Ask The Pilot

[Flashback]

Google Space Weather Prediction Centre
Northern lights are most intense at the equinoxes - March and Sept
However you need the sky to be very dark - so mid winter is the best compromise
Solar Storms like the one the Earth is experiencing at the moment can bring the Northern lights further South.

So do I jump on a plane to Finland today or not then? Only 3 hours from here

 

[HeavyElectricity]

I was on a delayed A330 transcon the other day - problems with the IFE in some people's seats caused the late departure. The flight crew made an announcement that they were going to attempt to reset the IFE/electronics, and that during this procedure there may be a small possibility of a horn/siren going off, and to not be alarmed.

Certain electronics were then reset and I observed the electronic devices/seatbelt lights cycling and also the cabin lighting (which was set for mood-lighting) came back on at full-power.

However the power to my seat controls/display, and the IFE screen (with the movie I was already playing) were never interrupted. A bit later, a engineer/mechanic came onboard and pointed out a panel and some controls at the front of the cabin to the cabin supervisor. He pressed a few buttons and my seat controls and IFE were powered off (and took about 10/15 minutes to re-initialise, so the cabin crew had to do a manual safety demonstration).

So a couple of questions - is it strange for the flight crew to be power-cycling things to reset the IFE, when what was actually power cycled didn't affect the IFE at all (i.e. I'd hope they would know how all the electronic systems on the plane were linked)? And what was this horn/siren that was mentioned (it was never actually heard), and why would a power-cycle cause this?

Thanks!

 

[AviatorInsight]

For any of our pilots who fly into HBA.

Last year, Air Services Australia changed from individual flight vectoring for approach (and, I guess, departures) to a standard approach path. Its been a bit controversial locally as ASA got caught out not doing the 'community consultation' it was supposed to do - they just announced it as a fait accompi. Now its 'under review'.

As all commercial flights arrive from the north, if they have to land towards the north, previously most would come down the Coal River Valley a bit to the north-east of a southerly landing approach, then do a sporty, tight right hand turn over Tiger Head Bay and then land. This was always a bit of a thrill when the winds were up.

Now, the standard southern approach takes the aircraft more to the east, over populated areas (mainly small towns - such as Carlton River, Dunally, I think), then much further to the south (down to Slopen Island, I think) before turning and approach.

Question for pilots, if they do this run - was there any pressure or wish from them to have this change? I understand that it was mainly driven from ?Melbourne? control, as they previously had to deal with each individual craft, but now its more 'set and forget' (not really, I know, but hopefully that's the gist).

View attachment 123080

Having a STAR into HBA, has certainly made things safer for us and definitely reduces workload. The idea for the flight paths is that for commercial jets, we must remain in controlled airspace (where available). The airspace design at HBA would make it incredibly hard to remain in CTA while avoiding those built up areas to the North given the high terrain around and Mt Lord being restrictive for our descents.

I never received a survey or anything asking if we would like this change. Places like MKY have now introduced SIDs and STARs also. However, due to their airspace design, if conditions allow, we just follow the control steps down and join the circuit visually (with a few restrictions for noise).

 

[I love to travel]

This may be a perception issue but the looks around the cabin suggest maybe not. Was on a QF 737 yesterday morning and about 3 seconds before take off ie right at tbe end of the roll the plane seemed to accelerate very quickly. Took off quite steeply and seatbelt sign off in 2 mins. It was quite uncomfortable even for a seasoned flyer like me. Any possible reason or just perception?

 

[RooFlyer]

The image below shows the route we took on QR730 DFW-DOH today in a B777.

Two odd things for me. First, the Great Circle Route would have taken us over Greenland and Iceland, yet we took a longer route over western Europe. Also, after traversing Turkey, we cut down over eastern Iraq and it looks like they were careful to avoid going into Iranian airspace.

A look at flight paths over the past 2 weeks on Flight Aware indicates that today's route was fairly typical, so doesn't seem to be weather related. A quick check on QR flights from LHR show the same path down eastern Iraq.

