Ask The Pilot

[straitman]

I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never seen anything he’s written that I agree with.

I wouldn't go that far jb747, however I cannot see that he has any more to offer or any greater knowledge than many of the rest of us.

 

[jb747]

I wouldn't go that far jb747, however I cannot see that he has any more to offer or any greater knowledge than many of the rest of us.

Was he from your time in the RAAF? I’ve not met anyone who admits to knowing him.

 

[QF WP]

His Bio will help find people who know him:

"I learnt to fly on last RAAF Vampire pilot course. I then followed 2 years flying Sabres and 3 tours on Mirage 111O. Highlight was member of 77 Squadron 1975 Mirage aerobatic display team. After leaving RAAF spent 18 months as Air Traffic Controller whilst flying a Nomad on a commuter service out of Sydney.

Joined Pel Air flying Learjets and Westwinds 5 years,then proceeded overseas to seek airline flying.

I flew DH7 for Brymon Airways domestic UK then B727 Dan Air, London and Berlin. I spent 15 years with Emirates, Dubai, Airbus and B777 worldwide.

Back in Australia I flew Mick Doohans private jet and ended up as Chief Pilot Gold Coast with 12 corporate jet types on licence. I resigned due to CASA's attitude to general aviation. Now I fly, as a contract pilot, large private jet internationally on my U.S. licence, and a Learjet with a cadre of former fighter pilots on military exercises."

Also says his son is an A380 pilot (doesn't same for whom...)

 

[tgh]

All that and he flies cattle ??

 

[jb747]

His Bio will help find people who know him:

Not sure that I need to do that....

Anyway, I’ll need someone to cut and paste the stuff behind the paywall before I can actually comment.

 

[straitman]

Was he from your time in the RAAF? I’ve not met anyone who admits to knowing him.

Assuming it's all legit he was about 8-10 courses ahead of me which means he must now be over 70 years old. I was amongst the youngest on my course.

I can't actually work out which was the last Vampire and/or first Macchi course but the Macchi started to replace the Vampire in May 1968.

I'll investigate a little further.

 

[JohnM]

A bit clunky, but I’ve taken screen shots of Bailey’s piece:






“Pilot misjudgment” seems insulting to me.

 

[JohnM]

All that and he flies cattle ??

He did mention in a piece a week or two ago that his corporate jet employer/agency won’t stump up for J.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Ok I’ll bite...

Firstly

having flown into Sydney internationally many times...I know that it is much better to arrive early and take any delay in the air which also saves fuel.

Clearly he hasn’t flown into Sydney in the winter months. From the 6th Apr to the 4th Oct (today) all aircraft with a scheduled arrival time into Sydney between 6am and 6:59am are bound by the SEMAP (Sydney Early Morning Arrival Procedure).

This is a procedure designed for aircraft to arrive at a fix between a certain window to be sequenced into the flow. It was quite common to hold on the gate in LAX/AUH to ensure we would cross that fix in 14hrs time. This is designed to minimise airborne holding time.

To slow down during the flight does not save fuel. When aircraft are said to be “on the back of the drag curve” it means more thrust is needed to keep it flying at the slow speed due to induced drag. When you hit turbulence, the aircraft can’t ride out the bumps and the speed is more sensitive so the thrust moves a lot more using up more precious fuel.

Secondly,

domestic flights even as far away as Perth...are controlled through a ground delay program...

cough. Not applicable during the SEMAP times and even then only as depicted by NOTAM.

Thirdly,

besides there is a 20min holding requirement into Sydney at that time

If my memory serves me correctly, international aircraft are exempt from this holding requirement as they have to carry an alternate regardless of the weather conditions. Still doesn’t mean you disregard that NOTAM.

Finally,

Emirates always ensured that tagged crew bags were first off...

Lucky him...

To call this a pilot misjudgment is naive and incorrect, I’m going to call this piece by Mr Bailey pilot error.

 

[albatross710]

I prefer this youtube 360 clip of Riverfire 2018. Click on the image as it plays and move your mouse around and you will feel like you are here with them.

If you look to the backseat you will see him flicking and calling from the detailed map.

 

[jb747]

I wouldn't go that far jb747, however I cannot see that he has any more to offer or any greater knowledge than many of the rest of us.

When he first appeared, with some new theory about MH370, there was a fair bit of commentary, much negative, on pprune.

Looking at the Radschool records, there was a Bailey on 54 course, but there were quite a few Vampire courses after that.

"I learnt to fly on last RAAF Vampire pilot course. I then followed 2 years flying Sabres and 3 tours on Mirage 111O. Highlight was member of 77 Squadron 1975 Mirage aerobatic display team. After leaving RAAF spent 18 months as Air Traffic Controller whilst flying a Nomad on a commuter service out of Sydney.

Joined Pel Air flying Learjets and Westwinds 5 years,then proceeded overseas to seek airline flying.

Which gets us to about 1980. QF were recruiting then, and pretty much unbroken until 1989.

