Ask The Pilot

[clazman]

For those who may be interested and who have Foxtel on BBC Knowledge there is a show called 24/7.

It's a behind-the-scenes of the daily operations of London Heathrow.

JB was supposed have been on it, but the producers decided otherwise after his interviews, which is a pity (they got some toff from BA on instead).

Episode 1 is on presently, but it may be repeated. I've series linked it.

For those with out foxtel.... the entire series is on Youtube

 

[JohnM]

Apologies if this has appeared before or should be on another thread, but I have just finished reading these two books by former Qantas pilot Bill Anderson. They are both made up of each chapter being essentially a short documented oral history by individual Qantas pilots and some ground staff (in the second book, and which was tremendously interesting.) The pilots were from the Qantas Cadet scheme of the late 1960s.

I found them both fascinating and there was quite of lot of things common to what JB has mentioned on this thread at various times (the 'sports car' performance of the B767, the gruelling sims etc). The stories span from trainers, DC4s, B707s, B767s, B747s to A380s with lots of very interesting personal anecdotes.

I bought the Kindle editions but print editions are also available:

A Lifetime in Longhaul: Qantas Pilot Flying Stories eBook: Bill Anderson: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

A Lifetime in Longhaul

About the books - 'A Lifetime in Longhaul' - Bill Anderson - NSW, Australia

 

[jb747]

Apologies if this has appeared before or should be on another thread, but I have just finished reading these two books by former Qantas pilot Bill Anderson. They are both made up of each chapter being essentially a short documented oral history by individual Qantas pilots and some ground staff (in the second book, and which was tremendously interesting.) The pilots were from the Qantas Cadet scheme of the late 1960s.

I found them both fascinating and there was quite of lot of things common to what JB has mentioned on this thread at various times (the 'sports car' performance of the B767, the gruelling sims etc). The stories span from trainers, DC4s, B707s, B767s, B747s to A380s with lots of very interesting personal anecdotes.

I bought the Kindle editions but print editions are also available:

A Lifetime in Longhaul: Qantas Pilot Flying Stories eBook: Bill Anderson: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

A Lifetime in Longhaul

About the books - 'A Lifetime in Longhaul' - Bill Anderson - NSW, Australia

I have both of Bill's books on my iPad. I've flown with many of the people involved, and there are wonderful characters, and tremendous pilots, amongst them. Good reading.

 

[LuxInterior]

I flew with John Lindsay a few times in a CT4A in (probably) 1977. He did my civil instructor ratings several times and even signed me up to instruct on the Tiger Moth.

Ah, nice to hear Bill.
John passed a few years back and was my father.
Had his first flight in a Gypsy Moth in 1945 and his last flight, aged 80, in a P51 Mustang in 2006.
Over 20,000 general aviation hours in between those two flights.
As an instructor and examiner I imagine he would have flown with many airline pilots over the years.

 

[por930]

Ah, nice to hear Bill.
John passed a few years back and was my father.
Had his first flight in a Gypsy Moth in 1945 and his last flight, aged 80, in a P51 Mustang in 2006.
Over 20,000 general aviation hours in between those two flights.
As an instructor and examiner I imagine he would have flown with many airline pilots over the years.

What a fantastic last flight for John.

 

[JohnM]

What a fantastic last flight for John.

True - and I hope he floored it .

 

[mjt57]

I bought the Kindle editions but print editions are also available:

A Lifetime in Longhaul: Qantas Pilot Flying Stories eBook: Bill Anderson: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

A Lifetime in Longhaul

Unfortunately only the first one is available in the US store (where my account is). I've just bought it. Thanks for the info on it. Great to read about JB and his colleagues.

 

[mjt57]

Interesting article (and embedded video of an A380 departing Ontario).

Qantas and Virgin land at little-used airport due to LA fog

JB, were you involved in any of this?

 

[por930]

Unfortunately only the first one is available in the US store (where my account is). I've just bought it. Thanks for the info on it. Great to read about JB and his colleagues.

Is JB in one of the books? I thought it was about retired pilots, and JB said a had a few hundred landings yet before he was out to pasture....

 

[LuxInterior]

True - and I hope he floored it .

Once the all clear was given. John was given control and told "the airfield is yours". Did a few circuits and finished up with a low level knife edge pass over Moorabbin.
I think there are some pictures of that flight in the bar at RVAC.

 

[JohnM]

Unfortunately only the first one is available in the US store (where my account is). I've just bought it. Thanks for the info on it. Great to read about JB and his colleagues.

I've got an account at both the US and Aus Kindle stores - easy to do.

