Ask The Pilot

[TomVexille]

This is exactly right.

Raked vs sharklets etc is a very dynamic field. These wingtips can vary dramatically, but you can be sure the airlines take fuel burn/drag issues very seriously. There is no single "best" solution. The same aircraft can have better configurations depending on the flight profile they fly (short vs long haul, etc)

But I do love the 787's beautiful wing

Absolutely. The wingtip device has to fit with the role of the aircraft.

 

[RooFlyer]

On last night's QF94, doors were closed and we were apparently ready for pushback on time from LAX, when Capt Roach(e) came on the PA and explained that they were waiting for an electronic communication re fuel and weight balance (IIRC); that "previously it had come from either locally or Sydney, but now came for Europe". They were still waiting for it. 10 minutes later he came on again and apologised for the fact that they were still waiting. We pushed back abt 25 mins after scheduled departure.

On a TPAC that's neither here nor there but I am wondering why that sort of info (if my recollection of its description is correct) had to come from Sydney previously and why it now came fro Europe (Airbus, for the A380)? Is the centralisation (I assume) a good thing?

 

[jb747]

On last night's QF94, doors were closed and we were apparently ready for pushback on time from LAX, when Capt Roach(e) came on the PA and explained that they were waiting for an electronic communication re fuel and weight balance (IIRC); that "previously it had come from either locally or Sydney, but now came for Europe". They were still waiting for it. 10 minutes later he came on again and apologised for the fact that they were still waiting. We pushed back abt 25 mins after scheduled departure.

On a TPAC that's neither here nor there but I am wondering why that sort of info (if my recollection of its description is correct) had to come from Sydney previously and why it now came fro Europe (Airbus, for the A380)? Is the centralisation (I assume) a good thing?

Centralised load control has been around for a long time. Hong Kong has just been replaced by Warsaw. It has nothing to do with Airbus, or Boeing.

Local load sheet generation disappeared many years ago (with their paper load sheets).

 

[Quickstatus]

Centralised load control has been around for a long time. Hong Kong has just been replaced by Warsaw. It has nothing to do with Airbus, or Boeing.

Local load sheet generation disappeared many years ago (with their paper load sheets).

maybe companies such as these providing such services:

Centralised Load Control - Aviation Specialists Chapman Freeborn

 

[RAM]

On last night's QF94, doors were closed and we were apparently ready for pushback on time from LAX, when Capt Roach(e) came on the PA and explained that they were waiting for an electronic communication re fuel and weight balance (IIRC); that "previously it had come from either locally or Sydney, but now came for Europe". They were still waiting for it. 10 minutes later he came on again and apologised for the fact that they were still waiting. We pushed back abt 25 mins after scheduled departure.

On a TPAC that's neither here nor there but I am wondering why that sort of info (if my recollection of its description is correct) had to come from Sydney previously and why it now came fro Europe (Airbus, for the A380)? Is the centralisation (I assume) a good thing?

Well that must have been an example of the 0.02% not on-time a year then (see below). Or one of the 40 not on-time a year. Would you believe it? I suspect their marketing may be a little out with their decimal point placement.

[h=1]Centralised Load Control[/h] Air Dispatch CLC provides clients with fast, reliable centralised load control (CLC) solutions worldwide.
Our two ultramodern hubs in Prague and Warsaw currently produce over 400,000 load sheets per year with consistent on-time delivery performance of 99.98%.

 

[por930]

JB, I saw this the other day. Being 75 worst arrival time out of 80 airlines is not a good reputation to have, especially with potential fines. I suppose being long haul, it is difficult to get time back when late departures on one of the legs...

"The late arrival of the A380s at Heathrow resulted in Qantas' on-time performance slipping to 75th out of 80 airlines that flew to Europe's busiest airport in February.
Qantas' manager of base operations at Sydney, Captain Martin Gardiner, has warned crews in an internal memo that significant fines could be levied on the airline".

http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-risks-large-fines-losing-slots-at-heathrow-for-late-a380s-internal-memo-20150416-1mmciq.html

 

[jb747]

JB, I saw this the other day. Being 75 worst arrival time out of 80 airlines is not a good reputation to have, especially with potential fines. I suppose being long haul, it is difficult to get time back when late departures on one of the legs...

Percentages - when you have only two arrivals per day, tend to kill you. Sadly though, pretty well all of the time lost on the route happens in circles within 100 nm of Dubai.

 

[Ansett]

Percentages, when you have only two arrivals per day, tend to kill you. Sadly though, pretty well all of the time lost on the route happens in circles within 100 nm of Dubai.

Time to go back to Singapore and Hong Kong

 

[lc_461]

Centralised load control has been around for a long time. Hong Kong has just been replaced by Warsaw. It has nothing to do with Airbus, or Boeing.

