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I've just been reading about IRU alignment and to the uninitiated the process seems rather complicated with plenty of opportunities to introduce errors. An important point raised was the necessity to not necessarily accept the stored last position data as an error will be introduced if the...

I recently watched a YouTube of starting up an A320 from cold and it looked very involved. There were switches and lights all over the coughpit most requiring a test procedure before selection of flight position, all very time consuming. Is it necessary to cover the same ground where the turn...

I have just been following a very interesting video earlier in this thread where the audio carried coms with ATC on both take off and landing. In both cases the controller was female and both had a delivery rate faster than any race caller I have heard. This segment was in America where at least...

A couple of stories to add - a mate was transiting through Auckland en route to Tahiti and was a no show when the flight was ready to move on. An FA from the flight found him in the bar absolutely petrified of re boarding the aircraft. Fortunately the FA was able to coax him back to his seat so...

This is most interesting. Can you please explain the term Power by the hour. Are the engines leased from RR and are subject to a rent surcharge when they detect the use of thrust above a certain "base" level? Why?

Is it true that Rolls Royce have a continuous telemetry link with all RR engines in service, and that they are able to monitor the performance of every engine and warn of any potential problem they detect . If this is so, what sort of parameters do they monitor?

Does an airline have its own SIMs or is there a central pool. An airline with a variety of aircraft eg Qantas would assumably need to have a SIM available for each type and make sure that all are updated as required. Then not far away is another airline eg Virgin with many of the same aircraft...

Hi jb, you are taking a plane load of passengers to LA , you have reached cruising altitude ,all systems are on auto and it looks like a quiet flight. What do you do then? Do you watch the IFE , read a book, play scrabble or nod off. It must be quite a challenge to remain alert and on station...

Sounds good but you still have to fly to and from Jakarta and if you want to end up in the UK you need a Milan - UK return ticket plus cost in one or two overnight stops along the way. Even if flying these add on sectors in Y the total cost of the trip would surely add up to somewhere near the...

Thanks for a fantastic reply Jb, I am in awe of your knowledge and your willingness to impart it to us back seat drivers. Just one missing piece of info. What is the aircraft situation when in Law I? The point you make about the difference between a pilot and a button jockey is well taken on...

I was facinated to read the problems with that early 380 flight. Could you please explain the effects of alternate law I, law ll etc. Are these laws related only to AB aircraft or also to Boeing? What I find really scary is that the aircraft auto systems dropped their bundle resulting in manual...

Thanks for another detailed reply jb . It is strange that the prevention system finally gave way and deployment resulted. According to the presentation I saw mechanical locks were installed to prevent any malfunctions in the hydraulic system causing this situation to occur again. The manual is...

I'v just been watching a TV doco regarding a problem with a Lauda 767 where reverse thrust was suddenly deployed at high altitude and full speed caused when two control valves opened simultaneously. The aircraft became uncontrollable and unfortunately went down. As a former 767 pilot do recall...

I'v just been watching a doco regarding a problem with a Lauda 767 where reverse thrust was suddenly deployed at high altitude and full speed caused when two control valves opened simultaneously. The aircraft became uncontrolable and crashed. As a former 767 pilot do recall this incident and...

Thanks jb. Are the latest 747s still controlled by cables? are the cables directly connected to the surfaces or is there some sort of servo arrangement between. If the control cables were directly connected I imagine there must have been a heavy load on the controls if the aircraft became unstable.

Recently I saw a YouTube segment that showed a compartment under the coughpit containing the avionics gear. The aircraft was a DC10 and it was certainly crammed full of equipment. It was also interesting to see several steel cables running through pulleys just under the coughpit floor which I...

Will the A380 be another Concord? According to reports orders for the 380 are drying up or being re directed to smaller aircraft A350 or B787. It looks like Boeing will have the last laugh, staying away from A380 competition with a total rebuild of the 747 and instead concentrating on offering...

A while ago my wife and I were in the process of boarding and had just reached the top of the stairs when I remarked on something (can't remember what) and my wife said perhaps we should tell the pilot. I replied that it was minor and I didn't think it was worth worrying the captain. However our...

Very much fiction. Even the biggest engines are only held on by a couple of very large attachment points. I must have been thinking of fuse pins, used by Boeing but not Airbus. They are designed to shear off in the event of a wheels up landing thus allowing the engines to break away when they...