Ask The Pilot

[drross]

jb747, thought you may (or may not) be interested in this clip... Harrier Has Stuck Nose Gear, Lands On A Stool, Pilot Is Awesome

pretty awesome alright

 

[QF WP]

Simulator time again. I've been away on fairly extended leave, so I spent about a week with my head in the books prior to this exercise.

Firstly, in relation to a question about Virgin's sim sequences a while back, QF is changing the system they use, so that we'll now do two sims very close together (apparently they have to be within two months, but will try to make them within a couple of days), followed by a longer break. Still four sims a year.

Still haven't seen my neighbour as he hasn't been home at a similar time to me (his base in AKL). Really interested in printing out your post and showing to him and getting his briefing on his sims.

Saw his wife this morning (out walking our dogs). He's back on the 18th for a week.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Will you be back flying soon, JB? If so, any idea on what your schedule looks like?

 

[QF WP]

Hopefully none of the pilots in this Forum ever needed to do this tricky landing:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/techn...af0190f64daf30e2993bb54&&net_sub_uid=94663131

 

[jb747]

Will you be back flying soon, JB? If so, any idea on what your schedule looks like?

On a trip now. I did QF9 ex Melbourne on the 29th.

QF9 DXB-LHR 2/7
QF10 LHR-DXB 4/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 6/7 (I'm trying to swap this for the QF10 sector)

QF9 MEL-DXB 18/7
QF9 DXB-LHR 21/7
QF2 LHR-DXB 23/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 25/7

The roster will then flick into a blank line, so 8 weeks of standby, sim support, and ad hoc flying.

 

[Himeno]

On a trip now. I did QF9 ex Melbourne on the 29th.

QF9 DXB-LHR 2/7
QF10 LHR-DXB 4/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 6/7 (I'm trying to swap this for the QF10 sector)

QF9 MEL-DXB 18/7
QF9 DXB-LHR 21/7
QF2 LHR-DXB 23/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 25/7

The roster will then flick into a blank line, so 8 weeks of standby, sim support, and ad hoc flying.

What do you normally do during the stops at LHR and DXB?

 

[jb747]

What do you normally do during the stops at LHR and DXB?

Sleep to try to get over the sector in, and then some more sleep for the sector out. You end up like a vampire, awake at stupid times of the night.

 

[Himeno]

Sleep to try to get over the sector in, and then some more sleep for the sector out. You end up like a vampire, awake at stupid times of the night.

So then, you're in DXB at the moment?

 

[Must...Fly!]

On a trip now. I did QF9 ex Melbourne on the 29th.

QF9 DXB-LHR 2/7
QF10 LHR-DXB 4/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 6/7 (I'm trying to swap this for the QF10 sector)

QF9 MEL-DXB 18/7
QF9 DXB-LHR 21/7
QF2 LHR-DXB 23/7
QF2 DXB-SYD 25/7

The roster will then flick into a blank line, so 8 weeks of standby, sim support, and ad hoc flying.

Thanks! Unfortunately not on any of the flights I will be travelling on, but never mind! I'm sure I'll have a very capable complement of tech crew

 

[Dmac6345]

Thanks! Unfortunately not on any of the flights I will be travelling on, but never mind! I'm sure I'll have a very capable complement of tech crew

jb, I know you don't usually do the 93/94 (although maybe a few more after DFW starts), but can you please put your hand up for QF93 on 22nd October

 

[Himeno]

Question from another forum I go to...
"How do pilots deal with boredom during long flights?"

 

[alieninperth]

JBs response to a similar question upthread (posts 568 and 569)

No, not really. In fact I think that if you're bored, then you don't know what's going on. Sometimes there's more to be done than at other times, but there's always something.

 

[WheelieBagWanderer]

Hi JB,

Thanks again for all the answers to many and varied questions. This thread can liven up a dull day, that's for sure!

I recently flew SYD-SGN on a Vietnam Airlines A330.

