Swiss A330 experience

LX196 (1320LT-0515LT)
I have previously flew into Zürich from Warsaw on a Helvetic Airways Fokker 100 but ZRH was just a stopover in my trip. After exiting the plane I headed for the train that would take me to gates E section from where my next flight would depart. I must say that this section is very elegant. The mix of gray, black and brown composes very well. Because my previous flight was delayed 10 minutes the moment I got to my gate and changed some money at a shop the pre-boarding documents check has already begun. I'm not a fan of queuing so I relaxed a couple of minutes and made order in bag as after the flight the mess was unbelievable. Ready to go I stepped up and had my documents checked. Quick, easy, without a single problem. I returned to my seat when boarding begun. Ehh a queue again... After a unsuccessful attempt of logging into the wifi I got my ass up and moved up to to, now short, queue. The plane, HB-JHA (named Schwyz, first flight 23/03/2009, serial number: 1000, powered by two RR Trent 772B-60 engines) made a good first impression on me. Although signs of usage could be seen here and there overall I though it's going to be a good flight. I got to my seat, prepared for the flight and push-back started. We taxied to runway 16, and departed after just a couple of minutes.

Gates E section of Zürich Airport

Taxiing onto the runway

Flying the Helvetic Airways Fokker 100

LX1343 (0935LT-1140LT)
Helvetic Airways operates on behalf of Swiss International Airlines on some routes. One of them is Zürich - Warsaw. Helvetic (2L OAW) has 6 Fokker 100 planes and 1 Airbus A319. Warsaw gets the F100, sometimes Swiss sends its own metal, an Avro or an Airbus. Luckily the plane on my flight did not change and I got to fly on HB-JVG (serial number 11478; first flight 29/09/1993; powered by two RR Tay 650-15 engines). Unfortunately the 'best' seats have been reserved by PZPN (Polish female U17 team going for a couple of friendlies in Switzerland) thus having a view into the engine was impossible and seat 10A had to do. Just in front of the leading edge of the wing. Some might say it's only 8 rows away and the sound will be similar but the truth is that it is very different, much quieter. The more up front you're seated the quieter it gets.
A short session before the flight:

SE-LRA, Saab 2000 on Apron 10 - taken before arriving at the terminal

SP-LND arriving at its gate