Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

jb, assuming you were HLO only, did you retrieve the hand luggage at some point or did you disembark/evacuate with it? It might go a little way to answering mattg's question.

Everyone, passengers and crew, was able to take their cabin luggage. That's all I ever travel with, so that's why I had no first hand knowledge of the checked luggage. I'll see if I can find out from one of the passengers.

 

[jb747]

Feedback from a passenger is that the luggage came home 2-3 days later.

 

[Quickstatus]

Did you form a QF30 club?. Like the Galunggung gliding club?.

 

[jb747]

Did you form a QF30 club?. Like the Galunggung gliding club?.

I just kept in touch with a few of the passengers, and many of the crew. I see about half of the cabin crew pretty regularly on the 380. Bernie (FO) is also on it, but we haven't flown together since we went to Manila to retrieve OJK. Paul (SO) is still on the 747, but spends most of his time in an office flight safety job.

 

[tuppaware]

I read somewhere that there was concerns about the A380 doors showing signs of leaking. And its been something that Airbus has had to fix.
Is the standard used by Airbus different ? I thought all doors would be simple plug types ?

 

[clazman]

When coming into a airport, how much impact do freeway lighting have on approach when the freeways are close to the runways.

 

[AviatorInsight]

When coming into a airport, how much impact do freeway lighting have on approach when the freeways are close to the runways.

I don't find it distracting at all. My eyes are fixed on the runway, the PAPI and the PFD.

 

[jb747]

I read somewhere that there was concerns about the A380 doors showing signs of leaking. And its been something that Airbus has had to fix.

My understanding of the issue is that the doors can develop localised cracking. It can't spread, but it can cause an air leak, and lots of noise. There is a fix, and I haven't heard it mentioned for quite a while.

Is the standard used by Airbus different ? I thought all doors would be simple plug types ?

Airbus doors are not plugs. They are very securely locked, so opening in flight is not an issue. Worth noting that not all Boeing doors are plugs either.

 

[jb747]

When coming into a airport, how much impact do freeway lighting have on approach when the freeways are close to the runways.

In general, not an issue. Bright lighting on short finals when on a low vis approach (i.e. in fog) is problematic, as it obscures the very limited forward vision.

 

[jb747]

Yet another sim today. Seven to go...

The system has been undergoing a change of concept. Much less looking at items that are never seen in the real world, and more opportunity to see relatively normal items, but in different ways. For instance go arounds from various heights, including descending G/As. Session not as jam packed as usual either, so both FO and I had time to pick an item we wanted to look at. He chose engine failure at liftoff, and I looked at manual G/As.

A large component of today's exercise was the interaction between pilots, when things are going wrong, just enough to cause a breakdown of the coughpit procedures. When the FO says..do you "really" want something...it's time to take the hint. I must admit that I work in a relatively luxurious environment, as the slow promotion that has been experienced for a long time, means that the FOs I fly with, would, in more normal circumstances, be Captains in their own right. It makes for a relatively relaxed coughpit gradient.

 

[Quickstatus]

Seven sims to go before retirement?

BTW QF12D VH-OQE arrived late into SYD touching down 28 minutes before curfew.

Flightradar24 reports flight time of 13:49 which is somewhat faster than the usual >14hours.
Can you speculate if the CI was increased to ensure precurfew arrival and also if CI really changes cruise speed by much?

 

[jb747]

Seven sims to go before retirement?

That's the plan. There's some fudge factor, but the end of '18 sounds about right.

BTW QF12D VH-OQE arrived late into SYD touching down 28 minutes before curfew.

Flightradar24 reports flight time of 13:49 which is somewhat faster than the usual >14hours.
Can you speculate if the CI was increased to ensure precurfew arrival and also if CI really changes cruise speed by much?

The last couple of 94s that I've done have been much faster than normal, and that was without any adjustment of the CI. You can't change the cruise speed by much, no matter how you do it. The normal CIs throw up cruise Mach numbers of about .84. You have from there to .87 to play with.

Changing the CI isn't the only way to manage the cruise speed. You can, for instance, choose a target time at a point, and then let the FMC vary the speed to hit that target. You might just select a Mach number.

 

[Quickstatus]

Does a promotion from FO to C require an internal job ad plus an interview?

 

[RooFlyer]

I have a feeling this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it on a search just now.

In the simulator, do the trainers ever arrange for the pilot not being trained to insert some mistakes into their actions to see if the pilot being trained picks it up and/or how they respond? For instance, selecting wrong flaps setting or not doing something in the checklist, even though they vocalise that its done. Or even, at worst, some negative action during an 'emergency' situation.

 

[jb747]

Does a promotion from FO to C require an internal job ad plus an interview?

It will vary with every airline...but in QF, all projected training slots are placed in our 'notices to flight staff' around the middle of each year. Slots that are additional to the plan may also be shown at any time.

Each pilot should have a current 'letter of preference' within the bidding system. That covers aircraft type, basing, rank. Slots are filled by seniority from that LofP.

