Thailand forum

Fly Firefly - fly on fire?

CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

I'm considering using Firefly to zip from Phuket to Penang, as they're about the only airline that flies direct and they're pretty cheap.

I'm rather alarmed however to see that I'll be flying in some old-school looking bucket with visible propellers. A quick Google search shows some anecdotal tale about a Firefly plane losing bothe engines and coming down so hard on the tarmac the tyres popped.

Has anyone used the older Firefly planes and not died horribly?

#1 Posted: 11/5/2011 - 17:09

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

Well - taking the plunge in a few days. Fingers crossed

#2 Posted: 11/5/2011 - 19:52

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
busylizzy

under-employed
Posts: 1470
Located in:
Private message

Well done, Cranky. There's nothing like living dangerously to get the adrenalin pumping!

#3 Posted: 12/5/2011 - 04:32

------------------------------
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

I hear those old ATR-72s fly pretty low to the ground, so maybe I can dive out the window into the Andaman Sea if it looks like things are going pear-shaped... or is that durian-shaped?

#4 Posted: 12/5/2011 - 07:10

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
Rasheeed

adventurer
Posts: 290
Located in:

Private message

Chances of horrible painful death, slim to unlikely. Severe crippling injury, unlikely to below average chance. So don't worry. You'll probably be fine, maybe.

#5 Posted: 12/5/2011 - 12:06

------------------------------
Banlung, Footy, and everything else that makes me more authentic than you
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

@Rasheed - you ratfink!

I was disturbed to see there's going to be a "mild breeze" on the weather report for my flight date.

I like my spine untwisted, darn it.

#6 Posted: 12/5/2011 - 16:10

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
SBE

mahout
Posts: 1735
Located in:

Private message

WIMP!!

That is all.

No it isn't.

Unless airport buses from Penang airport have started running since the last time I was there, you're going to have to get a taxi into town and this will cost you a small fortune .

There is an alternative really really cheap local bus you could catch but I'm not going to bother giving you any directions about where or how to catch it whatsoever, because you'll probably change your mind and go to Singapore in a minute.

Survival hint: Don't interact too much with the scary looking Indian ladyboys in miniskirts and hot pants on Love Lane... they've got hairy legs and designer stubble and have been known to carry lethal weapons.

Enjoy!

#7 Posted: 12/5/2011 - 20:07
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

I should mention this is my third run to Penang - it's just the first time I've been by plane. Normally the minivans just drop me off next to the scores of hairy ladymen on the corner of Chulia and Lover's Lane.

Some seriously awful guesthouses there, but at least it's walking distance from that big shopping mall and you can get to the Thai embassy fairly quickly with a motorbike. Motorbikes which cost twice as much to rent and look half as nice I might add.

No bus from the airport? That's kinda weird. I'll be arriving in the afternoon around 4pm local time, so there should still be some public transportation running.

Singapore is even more of a ripoff than Malaysia from what I've heard, but then everything seems expensive after Thailand. Probably shoulda come here last. Oops.

#8 Posted: 15/5/2011 - 09:31

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
stevenx

longtail driver
Posts: 10

FireFly is fine. I use them to get from Koh Samui to Kuala Lumpur , and from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Subang airport is much smaller and easier than KLIA...

Nothing wrong with ATR-72's. They're a modern, safe, comfortable turboprop.

#9 Posted: 15/5/2011 - 12:00
SBE

mahout
Posts: 1735
Located in:

Private message

You shouda been a bit more adventurous and gone to Laos for a month Cranky...mind you, knowing you you'd have gone straight to Vang Vieng and drowned in a tubbing accident.

#10 Posted: 15/5/2011 - 13:55
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

Laos is still part of the plan - but it's just quicker and easier to flit down to Penang for a fresh visa first. I want to cover off the rest of Thailand before I get to the rest of SE Asia though - and I really want to see what all the fuss is about over Chiang Mai.

If I really want to hit all the hotspots I s'pose I oughta go see Pattaya too, though I haven't heard one good word about that place.

#11 Posted: 15/5/2011 - 20:29

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

PS I was happily surprised to arrive in Penang without so much as a single wing missing from the ATR 72. The seating was a tad cramped and the hostesses weren't flirty enough for my taste, but besides that it was a decent flight.

Propellers - who knew?

#12 Posted: 15/5/2011 - 20:32

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
Rasheeed

adventurer
Posts: 290
Located in:

Private message

First weekend in June, the Cambodian Cobras face the Thailand Tigers in Aussie Rules Footy action in Pattaya...

#13 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 09:04

------------------------------
Banlung, Footy, and everything else that makes me more authentic than you
busylizzy

under-employed
Posts: 1470
Located in:
Private message

"... I s'pose I oughta go see Pattaya too, though I haven't heard one good word about that place"

So tell me again why you oughta' go then?!

#14 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 10:12

------------------------------
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

@ Rash - I wonder who would win out of the Thailand Tigers and the Balmain Tigers (from Syd, Aus)

@Biz - Cause it's there! And also cause I like to see places both famous and infamous with my own two curious eyes.

#15 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 12:50

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
Rasheeed

adventurer
Posts: 290
Located in:

Private message

One of your eyes looks more curious than the other...

#16 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 16:32

------------------------------
Banlung, Footy, and everything else that makes me more authentic than you
MADMAC

mahout
Posts: 3999

Hey the chances of that thing crashing are certainly less than 10%. So relax.

#17 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 17:27

------------------------------
Victory in Pattani
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

@Rash - it's just the perspective

@Mac - Hmmm... 0-9% chance of fiery death. I like those odds!

#18 Posted: 16/5/2011 - 18:00

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
Rasheeed

adventurer
Posts: 290
Located in:

Private message

Crashing does not necessarily mean fiery death. There's probably a 18% chance you survive but are severely injured and just wish you had died.

#19 Posted: 17/5/2011 - 09:07

------------------------------
Banlung, Footy, and everything else that makes me more authentic than you
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

I feel that way in Penang anyway - except for the severely injured part.

#20 Posted: 17/5/2011 - 16:17

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

This is why I hate to fly, despite all the convenience:

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/when-flights-get-scary-20110525-1f36r.html

#21 Posted: 26/5/2011 - 08:50

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
busylizzy

under-employed
Posts: 1470
Located in:
Private message

Did you read the comments at the bottom of the article Cranky?

Note: Screaming will not help - please die with some dignity and not disturb other passengers.

Barry - May 25, 2011, 11:20AM

#22 Posted: 26/5/2011 - 09:22

------------------------------
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

Cheers Lizzy,

I will try to remember to die with my dignity in tact, if not my bone-structure.

#23 Posted: 1/6/2011 - 13:19

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/