Ask The Pilot

[mjt57]

The flight leaves London late on the 25th, and arrives early evening on the 26th Singapore. Basically you have to get over one all night/day flight and get ready for another night. Very little is organised on slips.

Not sure that I could handle that as a lifestyle. It's bad enough with regular shiftwork. For example, I finish nightshift at 7am, after 12 hrs. Then I'm back in at 7am the next day. I've got to get up, stay up and then hang in there til I go back to bed tomorrow night.

Thankfully, it's a one-off. Normally nightshift ends the round before five days off.

When we fly to the UK next year I'm going to treat it as a couple of nightshifts and prepare myself in the usual way. Because I know that I'll get bugger all sleep down the back, unless we're lucky enough to get exit seats, then maybe I can stretch out on the floor, if that's allowed.

 

[medhead]

Sleep on the floor is not allowed, especially in an exit row.


Sent from the Throne

 

[mjt57]

Sleep on the floor is not allowed, especially in an exit row.

Especially from the exit row? I would not have thought that there was any other place in the cabin where you could have room to stretch out.

In any case, from a safety perspective, it wouldn't be a good idea. But when your deadly tired, irritable, often good decision making is not possible when you can't get to sleep.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Especially from the exit row? I would not have thought that there was any other place in the cabin where you could have room to stretch out.

In any case, from a safety perspective, it wouldn't be a good idea. But when your deadly tired, irritable, often good decision making is not possible when you can't get to sleep.

sleeping on the floor is not permitted anywhere in the cabin. (well, except if you have an angled lie flat seat... then you may end up there anyway )

 

[simongr]

Just sat in the F lounge watching a stack of aircraft queued up. The emirates 777 looks like stick compared to the QF A380 in front of it.

Question is about the A380 being towed to the gate in the queue of departing aircraft. Is it normal for an aircraft tone stuck in that queue?

 

[jb747]

Question is about the A380 being towed to the gate in the queue of departing aircraft. Is it normal for an aircraft tone stuck in that queue?

I guess 'tone' is supposed should be 'to be'....

Towed aircraft have a relatively low priority, especially when it comes to crossing the active runway. Additionally, you can't just tow a 380 across any convenient taxiway, the list of useable paths can be quite limited, and can also impinge upon use of adjacent taxiways and even the runway.

I recall that when the aircraft was being introduced, Airbus made various comments to the effect that when the 747 appeared airports around the world had to update to accommodate it, and they expected the same to happen. Of course, back at the end of the sixties, airports were nowhere near as bound as they are now, so the reality is that that is only going to happen in a limited way. Plus, there have been over 1,500 747s built. It's anyone's guess as to how many 380s there will be, but I'll be surprised if the total even cracks 500. The upshot is that the aircraft is likely to always be very limited at most airports, and that includes runways, taxiways, and parking.

 

[simongr]

Thanks - yep tone was meant to be to be - I was on the iPhone and couldn't edit the post (the champagne was getting warm as well).

I can now see that the aircraft wasn't towed to a gate but towed to parking bay (insert correct technical term here) so no pax would be affected.

 

[docjames]

You've mentioned in the past that the 380's brakes get very hot just taxiing. Is there a limit to the towing of the 380? Is it limited by the brakes of the tow tug? Can it be towed only with engines off? Any other restrictions on distance / weight? Are the tugs purpose designed or adapted from existing 744 / A330 equipment?

 

[jb747]

You've mentioned in the past that the 380's brakes get very hot just taxiing. Is there a limit to the towing of the 380? Is it limited by the brakes of the tow tug? Can it be towed only with engines off? Any other restrictions on distance / weight? Are the tugs purpose designed or adapted from existing 744 / A330 equipment?

The aircraft brakes are not used at all when being towed. Depending upon the aircraft type, the hydraulics will be partially powered up, to pressurise the braking systems, as a last resort, just in case the tow bar breaks. I can't think of a time when an aircraft would ever be towed with an engine running, other than the occasional 'pull forward', after being pushed from the gate, as the crew are starting the engines. Having said that, depending upon local rules, and the particular tug in use, you may not be able to start any engines at all until completion of the pushback. Each running engine is going to provide about 8,000 lbs of forward thrust, even at idle, so you'd run the tug out of brakes pretty quickly. On a wet day, the smaller tugs used domestically can run out of traction with even one 767 engine running.

I don't know the overlap of tug usage. Obviously the biggest are used with the A380, and I expect the tow bar variety can push any smaller aircraft (which is all of them). QF bought some new tugs of the type that lift the nose gear for the 380s, and they're used in LA. I used a similar type (at various locations) when flying the 747, so I expect they can be used with any of the bigger aircraft.

The dynamics of a tow are quite different to a taxi. Firstly, the aircraft will normally be a lot heavier...there's not much reason to tow with a full load. Speeds will be higher when the aircraft is under its own power (up to 30 knots), and the aircraft may have an appreciable distance to travel. And, that previously mentioned idle thrust will be there...but now with all of the engines providing a share. At some airports, where the surface isn't level (i.e. Melbourne) you may have a considerable downhill run, and that can make a huge difference to just how much you have to brake. The normal technique is to let the aircraft accelerate up to the max speed, and to then brake it back to a slow speed. You don't ride the brakes in an attempt to hold a constant(ish) speed, as that will put a lot more heat into the brakes. If you aren't careful, you can easily put a hundred degrees C into the brakes whilst taxiing out to the runway (long taxi, hot day, heavy weight). There is a limit of 300 degrees for take off.

That limit isn't a problem from a cold start (when the aircraft has been on the ground for some hours), but departures from Singapore and HK both occur about 60-90 minutes after arrival, and the brakes will easily hit 500 degrees after landing. So, leaving the terminal, the temperatures could already be around 200 degrees...

