Ask The Pilot

[QF WP]

Wow, that was a bit hairy and understand it was above your wind gust threshold to land. Suppose you had to return to BNE rather than circle in the vain hope that the winds died. As it was, you'd have arrived back in BNE after midnight, so bet there were some unhappy pax (not that any or them could have landed the plane safely given the conditions). Better than impacting the ground....

 

[jb747]

Wow, that was a bit hairy and understand it was above your wind gust threshold to land.

He's not actually talking about a gust limit. The manufacturers come up with a whole range of wind limits. The one that is mentioned most often is the crosswind limit, but that will change depending upon whether wet/dry/visibility/manual or automatic landing. They also provide absolute limits for tailwind...which are generally in the order of 15 knots.

 

[AviatorInsight]

As JB mentioned, it was the tailwind limit that stopped us from carrying out the landing.

The dispensation is only valid for 20mins anyway once we receive it and we didn’t have enough fuel to hold for that 20mins plus get back to BNE given that we burnt most of it on the way down flying at a lower level to avoid the headwinds. Most pax were glad that we gave it a try anyway, however there’s always going to be some unhappy people no matter the situation, but this is the risk you take when booking a flight that is scheduled to land 20mins before curfew on a Friday night.

 

[QF WP]

As JB mentioned, it was the tailwind limit that stopped us from carrying out the landing.

The dispensation is only valid for 20mins anyway once we receive it and we didn’t have enough fuel to hold for that 20mins plus get back to BNE given that we burnt most of it on the way down flying at a lower level to avoid the headwinds. Most pax were glad that we gave it a try anyway, however there’s always going to be some unhappy people no matter the situation, but this is the risk you take when booking a flight that is scheduled to land 20mins before curfew on a Friday night.

Thanks AviatorInsight, makes sense that you couldn't hang around and interesting to know the time limit on the dispensation. That's why I never take the last night flight home (unless CBR, ADL or PER). Presume most pax were aware of the winds (a bumpy ride to and from). So you went back to normal cruising altitude for the return to BNE?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Thanks AviatorInsight, makes sense that you couldn't hang around and interesting to know the time limit on the dispensation. That's why I never take the last night flight home (unless CBR, ADL or PER). Presume most pax were aware of the winds (a bumpy ride to and from). So you went back to normal cruising altitude for the return to BNE?

That’s correct. Before we left BNE we made a PA to advise that we would be flying at a lower level and therefore would be more bumpy. On the return, we climbed up above all the weather for a smooth ride back and took advantage of the winds.

 

[GlobalT]

A bit of a random question but is there a priority system for deciding which aircraft depart when there is abnormal congestion at an airport for whatever reason (weather, closed runway etc) or do aircraft still depart in the order they were scheduled for? For example, if there was a significant delay and there was a backlog of aircraft, would international take priority over domestic and would an international flight going to a hub like Singapore get priority over an international flight heading to more of an end point due to the potentially larger flow on effect for airlines with passengers missing connections through a hub? I imagine that generally there would be less disruption across the board if a domestic flight is delayed as opposed to a flight headed to Singapore where the vast majority of pax would be connecting to onward flights?

 

[jb747]

Within Oz, the airline ops centres do a lot of negotiating. ATC themselves don't really care which aircraft goes. Long haul international will normally be prioritised over local flights. In places like London, the delays tend to affect the short haul traffic....when slots are limited, the local flights are the ones cancelled. And some places are just parochial, and look after their local airline at the the expense of any others.

Curiously, in the USA in particular, the short haul flights are less likely to have CAT II/III available to them, so again, the long haul flights will win.

 

[GlobalT]

Within Oz, the airline ops centres do a lot of negotiating. ATC themselves don't really care which aircraft goes. Long haul international will normally be prioritised over local flights. In places like London, the delays tend to affect the short haul traffic....when slots are limited, the local flights are the ones cancelled. And some places are just parochial, and look after their local airline at the the expense of any others.

Curiously, in the USA in particular, the short haul flights are less likely to have CAT II/III available to them, so again, the long haul flights will win.

Thanks for that quick reply, I sat at the gate for 7 hours last month in Beijing with SQ after boarding and prior to pushing back and had another lengthy delay today in Delhi due to heavy congestion so that got me wondering how they determined priority when everyone was affected. Thanks again for the answer.

 

[Hvr]

Within Oz, the airline ops centres do a lot of negotiating. ATC themselves don't really care which aircraft goes.

