Ask The Pilot

[NM]

I'll try to keep track of the basic weights over the next few flights, and we'll see what the exact range is.

How do they weigh the aircraft? Its not like you just pop it on the bathroom scales. Is there are weighing facility at the airport like a weighbridge used for road vehicles? Or do modern aircraft weigh themselves via the undercarriage? Or is just theoretical based on manufacturers baseline and keeping track of what gets put inside?

 

[jb747]

How do they weigh the aircraft? Its not like you just pop it on the bathroom scales. Is there are weighing facility at the airport like a weighbridge used for road vehicles? Or do modern aircraft weigh themselves via the undercarriage? Or is just theoretical based on manufacturers baseline and keeping track of what gets put inside?

They are actually weighed on delivery and after major service.

 

[docjames]

Of course, some airlines treat them differently to others. On one occasion when I was flying the 767, we lined up in Singapore...took one look at the radar, and decided to pull off the runway, and wait for it to depart. We were joined by BA, Cathay, and a couple of others. Various others took off straight into it, which basically gave me a list of people never to fly with. Similar happened in HK one night...a long queue of aircraft, and the first one to go was a freighter. He came up on tower shortly after takeoff with a comment of "guys, do not take off, dangerous shear". All but one in the queue, elected to go back to the gate. Interestingly, that one came from an airline that had just recently lost a 747 in a take off incident.

I'd love to know which ones - to avoid also - but understand it's probably best you dont mention names.

There's a great Youtube clip of an Aeroflot a/c taking off in HKG in terrible weather......

 

[mannej]

Was the 747 lost in Taipei by any chance?

 

[mannej]

It sounds as if Geoffrey Thomas is a biased idiot. Virgin aircraft were grounded - and rightly so.

To be fair, I wouldn't call Geoffrey an idiot. He seems to be ok. In saying that I don't think he is on Mr Purvinas' Xmas card list.

 

[casanovawa]

Well that sim all sounds reasonably straight forward... Specially if you had happened to be watching the Air Crash Investigation episode with the BA plane the night before...

And I assume you practice in the A380 simulator, can Bali take an A380???

 

[thewinchester]

How do they weigh the aircraft? Its not like you just pop it on the bathroom scales. Is there are weighing facility at the airport like a weighbridge used for road vehicles? Or do modern aircraft weigh themselves via the undercarriage? Or is just theoretical based on manufacturers baseline and keeping track of what gets put inside?

If they were to weigh it properly, they would use a similar solution used for really large trucks and such.

In short, they would use removable industrial scales that are large enough to fit under the wheels. From there, a tug would roll the plane until all the wheels were atop these plates; and from there a wireless controller would receive the information and display the weight.

An example of this from the trucking perspective was displayed on a recent episode of Mega Movers shown on ABC2 (ep still available on iView). While not strictly weight, they used these devices to work out the load on the axels before it could receive a permit to move down certain roads.



----
Sent using my Roman era abacus.

 

[el_rooto]

Was the 747 lost in Taipei by any chance?

Its the only 747 hull loss around that time.

 

[jb747]

And I assume you practice in the A380 simulator, can Bali take an A380???

There are lots of places that we can use as emergency airfields that we could not operate to normally. As long as the runway is acceptable, then it can be used. Taxying and parking etc are not considerations.

 

[docjames]

There are lots of places that we can use as emergency airfields that we could not operate to normally. As long as the runway is acceptable, then it can be used. Taxying and parking etc are not considerations.

I assume emergency fields dont need the extra width that was added to eg. MEL for regular A380 ops? Which would essentially mean any runway of a certain length +/- strength?

 

[harvyk]

In the sim sessions do you ever have any idea what they might be about to put you through? Or is it a case of you only get an idea what might be expected of you during the session because an "engine" has shut down and ECAM has lit up like a christmas tree.

 

[jb747]

In the sim sessions do you ever have any idea what they might be about to put you through? Or is it a case of you only get an idea what might be expected of you during the session because an "engine" has shut down and ECAM has lit up like a christmas tree.

Sim sessions are fairly tightly scripted for the most part. There are very specific items that CASA want us to cover in a recurring matrix, and the sessions are designed to cover those items.For the sake of standardisation, you can't have instructors just making things up as they feel like it. You need to know that everyone has seen basically the same problems. But, that doesn't mean they are all the same. There might be three or four sub-variations that the instructor can choose from.Aborts are thrown in randomly in all sessions.Loft sessions, of which this volcano exercise was one, are allowed to just run their course. They are as much about decision making as they are about manipulation.Most sessions consist of three parts. The CASA mandated stuff, which is basically a check (and which may take up most of the session). This could entail multiple different forms of approaches with few aircraft problems. There are normally training modules, which will lock in on a particular system or procedure, and which you'll look at in a number of ways (for instance stalling). Occasionally there is even time for something that you want to look at. Engine failures are bread and butter, and will occur in almost every sim....often dual failures.

 

[markis10]

The question has been raised in another thread regarding the real danger/occurrence of Laser incidents?

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....n/lasers-and-aircraft-35051-2.html#post528736

 

[anat0l]

jb747, appreciate the insight into your sim exercises.

Is it possible in a sim session to be set a problem which will involve a non-fatal (hopefully!) emergency landing which is not at a major airport? For example, on a general air strip (any kind), a large expanse of clear land or ditching into the ocean?

