Ask The Pilot

[AviatorInsight]

Almost long haul....

But without the long haul pay...

 

[Saab34]

Has the company advised its employees when they think they will be back to some form of normal? Seems like December might be a bit patchy however 2022 onwards surely?

Surely some must be struggling financially? Living in Sydney or Melbourne with kids and trying to live off government support, very challenging I feel for the lot of you.

Are some crews still working second jobs? I read somewhere that a QF A330 long haul captain was doing courier runs in between his once monthly, if lucky, flight.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Has the company advised its employees when they think they will be back to some form of normal? Seems like December might be a bit patchy however 2022 onwards surely?

Surely some must be struggling financially? Living in Sydney or Melbourne with kids and trying to live off government support, very challenging I feel for the lot of you.

Are some crews still working second jobs? I read somewhere that a QF A330 long haul captain was doing courier runs in between his once monthly, if lucky, flight.

Not really. I’m sure they know more than they are letting on but from what I can gather, it could be a Nov/Dec ramp up. I’m hopeful it’ll be Nov but expecting it to be Dec.

There’s a lot of people struggling financially that’s for sure. My wife was on maternity leave but she has had to go back to work early to support us.

Yes there are still plenty of people who have second jobs, and some who have found more stable employment last year and have opted to take a year of leave without pay from VA until things settle down and then they will look to come back.

 

[jb747]

Has the company advised its employees when they think they will be back to some form of normal? Seems like December might be a bit patchy however 2022 onwards surely?

Obviously I’m not an employee any more, but I don‘t think any of my mates have been given anything definite. If anything, for the 380 group in particular, the information is becoming much more tenuous.

Surely some must be struggling financially? Living in Sydney or Melbourne with kids and trying to live off government support, very challenging I feel for the lot of you.

Lots. Some have other trades or skills that they could fall back on. And some even had other businesses, although there has been a double whammy for some of them, as their businesses have also been hit. Houses have had to be sold. Cars gone. It’s an ongoing financial disaster.

Are some crews still working second jobs? I read somewhere that a QF A330 long haul captain was doing courier runs in between his once monthly, if lucky, flight.

And third.

When you factor in the time taken to re-qualify, then the trip, then add the two weeks of unpaid quarantine, it’s a wonder the company can actually get people for the trips at all. I do know that many have knocked back any return until the company is offering something substantial, as they do not want to lose their other employment.

Much of the flying that has happened domestically has been farmed out to other companies, with mainline staff being kept on stand down.

 

[tgh]

I guess there will be a whole new wave of techno pilots, freshly trained to follow the computer.
The loss of more experienced pilots replaced with low hour newbies , combined with an insatiable demand for seats , combined with a corporate need for cash may lead to some sad consequences down the track.

 

[jb747]

I guess there will be a whole new wave of techno pilots, freshly trained to follow the computer.
The loss of more experienced pilots replaced with low hour newbies , combined with an insatiable demand for seats , combined with a corporate need for cash may lead to some sad consequences down the track.

The race to the bottom has been ongoing for quite some time. About the only thing that can be predicted with any certainty is that those in management will be long gone before any of their decisions come home to roost.

I'm not sure about an insatiable demand for seats either. There is pent up demand for sure, but any form of inbound quarantine will totally kill the inbound tourist market, so that's probably 40% of seats you don't need any more. The propensity of various governments towards locking out their own citizens, will make another large group shy away from any travel for quite some time too. My guess is that the maximum we're going to see within the next five years, will be a total number of seats in the order of 50% of pre covid. It will take a long time to rebuild the scale across the entire industry that paid for the cheaper seats.

And I hope that I'm totally wrong.

 

[Quickstatus]

Sorry to hear about the effects on the aviation industry. It’s easy to say lockdown but there are various dimensions to this issue.

Q:
Firefighting air tankers…
If water/retardant is dropped, the space in the tank is replaced with air from within the cabin (which is often pressurised).
The 737 LAT has 15000 litres tank capacity That’s a lot of air to move in a few seconds.

What mechanism is there to allow air from outside the aircraft to replace the volume inside the aircraft without causing a significant drop in pressure within the cabin/retardant tank

 

[jb747]

What mechanism is there to allow air from outside the aircraft to replace the volume inside the aircraft without causing a significant drop in pressure within the cabin/retardant tank

Interesting question. Here's what Wikipedia says about it:
The air tanker modification can be carried out to either a DC-10-10 or DC-10-30 series and involves the addition of an external tank and associated systems and support structure.

