Ask The Pilot

[mjt57]

What starts out as a small pinprick of light certainly expands outwards, doesn't it?

How far away from you do you think that it was? Looks like a beacon.

 

[Wannabee]

Our company has had a couple of laser incidents both in Sydney and Darwin. Luckily we are a helicopter and can easily locate the perpetrator. We also have a mission mapping system that overlays not only streets but house numbers as well as a Police radio. We have a good success rate!

The people that do this aren't too bright and will keep illuminating you until you are overhead making it easy for us.

 

[jb747]

What starts out as a small pinprick of light certainly expands outwards, doesn't it?

How far away from you do you think that it was? Looks like a beacon.

It was only ever a direct hit momentarily. In the image, I'd guess at about 5 nm.

 

[QF WP]

Awesome shot jb747 - the closest I'll be to the inside of an A380 for a while. Hope that narrows it down for the police.

 

[QF WP]

Our company has had a couple of laser incidents both in Sydney and Darwin. Luckily we are a helicopter and can easily locate the perpetrator. We also have a mission mapping system that overlays not only streets but house numbers as well as a Police radio. We have a good success rate!

The people that do this aren't too bright and will keep illuminating you until you are overhead making it easy for us.

A fool and their laser light are soon parted. They probably can't believe their luck that you are continuing to fly closer and closer to them. Glad to see that you are clearing the suburbs of these idiots Wannabee, albeit one at a time.

 

[clazman]

Nice pic ..... any more you would like to share

 

[CaviAck]

Beautiful shot, shame it's been ruined by an idiotic green light.

 

[artemis]

Great photo. Not the laser bit. But pretty cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Alanslegal]

That turkey who used the laser pointers, hope they catch him/her and chop their hands off.

Another question, might not be pilot related but something that made me curious. We were on an international flight two days ago and during the the descent various announcements were made including the advice that 'food from the plane must not be taken off the plane'. Is there a logical reason for this, given that certain foods (declared of course) are permitted anyway.

 

[jb747]

Another question, might not be pilot related but something that made me curious. We were on an international flight two days ago and during the the descent various announcements were made including the advice that 'food from the plane must not be taken off the plane'. Is there a logical reason for this, given that certain foods (declared of course) are permitted anyway.

Have to ask quarantine. I never carry anything, as I figure it will slow down my escape.

 

[Alanslegal]

Have to ask quarantine. I never carry anything, as I figure it will slow down my escape.

Thanks, thought it's a quarantine thing. Kind of weird that I am not allowed to take a sealed jar of caviar served in First but am allowed to take dried mangoes or what else into the country.

 

[Flying Fox]

Is it common for pilots ever get lost/take wrong turns on airport taxi-ways?

And are there any consequences for these errors (other than having to get back to their original gate the 'long way')?

 

[jb747]

Is it common for pilots ever get lost/take wrong turns on airport taxi-ways?

And are there any consequences for these errors (other than having to get back to their original gate the 'long way')?

I don't know that it's common, but it certainly happens.

The worst case is when taking a wrong turn leads to a runway incursion. Then it can be deadly.

Generally it simply means a slightly longer route, and a bit of embarrassment. Saw a 777 take a wrong turn at JFK. He realised before he'd gone too far into what was a 737/320 only lane, and then stopped. JFK ATC gave him a bit of a serve, but it worked for me, as he'd blocked most of the aircraft that were in front of me from accessing the runway, so we went from about number 87 in the queue, to number 3.

Many of the incidents that you hear of when aircraft have hit structures (and sometimes other aircraft) happen because someone is on the wrong taxiway. We have specific charts for the 380, which disallow many of the routes.

 

[mjt57]

We have specific charts for the 380, which disallow many of the routes.

I've noticed that when you've finished the roll out after landing that you switch one of the screens to what appears to be a GPS of sorts for the airport and its "roads".

Can that plot a route, so to speak, from where you to where you need to be (the gate) based on A380 only taxiways? Or do you simply follow the signs as directed by local control?

When we landed in LAX the signs, lane marking illumination and so on looked so confusing from where I was sitting. But I'd imagine that you guys would be familiar with it. Just wondering how you go with new airports (such as Dallas for the 380) for pilots who haven't been there before.

