Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

Was talking with a crew member that had a 35 year old women pass on a flight from LAX to SYD, it was on the last stage of the flight but she mentioned CPR was needed to be performed until death could be confirmed by a trained medic, in this case after landing. I felt for her as it must be terrible to end your day with such an event, as unavoidable as it is, and its a good reminder that people looking after our needs have so much to contend with as part of their job.

Death can be called by the emergency services doctors. My experience is that they will do so after a reasonable length of time....

 

[Rallo]

Death can be called by the emergency services doctors. My experience is that they will do so after a reasonable length of time....

JB Does it have an impact on you or are you somewhat detached from the event ?

 

[jb747]

JB Does it have an impact on you or are you somewhat detached from the event ?

I guess it will vary with the circumstances. Obviously the cabin crew are deeply involved, both with the person who is stricken, and their travelling companions. I've seen them go to great lengths, not only on the aircraft, but in the days after the flight, following up as best they can. One girl took it upon herself to handhold a passenger through the formalities in Singapore over the following days....nobody asked her to, she just did it.

At the time the pilots are detached, and it's probably best that they stay that way. After landing, I've become involved with the family on both occasions, helping them get past the paperwork, and we make sure things like transport, accommodation are sorted out. You do what you can. Most of us consider them to be 'our' passengers, not some generic airlines'.

 

[mjt57]

As opposed to the ones who insured my mother's recent trip to NZ. They haven't coughed up for anything so far...and seem to be in the 'not answering the phone' stage.

Do you mind telling us which one (or to PM)?

We're shopping around for travel insurance for our upcoming Euro/US trip.

 

[markis10]

As someone who has seen crew off duty and on duty help out passengers with delayed baggage last week on QF2, I have to say its the crew that is the real spirit of Australia, both tech and cabin.

 

[jb747]

Do you mind telling us which one (or to PM)?

We're shopping around for travel insurance for our upcoming Euro/US trip.

Dunno of the top of my head, I'd have to track it down with her. I've got a standing policy with QBE.

 

[simongr]

Out of interest do you utilise the trips any more for personal trips and chuck the wife in the bus as well (obvious tongue in cheek phrasing)? Or are you past that now (knowing how much you love touring Australia)?

Is that even an opportunity?

 

[jb747]

Out of interest do you utilise the trips any more for personal trips and chuck the wife in the bus as well (obvious tongue in cheek phrasing)? Or are you past that now (knowing how much you love touring Australia)?

Is that even an opportunity?

We've done it in the past, but working trips aren't really conducive to taking family members. As you've said, mostly I drive to my holiday destinations.

 

[mjt57]

Dunno of the top of my head, I'd have to track it down with her. I've got a standing policy with QBE.

Nah, don't worry about it. Whoever SWMBO picks we will hope doesn't shaft us should we need them. Anyway, hope your mother is OK.

Might look at QBE though.

 

[wafliron]

As the aircraft becomes lighter, we decelerate to maintain the same angle of attack. A normal cruise will start at roughly .85. Over the next three or so hours that will reduce to .83. Then we climb to the next level, and go back to .85 and repeat the cycle.

Two of my recent A380 flights (QF and SQ) seemed to follow the opposite pattern with regard to altitude - we started out high (42,000 feet on the QF flight, IIRC), and then slowly descended over the course of the flight. Can you shed some light as to the reason (or a possible reason)? I've been trying to puzzle it out - I assume it was wasn't due to traffic given it was a slow (stepped) descent over the course of the entire flight. Possibly to better take advantage of prevailing wind conditions?

On an unrelated topic, I also noticed across all four of my recent A380 flights that several minutes out from landing (at several thousand feet) there would be a sudden increase in non-engine noise, the plane's nose would drop significantly, and then a few seconds later pitch back upwards again. Again I've been trying to figure out what is happening here - particularly the two very noticeable attitude changes in quick succession. Is this the gear being lowered, the plane's flight computer dropping the nose to maintain air speed in the presence of the additional drag, and then pitching the nose back up again once it's increased engine power to compensate?

Thanks!

 

[jb747]

Two of my recent A380 flights (QF and SQ) seemed to follow the opposite pattern with regard to altitude - we started out high (42,000 feet on the QF flight, IIRC), and then slowly descended over the course of the flight. Can you shed some light as to the reason (or a possible reason)? I've been trying to puzzle it out - I assume it was wasn't due to traffic given it was a slow (stepped) descent over the course of the entire flight. Possibly to better take advantage of prevailing wind conditions?