 

[JohnM]

Is JB in one of the books? I thought it was about retired pilots, and JB said a had a few hundred landings yet before he was out to pasture....

No, JB doesn't get a mention. I'd say it's a generation just ahead, but it's also very largely built around the people who went through the Qantas cadet schemes of the mid-late 1960s. Most of the folks giving their stories are retired (within the last <10 years.)

 

[por930]

No, JB doesn't get a mention. I'd say it's a generation just ahead, but it's also very largely built around the people who went through the Qantas cadet schemes of the mid-late 1960s. Most of the folks giving their stories are retired (within the last <10 years.)

Yes, I thought JB would be too young yet for retirement...When I did my flying training, my flying school/charter company had a few Qantas Cadets during the late 1960s. All were hungry for charter work to get hours.They were great teachers.

 

[straitman]

Ah, nice to hear Bill.
John passed a few years back and was my father.
Had his first flight in a Gypsy Moth in 1945 and his last flight, aged 80, in a P51 Mustang in 2006.
Over 20,000 general aviation hours in between those two flights.
As an instructor and examiner I imagine he would have flown with many airline pilots over the years.

John was a nice guy from my perspective.

One Instructor rating he wanted me to fly him around the boundary of the Melbourne control zone (pre GPS days) but the weather was not suitable. Instead we went from Moorabbin to the Pt Cook training areas and I taught him how to do aerobatics in a CT4 instead. Good for him and much easier for me.

 

[straitman]

Bill, Was the CT4A the RAAF on steroi_s version of the 2 seat Victor Airtourer? I recall many years ago doing my restricted licence test in a Cessna 172 and side slipping the landing in a cross wind. The examiner was horrified and asked if we (4 of us that day for our test) would all do the same. When I said, yes, he suspended testing and took each of us up in the schools Airtourer 115 and demonstrated side slip stalls, then had us do a few...we learnt never to carry out side slip approaches again and perfect the crab approaches. We tried to use the Airtourer 115 for aerobatics, but it was so under powered.

I guess this is why the RAAF used the CT4A..Simple to operate, but with greater power?

Ged

Some a/c are more or less suitable for sideslip approaches. like everything it's about knowing the correct limitations both personal and a/c.

I first learnt to fly the CT4 in 1976 and the RAAF still use them today. I see them daily from where I live which is about 5 miles from East Sale.

 

[jb747]

Interesting article (and embedded video of an A380 departing Ontario).

Qantas and Virgin land at little-used airport due to LA fog

JB, were you involved in any of this?

No. Avoided again. I was home when I happened. The 93 (which I'd most likely have operated), got into LA, as it was later than the flights that diverted. It was quite a screw up on the airport management side, but sadly paid for by others.

 

[jb747]

Is JB in one of the books? I thought it was about retired pilots, and JB said a had a few hundred landings yet before he was out to pasture....

QF30 is mentioned in the second book but these books are really about the pilots of half a generation before me. I flew with many of them, and had one visit us just recently. A very experienced group, who saw great changes in the game during their time.

 

[jb747]

Yes, I thought JB would be too young yet for retirement...When I did my flying training, my flying school/charter company had a few Qantas Cadets during the late 1960s. All were hungry for charter work to get hours.They were great teachers.

JB will reach the bottom end of the retirement zone in a couple of months...but I don't intend going for a while yet. Ask me again in a couple of years.

 

[mjt57]

Is JB in one of the books? I thought it was about retired pilots, and JB said a had a few hundred landings yet before he was out to pasture....

Sorry, bad grammar on my part. Should have separated the reference to JB and the book. I meant that it's great to read JB's tales and those of other pilots.

 

[jb747]

As I always say when I put my roster up, it's "subject to change". This roster is almost over, but it has been very stable...so far. Right now I'm in London, and I was originally bringing QF2 out of London tonight (26/2) and then the 10 out of Dubai on 1/3. This has now been changed to the 2 out of London, but then the 2 again from Dubai on the 28th.

The cause? Well, the rosters are built to be quite close to the maximum allowed flying hours. A buffer is built in, but it's quite possible that diversions, holding, or just slow flight plans, could add up sufficiently to push you to a limit. In this case, the bloke who was originally doing the 2 would have run out of hours, but delaying him by a day or so, fixes that problem. For me though, operating a day ahead won't cause an issue on this trip. My problem will arise for the next trip, where, at this stage, I'm down to 6 minutes to spare. So, any delay on either of the QF2 sectors over the next couple of days will mean I'll lose the next flight. It's always dynamic.