The water or retardant is carried in three center-line belly tanks. The tanks have internal baffles to prevent fluid shift (and consequent shift in center of gravity) while in flight, and sit with a 15-inch (38 cm) ground clearance. All three tanks can be filled simultaneously on the ground in eight minutes. The retardant is gravity-fed out of the tanks, and the entire load can be dumped in eight seconds, although the actual drop rate is computer controlled by the flight crew in order to produce the desired retardant spread over the fire lines.[5] The aircraft is capable of applying a line of retardant 300 feet (91 m) wide by 1 mile (1.6 km) long.[6]

The external retardant tanks are designed to be filled from standard 3-inch (76 mm) cam-lock couplings. Utilizing one, two or three hoses, the tanks can be filled as quickly as base loading capabilities permit, typically 15–20 minutes. The tanks are vented to atmosphere by a vent system installed on top of each tank to allow sufficient air into and out of the tanks during retardant drops and filling. Accurate quantity gauges are part of the installation.

So that basically means big hole at the bottom, and another big hole to let the air in.

 

[jb747]

A bit more from long ago, and far away....

 

[Mattg]

A bit more from long ago, and far away....

View attachment 258753View attachment 258754

Oh, that looks like QF6 departing FRA! I miss that flight

 

[Quickstatus]

tanks are vented to atmosphere by a vent system installed on top of each tank to allow sufficient air into and out of the tanks

Yes but the vents at to the “atmosphere of the cabin”. There are no vents AFAIK to the outside of the aircraft - at least none that I can see in something like the 737 or the BaE146 airtankers

 

[jb747]

Yes but the vents at to the “atmosphere of the cabin”. There are no vents AFAIK to the outside of the aircraft - at least none that I can see in something like the 737 or the BaE146 airtankers

Operate depressurised, with the outflow valves manually open.

 

[Quickstatus]

Operate depressurised, with the outflow valves manually open.

I thought they were fairly small?. Maybe they operated pressurised so there is a pressure head with outflow valves providing supplementary air volume?

In any case on a Saturday lockdown I came across this:

See from 4:10

Would be interesting to know if the 737 has a similar negative pressure relief flap

 

[jb747]

15,000 litres, is only 15 cubic metres. About the size of two small toilets. I wouldn't have thought you'd need much more than a couple of square feet to move enough air.

Their solution to the negative pressure issue is simple and effective. Whilst I'd expect the NSW 737 to have a more elegant solution, I expect that it's still pretty simple.

Airliners do have negative pressure vents. The 747's was in forward fuselage on the port side, roughly at door 2.

 

[jb747]

Oh, that looks like QF6 departing FRA! I miss that flight

This was actually the worst weather I ever encountered at Frankfurt. The taxiing shot is just after landing, looking for the gate, whilst the other is about an hour before departure. The snow was falling so heavily that we barely made the hold over time (required with deicing), and we required an external inspection at the runway.

Something different...

 

[Quickstatus]

Something different...

An uncommon situation at the Hume. Menindee lakes downstream also full and the whole MD basin is in flood management.
Water may be released in a spill event to maintain airspace and dam safety and mitigate floods
Wish we could store more water....

 

[Hvr]

An article in the Nine news stable (The Age, SMH et al):

Resilience. A cool head. And thousands of hours in the air. Pilots grounded by the pandemic reflect on the thrill of being airborne.​

‘And the sunsets! If you’re heading west, they go on forever’: our pilots reminisce

An airline pilot’s job requires extraordinary skill – but it’s also a labour of love: those grounded by the pandemic reflect on the thrill of being airborne.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

For our AFF pilots, does this article strike a chord?

 

[jb747]

An article in the Nine news stable (The Age, SMH et al):

‘And the sunsets! If you’re heading west, they go on forever’: our pilots reminisce

An airline pilot’s job requires extraordinary skill – but it’s also a labour of love: those grounded by the pandemic reflect on the thrill of being airborne.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

For our AFF pilots, does this article strike a chord?

For the people who manage to get a long way up the totem pole, it was a great career. I think the article is ruined though, by a bit too much (i.e. any) of a certain QF captain. The story of aviation now, is amongst those in the middle of their careers. They’re the ones who have seen their careers curtailed, and yet they are also the ones that any airline will need if they want to get things going again. RdC and his compatriots had a great run, unaffected by any career ruining events. He may have planned going on a bit longer, but in reality he’s the same age as me, so his options were pretty limited. It was basically time to go anyway.

 

[AviatorInsight]

For our AFF pilots, does this article strike a chord?

This whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster and we’re not out of the woods yet.

The article definitely resonated with me because I have been forced to pivot, get out of my comfort zone, and just get a reset on my career and family lifestyle.

Yes, I am caught in the middle now of my career taking two steps back. But I’m hopeful that travel will bounce back with a vengeance and we will see impressive amounts of growth again.

It is already being felt around the world with shortages already in Europe, the UAE, and the US. In fact, there are roadshows from the US carriers specifically looking to recruit the many stood down pilots here with lucrative packages and job security. We’ve all seen that US travel is almost near pre Covid levels and many flights are being cancelled because of insufficient crew.

The focus now is just getting current…again (and hopefully staying that way!), being match fit for what is about to come, and keeping an eye on your fellow colleagues because this pandemic has affected people in many different ways.

 

[mjt57]

This whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster and we’re not out of the woods yet.

Good luck with it. I can't imagine how people are handling all of this.