Do they negotiate with ATC or the airport who then tells ATC which order of departure to follow?

 

[jb747]

Do they negotiate with ATC or the airport who then tells ATC which order of departure to follow?

ATC will have some form of OPS centre... In Australia (especially), the 'airport' is simply an organisation that looks after car parks and shopping centres. They have no idea or knowledge about aircraft operations.

Apparently back when Sydney was sold, the new owners actually planned to close 07/25 so that they could fit in more terminals/shopping space. They were rather surprised when told that would mean the total closure of the airport on about 40 days per year. Crosswind limits...what are they?

 

[Quickstatus]

Please, could an aviator translate the bold

INFO L. TMP: 20. WIND: 040/12 XW 12 KTS. QNH: 1026. EXP INDEP VIS APCH. CL. RWY 34L&R FOR ARRS & DEPS. NEW ICAO SID, STAR PROCEDURES IN EFFECT AS PER AIC H21,2017. PARL RWY OPS IN PROGRESS. INDEP DEPS IN PROGRESS. WX: CAVOK.

 

[jb747]

Here you go....https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/sup/a17-h21.pdf

Basically Australia is a tiny minnow in the aviation world, yet it has many procedures that are different to everywhere else, and not necessarily for any good reasons. This is a case of getting back to standard.

 

[RooFlyer]

Apparently back when Sydney was sold, the new owners actually planned to close 07/25 so that they could fit in more terminals/shopping space.

In a former life I was in investment banking at the time of the big airport sell off. We were advising a large bidder and some of the things we heard from them about how they could max revenue would probably wouldn’t surprise you.

Apologies for non pilot comment.

 

[mikenz]

Possibly not a pilot question: why does the flushing of a toilet onboard make so much noise? I appreciate the waste isn't 'flushed' outside of the aircraft but it sure does sound like it!

 

[jb747]

Possibly not a pilot question: why does the flushing of a toilet onboard make so much noise? I appreciate the waste isn't 'flushed' outside of the aircraft but it sure does sound like it!

The systems are vacuums....basically big versions of the built in vacuum systems in a house. They're noisy, and all they have to do is collect dust. Scale it up to collect the larger items that are deposited, and I think you can see the reason for the noise.

 

[QF WP]

I've been recently enjoying listening (via YouTube) to the ATC chatter of Steve Abraham (aka Kennedy Steve). Do pilots here get to know people from ATC people either here or in Australia (as well as their names or ever bumped into one at aviation events)? I've been listening to ATC Brisbane as well to see if I can make out my neighbour or 2 other friends who are still in the Tower.

 

[Flying Fox]

Just read this article -

China's first home-grown jet makes maiden long-distance flight

Would the pilots here feel comfortable flying or flying on C919 (based on my assumption that everyone is OK flying products from Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and ATR)?

 

[Ansett]

Hi JB On a recent UK Visit I discovered that my cousin owns and fly's 2 Hawker Hunter T MK7 Jets I wondered if they were ever used by the RAAF and what your thoughts were on them?

What was your favourite aircraft during your stint in the Forces?

Sadly I didn't make it up in one this time but will be definitely doing so next trip.

Airshows >> UK: Exclusive - Jubilee tail for Hawker Hunter G-FFOX revealed - Global Aviation Resource

 

[AviatorInsight]

I've been recently enjoying listening (via YouTube) to the ATC chatter of Steve Abraham (aka Kennedy Steve). Do pilots here get to know people from ATC people either here or in Australia (as well as their names or ever bumped into one at aviation events)? I've been listening to ATC Brisbane as well to see if I can make out my neighbour or 2 other friends who are still in the Tower.

Absolutely! I have a few friends in ATC, 3 in MEL and 1 in SYD. They often have ATC drinks in the city so it's good to go to and get an understanding from their perspective. From here we can bounce ideas off each other. Oh and it also helps in track shortening too.

 

[jb747]

I've been recently enjoying listening (via YouTube) to the ATC chatter of Steve Abraham (aka Kennedy Steve). Do pilots here get to know people from ATC people either here or in Australia (as well as their names or ever bumped into one at aviation events)? I've been listening to ATC Brisbane as well to see if I can make out my neighbour or 2 other friends who are still in the Tower.

People in my position don't...but the guys flying often, and especially into the smaller airports, might. I expect that in general, we're simply voices on the radio to each other.

And there you go...AVInsight, has a different perspective on it.