Manuelfocus🎥

Over the years I’ve been in many towns and cities when they were being bombed — in a few cases (Baghdad, Belgrade etc) by my own country. No matter what the justification, most of the victims have been entirely innocent. I’ve come to loathe the very thought of aerial bombardment.

@DaveWallsworth The examiners have been watching our News output recently then! All those ideas - just like a board for a new job. One of my tests is remembering to press the record button on the camera for a one off arrival shot or work out an alternative way of recording when the camera fails!

Another two day simulator check complete and licence signed so I can go flying the real thing again 😎 What did we have to deal with this time? Fuel pump problems. Hitting a flock of birds just as we took off leading to a stalling number one engine which recovered then completely failed at around 1000 feet. Numerous departures with engine failures or fires before and after takeoff. Failure of the automatic thrust system. Flying various types of approaches with one engine failed and no autopilot or automatic thrust, some of which resulted in go-arounds and others in landings. Operations in foggy weather including automatic landings and failures of the automatic systems at a very late stage resulting in go-arounds from just 50 feet. Other aircraft avoidance while in the latter stages of approaches in cloud (TCAS system activation). Severe electrical problems including the failure of all four engine-driven generators resulting in the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine to provide emergency electrical supply to essential systems, all while very low on fuel just to add to the time pressure. Arrivals to a busy airport during severe thunderstorm activity and periodic runway closures, again with very low fuel remaining to add pressure to the decision making process. Subsequent landings in extremely turbulent and windy conditions on a flooded runway. All in all a very busy couple of days during which our teamwork and skills were practiced, assessed and, thankfully, considered good enough to enable our licences to be signed for another six months of flying. While this may sound like a lot to cover and be tested on over a couple of days hopefully it will help those who are nervous of flying understand that our training and checking is to a very high standard precisely because we want and need to make sure flying is as safe as it can possibly be. Certainly after all these years of flying (since 1989) I always take a lot from the high standards to which we are held. Once again thank you to the excellent Senior First Officer I was paired with and both superb instructors/examiners. Now, where is that real aircraft?! 😎

"The fact that close to £35B has already been spent is, under the sunk cost concept, no argument for further investment. Those costs are indeed “sunk”; they are irrelevant." "On that basis, there is not a single good reason for continuing." #HS2 #StopHS2 thebluearmchair.substack.com/p/oh-mr-porter…

#HS2 It's important to remember that campaigners pointed out BEFORE the green light was given to the original scheme that £32billion was not a realistic budget. Now it's more than £100bn for a fraction of the line promised. £100bn to Birmingham is a total scandal. @StopHS2

"Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to tell Parliament on Wednesday that there is "no reasonable way to deliver" the railway line on schedule and within budget". #HS2 #StopHS2 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@mopdenson Yes Align deserve the listening and doing prize, even if there’ll only be a couple of trains an hour each way (if that!) by 2040-45

I campaigned for better wildlife connections around & across the HS2 line in the Chilterns NL. I'm pleased to say that bats played a crucial role in securing a green bridge! Well done to ALIGN for listening (their drawing below) and for designing the Leather Lane green bridge.

@mopdenson Yes you were a star and still are !!

I'm sure there will always be tension between infrastructure ambition & environmental protection. I'm glad I spoke out about HS2's design & the changes I thought should be made. Plans for the Chilterns NL section improved with better environmental outcomes (Mantles Wood - saved)

Indeed. This remains a massively expensive, over budget vanity project

@frances_cutler @HS2ltd @transportgovuk Wrong sort of concrete. Mafia involved ?

Why on earth have @hs2ltd dug up half the apron at their Chesham Road vent shaft site which was only laid about 3 years ago? How much is this costing @transportgovuk? Also, if you look carefully, despite the site being locked up for Easter, the lights are blazing in the "barns".

@DaveWallsworth At least you definitely get to turn left !

When you are on reserve and the company phone you to say you are positioning out as a passenger on a different aircraft type to the one you fly in order to bring an A350 back…..So you are looking forward to a nice First Class seat, sampling the fizz, wines and top notch food……Then they call again and say they have put an A350 on the outbound flight and you are now driving both ways! 😂🙈✈️✈️

@TonyD9999 @DuncanCStone Smile !

@DuncanCStone With Prince William in Estonia … I’ve just finished too

End of Northern Ireland Royal Tour beer…please note 0%…still working but filming finished. Thank you NI, the most wonderful, warm and helpful people you could meet. Until next time.

As a wartime leader I’m sure our great Winston Churchill would be proud of ⁦@ZelenskyyUa⁩ …

Photo of the day.

The day the crowd turned on Ceaucescu, he was dead shortly thereafter. 35 years ago today.

Note: this is from an @hs2ltd internal document and is in 2019 prices Cost of #HS2 could hit £66bn, according to management estimate ft.com/content/6ac54b… via @ft

@MarkUrban01 I witnessed it too !

I witnessed this. Pure photo-op. Like the ITN team, we'd been there for hours before Marines flew in. Some SBS guys arrived by car an hour before, recce'd it, to make sure it was safe. Minutes after the fast ropers blew the doors in an apologetic caretaker arrived with the key

@ChristopherJM So cool

I made this photo in Mariupol 10 years ago today, as Ukrainian volunteer troops fought back Russian special forces and local proxies who were trying to take over the city. As the chaos unfolded, this guy with a briefcase strolled right through. Wish I knew who he was, what he was thinking, where he is now.

Joy ! To see #Gaza colleagues @adnanelbursh Mahmoud Alajarami as well as @Journo_Ashraf #WorldServicePresents @bbcworldservice

@MarkUrban01 7 years I spent listening to your musings & bird tweets (before tweets!). And many Newsnight trips between 1997 and 2004 which were always fun and interesting getting to film & talk to big generals and spooks. NN was a great programme to work on with you, wish you well next phase

🚨personal news🚨I’ll be leaving the BBC at the end of May. Newsnight in its current format will end then, so most posts will go. I decided not to apply for other BBC jobs. Working there for 35 yrs has been life defining: an eyewitness to history collaborating with such brilliant colleagues. But it’s time for a change

@JamWaterhouse @BBCRadio4 @BBCSounds Sasha sources excellent honey !

Here is this week’s dispatch for “From Our Own Correspondent”, as long-standing BBC driver Sasha Oseredchuk took us back to his embattled home region of Donetsk. @BBCRadio4 @BBCSounds bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…