 

[medhead]

Especially from the exit row? I would not have thought that there was any other place in the cabin where you could have room to stretch out.

In any case, from a safety perspective, it wouldn't be a good idea. But when your deadly tired, irritable, often good decision making is not possible when you can't get to sleep.

Yes, especially in an exit row. Precisely because of the safety perspective.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Major]

Whilst on the subject of towing....When the A380 is being towed to or from maintenance I assume there is an Engineer in the coughpit. What instruments are he/she allowed to operate

 

[harvyk]

Just out of interest (and after yesterdays public holiday), do pilots earn any sort of public holiday penalty rate?

Also with the B767, considering QF operate both the B767-338 as well as B767-336 with their different door config. Is there any sort of change from a pilots point of view between the two configurations? Do pilots need to get any sort of rating for the 336 before being allowed to fly them? Or is a B767 rating enough to be allowed to fly any B767 regardless of configuration?

 

[NM]

Also with the B767, considering QF operate both the B767-338 as well as B767-336 with their different door config. Is there any sort of change from a pilots point of view between the two configurations? Do pilots need to get any sort of rating for the 336 before being allowed to fly them? Or is a B767 rating enough to be allowed to fly any B767 regardless of configuration?

The different engines (GE vs RR) will likely make more of a difference than the emergency exits.

 

[harvyk]

The different engines (GE vs RR) will likely make more of a difference than the emergency exits.

Sorry, I meant to put an etc... after the different door config. I guess from a pax point of view the different door config is the most noticeable thing, but I didn't know if there where larger differences that the placement of doors or not, and if there where larger things if it would be enough to mean pilots needed anything special to operate a 336 over a 338.

 

[markis10]

Just out of interest (and after yesterdays public holiday), do pilots earn any sort of public holiday penalty rate?

Also with the B767, considering QF operate both the B767-338 as well as B767-336 with their different door config. Is there any sort of change from a pilots point of view between the two configurations? Do pilots need to get any sort of rating for the 336 before being allowed to fly them? Or is a B767 rating enough to be allowed to fly any B767 regardless of configuration?

I dont believe the ratings are that definitive, given an earlier post in this thread mentioning the endorsement also covered 777s??

 

[NM]

Sorry, I meant to put an etc... after the different door config. I guess from a pax point of view the different door config is the most noticeable thing, but I didn't know if there where larger differences that the placement of doors or not, and if there where larger things if it would be enough to mean pilots needed anything special to operate a 336 over a 338.

I think I know the answer but will leave it to JB747 as he is the one qualified to discuss. Though I will suggest that he throws a few other variants into the mix, such as the P&W powered 767-238s he used to fly, and lets not forget the 757 that has some level of type equivalence.

 

[jb747]

Whilst on the subject of towing....When the A380 is being towed to or from maintenance I assume there is an Engineer in the coughpit. What instruments are he/she allowed to operate

Much of the equipment will come to life by itself. Some items will be unhappy if you don't start them (for instance tow the aircraft with the INS turned off, and we'll get an error next time we start it, because it won't know how it got there). They'll need a fair bit turned on for the tow (hydraulics, probably a radio, and comms with the ground, APU and bleed for a/c). FMCs come to life any time the aircraft is powered up...I've never seen anyone but a pilot touch one. But, they're engineers, and any time we get an aircraft from the engineers, we can be certain that there'll be switches in odd positions (which makes for doubly careful preflights). He's know as the 'phantom switch flicker', and he exists everywhere.

 

[jb747]

Just out of interest (and after yesterdays public holiday), do pilots earn any sort of public holiday penalty rate?

I can only speak for my own contract...there are no penalty rates for public holidays...all days are the same. Which is probably why I've worked for about 90% of the Xmas days since I started.

Also with the B767, considering QF operate both the B767-338 as well as B767-336 with their different door config. Is there any sort of change from a pilots point of view between the two configurations? Do pilots need to get any sort of rating for the 336 before being allowed to fly them? Or is a B767 rating enough to be allowed to fly any B767 regardless of configuration?

There is a particular licence reference for the -200 and -300 series. When the 336 first appeared, there was a briefing sheet which contained all of the 'differences'. There aren't that many. Most obvious was probably the engines, but, at the time, all of the Captains, and probably most of the FOs had flown RR equipped 747s. The operational changeover wasn't an issue at all. The first time I saw one of those aircraft I was flying it to Melbourne. There was one item that was missed (and would have been missed if a sim sequence had been required anyway). The aircraft is flared quite differently to the -338. It's a function of the way the power comes off the engines when the levers are retarded, but the upshot is that if you fly a 336 like a 338 you'll plant it, and if you do it the other way around, you'll float.

My licence also includes 757, and I don't think I've ever set foot in one.

There was talk a decade or so ago, before we went to Airbus, of 767-400/777 co-endorsement, and of retrofitting the 767-400 coughpit to the -300s. Airbus coughpits are very similar, but it's still not really safe to jump from one type to another.

 

[SenZubEanS]

My favorite part of that reply was the time stamp.

 

[mjt57]

I can only speak for my own contract

Contract? Aren't you guys under an EBA?

...there are no penalty rates for public holidays...all days are the same. Which is probably why I've worked for about 90% of the Xmas days since I started.

Yeah, that'd suck. Of course, if you're working 90 percent of them, then some lucky bugger's getting 90 percent of them off...

A while back the question was asked about pay rates and you said that it varied depending on how much flying you did. Does this mean that if you have an extended period off, you don't get paid??? If so, that'd double suck...