Local load sheet generation disappeared many years ago (with their paper load sheets).

So QF don't do their own centralised load control in SYD? Just ops?

 

[jb747]

So QF don't do their own centralised load control in SYD? Just ops?

This is drifting back to a QF series of questions, instead of generic flying ones, which is where the thread is supposed to be.

In any event, nowhere has it been said that QF don't do their own load control...they just don't do it for all flights.

 

[Quickstatus]

Jb747,

does the rear of a.n aircraft wobble/oscillates about the axis of direction of travel more than the nose, much like an arrow?

I find that the sitting in the rear of an aircraft is not as comfortable as the front (apart from the obvious seat differences) and I'm very prone to motion sickness.

where on the aircraft will I find the least "wobble"

 

[Grimace1]

where on the aircraft will I find the least "wobble"

I've read that sitting over the wing will have the least wobble but jb747 will be able to let you know for sure

 

[Skyhigh777]

JB, when performing an auto-land in windy conditions, is the aircraft able to crab and de-crab itself?

 

[Major]

I'm trying to visualize how an ILS system would operate at OOL. As I understand it when you reach the outer marker a blue indicator light flashes on your instrument panel together with a tone Instrument landing system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Say for an approach from SYD for runway 32 would they install an outer marker near Chinderah somewhere http://goldcoastairport.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flight-track-maps.pdf or am I way off base ?

How far out would you pick up the localizer signal and how much time do you have from the outer marker to touchdown ?

 

[day-heg]

I've read that sitting over the wing will have the least wobble but jb747 will be able to let you know for sure

The "least wobble position" is at the centre of gravity position, about which all the forces on the aircraft act. The further away from this point you are, the more pronounced the movement - think about an arbitrary 5 degree movement about a given point, and how much displacement from the original position that creates at different distances from the point as an analogy. The CoG is generally nearer the front of an aircraft, hence further the very rear will be more "wobbly" than the very front.
This position however is different for each type of aircraft, and indeed it moves forward during flight as fuel is burnt off.

JB no doubt can provide 380 specifics...

 

[RooFlyer]

Centralised load control has been around for a long time. Hong Kong has just been replaced by Warsaw. It has nothing to do with Airbus, or Boeing.

Local load sheet generation disappeared many years ago (with their paper load sheets).

Thanks again for that reply.

 

[support]

[MOD HAT] Just a reminder for people to read post #1 in this thread. It is 'Ask The Pilot' thread and not for general discussion by forum members as has tended to happened quite a bit lately.

thanks.

[/MOD HAT]

 

[straitman]

Become a banker, and buy an aircraft for fun on the weekend. I can't see the sort of career that I've had being available in a world in which pilots are becoming consumables. I wouldn't recommend it to my son. If he wants to fly, the military is the best training that money can't buy.

The shortage has supposedly been coming for many years, and perhaps it might exist in Asia. But, it really seems to be blurb that is fed to people by flying schools that are simply trying to sell their training.

Seconded - the industry in Australia is slowly eroding away. Low salaries (yes, alot of pilots flying RPT are only paid the award wage for pilots), poor job security, loss of benefits compared to days gone by. My young son desperately wants to be a pilot, but for me i will be recommending a life in the Military as the only real option.

The way of the future for a healthy airline career is to accept that you will need to live overseas for the rest of your life, and move companies as often as is required to keep flying. Easy to say that that is fine as a single person, but it becomes immeasurably harder once you have a spouse and kids.

I agree with jb747 and Boris spatsky entirely on this one but want to add another line of caution.

Whilst military training (RAAF & RAN)* is the optimum training the life style they (and I) knew has largely eroded away. ie It is not the fun place it was when we were in the system. It is still the best avenue by far but like (seemingly) every part of every other industry the fun police have taken over.

I see this first hand as most military pay nights I still go out to the Officers Mess at East Sale and see and talk to the guys and girls from Central Flying School, 32 Sqn, Officer Training School etc.

* I have not included Army Flying training as whilst it is still better than most of GA it is still, IMHO, not up to the RAAF & RAN standard. (tin hat)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Question for the pilots... the Aviation Herald reports power to both engines on an SQ A330 was lost while entering a storm en route from SIN-PVG: Incident: Singapore A333 near Hong Kong on May 23rd 2015, temporary loss of power on both engines

The aircraft descended 13,000 feet before power was restored, but the flight crew decided to continue to PVG (some 100 minutes flying time), rather than divert.

Is this acceptable/standard/normal procedure? Seems they would have been fairly close to Hong kong, or a dozen Chinese airports capable of handling a landing.

 

[jb747]

I'm away at the moment. I'll answer the outstanding queries on Friday when I have access to more than an iPad.