 

[jb747]

I've noticed that when you've finished the roll out after landing that you switch one of the screens to what appears to be a GPS of sorts for the airport and its "roads".

Can that plot a route, so to speak, from where you to where you need to be (the gate) based on A380 only taxiways? Or do you simply follow the signs as directed by local control?

It can't plot anything. We can put markers on it for closed areas, though I must admit I seldom bother. The iPad display is more useful, and it shows present position as well.

When we landed in LAX the signs, lane marking illumination and so on looked so confusing from where I was sitting. But I'd imagine that you guys would be familiar with it. Just wondering how you go with new airports (such as Dallas for the 380) for pilots who haven't been there before.

Dallas is quite a simple airport. Before operating to a new place you read whatever briefing data the company puts out. Whilst most layouts are confusing to passengers, there's generally logic to them.

 

[RooFlyer]

JB, Boris et al

You may have seen the video highlighted in this post or been aware of it anyway (A350s flying in formation).

I'm guessing it was just a marketing stunt, and good on 'em. But would you fancy participating in something similar, say if your respective outfit said "Hey, who wants to fly a Qantas A380 / [Boris' choice of bird] in formation with 4 or 5 others for oneWorld / [other] promo?"

Looked like a couple of mean banks there ... (compared to what I think might occur in normal commercial flights)

 

[jb747]

JB, Boris et al

You may have seen the video highlighted in this post or been aware of it anyway (A350s flying in formation).

I'm guessing it was just a marketing stunt, and good on 'em. But would you fancy participating in something similar, say if your respective outfit said "Hey, who wants to fly a Qantas A380 / [Boris' choice of bird] in formation with 4 or 5 others for oneWorld / [other] promo?"

Looked like a couple of mean banks there ... (compared to what I think might occur in normal commercial flights)

Nothing unusual in the bank angles. Basically, it looked like an accident going somewhere to happen.

Formation flying is nothing to be taken lightly, and whilst I'm sure they did a nice briefing, and it's probably in many of their past resumes, it isn't something any would have done regularly. These people were all test pilots too...http://youtu.be/nEP7niGqiNg

 

[Boris spatsky]

JB, Boris et al

You may have seen the video highlighted in this post or been aware of it anyway (A350s flying in formation).

I'm guessing it was just a marketing stunt, and good on 'em. But would you fancy participating in something similar, say if your respective outfit said "Hey, who wants to fly a Qantas A380 / [Boris' choice of bird] in formation with 4 or 5 others for oneWorld / [other] promo?"

Looked like a couple of mean banks there ... (compared to what I think might occur in normal commercial flights)

I used to fly C-130s in the military so formation flying was common for us. Normally it was in a much looser formation (at low level) but could be tightened up when conducting formation airdrop or for airshows. We did a few 4 ship close formation displays like that in the A350 video.

We also did formation in cloud - most I ever did was 8 aircraft in line, with 1 mile between aircraft; always fun when you can't see any of the 7 aircraft ahead of you (only using radar) and the weather is terrible. I recall transiting for 3 hours like that to an exercise, the whole time dodging thunderstorms and in and out of moderate icing.

 

[Major]

I used to fly C-130s in the military so formation flying was common for us. Normally it was in a much looser formation (at low level) but could be tightened up when conducting formation airdrop or for airshows. We did a few 4 ship close formation displays like that in the A350 video.

We also did formation in cloud - most I ever did was 8 aircraft in line, with 1 mile between aircraft; always fun when you can't see any of the 7 aircraft ahead of you (only using radar) and the weather is terrible. I recall transiting for 3 hours like that to an exercise, the whole time dodging thunderstorms and in and out of moderate icing.

On beautiful Londonderry no doubt

 

[jb747]

We also did formation in cloud - most I ever did was 8 aircraft in line, with 1 mile between aircraft; always fun when you can't see any of the 7 aircraft ahead of you (only using radar) and the weather is terrible. I recall transiting for 3 hours like that to an exercise, the whole time dodging thunderstorms and in and out of moderate icing.

Same way, same day....