Ask The Pilot

[mjt57]

As best I can tell, the media beat up with this is pretty strong.

Yep, the dreaded "plunge" was mentioned once or twice, along with a new one, "nose dive"...

 

[jb747]

From my frequent flyer PAX perspective, that magnitude of wake turbulance is really uncommon. I have had over 1.8K flights and experienced significant wake turbulence only once - at that I deem it unlucky.

Well, you've had one encounter that the Captain said was wake. And in a 737 vs a 747 it will be somewhat lumpy. But, you've almost certainly had numerous others, when you were either in a big enough aircraft that it didn't really care, or you crossed the wake quickly. I've run into it three times that I can think of in the past year. At least once from a 380 (going in to Dubai). It wasn't even worthy of comment. I doubt that this event would have been either, if they'd only left the 'plunge' button alone.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Is it true that commercial pilots sometimes utilise the oxygen masks to perk themselves up (I heard it somewhere once)?

Also seen in the Denzel Washington movie Flight.

 

[flychrisfly]

Last night (Sunday 17 June) there were two late running QF flights from Melbourne to Sydney running about 2 mins apart. They scraped into Sydney before curfew kicked in at 11pm.

I'm wondering how much the pilots would have been involved in the go/no-go decision and once decided, what special actions were needed. I guess I'm thinking of things like ATC comms to facilitate rapid a take-off and straight in approach, flight planning (one of the flights cruised at 25000 ft and one was at 35000 ft), etc.

Cheers!

 

[Captain Halliday]

There have vbeen a couple of recent incidents in the US where aircraft have encountered unforecast hail, or due to the nature of the radar returns couldn’t see it. In the two cases I’ve seen it has resulted in the nosed getting beaten up and the windscreens looking like they were blasted with sandpaper. Here’s one example:

I guess it depends on aircraft type andwhat equipment it has, but can you outline how you handle an approach with nil forward visibility?

What are the restrictions for where you decide to land? Eg do you need Cat I, II or III ILS, or other parameters?

Edit/extra qn: Is nil forward visibility a scenario you run in the sim or is the assumption that you’ll avoid the nasty weather?

 

[jb747]

Last night (Sunday 17 June) there were two late running QF flights from Melbourne to Sydney running about 2 mins apart. They scraped into Sydney before curfew kicked in at 11pm.

I'm wondering how much the pilots would have been involved in the go/no-go decision and once decided, what special actions were needed. I guess I'm thinking of things like ATC comms to facilitate rapid a take-off and straight in approach, flight planning (one of the flights cruised at 25000 ft and one was at 35000 ft), etc.

There wouldn't have been a decision not to go until it became impossible to get there within the curfew limitations. As long as it's even theoretically possible, then you'd have a look. POCO is the ops co-ordinator for the airports, and it would have been up to them to push loading/refuelling etc along. From the coughpit perspective, nothing really changes. It's a very rare event when we aren't ready to go quite some time before all of the other components come together. Once airborne, you'd chase maximum groundspeed, at the expense of comfort. Neither FL250, nor FL350 come to mind with regard to that, but it would depend upon the wind conditions of the day. The way in which the aircraft is operated is totally up to the crew. At the other end, the Captain will not land if it becomes obvious that the curfew will be breached, unless they come up with an exemption. Nothing forces you to make that decision early though. ATC will operate normally. I wouldn't expect any change at all from them.

 

[jb747]

There have vbeen a couple of recent incidents in the US where aircraft have encountered unforecast hail, or due to the nature of the radar returns couldn’t see it. In the two cases I’ve seen it has resulted in the nosed getting beaten up and the windscreens looking like they were blasted with sandpaper.

I guess it depends on aircraft type andwhat equipment it has, but can you outline how you handle an approach with nil forward visibility?

What are the restrictions for where you decide to land? Eg do you need Cat I, II or III ILS, or other parameters?

It is an emergency. Once in that situation, restrictions, rules, SOPs, no longer exist. You simply do whatever you need to do. An automatic landing on a non auto land runway would be a simple outcome.

