The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

IngazZagni

Of course sometimes turn around times are affected by the quality of the handling agent and not necessarily the quality of the airport services. Airlines are guilty of putting huge cost pressure on handling agents. The lowest bidder will win and you end up with not enough staff and equipment to deal with the turnarounds.

eatmyshorts

IngazZagni wrote: »

. The lowest bidder will win and you end up with not enough staff and equipment to deal with the turnarounds.

That's what happens when the bean counters are let run an airline.
They know the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.

basill

You aren't surely inferring that an 18 year old school leaver on their gap year could possibly provide a lesser service than an experienced handling agent who knows the ropes. At some point if you pay the peanuts then the monkeys will be along soon enough.

TheBoss11

How can I improve myself on aptitude tests? I don't understand most of the stuff it asks me! Is there any websites you guys might recommend?

basill

pprune would be a good start. If you can cut through the cr*p there are actually some useful bits and pieces in the wanabes section and loads of stuff on aptitude testing.

BUT remember what the aim of an aptitude test is.....An employer has sat down with a testing agency/HR and determined what sort of "profile" they want to do xyz job. They then work out the best way in which to test candidates for the attributes which they require. In the tests there will be control questions to try and catch you out if you were lying.

Unfortunately the reality is that some people will never have the attributes which an employer requires.

Lustrum

In case anyone hasn't seen it, the NTSB have released an animation of the Asiana crash in SFO last year. Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MFPSfGoT1U

For those flying heavies, he only goes from flap 5 to flap 20 at 4.5Nm. Would this be considered fairly normal to make flap changes so late? In my (possibly over-cautious) mind, I'd imagine doing a VFR approach in a 777 that I'd like to be fully configured a lot earlier. Or is that being over-cautious?

The video is also a great example of how CRM shouldn't be done - ie. the guy who says "sink rate" three times without anyone replying to him! If only they had have listened....

View Profile

I don't fly heavies but on the 737 we would generally select the gear down and increase flap from 5 to 15 at about 4 or 5 nm. This would be the norm.

In the Asiana case he was high and trying to recover his glide path by increasing his descent rate. This can have the subsequent effect of increasing your airspeed, or not being able to decrease your airspeed. You need to decrease your airspeed in order to select more flap. it's a bit of a catch 22 situation.

CRM was piss poor in this case. Pilot monitoring should have picked up on the speed bleeding off much sooner, as should the pilot flying but he was task saturated trying to recover the profile.

Again this case shows how important it is for airline pilots to regularly hand fly the aircraft on approach or takeoff in order to maintain their quick instrument scanning skills.

Lustrum

I presume for a "normal" approach you'd select flap 15 at 4-5nm, so what would you guys have done in this situation, where you're too high? Would flaps and gear out have the desired affect do you think?

I guess I'm trying to understand how pressurised it is on an approach like that, that apparently basic flying skills and crm skills just disappear. Obviously it's a bit easier to say what you would do when you're sitting down thinking about it, but what advice would you give to someone to help them keep their heads when in a non-standard situation?

Jack1985

Have heard as well the 737 can be a b*tch to slow down even with speedbrakes, is this true?

View Profile

Lustrum wrote: »

I presume for a "normal" approach you'd select flap 15 at 4-5nm, so what would you guys have done in this situation, where you're too high? Would flaps and gear out have the desired affect do you think?

I guess I'm trying to understand how pressurised it is on an approach like that, that apparently basic flying skills and crm skills just disappear. Obviously it's a bit easier to say what you would do when you're sitting down thinking about it, but what advice would you give to someone to help them keep their heads when in a non-standard situation?

Obviously you try to avoid situations like this where you get high on approach in the first place.

However sometimes (for example) ATC will shorten your approach by vectoring you in sooner so you may end up a tad high. In these instances and when closing in on around 15nm-20nm it is important to start slowing the aircraft down. This allows you to extend more flap, out to 5 or 10 with the gear still up. Speedbrake out to "flight detent" will also help slow you and increase your rate of descent (ROD).
Doing some mental calculations and keeping an eye on the glide slope needle you will get an idea if you are closing on the profile. If more is needed you can drop the gear. This again will help increase your ROD.

If this still isn't enough then slowing further to extend flap 15 and 30 should help but at this stage you are getting quite close to the runway. Maybe around 3nm and 1,000ft vertically. You need to be careful that your ROD isn't too high as you may get "sinkrate" or even "terrain" warnings.

Probably prudent to throw in the towel by now and call a go-around!


Tailwinds on approach add to this problem as does a having a higher landing weight.

And yes the 737 NG's newer wing design leads to a slippery aircraft which is harder to slow down compared to the older classics.

billie1b

View Profile wrote: »

And yes the 737 NG's newer wing design leads to a slippery aircraft which is harder to slow down compared to the older classics.

Can I ask, I was in the flight deck before returning from North Spain on a full flight on the 737-800 and we got talking, brakes came up in the conversation and how good they are on the 738. The Capt and f/o were saying to me that if they really needed to they could stop her in 700m (2300ft), granted you'd have pax with broken noses but they said it is definitely do-able on MLW. Is this true or were the taking the mick with me?

View Profile

billie1b wrote: »

Can I ask, I was in the flight deck before returning from North Spain on a full flight on the 737-800 and we got talking, brakes came up in the conversation and how good they are on the 738. The Capt and f/o were saying to me that if they really needed to they could stop her in 700m (2300ft), granted you'd have pax with broken noses but they said it is definitely do-able on MLW. Is this true or were the taking the mick with me?

