Ask The Pilot

[mjt57]

I guess they’re doing the best they can.

Or they may be doing this...

How out of work pilots are taking to the sky without getting in a plane

Airline pilots who have found themselves out of work during COVID-19 are in high demand as drone operators. CEO and co-founder of Aerologix, a company which matches drone pilots with projects, Tom Caska, says his company is seeking airline pilots because of their in-depth knowledge of aviation...

www.3aw.com.au

 

[jb747]

A little feedback from the people who are still employed by QF. They’ve been running a multi day course to help preserve pilot skills, and knowledge. So a mix of ground school and some no jeopardy sim work. Apparently well received and valuable training.

Not on all types though. The 380 isn’t included.

 

[jb747]

Another book that some of you might enjoy.

Marcus Carr was an RAN S2 pilot. He also flew at Pearce as a QFI, and later, after joining the RAAF, he flew the P3. His career after that involved Ansett and Cathay. Well worth a read.

Written in the Sky. Available on the usual electronic book stores.

 

[Flying Fox]

Dear Pilots

What are your top three things that you loved about being a commercial pilot and the three things that you disliked the most about being a commercial pilot?

TIA

 

[AviatorInsight]

Dear Pilots

What are your top three things that you loved about being a commercial pilot and the three things that you disliked the most about being a commercial pilot?

TIA

A good question:

Likes
1. The office view
2. The destinations
3. No two days are the same / the challenges

Dislikes
1. COVID
2. The Blu Emu bus (which thanks to COVID I haven’t had to ride on...)
3. People who make things more complicated than it needs to be

 

[RooFlyer]

@jb747 , there was a Qantas A380 pilot, Graham R on ABC radio in Tas the other day (he's a local). Got into commercial aviation via the Air Force and Orions. Did you even work with him? Sounded a very pleasant, easy going guy on the radio.

He lamented that he's probably taken his last flight on an A380 but didn't have the pleasure of knowing that that flight was going to be his last.

He also has a band 'Thylaswing' (I think) - mentioned that both his vocations were not great during a pandemic.

 

[jb747]

What are your top three things that you loved about being a commercial pilot and the three things that you disliked the most about being a commercial pilot?

Well, flying the aircraft, whether it's an A-4G or an A380 is pretty cool.

Negative.

Blunts!

Post automatically merged: Feb 13, 2021

@jb747 , there was a Qantas A380 pilot, Graham R on ABC radio in Tas the other day (he's a local). Got into commercial aviation via the Air Force and Orions. Did you even work with him? Sounded a very pleasant, easy going guy on the radio.

He lamented that he's probably taken his last flight on an A380 but didn't have the pleasure of knowing that that flight was going to be his last.

He also has a band 'Thylaswing' (I think) - mentioned that both his vocations were not great during a pandemic.

Yes, Graham and I flew many times. He mostly did trips to London, as he's an avid jazz follower, and had a number of places that he went to to listen to the music.

If not for covid, he'd probably have a 330 command by now. As it is, I think he's taken the VR.

 

[747sp]

With the United 777 incident in Denver I heard the ATC ask the pilot which way they would like to turn and they said left. The engine that failed was on the right. Was it intentional to do that and if so what would happen if it was a 747 or A380?

 

[jb747]

With the United 777 incident in Denver I heard the ATC ask the pilot which way they would like to turn and they said left. The engine that failed was on the right. Was it intentional to do that and if so what would happen if it was a 747 or A380?

Ah, the “don’t turn into a dead engine” stories.

It may have had some validity in very marginally powered aircraft of yesteryear, but it is not a limitation on any modern aircraft. Even with two engines out, on the same side (which is a far worse situation than loss of one in a twin) the quads still were not limited in turn direction.

 

[AviatorInsight]

With the United 777 incident in Denver I heard the ATC ask the pilot which way they would like to turn and they said left. The engine that failed was on the right. Was it intentional to do that and if so what would happen if it was a 747 or A380?

Like JB said, during initial twin training we’re told not to turn over the “dead engine” simply because it’ll be much harder to come out of the turn.

This is not really a problem in a 777. So in my opinion it’s just a case of defaulting back to initial training.

The 777 does also have a thrust asymmetry compensation computer (TAC), that will automatically induce rudder to assist the pilot.

 

[Mattg]

I just had the pleasure of catching up with @AviatorInsight at SYD ahead of his flight to OOL. He’s departing shortly as the FO on VA535, then returning as VA540.

 

[Major]

AV, did the storms at OOL affect your arrival or departure ?

 

[AviatorInsight]

AV, did the storms at OOL affect your arrival or departure ?

Not a whole lot actually. We got lucky with the arrival and basically slid down the ILS before the storm that was just hanging to the NW and very slowly moving.

