Ask The Pilot

I noted the Air France A380, that had the uncontained engine failure and diverted to Goose Bay Canada in September, flew back to Paris after a replacement engine was fitted. The AF CEO was reported as saying the cause of the GP7200 engine failure, which was the first of its kind, had not been determined.

The 'CEO said' the cause wasn't determined. That's quite different to saying they don't know what it was. There was plenty of engine remaining to tell the story, so I'm sure they have the entire manuscript, with only the occasional comma missing.

I recall after the QF32 RR failure aircraft were grounded for some time.

That was quite quickly identified as a machining fault, and was also spread across the entire worldwide fleet. The RR risk exposure was beyond belief, so no wonder they were grounded.
 
Walking away is my intention too. This sort of blog will be as close as I get, as I have no intention of having any further involvement with CASA.
Have you decided on your exit, yet?

Listening to the radio the other day there was the story about kiwi crews usurping Aussie crews. A QF spokesman came on to dispel the rumours. He said that the airline was expanding and recruiting a lot of pilots.

Just wondering, how much of it is to replace retirees and others who leave and how much of it is to man the new aircraft?
 
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Have you decided on your exit, yet?

No decisions as yet. I expect that I'll simply get back from an overnight flight, and decide that that is enough. There are two natural break points....mid 2020 I'll have my 65th birthday, so I can't fly internationally past that point, and May 2019 is when my US visa expires, and renewing them is a pita. I so wish our government would require US crews to jump through exactly the same hoops. It would only be fair.....and the uproar would be great to hear. And my wife wants me to go as soon as the caravan is delivered...and that's next month.

Listening to the radio the other day there was the story about kiwi crews usurping Aussie crews. A QF spokesman came on to dispel the rumours. He said that the airline was expanding and recruiting a lot of pilots.

VH registered aircraft with red tails, flown by foreign crews. People are upset, even though, in this case there's extenuating circumstances. I suspect that the bigger issue is that the Ryanair industrial model has been copied by various players around the world, but it was based on the idea that the pilot supply was infinite. The industrial policies that have been produced then had the effect of strangling the supply of new pilots, so now the supply is no longer infinite, and some of the competition is quite intense.

Just wondering, how much of it is to replace retirees and others who leave and how much of it is to man the new aircraft?

I expect that most so far is for new aircraft, but the retirement numbers will build up dramatically over the next couple of years. In my time, recruitment has never been even, with a rush for a couple of years, generally followed by a long lull. This current recruitment program is the first in about 10 years. The upshot though is that because all of the new people tend to be of similar ages, it builds a long series of retirement bulges into the company's pilot age profile. For every 380 Captain who retires, there are approximately seven promotions. Each promotion takes from 4 to 6 months.

For instance, when I go, I'll most likely be replaced by a 330 Captain. He'll be replaced by an A380 FO. He'll be replaced by a 787 FO, who will be replaced by a 330 FO, who will be replaced by a 737 FO, who is in turn replaced by an SO...and then we get to the new recruit. There are many permutations, but you'll get the idea.
 
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The inbound QF10 was delayed due to issues in London - initially late pushback to de-ice due to weather/deriding queues and then (apparently the captain made an overhead announcement) - a pax had spotted part of the wing that had been missed in the de-icing process so the whole lot had to be done again. After queuing again. Departure delayed circa 3hrs ex-lhr all up apparently. All stayed onboard during the delay.
- this was posted on the Qantas delays thread, would pilots care to comment on the situation where icing detection is left to pax?
 
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- this was posted on the Qantas delays thread, would pilots care to comment on the situation where icing detection is left to pax?

When you deice, it only lasts for a period of time. That period is variable, depending upon the conditions. It's quite possible that the 'hold over' period could actually equal zero, in which case as soon as you finish deicing, you have to start again. The upshot is that as soon as you deice any particular spot, it starts to build up again. The aircraft are not instantly deiced in one hit. It can easily take 40 minutes or so. If you have a hold over period of 45 minutes, then that leaves a 5 minute margin to get the taxying done, and get airborne.