Any insights as to why they wouldn't go Great Circle, and why they might prefer to go down eastern Iraq rather than over Iran, which is their ally in the current Gulf dispute, and the way I've usually flown on QR to/from Europe?

Given the choice, would our pilots prefer to fly over Iran rather than Iraq?

 

[jb747]

I was on a delayed A330 transcon the other day - problems with the IFE in some people's seats caused the late departure. The flight crew made an announcement that they were going to attempt to reset the IFE/electronics, and that during this procedure there may be a small possibility of a horn/siren going off, and to not be alarmed.

Certain electronics were then reset and I observed the electronic devices/seatbelt lights cycling and also the cabin lighting (which was set for mood-lighting) came back on at full-power.

However the power to my seat controls/display, and the IFE screen (with the movie I was already playing) were never interrupted. A bit later, a engineer/mechanic came onboard and pointed out a panel and some controls at the front of the cabin to the cabin supervisor. He pressed a few buttons and my seat controls and IFE were powered off (and took about 10/15 minutes to re-initialise, so the cabin crew had to do a manual safety demonstration).

So a couple of questions - is it strange for the flight crew to be power-cycling things to reset the IFE, when what was actually power cycled didn't affect the IFE at all (i.e. I'd hope they would know how all the electronic systems on the plane were linked)? And what was this horn/siren that was mentioned (it was never actually heard), and why would a power-cycle cause this?

Like all computers, the electric jets can often be fixed by a complete reboot. Generally a bit hard to arrange in flight though.

I'm not sure what the horn/siren would have been. I expect that your IFE, etc, didn't go off because they were actually rebooting the computer that controls the system, not so much the system itself. I suspect that your IFE controls would not have worked. Actually fiddling with them during the reboot often crashes your seat position. These systems can also be partially reset, with only particular parts of the aircraft being affected, in which case not all of the aircraft comes back up at once.

A reboot on the ground is a very common procedure, and is much more common than the engineers actually having to get the tools out.

The cabin crew would have very restricted knowledge of how electrical systems are interlinked...and they have virtually no control over them anyway.

 

[jb747]

This may be a perception issue but the looks around the cabin suggest maybe not. Was on a QF 737 yesterday morning and about 3 seconds before take off ie right at tbe end of the roll the plane seemed to accelerate very quickly. Took off quite steeply and seatbelt sign off in 2 mins. It was quite uncomfortable even for a seasoned flyer like me. Any possible reason or just perception?

Pretty hard to say really. Most of what is felt in the cabin is just perception, but not all....

If you noticed a change in acceleration, and it was a gusty day, that may mean that TO/GA was selected. You might notice the change, especially if the original setting had had a large derate. That will also lead you into a steeper climb after lift off. Seat belts can't go off until all of the flaps/slats are retracted, so 2 minutes would be fairly quick, but not impossible. 2 minutes in the cabin tends not to be the same amount of time in the coughpit.

We used TO/GA in a 380 the other day, at a reasonably low weight. But it was a day with large wind gusts, and windshear, so the seat belts did not come off for much longer than usual.

 

[jb747]

The image below shows the route we took on QR730 DFW-DOH today in a B777.

Two odd things for me. First, the Great Circle Route would have taken us over Greenland and Iceland, yet we took a longer route over western Europe.

Flight planners chase the route with the least AIR miles, not ground miles. What was the comparison of the winds on northern vs southern routes. Great circle is the shortest ground distance, but once you apply wind, then it isn't always the best choice. Look at the QF routes across the Pacific or Indian Oceans. Some are north of Hawaii, others over a thousand miles south.

Also, after traversing Turkey, we cut down over eastern Iraq and it looks like they were careful to avoid going into Iranian airspace.

That's a standard route out of Turkey into Iraq.

Any insights as to why they wouldn't go Great Circle, and why they might prefer to go down eastern Iraq rather than over Iran, which is their ally in the current Gulf dispute, and the way I've usually flown on QR to/from Europe?

When they leave Iran, they enter UAE airspace, so that may have been an issue. Beyond that though, a number of the ME airlines use both the Iran and Iraq routes, so it could be traffic or planning related. It could even come down to the cost of overflights.

