rapid removal off the large piece of aircraft did to the chemical injectors mounted below the tailplane, also it would of screwed up the 3D hologram projector that makes the earth look round (it is’nt).

So no doubt some people in black turned up straight away when they had landed and had a fiddle with the CVR.

I suggest next time you go flying you have a look inside a pilot or flight attendants hat, you’ll find it lined with tinfoil.

Standard issue to stop the cosmic rays, which you SLF don’t get told about.

United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections