Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

I'll leave this to Markis to answer. I've already been rung by the media, and have no intention of making any sort of comment.

 

[anat0l]

I'll leave this to Markis to answer. I've already been rung by the media, and have no intention of making any sort of comment.

Geez...the media wolves don't waste any time...

 

[mjt57]

Is this about the female captain who was allegedly affected by alcohol?

 

[markis10]

For the record, BAC levels and drugs that are tested can be found in CASR 1998 Part 99:

permitted level means:
(a) for a testable drug — a level of the drug specified in subregulation (2A) for the purposes of this paragraph; and
(b) for alcohol — a level of alcohol of less than 0.02 grams of alcohol in 210 litres of breath.

Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998

Is this about the female captain who was allegedly affected by alcohol?

I suspect so, however please be aware that companies take a very tight hold on who says what in such circumstances, information in this thread needs to remain general in nature. In such circumstances there is nothing to gain and everything to lose by possible employee comment on matters that in many respects have yet to run their full course in terms of actions and outcomes.

 

[markis10]

On a lighter note - a bit of trivia, how many lights, switches and gauges are in the average 744 flight deck - same answer as how many days in a non leap year according to Boeing!

747 Flight Deck Poster : Posters

(Filed under things you discover when looking for Markis10jrs Xmas presents!)

 

[anat0l]

On a lighter note - a bit of trivia, how many lights, switches and gauges are in the average 744 flight deck - same answer as how many days in a non leap year according to Boeing!

747 Flight Deck Poster : Posters

(Filed under things you discover when looking for Markis10jrs Xmas presents!)

O/T

New knick-knack idea: "The Boeing 747-400 Desk Calendar: One Switch / Light / Gauge Per Day"

 

[jb747]

On a lighter note - a bit of trivia, how many lights, switches and gauges are in the average 744 flight deck - same answer as how many days in a non leap year according to Boeing!

I knew there was a reason I thought it was a simple coughpit. The Classic was the better part of 900.

New knick-knack idea: "The Boeing 747-400 Desk Calendar: One Switch / Light / Gauge Per Day"

And I guess the button/switch of the day would let you know in advance what sort of day you were going to have....

 

[mjt57]

I knew there was a reason I thought it was a simple coughpit. The Classic was the better part of 900.

In QF32 I'm up to where RdC talks about the Classic and how he converted for the 400, what the FE's role was and why he was needed on the Classics.

He was also saying how a lot of pilots were reluctant to progress because of a fear of a glass coughpit, automation and the like. Like Richard I would've thought that pilots, being the types who love technology, would've jumped at the chance. But, as he infered, quite a few did it for IR reasons too..

 

[mjt57]

And I guess the button/switch of the day would let you know in advance what sort of day you were going to have...

As long as it's not the "Oops" button...

Or the big red button with the label, "DO NOT press this button!"

 

[mjt57]

I suspect so, however please be aware that companies take a very tight hold on who says what in such circumstances, information in this thread needs to remain general in nature.

Yes, I'm well aware of this. My question was merely to clarify what they were writing about. I wasn't expecting JB to comment, hence why I asked generally.

 

[jb747]

In QF32 I'm up to where RdC talks about the Classic and how he converted for the 400, what the FE's role was and why he was needed on the Classics.

Whilst it's fair to say that the engineers have been largely replaced in day to day operations by computerised systems, the driving force was simply the desire to reduce the crew numbers. Computers are brilliant at monitoring systems, but they generate their own problems. Much of the work that the engineers did, still has to be done....in some cases by computers, but in others by the pilots. On a really bad day, I suspect that I'd rather have an engineer with me. Those bad days don't happen often, and if they did, I suspect engineers would still be around.

He was also saying how a lot of pilots were reluctant to progress because of a fear of a glass coughpit, automation and the like. Like Richard I would've thought that pilots, being the types who love technology, would've jumped at the chance. But, as he infered, quite a few did it for IR reasons too..

I'm not sure of Richard's exact progression. I guess it was similar to mine, but with the A330 command time instead of the 744. People move for lots of reasons. For many it will simply be lifestyle related. In the case of the 380 and the 744, it took quite some time before the aircraft they replaced had their route structure dramatically affected, so many chose to sit back and let things settle for a while. The downside is that that can let a lot of 'junior' people take the slots, and so subsequently affect the possibility of moving. That has happened in quite dramatic fashion on the 380, with the deferral of the aircraft. So, strategically, it can make good sense to bid for a new type as soon as you can.