Then you have to be approved by flight management, who look back at your training records. Some pilots are asked to do some extra assessment sims as part of this process. You're being assessed pretty well all of the time, so interviews would be pointless.

Once approved, the Command training course lasts about 5-6 months. It's shorter by a few weeks if you're staying on the same aircraft, though most involve a type change as well. It will involve ground school, about 20 sims, and a couple of months of line flying. The final checks are two six sector flights.

Virtually all command training happens on the 737 with a smaller component on the 330.

 

[jb747]

In the simulator, do the trainers ever arrange for the pilot not being trained to insert some mistakes into their actions to see if the pilot being trained picks it up and/or how they respond? For instance, selecting wrong flaps setting or not doing something in the checklist, even though they vocalise that its done. Or even, at worst, some negative action during an 'emergency' situation.

To be honest we provide enough genuine mistakes that have to be managed....

But, they do have pilots drop dead every now and then, mostly at very inconvenient times. My last death was in the middle of rotate at Hong Kong yesterday. FO carried on, playing both roles. I miraculously recovered to do the overweight landing, but in the real world he would have just done the same.

There have been some specific exercises to show the aircraft reaction to some mistakes. Retraction of the flap, instead of the gear, just after take off was looked late last year. As the flap starts to retract, the angle of attack increases, and the system stops the retraction. Quite impressive, as it just flew away with only a slightly degraded climb gradient.

The sessions are not random. Instructors need to remain within a fairly tight script to ensure that the standardisation of the training programmes works. Nevertheless, there are enough permutations, that no two sessions are quite alike. Yesterday, our instructor wanted to give us a comms failure (which is quite difficult in an aircraft with so many different means of communications), and he found a method he hadn't tried before....and it stopped us in our tracks, in that there was no cure, and it wasn't totally unrealistic.

 

[Saab34]

This one's been bugging me for a while...

In regards to MEL/SYD-UAE flights, why do some route via Singapore/Malaysia/India/UAE and some route Perth/Maldives/UAE. I've noticed it's very mixed every day across all carriers, I found it odd that they were weaving through all parts of Asia enroute, traffic was heavy whilst the Maldives route was completely clear and it's a very direct route requiring little deviation.

The other night Etihad (MEL-AUH) and Emirates left right with each other, both A380s. Etihad flew Perth/Maldives/UAE and Emirates went way up north and went via Singapore/Malaysia and mid India. There appeared to be a lot of track deviations as they went through Asia which I assumed would just slow things down.

Thanks!

 

[Flying Fox]

A while ago JB747 used to ingratiate us with his amazing videos from his office, however, they have since ceased which is a shame for us all.

Today I tripped over this QF A380 night landing at SYD. Apologies if it has been posed before but I thought that others might enjoy it watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nROUw0FpxOo

Can anyone explain what the automated announcements refer to -

1. 100 above?

2. Minimums?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jb747]

This one's been bugging me for a while...

In regards to MEL/SYD-UAE flights, why do some route via Singapore/Malaysia/India/UAE and some route Perth/Maldives/UAE. I've noticed it's very mixed every day across all carriers, I found it odd that they were weaving through all parts of Asia enroute, traffic was heavy whilst the Maldives route was completely clear and it's a very direct route requiring little deviation.

The other night Etihad (MEL-AUH) and Emirates left right with each other, both A380s. Etihad flew Perth/Maldives/UAE and Emirates went way up north and went via Singapore/Malaysia and mid India. There appeared to be a lot of track deviations as they went through Asia which I assumed would just slow things down.

Flights from Sydney are always appreciably further north than the ones that originate in Sydney. They often fly over Singapore, whereas I've never been closer to Indonesian than a couple of hundred miles south. Because they're normally further north, they are also more involved in the standard routings that exist over Indonesian/Singapore/Malaysia.

Beyond that though, the biggest constraint will be the winds. It's actually much easier for a flight from Sydney to go north and get out of the majority of the winds, whilst the Melbourne flights will generally head up towards Port Headland. Coming south, getting into the southern jetstreams can be very beneficial, so there's a large variation in just how northerly we are when crossing the WA coast. Missing Australia entirely until you get to Portland, Vic is pretty common. It's all about the least fuel burn/fastest flight plan of the day.

Every country charges to fly through their airspace, and that can skew the route selections too.

 

[jb747]

A while ago JB747 used to ingratiate us with his amazing videos from his office, however, they have since ceased which is a shame for us all.

Today I tripped over this QF A380 night landing at SYD. Apologies if it has been posed before but I thought that others might enjoy it watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nROUw0FpxOo

Can anyone explain what the automated announcements refer to -

1. 100 above?

2. Minimums?

100 feet above whatever minima you've set for the approach. The next automated call is at the minima. In this case they have the Cat I minima set, which is a barometric altitude of 220'. The minima is the lowest point that you can go to on a particular type of instrument approach.

The 100, 50, 40, 30 is an automated call of the radar altitude.