After landing at SGN, I noticed that the flaps weren't retracted past 15 degrees. We parked at a remote park, and going down the air stairs the flaps were still at 15 degrees even though we'd parked.

I saw the flight crew waiting at the luggage claim next to me and asked the captain why the flaps were left "down" at 15 degrees when parking.

His simple answer was, "It's company policy to do this when the temperature is over 35 degrees".

Any idea why this would be the case? I've never seen it done with any other airlines. Does QF do this when parking in hot climates or Australia in summer?

And (I think you've never been crew on an A330 but I'm sure you might know) - is this a quirk of the A330, or would other aircraft need to have this done for some reason too?

Thanks so much!

 

[jb747]

I recently flew SYD-SGN on a Vietnam Airlines A330.

After landing at SGN, I noticed that the flaps weren't retracted past 15 degrees. We parked at a remote park, and going down the air stairs the flaps were still at 15 degrees even though we'd parked.

I saw the flight crew waiting at the luggage claim next to me and asked the captain why the flaps were left at 15 degrees when parking.

His simple answer was, "It's company policy to do this when the temperature is over 35 degrees".

Any idea why this would be the case? I've never seen it done with any other airlines. Does QF do this when parking in hot climates or Australia in summer?

Odd. No, I've never heard of anything like it. The flaps may be left extended if we've landed in snow, or encountered standing water, but that's mainly to give the engineers a chance to ensure there's no damage before they are moved.

Hot weather, we just retract them normally.

 

[WheelieBagWanderer]

Thanks for the quick answer, JB.

(Instead of asking you I should have done this in the first place, lazy I know)... but I just did a search on airliners.net and found someone else asked the question. The answer they gave is below and it obviously means more to you than a lay-person like me, but does this make sense to you? Thanks again!

"The flaps are left extended (leading edge) mainly in the summer months so that the bleed air ducts in the leading edges don't get too hot and set off the overheat messages". Apparently common SOP for quite a few airlines on A330's/A340's according to the person who wrote the post.

 

[jb747]

(Instead of asking you I should have done this in the first place, lazy I know)... but I just did a search on airliners.net and found someone else asked the question. The answer they gave is below and it obviously means more to you than a lay-person like me, but does this make sense to you? Thanks again!

"The flaps are left extended (leading edge) mainly in the summer months so that the bleed air ducts in the leading edges don't get too hot and set off the overheat messages".

Ah, they've made up a procedure to work around what is a bit of an Airbus bug. When it's very hot, the AB seem prone to getting either APU duct leak, or bleed leak messages. They aren't leaking at all, but the temperature sensors are getting hot, and the computers figure that the only way they could be so hot is if there is a leak from one of the ducts. Presumably opening the leading edge devices improves the airflow and keeps the sensors a bit cooler.

 

[Himeno]

What are the typical diversion airports on the AU-DXB/LHR and LAX flight plans?

 

[jb747]

What are the typical diversion airports on the AU-DXB/LHR and LAX flight plans?

Jakarta, Singapore, Batam, KL, Hyderbad, Mumbai, Muscat, Al Ain, Bahrain.

Brisbane, Noumea, Nadi, Auckland, Apia, Pago, Honolulu, Kona, Hilo, San Franciso, Ontario, Phoenix

 

[CaviAck]

Jakarta, Singapore, Batam, KL, Hyderbad, Mumbai, Muscat, Al Ain, Bahrain.

Brisbane, Noumea, Nadi, Auckland, Apia, Pago, Honolulu, Kona, Hilo, San Franciso, Ontario, Phoenix

ONT can take an A380? I'd imagine getting out of there would be a bit tight?

 

[Himeno]

Jakarta, Singapore, Batam, KL, Hyderbad, Mumbai, Muscat, Al Ain, Bahrain.

So it's normally a more northern track towards Europe over SE Asia, the Bay of Bengel and India? I thought there would be some airports a bit more south like Colombo, Bangalore and the Maldives.

If DXB was closed for whatever reason, would you go to AUH or DWC, or just right to AAN?