Given the choice, would our pilots prefer to fly over Iran rather than Iraq?

I've always found the Iranian ATC to be very easy to deal with, and flying over their airspace has never been a hassle.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks again jb747.

 

[mikenz]

Do pilots / other crew ever get close to going over allowed hours during a flight?

 

[jb747]

Do pilots / other crew ever get close to going over allowed hours during a flight?

It happens regularly. If it's going to be an issue, you'll normally be bumped off the sector, but a bit too much holding, or a diversion, can cause problems.

 

[mikenz]

It happens regularly. If it's going to be an issue, you'll normally be bumped off the sector, but a bit too much holding, or a diversion, can cause problems.

Thanks JB
Would those problems lead to a diversion? Or would the crew continue on and have to deal with the fallout after the flight?

 

[jb747]

Thanks JB
Would those problems lead to a diversion? Or would the crew continue on and have to deal with the fallout after the flight?

You are not supposed to depart unless you've taken account of it. As long as departing was reasonable, small delays would simply be accepted. If a company planned you to the exact limit, then they'd be asking for a diversion.

 

[747sp]

I was wondering if the jet engines all rotate in the same direction across all the different manufacturers for passenger aircraft ? On the same line in the 767 i assume the engines had different perfomance characeristics. Did this make any difference to you when flying ?

 

[jb747]

I was wondering if the jet engines all rotate in the same direction across all the different manufacturers for passenger aircraft ?

To be honest, few pilots will know that. We never see the engines from the outside, and it makes no difference to their behaviour.

Some engines have some interesting internal rotation. I've never followed it up, but apparently the Trents that I fly have spools rotating in different directions. The Airbus A400 military transport, has props that rotate in different directions....

On the same line in the 767 i assume the engines had different perfomance characeristics. Did this make any difference to you when flying ?

Whilst most of us who flew the 767 loved it, it wasn't necessarily an easy aircraft to fly. QF had three versions. The -200 with Pratts, and the -300 with GE and RR engines. All of them behaved quite differently, especially in the flare. The -300 GE was the favourite.

 

[Happy Trails]

Any thoughts from the aviators on this?
On the face of it, it seems similar to those two EK low flying events last year.

Serious incident Boeing 747-4D7 HS-TGX, 11 Apr 2018

A Boeing 747-400 of Thai Airways International, operating flight THA/TG660 from Bangkok/Suvarnabhumi, Thailand to Tokyo/Haneda, Japan, experienced "Too Low" EGPWS warning during a night time approach to runway 16L of Haneda. The airplane was at 8 km northeast of Haneda and descended to 170 m (560 ft) at the time of the incident. The Boeing executed a go-around, and made a safe landing on runway 22 about 15 minutes later at 00:04 LT of 12 April. No personal injuries were reported. JTSB launched an investigation as a serious incident on 17th April, six days after the incident.

 

[jb747]

Any thoughts from the aviators on this?
On the face of it, it seems similar to those two EK low flying events last year.

Apparently there were more than two EK events.

I haven't been to Haneda, but looking at the charts, I'd say that he's flown the VOR approach, turned right to join downwind, for a visual left circuit. My guess is that he's then misidentified the runway, and turned, and descended too early for 16L. Almost perfectly in the correct spot for 22R though.

It's an event, but not even close to the danger levels of EK.

 

[I love to travel]

A question about cabin pressure and the impact it has on ears. I have always wondered whether wearing noise cancelling headsets on a plane could be dangerous to your ears eg by making tinnitus worse? Any thoughts on hiw cabin pressure works in this scenario?

 

[jb747]

Well, the most of the pilots are wearing noise cancelling headsets all of the time...though we all still seem to end up deaf.

I don't think it would have any negative impact.

 

[lastrow]

I refer to the question of aircraft braking. Here is the scenario:
Your aircraft is an A380 fully loaded and with fuel for 14 hours flying. Your route is SIN to LHR.
You have started your takeoff roll and when just short of V1 the outer starboard engine starts to vibrate violently.
In order of priority what actions would you take? What would the effect be on the aircraft? Would you attempt to get off the runway?