Ask The Pilot

[SenZubEanS]

No, you can live wherever you like, but getting to work is your problem. Deadheading is a term used to describe sectors paid for by the company to move you around. If I want to get from Melbourne to Sydney, the company do not pay for, or make any provision for, me to do so. So, whilst I can, and do, use staff travel tickets, they are often more or less the same price as the discount tickets that anyone can buy. At busy times, you'll even need to consider driving (as I did at Easter).

Sorry, perhaps I misunderstood here (once again shouldn't be posting when tired ) But if you are scheduled to fly out of SYD then Qantas expect you to make you own arrangements to get there? I am sure this is incorrect but that's how I read this and just wanted to seek a clarification for interests sake.

 

[jb747]

Sorry, perhaps I misunderstood here (once again shouldn't be posting when tired ) But if you are scheduled to fly out of SYD then Qantas expect you to make you own arrangements to get there? I am sure this is incorrect but that's how I read this and just wanted to seek a clarification for interests sake.

That's entirely correct. They 'expect' me to live somewhere in the vicinity of Sydney. If I choose to live elsewhere, then it's my problem.

 

[harvyk]

Given you live in Melbourne, do they at least attempt to get you to operate flights in and out of MEL, or do you find that where you live plays no part in their decision as to which flights your scheduled on?

Also how long in advance do you know who your crew will be for any particular flight? Do you see anything on the schedules or do you simply walk into a pre-flight briefing and see a group of people?

 

[jb747]

Given you live in Melbourne, do they at least attempt to get you to operate flights in and out of MEL, or do you find that where you live plays no part in their decision as to which flights your scheduled on?

None whatsoever.

Also how long in advance do you know who your crew will be for any particular flight? Do you see anything on the schedules or do you simply walk into a pre-flight briefing and see a group of people?

Rosters are 56 days long, so you could have up to that much notice. At the other end of the scale, you might have 3 hours notice. I can find out who else is on a trip well in advance.

 

[SenZubEanS]

They 'expect' me to live somewhere in the vicinity of Sydney. If I choose to live elsewhere, then it's my problem.

So, they will happily schedule you to fly the A388 out of MEL and SYD, knowing full well that you live in only 1 of those places and yet require you to get your own way there. Are you forced to pay for the MEL - SYD flight yourself? What about if you took off from MEL and then ended up finishing with a SIN-SYD, as they have not returned you to your home port would you also have to pay your own way to be flown back to MEL?

 

[jb747]

So, they will happily schedule you to fly the A388 out of MEL and SYD, knowing full well that you live in only 1 of those places and yet require you to get your own way there. Are you forced to pay for the MEL - SYD flight yourself? What about if you took off from MEL and then ended up finishing with a SIN-SYD, as they have not returned you to your home port would you also have to pay your own way to be flown back to MEL?

As far as they are concerned, my home port is Sydney (as it is for all A380 pilots). All patterns are based on getting you back to Sydney. If, for instance, I was scheduled to fly the 31 out and 32 back, then getting to/from Melbourne is totally at my cost.

If I'm doing the 9, then I can use the ticket that comes with the pattern (alt paxing) at some later time...mentioned earlier in the thread.

Generally though, my movements between Melbourne and Sydney are paid for by me.

 

[serfty]

Some OT posts have been moved here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../chat-event-tonight-caribou-hornet-31353.html

See the OP:

...
As this is an "ask the pilot" thread, we ask that non-pilot members refrain from answering questions that have been directed to pilots until the pilots members have had a good opportunity to answer the question (i.e. at least 7 days). ... discussions that get too far off topic may be removed or moved to a more appropriate thread or forum so we can retain order and respect in this thread.

 

[QF029]

As far as they are concerned, my home port is Sydney (as it is for all A380 pilots). All patterns are based on getting you back to Sydney. If, for instance, I was scheduled to fly the 31 out and 32 back, then getting to/from Melbourne is totally at my cost.If I'm doing the 9, then I can use the ticket that comes with the pattern (alt paxing) at some later time...mentioned earlier in the thread.Generally though, my movements between Melbourne and Sydney are paid for by me.

Do you have to go to Sydney every time you're on call?

 

[jb747]

Do you have to go to Sydney every time you're on call?

Sadly, yes.

 

[harvyk]

Sadly, yes.

So how oftan do you have to go to SYD "just in case", and of those how oftan do those "just in cases" amount to nothing?

 

[jb747]

So how oftan do you have to go to SYD "just in case", and of those how oftan do those "just in cases" amount to nothing?

In the month from 6/6 until today...15 standby duties, which resulted in one two hour flight......

It wasn't a good month.

 

[Tortuga]

Do you practise ditching into the ocean, and if so what is the likely hood of the plane remaining in one piece. I guess it depends on the amount of control you have over the aircraft when ditching. Another factor would be the waves and swell, I wouldn't want to ditch into 20ft seas. I imagine there is a big difference between ditching in the Hudson river vs open ocean.

How far can the A380 glide without any thrust from the engines?

Is the front of the aircraft the more stable compared to the back? Turbulence seems worse at the back from my experience - it seems like the shaking and vibrations from the turbulence flows backward and gets transferred to the tail of the plane.

Thanks !

 

[cosi]

Yesterday I returned to Perth from Sydney on QF581 - currently being operated by a 747.