So, passengers are very likely to see some level of snow on the aircraft. It will have been building up again ever since the deicing of that spot finished.

Passengers are not being used to detect the icing...but we're likely to look at anything brought to our attention. There is nothing simple about the entire process. Unless you have a Canada style system with deicing at the edge of the runway, it will always be subject to running out of time and having to repeat the process, or cancelling the flight outright.
 
JB,

Would you be kind enough to summarize the process you went through when you undertook command training? I imagine some o it would’ve been rather unpleasant.
 
A recent international flight was held by approximately 40-50 minutes to wait for 4 late pax. Does the captain have exclusive decision-making in how late a flight can be held or does Ops have a say? (e.g. they may want to intervene if a late pax is CL/VIP)
 
Would you be kind enough to summarize the process you went through when you undertook command training? I imagine some of it would’ve been rather unpleasant.

Historically, getting to a command slot in QF is a fairly slow trip, with the average probably being in the order of 20 years. I was fortunate enough to join when the 767s had just been purchased, and there was a lot of training happening. Once they'd burnt through the people who had been there waiting for 15-20 years, the wait time started to reduce dramatically, with it reaching 7 years at the shortest. Of that 7 years, some would have been as an SO, so basically they were getting to people who had been in the right hand seat of a large jet for only 3-4 years.

If you fly these aircraft, in any seat, for a long time, you learn a lot from what amounts to osmosis. You may not have been in charge, but you've seen just about everything. You will have also seen a lot of what seemed like good ideas go bad...and a lot of both good and bad decisions. That should have shaped your own thinking, with the result that your own decisions should be pretty much within a predictable 'ballpark'. Flying wise, you need to change seats, but that isn't a large hurdle. So, the training was about 20 sims, to get you converted to the left seat, and up to speed on those things that the FOs don't do, and then about 20 sectors to show that you could do it in the real world. The training was mostly polishing what was expected to be almost up to the standard anyway.

But, with the advent of the short term people the failure rate initially went up dramatically. This was compounded by the fact that most people were simultaneously converting from the 747 Classic to the 767 (which can be an unforgiving aircraft), and doing command training at the same time. As the bar to pass was not going to be lowered, they did the opposite, and raised the bar to getting onto the course in the first place. In large part, this had the desired effect...those who were going to pass anyway were allowed to start, whilst others were given more time for the osmosis to take effect.

Whilst our captains do operate to different limits than the FOs, there's not much between them in the flying requirements. Someone who flies well as an FO will have no trouble with the flying. But, the biggest issue has always been that of decision making. Some people will always have issues when the buck stops with them. Chief Pilots want people who will make predictable and sensible decisions. If your decisions come from left field, you're going to leave them scratching their heads. The upshot of that is that whilst the sim exercises with cover all of the flying items, they are also strongly biased towards exercises working on the decision making skills. The line flying is just that...you deal with whatever you're handed. Everyone is handed a book at the start of training, which lists a hundred or so discussion items. All will have to be signed of by the end of the sectors.

During the course, you'll spend your time in the books, basically trying to absorb everything. I'm told by someone who has done both the flying and medical training that it's about the same intensity...though only for 6 months per course, not the 6 years or so of medicine.
 
A recent international flight was held by approximately 40-50 minutes to wait for 4 late pax. Does the captain have exclusive decision-making in how late a flight can be held or does Ops have a say? (e.g. they may want to intervene if a late pax is CL/VIP)

I'm extremely surprised anyone would wait for more that 4 minutes for them. I expect that there's more to the story. Perhaps unloading the luggage was, for whatever reason, going to take unreasonably long. I'd never heard of CL before I joined this forum...your status is of no interest to my operation. And nobody is more 'VIP' than the people who I already have on board....anyone who is that important would have their own aircraft.

Most times when I contact ops it's to tell them what I'm doing, not the other way around.
 
Interesting, thanks JB. Must be a company decision at times then as I have been on QF planes that will hold so that a bunch of incoming passengers can make it. SIN-PER with late inbound from LHR comes to mind.

