Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

I'm not a flight attendant but i know it is a pin with a red tag that said "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" that locks/arms the door. Flight attendant plug the pin into the door after the door closed and then take pin out after landing.

No that pin does not arm or lock the door, nor is that what the flight attendants do with the pin and its tag. Want another go?

 

[JohnM]

As similarly shown here:

And Mentour Pilot on the Asiana door incident:

 

[jb747]

He does a good job of explaining what happens.

 

[Quickstatus]

The A380 was more versatile than the 747 for this, as it could get up higher, earlier.

how can you tell if an aircraft has the ability to go a bit higher before trying?

 

[jb747]

how can you tell if an aircraft has the ability to go a bit higher before trying?

In the old days, you'd dig into the performance charts. It was one of the jobs that the flight engineers did. Now, it's one of many bits of information on the FMC's performance pages.

It will vary with the temperature, weight, cost index, or chosen speed, plus the company's chosen stall margin (I'm not sure if Airbus offered a company choice, but Boeing did...that was a reason that a couple of airlines up north could always get higher than us (in the same equipment), as their company had chosen less margin).

 

[JohnM]

Pilots, any comments on this?:

 

[jb747]

Pilots, any comments on this?:

No surprises really. Firstly there are a couple of really bad habits (or procedures) that you see in the USA. One is that you'll be cleared to land on first contact with the tower, and, they'll then process other aircraft off the runway in front of you. Quite weird.

But, go around should be standard. None of this left or right stuff. That runway's GA should simply include a standard left turn either immediately, or at 500'. Many places do just that.

They're in close proximity for quite a while, and get really close when the departing aircraft is turned across the track of the other. Controller lost the plot?

 

[jpp42]

Yeah I can't understand why the controller turned the departing aircraft left even after it was clear that the GA aircraft hadn't deviated right. Obviously he *thought* he told the GA aircraft to go right but this "noncompliance" (misunderstanding) seemingly could have been easily detected based on glancing at the radar. Can only assume he was overworked and distracted with too many other aircraft. Looking forward to the report.

 

[mjt57]

No surprises really. Firstly there are a couple of really bad habits (or procedures) that you see in the USA.

Wonderful. Flying on the 93 in a couple of weeks; MEL-LAX-JFK. Hope they don't pull any of this on us.
Which reminds me. We're also doing MEL-SIN-LHR in Aug/Sep. Why aren't the A380s flying out of Melbourne? Or if they are I wonder why we're on a Nightmareliner for the first leg then QF1 for the rest of the way.

 

[jb747]

Wonderful. Flying on the 93 in a couple of weeks; MEL-LAX-JFK. Hope they don't pull any of this on us.

Of course they will, but you won’t see it in the cabin.

 

[jpp42]

We're also doing MEL-SIN-LHR in Aug/Sep. Why aren't the A380s flying out of Melbourne?

A380's haven't been running the MEL-SIN route since they changed the London service to run via PER, so quite a while now.

They had made an occasional appearance on MEL-LAX but I guess the demand isn't quite there so it's been replaced with a 787.

 

[D747]

The A380 only has reverse thrust on the inboard engines but are all 4 engines identical and the outboard have the reversers disabled?

 

[Quickstatus]

23June QF9 PER-LHR has a medical diversion to SIN. (VH-ZNC)
It initially U turned back to PER but decided to turn to SIN arriving there 1730 UTC 23Jun

The aircraft then operated SIN-LHR as QF1D. Departure was 1630 UTC 24Jun about 20 minute after the A380 QF1

Basically 23hrs on the ground in SIN

Did the original QF9 crew operate the QF1D to LHR?

 

[jb747]

A380's haven't been running the MEL-SIN route since they changed the London service to run via PER, so quite a while now.

No, they continued going to Singapore after the 787 flights started, and did so until Covid.

 

[jb747]

The A380 only has reverse thrust on the inboard engines but are all 4 engines identical and the outboard have the reversers disabled?

The core engines are the same. The reverser is in the cowl structure, so basically an add on component to the engine. So, any engine can be used within either of the enclosure types, but only the inner cowls have the reverse equipment. It was removed from the design to save weight, so there would be no point to carrying it disabled.

And, as I’m sure I’ve said before, “reverse thrust“ makes zero actual reverse thrust.

Basically 23hrs on the ground in SIN

Did the original QF9 crew operate the QF1D to LHR?

Under the flight time limitations that I worked under, you required 24 hours free before that flight. I don’t know the current rules, but they may be working under a fatigue management system now…for better or worse.

 

[justinbrett]

No surprises really. Firstly there are a couple of really bad habits (or procedures) that you see in the USA. One is that you'll be cleared to land on first contact with the tower, and, they'll then process other aircraft off the runway in front of you. Quite weird.

But, go around should be standard. None of this left or right stuff. That runway's GA should simply include a standard left turn either immediately, or at 500'. Many places do just that.

They're in close proximity for quite a while, and get really close when the departing aircraft is turned across the track of the other. Controller lost the plot?

I would have expected AA to have been given traffic information on DL and on freq for the take off clearance - but if on a SID without a vector that wouldn’t have included a turn direction.

In any case this is just incompetent tower controlling. You’ve got one job - control the runway. If you want to cut it fine, sure, but you have to monitor it and have an out. For the aircraft to conflict on upwind, the conflict would have been apparent long before that.

This sounds like a trainee who lost his trainer.

 

[Saab34]

AV, your new Japan flights, are they operated initially by senior captains, chief pilots etc? And will they rotate any pilot on the books on the route, or are they selective with who will operate this service?

Curious also why it’s a 4 pilot operation. Many carriers on the longer 6/7/8 hour narrow body missions seem to keep to the 2 pilot ops, eg some of these new trans atlantic narrow body flights

 

[AviatorInsight]

AV, your new Japan flights, are they operated initially by senior captains, chief pilots etc? And will they rotate any pilot on the books on the route, or are they selective with who will operate this service?

The inaugural will be flown by a management pilot. After that it’ll be by whoever specifically put their hand up for it. No rhyme or reason as to who gets selected. It’s a 5 day pairing (6 during disrupt) which is an opt in under our EBA.

Curious also why it’s a 4 pilot operation. Many carriers on the longer 6/7/8 hour narrow body missions seem to keep to the 2 pilot ops, eg some of these new trans atlantic narrow body flights

Where did you read/hear this? It's all two crew. It would be too expensive to carry more pilots than they need to and also they are severely weight restricted. Any extra unnecessary weight will increase fuel consumption which is already thin.

 

[Saab34]

The inaugural will be flown by a management pilot. After that it’ll be by whoever specifically put their hand up for it. No rhyme or reason as to who gets selected. It’s a 5 day pairing (6 during disrupt) which is an opt in under our EBA.


Where did you read/hear this? It's all two crew. It would be too expensive to carry more pilots than they need to and also they are severely weight restricted. Any extra unnecessary weight will increase fuel consumption which is already thin.

Thanks for that sorry I thought I read 4 crew on here my bad.

Is the overnight in Toyko only one night then back home operating the following day red eye?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Yes it’s only about 24hrs in Tokyo. Then after the red eye to CNS it’ll be another 24hrs before they get to operate home.