That basically makes no sense at all. Are you talking about long haul 380 flights? The aircraft can't even get to FL420 until almost the end of the flight, and it's very rarely worth doing.

On an unrelated topic, I also noticed across all four of my recent A380 flights that several minutes out from landing (at several thousand feet) there would be a sudden increase in non-engine noise, the plane's nose would drop significantly, and then a few seconds later pitch back upwards again. Again I've been trying to figure out what is happening here - particularly the two very noticeable attitude changes in quick succession. Is this the gear being lowered, the plane's flight computer dropping the nose to maintain air speed in the presence of the additional drag, and then pitching the nose back up again once it's increased engine power to compensate?

The biggest noise change is caused by extension of the landing gear. It's especially noisy whilst the gear doors are open.

You've got to be careful not to read too much into isolated pitch changes. You really don't know exactly what the pilots are seeing, or doing, and changes can happen for all sorts of reasons. Assuming the aircraft is established on the ILS glideslope, the autothrust will almost certainly be in SPEED mode, so that when the gear is extended the power will pretty well instantly react to the increased drag. But, at around the same time the gear is going out, the later stages of flap are also being selected, and so decelerations will also be happening. Pitch changes on the glideslope are only about corrections to stay on the slope, they aren't to correct IAS. Different speeds and flap settings will all require different pitch attitudes to maintain that stable 3 degree slope, so the required attitude is a moving target.

We aren't always on the ILS miles out either. It's quite common to intercept it 1,500-2,000 feet, so pitch changes prior to that could simply be related to ATC cleared altitudes.

 

[dodgeyhack]

Somewhat related to the above.
Where does the air speed, altitude, etc, on the passengers screens come from? At the origin, is it the same source as the pilots information? Or some much simpler system, perhaps a separate GPS?
Would it be filtered so as to not alarm pax? Perhaps averaged over time to produce smoother changes or something?

 

[jb747]

Somewhat related to the above.
Where does the air speed, altitude, etc, on the passengers screens come from? At the origin, is it the same source as the pilots information? Or some much simpler system, perhaps a separate GPS?
Would it be filtered so as to not alarm pax? Perhaps averaged over time to produce smoother changes or something?

It will differ in every aircraft. I vaguely recall it coming from the #3 IRU in one of the Boeings, but don't hold me to that. The 380 manuals don't give any information on the source (in fact, they give the entire system two paragraphs). It won't be a separate GPS, but I expect it's just a feed from the active FMC. I can't see any reason to filter it, but the system may not sample it constantly; though on those times I've watched it, it seems to keep up with altitude changes quite well. The only pilot control is on or off.....

 

[Fruitcake]

The only pilot control is on or off.....

A shame you can't force it to always display in real units of measurement that people can understand - knots, feet, and nautical miles .

 

[gogo419]

Jb747, not sure if you have recently published your flying schedule for the coming weeks? Will you be flying qf11 on Saturday 13 April?

cheers gogo

 

[flychrisfly]

I flew an AR 737 the other day and noticed ice on the wing - see pic. Should this be a cause for concern?

 

[QF WP]

Jb747, not sure if you have recently published your flying schedule for the coming weeks? Will you be flying qf11 on Saturday 13 April?

cheers gogo

He published it here somewhere near the end of March. IIRC he's on leave until 22 April.

 

[jb747]

Jb747, not sure if you have recently published your flying schedule for the coming weeks? Will you be flying qf11 on Saturday 13 April?

cheers gogo

It's a few pages back. Not that much...a HK and a London. And a sim to really embarrass myself after being on a long leave break.

 

[jb747]

I flew an AR 737 the other day and noticed ice on the wing - see pic. Should this be a cause for concern?

No ice is allowed on the upper surfaces. Will that amount be a problem? Almost certainly not. But, it should have been removed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No ice is allowed on the upper surfaces. Will that amount be a problem? Almost certainly not. But, it should have been removed.

should a passenger do anything in such a situation - for example alerting the cabin crew? In days gone past we might have assumed it had been checked and was ok, now days we are a little more questioning. At what point would a passenger make a decision that it was not safe for them (the passenger) to fly?