Ask The Pilot

[mjt57]

What's the consensus on the new MEL runway? Good or bad? And why North/South if prevailing winds are from the west to south west (presumably)?

 

[jb747]

What's the consensus on the new MEL runway? Good or bad? And why North/South if prevailing winds are from the west to south west (presumably)?

The current plan seems better than any other recent ideas, but they won't be able to get away with not using the east west. Realistically, it needs to grow a few hundred metres too. Looking at the plans though, you can still see that the original designers were going to put a long runway in to the south of all of the buildings, but I guess that's been sold off to various non aviation functions now.

Anyway, there's room for 25 more plans before anything will happen, though perhaps it may be concrete before anything happens in Sydney.

 

[Saab34]

What causes that sudden left wing drop? JB what’s the Airbus philosophy around spoiler deployment? If you look really closely it appears they do deploy on the first gear touch however it’s very short lived as one wheel is not on the deck for the remainder of it. If both gear touches then it bounces, do they go back down?

Wind at the time was 320 17G 27kn

 

[jb747]

What causes that sudden left wing drop?

Probably a bit of a gust from the right, but I think it's also mixed in with overcontrolling.

JB what’s the Airbus philosophy around spoiler deployment? If you look really closely it appears they do deploy on the first gear touch however it’s very short lived as one wheel is not on the deck for the remainder of it. If both gear touches then it bounces, do they go back down?

Spoiler panels are what you're seeing move, but they're actually three separate control surfaces, with different panels and degrees of deployment.

Ground spoilers, which is what you're expecting, are all of the panels, deflected upwards to the maximum. You'll need weight on the wheels, thrust levers at idle, and there's also a time delay of a couple of seconds. That's never shown in this video.

Flight spoilers, or speedbrakes, are a subset of the spoilers, deflected a pilot selected amount.

What we're seeing here, are spoilers used for roll control.

Wind at the time was 320 17G 27kn

Which is nothing particularly unusual.

Overall, this is an own goal, mostly caused by overcontrolling.

 

[RooFlyer]

JB and AI, (for Qantas and Virgin) if the above happened on a domestic flight in Australia, what would occur (if anything) 1) Airline to regulators - ie any mandatory reporting of a tail strike (if it did in fact occur) and if so, what sort of investigation (again, if any) and 2) Intra-airline - I guess the pilot would self-report to both their line management and maintenance? In a case like this, would the pilot not flying be asked to give information to management about the actions of pilot flying? Is any airline internal report sent to regulators?

Not presuming any of the above, just curious.

 

[Hvr]

I'll post it here since it specifically mentions QF pilots.

Is this true or basically click bait?

Fatty's restaurant, Singapore: The restaurant Qantas pilots flock to:​

But when Qantas crew step off the aerobridge in Singapore, there is no arguing over where to go. It is time for dinner at Fatty's.

 

[jb747]

I'll post it here since it specifically mentions QF pilots.

Is this true or basically click bait?

Fatty's restaurant, Singapore: The restaurant Qantas pilots flock to:​

I saw this article quite some time ago, when Mark originally posted it on a QF forum. It’s all quite true. I would have been there hundreds of times. There were many favourites, though if you really wanted to shock Skinny, you’d ask for the menu and try something different. I was partial to his black pepper chicken or sweet and sour pork. And, of course, the nuclear chicken. As mentioned billing was always curious, and we never quite worked it out. When Fatty was still alive he’d sit at the cash register, and I think he gave us a standard price. Various theories exist, but my guess was $15 flagfall, and $15 per hour. Some thought the food was free, and he’d just count the empties. No trip to Singapore is complete without a visit.

 

[Mr H]

No trip to Singapore is complete without a visit.

Just my personal take, but if you're eating in Singapore and you can see four walls, you're eating in the wrong place.

 

[jb747]

JB and AI, (for Qantas and Virgin) if the above happened on a domestic flight in Australia, what would occur (if anything) 1) Airline to regulators - ie any mandatory reporting of a tail strike (if it did in fact occur) and if so, what sort of investigation (again, if any) and 2) Intra-airline - I guess the pilot would self-report to both their line management and maintenance? In a case like this, would the pilot not flying be asked to give information to management about the actions of pilot flying? Is any airline internal report sent to regulators?

