Ask The Pilot

e. Consign the 737 to the museum?
Perhaps that was their plan back in 2010 or so, but then they decided to rush a competitor for the newer versions of the 320. Now I suspect that they don't have the money, or market, for a new type.

The issues are fixable, but they haven't fixed them yet.
 
After 95 days of being on stand down I have completed all simulator, emergency procedures, refresher ground schools and plenty of online training to get back to flying.

Tomorrow will mark the first trip for me in a full month’s flying after 21 months of some sort of continued stand down. There have been plenty of others affected worse than myself during this, no doubt about it, so to say I’m excited to get back to flying and doing what I love is an understatement.

The trick now will be for increased demand and consumer confidence to get back to travelling with states hopefully opening up fully within the next 2-3 months and things can start to stabilise again.

I look forward to hopefully flying some of you around the country in the near future.
 
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What does "ground school" training involve ?

Also congrats on warming the front right hand seat again
 
What does "ground school" training involve ?

Also congrats on warming the front right hand seat again
Thank you!

This was just a refresher, so we went over a few changes that came in over the last couple of months such as new regulations (CASA) on alternate planning and fuel policy for transport aircraft.

We also went through a few new company policies that also came in/coming in soon and how to best tackle them out on the line.

Finally a general discussion with the room on a few incidents that have happened around the world with crews struggling to be match fit to get back into the game.

Things like forgetting to put the gear up after take off, forgetting to pressurise the aircraft.

The take away here is to just slow down and OTP is not such a huge concern at the moment with the amount of training going on getting everyone back up to speed.
 
This was just a refresher, so we went over a few changes that came in over the last couple of months such as new regulations (CASA) on alternate planning and fuel policy for transport aircraft.
Do the new rules translate into a way for the companies to carry less?
 
How long do you think it will take to blow out the cobwebs for the pilots assuming consistent flying
That will be variable, depending upon how long people have been stood down. Some have rotated back to work, for varying periods throughout all of this. For them, not long...a couple of sims and a month of normal flying. But others have had zero flying for the whole period...they've been off almost as long as me. For them the entire process won't be all that different to an initial type course. And doing that multiple times for as many pilots as you need will add up. And beyond that, is the question of how much damage has been done to the company training structures. I know that QF lost many of its training pilots, but behind the scenes there would have been almost total loss of the sim instructors (there were many who are not current SCCs).
 
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Do the new rules translate into a way for the companies to carry less?
Essentially yes. In true CASA fashion it is a lot more complicated than it needs to be with the 30min weather buffers no longer applying depending on your ETA.

They‘ve also split up the the alternate criteria into destination alternate minima and alternate aerodrome minima.

As far as I’m concerned, when the weather is bad it doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is always fuel.
 
In my line of work basically don’t get sick in January because the Jnr Drs are changing over in January and it takes about a month for most.

How long do you think it will take to blow out the cobwebs for the pilots assuming consistent flying
The company is also letting those who feel the need, to have non jeopardy simulator sessions whereby they can ask to have a trainer with them to go through scenarios or engine failures,etc. basically anything they feel they need to work on.

Catching up with other pilots now around the network the general consensus is about 2-3 weeks of full flying to start to feel comfortable again. So I would say about a month is a reasonable to get back into the full swing of things.
 
Essentially yes. In true CASA fashion it is a lot more complicated than it needs to be with the 30min weather buffers no longer applying depending on your ETA.
It was always such a joy trying to work out the rules so that you'd actually be legal. Always written with CASA or company liability in mind, never for ease of use for the end user.
As far as I’m concerned, when the weather is bad it doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is always fuel.
The only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire! Fuel also makes the weather go away.

If the weather reports have scattered cloud below the minima, you legally require nothing extra. But, if that bit of cloud happens to be at the missed approach point, then it may as well be 100% coverage.
 
But, if that bit of cloud happens to be at the missed approach point, then it may as well be 100% coverage.
Which is why I don't trust the AWIS weather when it tells me it's CAVOK but looking out the window it's Overcast at the minima because the beam coming out from the weather station is just pointing straight up.

Similarly on a severe VMC day the AWIS will say rainfall in the last 10mins as 15mm which would deem the runway as contaminated. The issue here is just dew that has dripped onto the sensor.
 
After 95 days of being on stand down I have completed all simulator, emergency procedures, refresher ground schools and plenty of online training to get back to flying.
Great to hear! Now get your butt into the 777 for our next flight will be to NY via LA when it all goes risk free (free of the risk of cancelled flights, that is).

I'll consider QF when it returns the 380 to regular service, but for now, the 787 isn't a consideration. Did two trips in one. Other than the Emirates trip to the UK in a 3-4-3 777 it was the worst 'plane in which to fly.
 
Have to agree with mjt57 in last post that the 10 across 777 is the worst economy experience ... and the 787 is not much better.

Anyway, my reason for posting.

I notice QF93 MEL-LAX today (& maybe other days) is an A330-200.
Is that pushing range limits ?
 
I notice QF93 MEL-LAX today (& maybe other days) is an A330-200.
Is that pushing range limits ?
There is no such thing as a range limit. There are fuel and weight limits. Maximum range can vary dramatically depending upon a vast number of factors. What's the take off weather like. Enroute. Weather and ATC requirements at the destination. Depressurisation and engine out requirements. And, of course, the payload.

Looking at the flight plan, it has zero passengers, and approximately 15 tonnes of freight. The actual take off weight was about 11 tonnes under the limit. Fuel load was not full, and about 20 tonnes under the max. Arrival fuel figure was reasonably comfortable.

So, looking at it another way, if you carried zero freight, you could carry about 200 passengers.
 
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Looking at the flight plan, it has zero passengers, and approximately 15 tonnes of freight. The actual take off weight was about 11 tonnes under the limit. Fuel load was not full, and about 20 tonnes under the max. Arrival fuel figure was reasonably comfortable.
Are flight plans available to members of the public @jb747?
 
There's a tale about Geoff Dixon and the A330.

When the first of the -300s was about to be delivered, apparently GD was in a 330 coughpit and asked the pilots what they thought now that they were getting the "long range" version. It was pointed out to him that he was in a -200, and that that was the long range version, not the -300.

It's probably apocryphal, not because I don't believe that an airline CEO didn't know the difference, but because I think it's unlikely that he ever spoke to crew.
 
There is no such thing as a range limit. There are fuel and weight limits. Maximum range can vary dramatically depending upon a vast number of factors. What's the take off weather like. Enroute. Weather and ATC requirements at the destination. Depressurisation and engine out requirements. And, of course, the payload.

Looking at the flight plan, it has zero passengers, and approximately 15 tonnes of freight. The actual take off weight was about 11 tonnes under the limit. Fuel load was not full, and about 20 tonnes under the max. Arrival fuel figure was reasonably comfortable.

So, looking at it another way, if you carried zero freight, you could carry about 200 passengers.
apologies for my clumsy language, and thanks for the reply.

With borders opening, I assumed the flights were back to "normal" carrying passengers.
 
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With borders opening, I assumed the flights were back to "normal" carrying passengers.
From what I hear, they're an extremely long way from normal. I expect that I said it a long time ago, but whilst the shutdown of the worlds airlines and tourism was almost instant, I expect the return to take years.
 

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