The change from the 747 to the 744 was dramatic in terms of the way the coughpit worked. Most people took to it very quickly...Boeing had done a good job of making it feel like a Boeing. Some found it a bit daunting, but they were rare. The automation was generally very transparent...the jet didn't often surprise.

The Airbus is somewhat different. Whilst it has many fans, it has just as many detractors. Richard is a fan. It is different to the Boeing in some very fundamental ways. Some are good. Some make you wonder. I'm not convinced that it represents a better technology, perhaps just a different one. Whilst the Airbus does many things well, there are a surprising number of things that are substantially better managed in the 744. I probably expected there to be none, given the 20 years between them.

 

[markis10]

I wonder how often collisions occur on the ground with aircraft, from the parting out of OJR at Pinal (pic Feb this year) it looks like the winglets were one of the first things to go onto the spares for sale list, along with radome covers from the nose!

 

[jb747]

I wonder how often collisions occur on the ground with aircraft, from the parting out of OJR at Pinal (pic Feb this year) it looks like the winglets were one of the first things to go onto the spares for sale list, along with radome covers from the nose!

Sad picture. It was a good aeroplane.

I've never seen a ground collision between aircraft, though vehicles seem to have a sad history of running into them. Sort of hard to explain given their size.

Asiana are particularly scary...I give them a very wide berth, preferably by being at a different airport. I've seen their cavalier behaviour a number of times.

Clearance lines are painted on the ground at most places for very good reason. As long as you don't try to taxy past someone who is over the clearance line, you shouldn't have much trouble. A point most of you won't have thought of is that the apparent wing span of an aircraft grows as you turn away from an object (swept wings...). So, if you think you may be too close, DON'T TURN AWAY...just stop.

I'm not sure how they break winglets...I suspect hangar doors claim a few.

 

[straitman]

Both Australia and the US have 8 hour rules.

In Australia BAC is 0.02 and 8 hours between last drinks and entering aircraft (CAR 1988 reg 256)

In US BAC is 0.04 and same 8 hours (FAR91.17)

Note that 0.02 is effectively 0.00, some with medical conditions can blow that level, as can some who use certain tooth pastes!

.... and for all these years I thought it was no smoking within 8 hours of flying and no drinking within 100 ft of the aircraft :!: :shock:

 

[mjt57]

I'm not sure of Richard's exact progression.

747 SO/Senior SO, FO, Capt. A330, A380.

I think that he's been a captain since 2005 or so. He did his A330 conversion, then immediately afterwards, his command training. A high pressure time for him for which his colleagues thought he was nuts. But it worked out for him.

And as you say, the harder you work...

 

[jb747]

747 SO/Senior SO, FO, Capt. A330, A380.

I think that he's been a captain since 2005 or so. He did his A330 conversion, then immediately afterwards, his command training. A high pressure time for him for which his colleagues thought he was nuts. But it worked out for him.

And as you say, the harder you work...

I'll check, but I don't think that was it at all. I think he was a 767 Captain from about 98 or so.

And having checked...you're quite right. He didn't go via the 767, but rather did command training on the 330. There are two ways of doing that. Some blokes go to the new aircraft for six months as an FO, and then do the command training, whilst most take both hurdles at the same time.

There haven't been "senior SO's" for a very long time. It was once an official rank, and they wore two and a half stripes. They were basically SO's who had completed all of their FO training (with the exception of the one day EP course), but who hadn't got an FO slot (as yet). They were all landee, and could operate the aircraft in all stages of flight. I was one for one flight.... They disappeared around the early 90s, when most of the new FOs were actually on the 767.

 

[Simo]

Is the radome covers from the nose a item that gets damaged on a regular basis as all the planes are missing that.

 

[jb747]

Is the radome covers from the nose a item that gets damaged on a regular basis as all the planes are missing that.

They get broken occasionally, but certainly not regularly. I wonder if their removal has more to do with the fact that they aren't aluminium, but are a fibreglass(like) construction. Come to think of it, the winglets are made of something different too.

 

[Simo]

Once you mentioned that it is a different material the outside weather conditions would greatly reduce the life span.

I just googled what they are made of and either Fibreglass or PTFE coated fabric or basically Teflon coated fabric.

What is the QF one's made of as the guidance and electronic gear behind them. The A380 would be market leading in what is in the nose cone area.

 

[Walter_Plinge]

I'm transitting in HK at the moment. I just saw a Finnair 747 being towed, fairly rapidly, by a tug in a forward direction. Is the aircraft being towed to the runway or merely being re-located away from the main terminal?