As for the departure, we didn’t stick to the flight plan from about 3000ft until about Newcastle, where we picked up the arrival. And we still managed to get back on time.

 

[Mattg]

Not a whole lot actually. We got lucky with the arrival and basically slid down the ILS before the storm that was just hanging to the NW and very slowly moving.

As for the departure, we didn’t stick to the flight plan from about 3000ft until about Newcastle, where we picked up the arrival. And we still managed to get back on time.

Good to hear that the flights went well! I was following your progress on Flightradar24.

I actually have a question that I forgot to ask you earlier when we were talking about the weather radar on board the Boeing 737!

I was wondering, when the weather radar shows upcoming precipitation/turbulence/etc., what altitude is this being shown for? Is it showing the current weather at ground level, the plane's current altitude, cruising altitude, or something else?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Good to hear that the flights went well! I was following your progress on Flightradar24.

I actually have a question that I forgot to ask you earlier when we were talking about the weather radar on board the Boeing 737!

I was wondering, when the weather radar shows upcoming precipitation/turbulence/etc., what altitude is this being shown for? Is it showing the current weather at ground level, the plane's current altitude, cruising altitude, or something else?

Good question Matt. The radar has an automatic beam tilt function, so that on the ground it’s pointed about 4° up and looking well above the altitude (can be mistaken for terrain such as when in OOL and CNS). Between 0 & 2° up in the climb depending on the returns it’s getting (don’t want it to be too high or it may return nothing!), in the cruise it’s about 2° down and generally returns won’t be shown that are more than 6000ft below the altitude.

So while there’s no altitude per se that it’s looking at, the radar beam will only return something that will be a threat and can extend out to 320nm in front of the aircraft.

 

[jb747]

There are lots of variations with radar behaviour. It’s also a subject that I thought was very weakly taught, at least in QF, presumably because people knew how to operate it, but did not know the reasons behind such operation.

As a extreme of technology, at one end of the scale, the A380 radar would automatically build up a 3D database of weather returns. So, it was automatically looking at angles above and below the horizon, calculating the return position in 3D space, and then allowing you to display that in a number of ways. The upshot was that you could look behind yourself, though obviously the data was recorded and not live. You could take a cut through the weather at any level above or below, as well as using “old style” angles from the aircraft.

 

[JohnM]

Apologies if this recently-made description of the Miracle on the Hudson has already been posted or discussed elsewhere, but there was some fascinating context and an amazing array of fortuitous coincidences (both in Mentour's description and in some of the comments) that was new to me.

Pilots: any comments about Mentour's presentation or further comments on the incident?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Apologies if this recently-made description of the Miracle on the Hudson has already been posted or discussed elsewhere, but there was some fascinating context and an amazing array of fortuitous coincidences (both in Mentour's description and in some of the comments) that was new to me.

Pilots: any comments about Mentour's presentation or further comments on the incident?

Not much more to mention really. I thought the movie was really well done too. A great display of crew management, decision making and teamwork from everyone involved.

 

[jb747]

Apologies if this recently-made description of the Miracle on the Hudson has already been posted or discussed elsewhere, but there was some fascinating context and an amazing array of fortuitous coincidences (both in Mentour's description and in some of the comments) that was new to me.

Whilst there is nothing dramatically new in the video, he does a quite decent job of explaining what happened.

There were always two things that struck me about that accident. The fact that Sully made his decision to go for the river, and was not suckered into trying for one of the runways. It may have been possible, in some limited situations to make an airport, but the penalty for getting it wrong was terrible. The Hudson was certainly very risky, especially as the aftermath could not be predicted, but you'd have to expect that most people would survive. The decision to start the APU, did, as explained in the video, keep the aircraft in normal law. It would also have meant that the aircraft kept the normal instrumentation, and possibly had some effect on the operation of the flaps. I suspect that Sully had made the decision to start the APU many years beforehand. It was always the 767 pilots' cure for everything. It made nothing worse, improved many things, and gave your hand something to do for a few seconds.

 

[D747]

We are seeing several cases of Covid19 coming into Australia with aircrew on cargo flights. Some of these are done with passenger aircraft acting as freighters, with none, some or all of their seats removed. Other flights are pure freighter aircraft. Would it help prevent aircrew having to stay here due to rest or Covid if the overseas based flights were double crewed? Flight lands in Australia, incoming crew rest, deadheading crew begin duty. Aircraft is unloaded, refulled and reloaded etc. Area around aircraft is cleared and walkaround is done. No one stays in Australia. I know I've read that deadheading counts as duty time, but does that apply in this case? Deadheading crews could be in flatbed seats getting good rest perhaps? Could the same be done with Australian aircrews going to overseas ports on repatriation and cargo flights? Happy to have this idea dismissed on any grounds.