A tail strike would need an incident report. They initially go to the company, but it would then be passed to CASA. It would be very unlikely that CASA would look at it any further, as the vast majority of tail strikes are very minor (and on some aircraft types, almost common).

Within the company, the QAR data would be looked at (quick access recorder), and if the cause is determined to be environmental, then that would be the end of it. If it was an own goal, then you might need a sim or two. Just don't do it again.

767 used to routinely get to around 18' from the tarmac on take off, so it doesn't take much.

 

[Saab34]

Are FOs allowed to Taxi? Is there a certain amount of hours before they can?

 

[AviatorInsight]

JB and AI, (for Qantas and Virgin) if the above happened on a domestic flight in Australia, what would occur (if anything) 1) Airline to regulators - ie any mandatory reporting of a tail strike (if it did in fact occur) and if so, what sort of investigation (again, if any) and 2) Intra-airline - I guess the pilot would self-report to both their line management and maintenance? In a case like this, would the pilot not flying be asked to give information to management about the actions of pilot flying? Is any airline internal report sent to regulators?

Not presuming any of the above, just curious.

Damage to an aircraft would definitely need a safety report. A pilot not reporting a tail strike would without a doubt be in the chief pilot's office for tea and bikkies (they're provided which is nice). In a situation like this it's possible they would get the pilot not flying (if it was the FO) to give their version of the incident as well. What were they monitoring? Were they distracted from providing support? etc.

With damage to an aircraft, it is known as an immediately reportable matter and will get sent to the proper authorities (CASA, ATSB).

The 737's tail skid provides protection on take off, not so much on landing. Depending on the geometry at touchdown you can still suffer a tail strike on landing and never touch the skid - the fuselage will hit first.

The -800 has 20" of clearance and the -700 has 29", hence why there's actually no tail skid installed on the -700.

 

[jb747]

Are FOs allowed to Taxi? Is there a certain amount of hours before they can?

On QF long haul (330/380/747/767/787), FOs taxi if it's their sector. The aircraft must be parked by the Captain, but that's a geometry thing, as the guidance systems are set for the left hand seat only. If you were being marshalled, the FO could do it. Personally, I left the FO with it until the final turn on to the bay.

But, the 737s were all purchased without a tiller on the right hand seat, so the FOs are very limited in their ability to taxi. I've never heard any rationale for this decision, but presume that it saved a couple of $.

 

[Saab34]

But, the 737s were all purchased without a tiller on the right hand seat, so the FOs are very limited in their ability to taxi.

Virgin also?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Are FOs allowed to Taxi? Is there a certain amount of hours before they can?

Yes they can if a tiller is installed on their side. Funny thing is that the ex Silk Air 737s we got have a tiller installed but we aren't allowed to taxi under normal conditions as it's not common with the rest of the fleet.

As a side note, there's still only 1 or 2 gates in MEL where they still have the old style of nose in guidance. This one (known as a parallax aircraft parking aid) was built for the captain to taxi it into the gate with the box sitting directly in front of them to line it up and then you would have to look left to know where to stop from another box.


This is the unit used to tell the Captain when to stop. (My photo)


This photo (not mine) is the only one I can find of what the front looks like. Next time I'm in MEL I'll try and get a better photo of it.

 

[mjt57]

Why do the FOs have these restrictions placed upon them?

Wouldn't the ability to park the aircraft be beneficial to their overall development and training?

 

[jb747]

Why do the FOs have these restrictions placed upon them?

Wouldn't the ability to park the aircraft be beneficial to their overall development and training?

FOs have many restrictions. For example their crosswind limit is likely to be half of the aircraft limit. Visibility limits. Abort decisions. There are many things. Their training will cover all of them when they get to command.

 

[Saab34]

So if a FO is landing and has tailwind etc (or aircraft on the runway or so on) and makes the decision to Go around, does the Captain take over and conduct the missed approach? Or is the FO able to perform the manoeuvre?

 

[jb747]

So if a FO is landing and has tailwind etc (or aircraft on the runway or so on) and makes the decision to Go around, does the Captain take over and conduct the missed approach? Or is the FO able to perform the manoeuvre?

