Ask The Pilot

I think you mean taking off on 16L?

This is known as simultaneous opposite direction parallel runway operations (SODPROPS). It is a noise sharing mode when certain conditions allow it, such as light winds and good visibility. This will usually only happen during periods of low demand.

The way this works is that aircraft will arrive on 34L only and depart on 16L (unless 34L is operationally required).

It may create an issue if someone isn't following the localiser on 34L and then someone else isn't quite following the departure route off 16L, then a TCAS warning may go off. We will be told about any conflicting traffic before our take off or landing clearance and gives us time to keep an eye out for them.

Yes apologies, I was getting my L and Rs mixed up! Thankyou for the response @AviatorInsight. I did note that there were multiple take offs and landings on both runways. There seemed to be quite a few international departures at the time and they possibly requested 34L for takeoff.
 
I did note that there were multiple take offs and landings on both runways. There seemed to be quite a few international departures at the time and they possibly requested 34L for takeoff.
The magic word is "require", not request.

Opposite direction ops are pretty rare. The only other place I've ever seen it was LA, though I don't recall the conditions at the time. Not so much now, but when if first appeared, the TCAS used to become quite upset (and like a wife, you cannot ignore it).
 
The magic word is "require", not request.

Opposite direction ops are pretty rare. The only other place I've ever seen it was LA, though I don't recall the conditions at the time. Not so much now, but when if first appeared, the TCAS used to become quite upset (and like a wife, you cannot ignore it).
Well to my simple brain it seems like introducing an element of risk but I am sure it is being well managed. I mean, I was fazed when landing in DEN or LA (can't recall which) recently where they had the cross run way in operation with planes happily crossing over the main operational runways between takeoffs and landings but it seemed to all be working to plan.
 
Well to my simple brain it seems like introducing an element of risk but I am sure it is being well managed. I mean, I was fazed when landing in DEN or LA (can't recall which) recently where they had the cross run way in operation with planes happily crossing over the main operational runways between takeoffs and landings but it seemed to all be working to plan.
There are procedures that introduce risk, and opposite direction operations is certainly one of them. Invariably it’s for local noise reasons, not a valid aviation reason. Very much the same as pushing aircraft towards shorter runways, or downwind ops, for noise reasons. They (whomever they are) get away with it, and so it becomes a reasonable thing to do. Very much the frog in boiling water.
 
JB with the QF 32 incident we you flying the a380s at the time ? What I was wondering was how did they keep the pilots current and did it result in any changes for the pilots when flying again after the grounding?
 
I was watching a video of a coughpit Airbus departure, the captain advised the FO something along the lines of ‘I am going to line it up for you just a bit off the centreline…to avoid the lights on takeoff’

I’ve noticed some of my flights the PIC does track slightly next to them, and others go right down the centreline.

What’s policy and does it really matter going over the centreline lights?
 
I assume you would have seen one of the many posts of the Fedex 767 landing at Istanbul without the nose gear.
Maybe more a question for the airport and ground crew than the pilots (after skillfully getting it down safely).
How do they remove the aircraft from the runway with minimal damage ?
 
JB with the QF 32 incident we you flying the a380s at the time ?
I’d been flying the 380 for a bit over a year at the time. I was actually awarded a slot for training in the second half of 2008, but after QF30 the deputy chief pilot suggest that I delay for a while. So, he swapped me with a bloke who had already been awarded a slot for 2009. Having him do it ensured my slot was protected…if I’d asked for the change I would have lost it.
What I was wondering was how did they keep the pilots current and did it result in any changes for the pilots when flying again after the grounding?
It wasn’t all that long a break. QF32 happened on 4/11, and my log shows my next flight was on 12/12. In the gap I’ve done two sims. You’d only need one sim session for a break of that duration. I recall that in one of the sessions we tried to replicate QF32 as much as we could (and that was only about a week after it happened). The sim wasn’t really set up for it, so the instructor had to enter all of the issues we knew about as separate failures. It was interesting.

Procedurally, I don’t think anything much changed. Airbus did tidy up their ECAM behaviour pretty dramatically, but that had been a moving target anyway.
 
I was watching a video of a coughpit Airbus departure, the captain advised the FO something along the lines of ‘I am going to line it up for you just a bit off the centreline…to avoid the lights on takeoff’
That sounds like the captain was taxiing, but the FO doing the take off. That’s common in the 737, as many (perhaps most) don’t have a nose gear steering tiller on the FO’s side, but, as far as I know, all Airbus do.
I’ve noticed some of my flights the PIC does track slightly next to them, and others go right down the centreline.
I was very much a down the middle man. There’s plenty of gap between the nose gear tyres to straddle the lighting. It’s very much an accuracy thing. If you accept it being off centreline, then how much is ok. If you always try to limit the motion to run down the centre, then that simply becomes automatic…you don’t think about it. Same with landing.
What’s policy and does it really matter going over the centreline lights?
No policy. Neither the lights nor the aircraft care.
 
I assume you would have seen one of the many posts of the Fedex 767 landing at Istanbul without the nose gear.
Maybe more a question for the airport and ground crew than the pilots (after skillfully getting it down safely).
How do they remove the aircraft from the runway with minimal damage ?
Some wide straps under the fuselage, and a crane on each side. There’s probably only 10-15 tonnes weight on the nose gear, so you‘re not trying to lift the entire aircraft. Once lifted off the ground, the nose gear can almost certainly be dropped by the engineers.
 
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I’ve just been on a couple of long haul flights where the captain has made announcements and I have barely been able to work out what they are saying because they are so soft. These are just things like ATC have asked us to wait or something but I presume if there was an emergency they would turn up the volume. Is that correct?
 
I’ve just been on a couple of long haul flights where the captain has made announcements and I have barely been able to work out what they are saying because they are so soft. These are just things like ATC have asked us to wait or something but I presume if there was an emergency they would turn up the volume. Is that correct?
At a guess I suspect he's using the boom mike to speak and not the handset. Because we all use the boom day in and out, to speak to each other, there is a tendency to speak very softly on it, and some people carry that over to any PAs. There is no volume control for our mikes. If you want to be louder, speak up...or use the handset.
 
What impact, if any, will a G4 magnetic storm have on aviation?
Good question. Specifically I don't know. I'm sure it will pretty much wipe out HF communications, but that's mostly supplanted by data link these days. I don't know how much effect it would have on the frequency bands they use. GPS? Again, not sure but the aircraft still have the INS that they used before the advent of GPS, so they wouldn't get lost, but the accuracy might not be the same.

Sadly we have heavy cloud cover, so no pictures for me tonight.
 
Sadly we have heavy cloud cover, so no pictures for me tonight.
Same here. I was gonna head up into the hills overlooking the coast to see if I could capture it. A friend is big into nightscape photography and waiting to hear back from him about it.
 
Same here. I was gonna head up into the hills overlooking the coast to see if I could capture it. A friend is big into nightscape photography and waiting to hear back from him about it.
Have a look at windy.com. That will give you a pretty good idea for any location. Select clouds on the right hand side, then just blow it up at the location you want. I can get a good view to the south over Lake Hume, but it's not supposed to be clear here until Monday.
 

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