Back in Australia I flew Mick Doohans private jet and ended up as Chief Pilot Gold Coast with 12 corporate jet types on licence. I resigned due to CASA's attitude to general aviation. Now I fly, as a contract pilot, large private jet internationally on my U.S. licence, and a Learjet with a cadre of former fighter pilots on military exercises."

Why would you quit your job because you didn’t like CASA? No pilot in Oz likes CASA, but we’re generally able to offset that dislike with a liking for pay packets.

As for the article....I’m afraid that he’s touching something that he should leave alone.

Firstly the decision to hold at the gate is the company’s.

If you arrive early, you’re not going to be able to slot in early. That may have happened 10 plus years ago, but unlikely now. At the very least you’ll be held until your slot time, and then you’ll be expected to have whatever holding is in force on top of that. A380s from Dallas do not carry an alternate, unless forced to by weather, and I doubt that they can even then. There is no fuel cost for the flight in holding at the gate, with the APU running, because you can keep the tanker plugged in, and top it back up before you push back.

The flight is extremely fuel limited, so it’s always operated to minimise the fuel burn. Slowing down does not save fuel, especially when you are already operating at the best cost index. He mentions that the flight will be operated into a headwind, but neglects to point out that it’s more fuel efficient to go slightly faster into a headwind (and slow down with a tail wind).

And so what if Emirates had crew luggage off first. The crew are not going to be affected by any delay in getting their luggage, as they are all going home. And many passengers are somewhat peeved when they see crew luggage coming off before that of passengers (rightly or wrongly).

 

[straitman]

When he first appeared, with some new theory about MH370, there was a fair bit of commentary, much negative, on pprune.

Looking at the Radschool records, there was a Bailey on 54 course, but there were quite a few Vampire courses after that.

Unfortunately the Radschool records have a lot of holes in them and I couldn’t find him there either.
To many little errors in Mr Bailey’s story from what I can see even down to the QF8 departure time he is quoting.
I’ll follow up with a neighbour who is one of the more senior Mirage pilots the RAAF has ever had and former CO 2FTS. We have discussed Mr Bailey previously but were inconclusive so maybe it’s time to follow up in some more detail.

 

[flyer89]

In a previous life I came across him a few times when he was flying private jets. The perception of him seems about correct. Not a bad bloke but from my interactions with him the articles and style in which he writes is consistent with his personality.

 

[Quickstatus]

neglects to point out that it’s more fuel efficient to go slightly faster into a headwind (and slow down with a tail wind).

Whats the reason for this?

 

[jb747]

Whats the reason for this?[/SIZE]

http://www.nar-associates.com/technical-flying/range/wind_wide_screen.pdf

 

[Quickstatus]

Does not seem very significant though.

But at the end of a 16hr elapsed time on QF8, what extra endurance (hrs) could be extracted if say there was a 50kt headwind for the duration

 

[jb747]

Does not seem very significant though.

But at the end of a 16hr elapsed time on QF8, what extra endurance (hrs) could be extracted if say there was a 50kt headwind for the duration

It may not be all that significant, but it adds up. On a given LR flight, it’s probably about 70-100 air miles worth. So, that’s about 1,500 Kgs per flight. Over a year, its around 550 tonnes of fuel. That’s from one sector, in one direction, for one aircraft. Even half of that, on a given flight, could easily be the difference between going to destination, or diverting. Fuel planning, on very long flights, is greatly affected by even the smallest of items.

On a day to day basis this isn’t considered by the pilots, simply because the FMCs adjust the targeted speeds with allowance for the planned winds, using the selected cost index.

Airlines will chase amounts that seem individually silly, but with large fleets, and heavy daily utilisation, tiny amounts convert to millions of dollars.

On the performance graph for all aircraft, there is a relatively flat portion. The peak is where max range cruise is to be found, and slightly faster than that is long range cruise. Airliners will generally be cruising somewhere between the two. Max endurance is yet another speed, but it’s normally a bit slower.

 

[Quickstatus]

I assume the velocity/power curves would be dependant on cruising altitude - the curves would be translated in some direction depending on the cruising altitude?

 

[jb747]

I assume the velocity/power curves would be dependant on cruising altitude - the curves would be translated in some direction depending on the cruising altitude?

They were large manuals in their own right, with lengthy chapters for each phase of flight. All on a laptop, or iPad, now. Every configuration had to be considered, so from memory each of the performance manuals for the 747 was around the same size as the aircraft manual.

Generally cruise data is presented for a given altitude, with corrections for temperature and weight. Boeing tended to give you the graphs, whilst Airbus was more tabular, though that could simply be an airline option. I might have some of the graphs at home, so I’ll look when I get back in a couple of weeks.

 

[flyer89]

They were large manuals in their own right, with lengthy chapters for each phase of flight. All on a laptop, or iPad, now. Every configuration had to be considered, so from memory each of the performance manuals for the 747 was around the same size as the aircraft manual.

How was the performance done on the 744 pre iPad and laptop?