I'm extremely surprised anyone would wait for more that 4 minutes for them. I expect that there's more to the story. Perhaps unloading the luggage was, for whatever reason, going to take unreasonably long. I'd never heard of CL before I joined this forum...your status is of no interest to my operation. And nobody is more 'VIP' than the people who I already have on board....anyone who is that important would have their own aircraft.

Most times when I contact ops it's to tell them what I'm doing, not the other way around.
 
Interesting, thanks JB. Must be a company decision at times then as I have been on QF planes that will hold so that a bunch of incoming passengers can make it. SIN-PER with late inbound from LHR comes to mind.

Holding for connections, especially our own, is a rather different animal to waiting for a group of late passengers.
 
And my wife wants me to go as soon as the caravan is delivered...and that's next month.
What did you get? I'm still getting used to towing something that's over double the length of the Jeep.

For instance, when I go, I'll most likely be replaced by a 330 Captain. He'll be replaced by an A380 FO. He'll be replaced by a 787 FO, who will be replaced by a 330 FO, who will be replaced by a 737 FO, who is in turn replaced by an SO...and then we get to the new recruit. There are many permutations, but you'll get the idea.
I see a few FOs getting moved or promoted. Only two captain promotions, if I read you correctly.

Why doesn't the 330 FO get the captain's gig on that aircraft? And how does a 787 captain get to drive a 380? Assuming, of course, that he'd want to and if there is a long term future for that aircraft (I really hope that there is - it's a much nicer one to pax in economy than the Nightmareliner).
 
I'm extremely surprised anyone would wait for more that 4 minutes for them. I expect that there's more to the story. Perhaps unloading the luggage was, for whatever reason, going to take unreasonably long.

Most times when I contact ops it's to tell them what I'm doing, not the other way around.

Holding for connections, especially our own, is a rather different animal to waiting for a group of late passengers.

Thanks jb. Presumably the captain's use of "late passengers" was broad enough to include connections.

And nobody is more 'VIP' than the people who I already have on board....anyone who is that important would have their own aircraft.

I'm aware of some VVIPs, e.g. cabinet ministers, flying commercial (though that definitely wasn't the case on my flight). I had presumed if they called to advise a delay that most airlines would hold the flight.

Good to know that seated passengers are more VI than the VVIPs :)
 
Holding for connections, especially our own, is a rather different animal to waiting for a group of late passengers.

So in the case of holding for late connections, I take it it's still a case of Ops will ask if you mind rather than Ops telling you that you'll wait.
 
JB, Would the EK 434 A380 from YBBN to NZAA (3 hour flight) use the same air crew for the return journey in EK435. It waits in Auckland for some 4 hours before the return 3 hour journey, before onto Dubai, which I would presume, being long haul, have a new fresh crew.
 
So in the case of holding for late connections, I take it it's still a case of Ops will ask if you mind rather than Ops telling you that you'll wait.

Ops are in Sydney. We'll deal with the local airport manager for small delays....which generally just happen. With longer delays, especially if they are in play before we even get to the airport, they just reschedule the departure time.

It's not really a case of if I mind or not...that doesn't cross their minds. But, we will get into the act if their change throws up either operational issues (i.e the delay will push us onto curfew or weather issues) or will impact upon flight time limits or fatigue. Whilst they call themselves operations, they have little aircraft operational knowledge.
 
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JB, Would the EK 434 A380 from YBBN to NZAA (3 hour flight) use the same air crew for the return journey in EK435. It waits in Auckland for some 4 hours before the return 3 hour journey, before onto Dubai, which I would presume, being long haul, have a new fresh crew.

My guess would be that the crew for BNE to AKL would bring it back later in the day.
 
My guess would be that the crew for BNE to AKL would bring it back later in the day.
And following on from that...Do you think it would that be this crews "job", eg, based in Brisbane for the YBBN-NZAA-YBBN, or would they slot back into the normal long haul roster every few cycles?
 
I expect the pattern would be Dubai-Brisbane-Auckland-Brisbane-Dubai. They would only be in Oz for a day or two.
 
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