Our Boeing landing distance calculation table states that 915m is achievable at 65t (max landing weight) with a flap 40 landing using maximum manual breaking in normal conditions. In reality you may stop sooner.

But like you said, it wouldnt be comfortable for the pax, you may spill your GnT.

billie1b

View Profile wrote: »

Our Boeing landing distance calculation table states that 915m is achievable at 65t (max landing weight) with a flap 40 landing using maximum manual breaking in normal conditions. In reality you may stop sooner.

But like you said, it wouldnt be comfortable for the pax, you may spill your GnT.

Cool, thanks for that

Jack1985

you may spill your GnT.

Lol , question as well if you for example in a swift move extend to flight detent the speedbrakes is the g-force from doing that in a quick move something you would try to avoid? I heard its gently you ease it out to flight detent to avoid any ''harsh'' feelings in the back?

View Profile

Jack1985 wrote: »

Lol , question as well if you for example in a swift move extend to flight detent the speedbrakes is the g-force from doing that in a quick move something you would try to avoid? I heard its gently you ease it out to flight detent to avoid any ''harsh'' feelings in the back?

Yes you should slowly extend and slowly retract the speedbrake. Again it is more comfortable for the passengers, especially at the back.

Jack1985

View Profile wrote: »

Yes you should slowly extend and slowly retract the speedbrake. Again it is more comfortable for the passengers, especially at the back.

Cheers, have to say I miss handling the Boeing's actually prefer them over the Airbus just because I believe there's far more complexity and hands on involved in the 737NG compared to the 320 family - Does your own company have HUD's installed on the fleet? They look very useful in IMC conditions!

View Profile

Nah no HUD's so just Autoland in CAT 2/3 conditions.

smurfjed

This is a really neat site for aircraft information www.smartcockpit.com

adam88

View Profile wrote: »

Nah no HUD's so just Autoland in CAT 2/3 conditions.

HUD????

L1011

adam88 wrote: »

HUD????

Head-up display. Data displayed in the line of sight at its most basic description. Its a transparent screen between the pilots and the windscreen on the 737 as far as I know;

billie1b

MYOB wrote: »

Head-up display. Data displayed in the line of sight at its most basic description. Its a transparent screen between the pilots and the windscreen on the 737 as far as I know;

Correct, pretty much like a fighter jet pilot would use

adam88

billie1b wrote: »

Correct, pretty much like a fighter jet pilot would use

Yes understand now. There obviously an optional extra??

billie1b

adam88 wrote: »

Yes understand now. There obviously an optional extra??

Yeah sure are, Air Dubai are the only ones I know of with them, not sure of any others

L1011

billie1b wrote: »

Yeah sure are, Air Dubai are the only ones I know of with them, not sure of any others

I believe most of the airlines in the US with 737NGs have them; doesn't seem common in Europe though.

Tenger

MYOB wrote: »

Head-up display. Data displayed in the line of sight at its most basic description. Its a transparent screen between the pilots and the windscreen on the 737 as far as I know;

This pic shows the HUD in the B787.

B787 Cockpit by tearbringer, on Flickr

faceman

This is kinda a 'live' question!

I fly a lot and make no secret of the fact I'm a nervous passenger. I visit this forum a lot because it's a great way of normalising air travel for me. I'm currently on a flight from Dub to SFO with EI.

We're over Iceland and the seat belt sign is on as we hit turbulence. I'm sitting near rear of plane. The turbulence is light but the engines are throttling from high to low to regularly but we seem to be at the same height and speed. I'm kinda freaking out silently.

What could be causing the need for the engines to throttle high and low like that?

billie1b

faceman wrote: »

This is kinda a 'live' question!

I fly a lot and make no secret of the fact I'm a nervous passenger. I visit this forum a lot because it's a great way of normalising air travel for me. I'm currently on a flight from Dub to SFO with EI.

We're over Iceland and the seat belt sign is on as we hit turbulence. I'm sitting near rear of plane. The turbulence is light but the engines are throttling from high to low to regularly but we seem to be at the same height and speed. I'm kinda freaking out silently.

What could be causing the need for the engines to throttle high and low like that?

Ah there you are

smurfjed

Flight is most likely routing to avoid the wind, there is some light turbulence over Iceland, but it only has a single symbol, so its nothing to worry about. The engines are adjusting as the temperature changes.

Bigcheeze

faceman wrote: »

This is kinda a 'live' question!

I fly a lot and make no secret of the fact I'm a nervous passenger. I visit this forum a lot because it's a great way of normalising air travel for me. I'm currently on a flight from Dub to SFO with EI.

We're over Iceland and the seat belt sign is on as we hit turbulence. I'm sitting near rear of plane. The turbulence is light but the engines are throttling from high to low to regularly but we seem to be at the same height and speed. I'm kinda freaking out silently.

What could be causing the need for the engines to throttle high and low like that?

I've noticed that constant variation in engine tone a lot on the A330, particularly when travelling west to east when there's a strong jet stream helping us along. It's fairly subtle and most passengers probably don't notice it. I assumed it was the engines reacting to changes in the strength of the jet stream to keep us at whatever the assigned airspeed was. Could be completely wrong.

smurfjed

I assumed it was the engines reacting to changes in the strength of the jet stream to keep us at whatever the assigned airspeed was. Could be completely wrong

The aircraft is flying at a constant airspeed, the jet stream would actually affect the ground speed.