Also, I'd assume not everyone is on their best all the time, and sometimes in the sim someone will face a problem that they can't solve (quickly enough, of course) resulting in everyone's virtual demise. What's the normal steps afterwards: repeat exercise, noted on a record, go through another exercise....?

 

[casanovawa]

The other thing that slightly surprises me (if I have read JB's comments correctly before about how often you might meet a pilot and never fly with them again and how little contact the flight deck has with the CSM/FAs) is why there wouldn't be an arrangement in place to try and get captain's and first officers (and maybe crew) to fly together more, even if for one month stretches etc...

I know everyone likes their individual roster that suits their particular circumstances etc and the same for the FA's etc, but I would have thought in critical/emergency situations it would be useful to have some level of trust as well as an expectation of how the other pilot might react etc so things can be done in short hand and each pilot understands how the other operates and how competent they are etc...

I guess Qantas might take the approach that every captain/FO should be trained to the highest standard, but still i think a bit of rapport and trust built from time spent together would be good... This may happen amongst the A380 crews simply if its a small pool that is constantly flying the same few aircraft, it might be different for the much more numerous jets (and amount of flight crew) like the 747's or 737's etc...

 

[jb747]

Is it possible in a sim session to be set a problem which will involve a non-fatal (hopefully!) emergency landing which is not at a major airport? For example, on a general air strip (any kind), a large expanse of clear land or ditching into the ocean?

It's conceivable that they might decide to practice ditching, as it is a checklist, but for a number of reasons it is unlikely to be realistic. I don't see any point in an exercise that ends up on 'clear land'...the likelihood of finding such a place, if you ever needed it, would be minimal. I've landed a 747 on a very small GA runway (in the sim), and we quite regularly used to use a crossing, and very short, taxiway at one of the airports, for practice at aim point retention, but there's a fair negative element to such training.

Also, I'd assume not everyone is on their best all the time, and sometimes in the sim someone will face a problem that they can't solve (quickly enough, of course) resulting in everyone's virtual demise. What's the normal steps afterwards: repeat exercise, noted on a record, go through another exercise....?

Everything in the sim is recorded on your permanent record. A bad day could result in having to repeat the entire sim, or a minor transgression might have you just doing a small part again. Make a habit of bad sims, and you'll be looked at very closely indeed. Generally though, a mistake that you make, that you pick up and correct yourself, is not penalised (i.e. a poor approach that you elect to take around).

 

[jb747]

The other thing that slightly surprises me (if I have read JB's comments correctly before about how often you might meet a pilot and never fly with them again and how little contact the flight deck has with the CSM/FAs) is why there wouldn't be an arrangement in place to try and get captain's and first officers (and maybe crew) to fly together more, even if for one month stretches etc...

I know everyone likes their individual roster that suits their particular circumstances etc and the same for the FA's etc, but I would have thought in critical/emergency situations it would be useful to have some level of trust as well as an expectation of how the other pilot might react etc so things can be done in short hand and each pilot understands how the other operates and how competent they are etc...

I guess Qantas might take the approach that every captain/FO should be trained to the highest standard, but still i think a bit of rapport and trust built from time spent together would be good... This may happen amongst the A380 crews simply if its a small pool that is constantly flying the same few aircraft, it might be different for the much more numerous jets (and amount of flight crew) like the 747's or 737's etc...

There was a time when a Captain/FO/SO/FE would fly together for an entire roster period (56 days). It changed quite a few years ago now, and, if anything, the change actually resulted in a much stronger adherence to SOPs. You'd be amazed at just how standardised we all are..even down to the shortcut signals that people might use. It might be pleasant to fly with your mates, but I don't think it makes it safer...the opposite actually. There never seems to be a "getting to know you" period. You meet, jump into the jet, and off you go. Anyone who does things even slightly differently really stands out.

I have a great deal of trust in the training system, for both the pilots and the cabin crew.

 

[el_rooto]

Is SIA lax with its pilot training compared to other airlines? Does it put more pressure on them to take off in circumstances where other airlines wouldn't?

 

[jb747]

Is SIA lax with its pilot training compared to other airlines? Does it put more pressure on them to take off in circumstances where other airlines wouldn't?

It's pretty much impossible to answer that question without access to SIA that I don't have....and I guess all of the other airlines that you need to compare them too. But, I very much doubt that they are lax at all....perhaps their priorities are different to mine though.

Any answer that I give is likely to be considered biased, so it's best to leave it at that I think.

I will say that I don't think shiny new aircraft, and pretty hosties, make an airline. Nigel, the generic BA driver, can be a figure of our fun, but he knows his stuff, and is possibly the gold standard in drivers. His colonial mates in Cathay are pretty good too. CRM..the methodology of managing the coughpit and crew, is something that can be strongly affected by cultural upbringing. And strangely, whilst the 'tall poppy syndrome' is a bad Australian trait normally, it has a surprising upside when applied to aircraft, as it has a levelling effect on the command gradient in the coughpit.

 

[harvyk]

On long haul flights, are you able to get much sleep during your rest periods?Also do the crew rests have similar levels of comfort as the rest of the pax experience (eg AVOD, etc...)Also if for example you fly a 14 hour flight, which you had 7 hours of rest in the middle, how does the affect your total number of allowed flying hours per month? For example would it be considered that you've been flying for 7 hours as that was all you where at the control for, or does your flight hours include every hour you are captain of the flight even if you are on a rest period.Does deadheading eat into your total number of flight hours allowed per month as well or are they not counted towards your total for the month?