Ask The Pilot

[Brissy1]

Where is the margin for error?

Maybe it was used...the intent being to be higher.

 

[jb747]

Interested in the views of our pilots about the promotional flyover ahead of the South Africa vs New Zealand rugby union test overnight.

Dumb. Extremely dumb.

FR24 showed the lowest barometric altitude of 50feet and 124 knots.

If I was going to be flying something like that, I wouldn't want to be as slow as that. How is #2 supposed to make adjustments? As mentioned already, the 50' from FR24 won't be corrected, nor will it be a radar altitude. Nevertheless, that does look like roughly the clearance he has from the stadium.

Where is the margin for error?

Que.

 

[RooFlyer]

OMaaT notes the RSA regulation, that their authorities apparently waived.

Civil Aviation Regulation 91.06.32(1)(a) states that “an aircraft may not be flown over congested areas or an obvious open-air assembly of persons at a height less than 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle, within a radius of 2,000 feet from the aircraft.”

 

[jb747]

Back in my military days, when doing a flight that was lower than allowed by the normal rules, the authorisation for the flight would always specify a minimum altitude. So, for a strike mission, it might say something like 200’ over land, and 50’ over water. So, in being allowed to go lower than normal, I would expect any regulator to impose some limits. Madness otherwise.

 

[Melburnian1]

Things can and do go wrong at any time and potentially play havoc with employees' social lives, but yesterday, QF7 was delayed by more than eight hours in its SYD departure, so a replacement flight deck and cabin crew would have presumably been requisitioned.

In these circumstances if a rostered flight deck crew have made their way to the airport and signed on at say 1100 for what they hoped would be a 1200 departure, when this doesn't happen due to say post-1100 hours discovered urgent maintenance required, is the time spent signed on at the airport regarded as part of their maximum monthly/annual flying hours, or is it just 'bad luck' and they have to go home, being paid for these duty hours or otherwise remunerated according to their workplace agreement but no more?

 

[flydoc2]

K

Thread 'QantasLink to fly to Christmas & Cocos (Keeling) Islands'

Aug 15, 2025

New routes for QLink starting 3/11/25, the use of Perth T1 is interesting

The services will operate twice weekly using Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft in full economy configuration.

Route information:

• Inaugural service will depart Perth on Monday 3 November 2025
• Services operate twice weekly (Mondays and Fridays) from Terminal 1 at Perth Airport*
• Flight time is approximately 5 hours Perth to Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• Perth to Christmas Island/Cocos services operate as QF361 and QF363**
• Return services operate as QF362 and QF364

Info from QF...

• Kingo42
• Replies: 100
• Forum: Qantas | Frequent Flyer

• 
• 
• 

Ref p 5 of the above thread:
The removal of the tech stop at PHE appears to have always been part of the medium-term plan since QF took over the PER-CCK/XCH route 10 months ago and sounds like it was recently enacted after regulatory approval was finally received. To what extent would the tech stop have maximised available payload that may now be reduced with the direct flights, and do you think the upcoming changes to checked baggage allowances are an inevitable consequence of the re-routing?

 

[jb747]

Things can and do go wrong at any time and potentially play havoc with employees' social lives, but yesterday, QF7 was delayed by more than eight hours in its SYD departure, so a replacement flight deck and cabin crew would have presumably been requisitioned.

I don't know how they're doing things these days, but assuming it's not much different to my time.... There would be two standby crews rostered on any given day. One from about 0400, and the other from about 1000. During that period, they'd be expected to be able to launch in about 3 hours. They are NOT at the airport, and their clock hasn't started.

In these circumstances if a rostered flight deck crew have made their way to the airport and signed on at say 1100 for what they hoped would be a 1200 departure, when this doesn't happen due to say post-1100 hours discovered urgent maintenance required, is the time spent signed on at the airport regarded as part of their maximum monthly/annual flying hours, or is it just 'bad luck' and they have to go home, being paid for these duty hours or otherwise remunerated according to their workplace agreement but no more?

Flying hours - for this purpose they are counted from the time brakes are released for pushback, until the first cabin door opens on arrival. They are different to duty hours (or periods). They have different limits and either or both can limit a person.

They crew who originally 'owned' the flight would be kept at the airport until the flight was cancelled. Even then, before releasing them to go home, scheduling would look at what else is going on, to see if a juggle of crews might be viable. For instance, you go to work expecting to fly to LA, but due delays, you would run out of hours for that flight....but, you might still be able to do a departure to Singapore, with the Sing crew going to LA. There are always many permutations, though with many different aircraft types it's not as easy as it was with just the 747 and 767.

If you're displaced from the trip (actually for many reasons) you are what it called "pattern protected" for the credits (basically pay, but not exactly) of that flight. That means that even if you did nothing, you'd still be paid. But, as the company wasn't into paying for nothing, it actually had the effect of ruining your time off, as all of your previously empty days now became available for assignment against that protection.

 

[jb747]

The removal of the tech stop at PHE appears to have always been part of the medium-term plan since QF took over the PER-CCK/XCH route 10 months ago and sounds like it was recently enacted after regulatory approval was finally received. To what extent would the tech stop have maximised available payload that may now be reduced with the direct flights, and do you think the upcoming changes to checked baggage allowances are an inevitable consequence of the re-routing?

I wouldn't have thought the aircraft would operate any differently to Virgin. In any event, I can't really give you much info on the 319/320.