After rolling onto the runway, the plane kept rolling until the first exit eventually, taxiing to the parking area used by international planes, opposite the international terminal.

The pilot then announced they had received "performance indicatiors from air traffic control as they rolled onto the runway, and for safety reasons this required a recaluation of all the data which would not take long and then the plane would rejoin the queue for take off". The captain sounded a little annoyed.

Please can you explain what performance indicators are.

Many thanks.

 

[jb747]

Do you practise ditching into the ocean, and if so what is the likely hood of the plane remaining in one piece. I guess it depends on the amount of control you have over the aircraft when ditching. Another factor would be the waves and swell, I wouldn't want to ditch into 20ft seas. I imagine there is a big difference between ditching in the Hudson river vs open ocean.

No, that would be a bit like practicing how to crash, and we don't do that either. You do practice events that might cause you to ditch, and of course, in the annual EPs (emergency procedures) day, used of the slides, etc, is covered, but, no, you don't practice being a Sullenberger.

Open ocean swells are likely to be much bigger than 20 feet...and most of my flying is done at night. It would be a bad place to end up.

How far can the A380 glide without any thrust from the engines?

Well, you get a good example of that each time an airliner descends from altitude. They'll go around 3.5 nautical miles for every 1000 feet of altitude, so from F360, you're looking at a glide range (clean) of about 120, or so, miles.

Is the front of the aircraft the more stable compared to the back? Turbulence seems worse at the back from my experience - it seems like the shaking and vibrations from the turbulence flows backward and gets transferred to the tail of the plane.

The point with the least motion, is roughly over the middle of the wing. Distance from that point, in both directions, increases the motion. So yes, the back can move around a fair bit...and so does the coughpit.

 

[Voyages]

Good morning JB, can you please explain how the 'bidding' process for routes/trips works?

 

[jb747]

Yesterday I returned to Perth from Sydney on QF581 - currently being operated by a 747.

After rolling onto the runway, the plane kept rolling until the first exit eventually, taxiing to the parking area used by international planes, opposite the international terminal.

The pilot then announced they had received "performance indicatiors from air traffic control as they rolled onto the runway, and for safety reasons this required a recaluation of all the data which would not take long and then the plane would rejoin the queue for take off". The captain sounded a little annoyed.

Please can you explain what performance indicators are.

Before every take off, a series of calculations have to be done which will give you the V speeds for that take off, as well as the power setting. Inputs to that calculation include the aircraft weight, runway, obstacles, and a bunch of environmental data.. wind, temperature, pressure, whether it's wet or dry (and so on).

Most of that is fixed...the runway length isn't likely to change after you taxi, although obstacles can appear and disappear (i.e. ships in the channel in Singapore). The weather is obviously the most changeable input to the calculation. Normally there is a little bit of a buffer applied to the numbers so that small changes don't require recalculation (perhaps a degree of temperature, or a millibar of air pressure, and a couple of knots of wind speed) but as soon as the conditions deviate beyond the buffer, you have to do the numbers again. That will take a minute or so, and then the numbers have to be crosschecked, and then entered into the FMC. Normally not an issue as you move along the queue, but if you're given them just as you're lining up, then you'd have to sit on the runway, blocking it, until you finish reworking them. ATC may be able to accept that, but perhaps not...in which case they'll need to get you out of the way.

 

[jb747]

Good morning JB, can you please explain how the 'bidding' process for routes/trips works?

This system works differently across airlines. Some have no bidding at all, whilst others have bidding for everything.

Basically, the company generates a list of patterns that need to be flown in the next period (this comes out a month before the start of the period). We then bid for the flying based on a whole bunch of parameters, and a computer program will carefully look at it, and then give you nothing that you asked for.

Some people chase particular flights (for instance across the Pacific, the trips are both short, and high density (i.e. lots of hours for the time away; others drag on forever, and may involve about half the pay per day away from home.)) In my case, I really don't care where I go, my preference is for the trips to start or end in Melbourne.

Relative seniority in the rank/aircraft type decides how you'll fare in the bidding. Some airlines have rotating seniority (in which everyone will be both senior and junior over the course of the year) whilst others use absolute seniority.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Love this thread!JB,I used to fly SYD-JNB monthly for years!! It wasn't a crew favorite either unless you wanted to Safari.We used to see Antartica at times (?) how far south is furthest route you know of? Around 65deg South?

 

[jb747]

It wasn't a crew favorite either unless you wanted to Safari.We used to see Antartica at times (?) how far south is furthest route you know of? Around 65deg South?

Another high density trip, so it wasn't that unpopular...especially if you were a golfer. I only ever did it once.

I don't know about the southern-most route. Perhaps you'd have to count the flights that actually go to Antarctica, or the 319 that operates to there (from NZ). Way too far south, and too far from anywhere warm, for my liking.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Another high density trip, so it wasn't that unpopular...especially if you were a golfer. I only ever did it once.

I don't know about the southern-most route. Perhaps you'd have to count the flights that actually go to Antarctica, or the 319 that operates to there (from NZ). Way too far south, and too far from anywhere warm, for my liking.

Only once!!! wow. You got out of that well.

I should have said this was on QF63, the southern routes were flown to optimise fuel (airlines are run by accountants after all).

yes there is good golf in SA, even good wines when you get past the bad merlots.