No, the FO will fly the go around if he's already flying. In my experience the go arounds are called by the Captain though. I cannot remember one FO initiated go around. I'm suspicious that the video that was shown above (BA 320) actually has the Captain take over, because of the way in which the aircraft suddenly settles down at the correct attitude...but a couple of seconds too late.

What else aren't they allowed to do? Any sort of abnormal landing. That means anything that changes the process away from 'normal'. In QF newly qualified FOs were limited to 15kt of crosswind, which increased to 20 knots. They were never given the aircraft limits until they did command training. Even Captains are restricted in some ways after initial qualification, in particular with regard to low vis ops.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

The QF1/2 and QF9/10 DRW - LHR / LHR - DRW flights looking to be taking the great circle route and flying a similar northerly flight path on the inbound and outbound sectors. A couple of questions:

- Is there only 1 flight path provided for each sector or are their a number of alternatives available with a preferred flight path being selected dependent on conditions?

- flying over northern China and Russia would, I imagine, present complexities due to terrain, geography and the proximity to airports with facilities that could handle a bunch of Australian (and other nationality) travellers if required. Besides no fly zones (PER-LHR, LHR-PER) what scenarios need to be catered for when selecting a flight path for a flight such as DRW - LHR and LHR - DRW.

- Having done a bunch of HKG-PEK and HND/NRT-PEK flights over the years it was a routine occurrence for China airspace to get shutdown for military requirements. With the HKG-PEK flights you would stay on the ground in either HKG or PEK awaiting clearance. On a few occasions on the Tokyo - Beijing sector, after dodging North Korean airspace, we've gone into a hold at FL380 for over an hours out over the Yellow Sea. I'd imagine having a hold requirement like this on a DRW - LHR sector would be more than a little inconvenient.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jb747]

The QF1/2 and QF9/10 DRW - LHR / LHR - DRW flights looking to be taking the great circle route and flying a similar northerly flight path on the inbound and outbound sectors. A couple of questions:

- Is there only 1 flight path provided for each sector or are their a number of alternatives available with a preferred flight path being selected dependent on conditions?

There are often a number of viable routes available to the flight planners, and they decide on which one to use based on lots of factors...which basically devolve down to the cost of the flight. The pilots might get a route redone, but mostly to avoid weather that we think the planner might have put us too close to. This sort of route is quite complex, and will be flown as planned.

- flying over northern China and Russia would, I imagine, present complexities due to terrain, geography and the proximity to airports with facilities that could handle a bunch of Australian (and other nationality) travellers if required. Besides no fly zones (PER-LHR, LHR-PER) what scenarios need to be catered for when selecting a flight path for a flight such as DRW - LHR and LHR - DRW.

I used to regularly fly the 29/30 on the HKG to LHR flights. There were two possible routes, one of which was used very rarely, as it was almost always subject to turbulence. But the routes shown here for the 787 are neither of the old 747 routes. My guess would be that the 787 has a less capable passenger oxygen system than the 747, and as such is more restricted in the choice of depressurisation routes. Because of this, the route is further north, away from the high ground. This route also has the plus of staying away from Ukraine and Belarus, though it would be easy enough to do so on the other (747) route. The 380 would be able to use the 747 route.

The safety heights on some legs were very high, and there was ongoing planning during the flight to cover the "what if". In some cases it required an immediate turn off track, or even a reversal. There were plenty of diversion airfields, but I doubt that the passengers would have found a visit to be much fun.

- Having done a bunch of HKG-PEK and HND/NRT-PEK flights over the years it was a routine occurrence for China airspace to get shutdown for military requirements. With the HKG-PEK flights you would stay on the ground in either HKG or PEK awaiting clearance. On a few occasions on the Tokyo - Beijing sector, after dodging North Korean airspace, we've gone into a hold at FL380 for over an hours out over the Yellow Sea. I'd imagine having a hold requirement like this on a DRW - LHR sector would be more than a little inconvenient.

Any sort of lengthy hold in the middle of a flight is going make getting to the destination unlikely.

I don't recall any delays due to the military's ownership of the airspace, but it was often difficult to get an altitude change. In congested airspace that's often the case irrespective of who owns it.