Ask The Pilot

[Awesom Andy]

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.

If I'm allowed to add some info here... there were significant weather events in HKG for the past week. The area had drenching rain in the few hours before this flight arrive into the vicinity as well, with the HKG airport closed for a period of time.

 

[jb747]

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"

All of the axes of motion are defined as being around the centre of gravity, which is more or less over the centre of the wing. By far the most motion happens back in the tail area.

 

[jb747]

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

Auto lands, particularly in reduced visibility, have crosswind limits that are appreciably less than the limits that the pilots can use when manually flying, so there is much less 'crab' to start with.

Different aircraft types handle it in different ways. Some will carry a bit of bank to reduce the amount of crabbing. In any event, during the flare, the aircraft will straighten to some degree, but the Boeings can actually land with all the drift intact, and the AB only needs to get it less than 5º, so removal of all of the crab isn't necessary.

 

[jb747]

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 ?

An ILS starts well before the OM. I don't know the design requirements for the marker, but they are normally at about 5 miles from touchdown. Approaches generally start at 10 miles. Its importance has declined dramatically over the years. It's only used as a height cross check, so if the aid has a co-located DME, then it isn't even necessary. On the glass jets, the letter OM flash for a couple of seconds on the display, and we hear the tone.

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

The system will normally have the localiser by about 30 miles, though they aren't generally stable until 17nm or so. From the marker (at 5 DME) we've got about 2 minutes to landing.

 

[jb747]

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.

An interesting event for sure.

Engine failures, or any form of power loss, is exceedingly rare. To have it happen on two engines points to an external factor. The only things that would seem likely are icing or fuel related, neither of which really seems all that likely. The anti ice is turned on manually, but at the height they were at, probably would not even have been required (there's a lower limit). Fuel...would have to be finger trouble for that to be an issue: unintentional gravity feeding might give this result (though I don't really expect that).

Would I fly past an acceptable bit of tarmac? Heck no, if I had any reasonable options, I'd looking to land, but you have to consider the conditions at HKG (or any of the other likely players). If their conditions were bad, then bypassing them becomes a consideration.

Four hours on the ground to resolve this issue seems very suspect...and implies that the cause was known beforehand. You certainly could not check for icing or fuel system damage in that time.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

An interesting event for sure.

Engine failures, or any form of power loss, is exceedingly rare. To have it happen on two engines points to an external factor. The only things that would seem likely are icing or fuel related, neither of which really seems all that likely. The anti ice is turned on manually, but at the height they were at, probably would not even have been required (there's a lower limit). Fuel...would have to be finger trouble for that to be an issue: unintentional gravity feeding might give this result (though I don't really expect that).

Would I fly past an acceptable bit of tarmac? Heck no, if I had any reasonable options, I'd looking to land, but you have to consider the conditions at HKG (or any of the other likely players). If their conditions were bad, then bypassing them becomes a consideration.

Four hours on the ground to resolve this issue seems very suspect...and implies that the cause was known beforehand. You certainly could not check for icing or fuel system damage in that time.

thanks jb.

 

[eric2011]

By far the most motion happens back in the tail area.

ahh that explains my sometimes uncontrollable movement when in the bar at the back of EK's 380

 

[Fruitcake]

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 ?

The YBCG ILS will only be on runway 14. As jb747 said markers are of less import now, are rare on new installations and decommissioning of existing beacons is not uncommon either.

Airservices has a good rundown on the YBCG ILS here:
Flight path for proposed ILS installation at Gold Coast Airport | Airservices

 

[Major]

The YBCG ILS will only be on runway 14. As jb747 said markers are of less import now, are rare on new installations and decommissioning of existing beacons is not uncommon either.

Airservices has a good rundown on the YBCG ILS here:
Flight path for proposed ILS installation at Gold Coast Airport | Airservices


View attachment 49876

Thanks for that. This Airservices article has all the detail

 

[Kc4334]

Just a question to the pilots on here. Do you have a YouTube channel or Instagram with pictures and videos or do you have any to recommend. Thanks

 

[jb747]

Just a question to the pilots on here. Do you have a YouTube channel or Instagram with pictures and videos or do you have any to recommend. Thanks

I had one for a couple of years, but I removed it when it started attracting unwanted attention. A couple of the videos had over half a million hits.

 

[Dmac6345]

I had one for a couple of years, but I removed it when it started attracting unwanted attention. A couple of the videos had over half a million hits.

They were brilliant videos as well.
jb, came in on QF94 this morning. Great crew, but flight very bumpy all the way from south of HNL to south of Nadi. Does this have any impact on fuel burn/usage. Left the gate at 2249 and got into MEL at 0735 on the knocker. Captain said there were quite significant headwinds, but we still managed to sit on 915km/h most of the way, between 33,000 and 40,000 ft.
Thanks again.

 

[whatmeworry]

Is duct tape used often to fix planes?

 

[wooley]

Speeeeeeed tape is a little different to duct tape

 

[jb747]

Is duct tape used often to fix planes?

Duct tape? No.

What you're looking at is nicknamed 'speed tape', and is an aluminium tape designed for temporary repairs on aircraft. It's worth about $200 per roll.

 

[D747]

Duct tape? No.

What you're looking at is nicknamed 'speed tape', and is an aluminium tape designed for temporary repairs on aircraft. It's worth about $200 per roll.

Could you have used that tape on Concord? Would the heat on the outer skin have allowed that? Do subsonic aircraft have outer skin heat build up when they fly at max speed? Thanks in advance.

 

[jb747]

.... but flight very bumpy all the way from south of HNL to south of Nadi. Does this have any impact on fuel burn/usage. Left the gate at 2249 and got into MEL at 0735 on the knocker. Captain said there were quite significant headwinds, but we still managed to sit on 915km/h most of the way, between 33,000 and 40,000 ft.

Bumps don't affect the burn, but they affect the passengers, so you'll often have to accept a less than optimum altitude to get a better ride...and that will affect the fuel burn. Substantial weather deviations can will also add miles to the route, though the effect is normally minor.

 

[jb747]

Could you have used that tape on Concord? Would the heat on the outer skin have allowed that? Do subsonic aircraft have outer skin heat build up when they fly at max speed? Thanks in advance.

There is always some compression heating, but in subsonic aircraft it's only about 20º or so. The tape would be unsuitable for use on anything that will have substantial heating.

 

[coriander]

I had one for a couple of years.

I remember one of an A380 from push back to take-off ex MEL. Was that yours? It was sensational! That and the incredibly beautiful scenic coughpit view of flying into ZQN (search "this is why we fly") are my two of my very favourite airline videos.
Every time I watch them (or even QF94 yesterday over Port Melbourne), I feel this urge to get on a plane and go somewhere, any where............ (only 151 days to go....)

 

[JohnM]

Duct tape? No.

What you're looking at is nicknamed 'speed tape', and is an aluminium tape designed for temporary repairs on aircraft. It's worth about $200 per roll.

I imagine it could be a bit unnerving for some more twitchy pax looking out of the window while the technician was applying something that looked very much like duct tape.