Edit/extra qn: Is nil forward visibility a scenario you run in the sim or is the assumption that you’ll avoid the nasty weather?

That's what you have when you land with a Cat IIIB approach. You literally cannot see anything. We don't practice manual landing in that scenario. It will prove very little, and the sim visuals aren't really up to it anyway. You will almost certainly not have NIL vis...it will just be very restricted. Vision through the side panes is also likely to be unaffected. A manual landing isn't likely to be all that smooth, but you should hit the runway.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Last night (Sunday 17 June) there were two late running QF flights from Melbourne to Sydney running about 2 mins apart. They scraped into Sydney before curfew kicked in at 11pm.

I'm wondering how much the pilots would have been involved in the go/no-go decision and once decided, what special actions were needed. I guess I'm thinking of things like ATC comms to facilitate rapid a take-off and straight in approach, flight planning (one of the flights cruised at 25000 ft and one was at 35000 ft), etc.

Cheers!

At that time of the night there’s practically no one around. There’s usually a lot of track shortening given to try and accommodate you before curfew. The reason going lower is that there’s thicker air. This will give us a higher True Airspeed and allows us to fly faster (albeit burn A LOT more fuel). If the tailwind is strong enough then going higher might have given you more of an advantage than flying lower with a lower tailwind (usually the prevailing wind between MEL and SYD).

In terms of flight planning, if our ETA is 20mins before curfew an alternate will be provided regardless.

 

[jb747]

At the moment, there's some very strong winds up high. We saw up to 167 knots of tailwind yesterday. Going high may get you into something similar, which should help your flight times. In general though, you'd choose the altitude that gave you the highest TAS, and you'll find that at the 'crossover' altitude.

When climbing, you start the climb at an IAS, and finish at a mach number. As you climb, at a constant IAS, the TAS and mach number will increase. At some point in the climb, the climb IAS will equal the same TAS as your target climb mach number. That's called the crossover. As you go higher from that point, now at a constant mach, both the IAS and TAS reduce.

For an aircraft climbing at 310 kias, into mach .80, the crossover would occur around FL290, which is where I'd expect the low end of the height targets to be. For anything higher to work, there has to be a better wind component.

 

[juddles]

Pilots, I know you may not feel able to comment on specific airlines (although I hope you can), but I would value your opinion highly in my planning of some wanderings. Any comments on safety (mainly pilot quality - which I think is the biggest factor) on the following airlines:

South African
Ethiopian Airlines
Air China


(all star alliance)

 

[jb747]

Pilots, I know you may not feel able to comment on specific airlines (although I hope you can), but I would value your opinion highly in my planning of some wanderings. Any comments on safety (mainly pilot quality - which I think is the biggest factor) on the following airlines:

South African
Ethiopian Airlines
Air China

I haven't had a great deal to do with any of them, other than sharing the airspace, but none of the airlines you've listed have ever bothered me at all. QF has a number of retired SA pilots working as sim instructors, and they are all excellent.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Pilots, I know you may not feel able to comment on specific airlines (although I hope you can), but I would value your opinion highly in my planning of some wanderings. Any comments on safety (mainly pilot quality - which I think is the biggest factor) on the following airlines:

South African
Ethiopian Airlines
Air China


(all star alliance)

I agree with JB as well. Haven't had much to do with them myself, although I know a lot of pilots who used to work for SA and they're all great. Can't comment on the other two.

 

[juddles]

I agree with JB as well. Haven't had much to do with them myself, although I know a lot of pilots who used to work for SA and they're all great. Can't comment on the other two.

Will probably favour the SA route - I get their culture and I had imagined that their pilots are like most in their world - no-b.sh.t.

 

[747sp]

Hi All
I was wondering with runways such as Sydney where you cross water ,then land (the refinery) then water again, does the change in temperture of the air make the approach a little more difficult than say coming from the other way.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Hi All
I was wondering with runways such as Sydney where you cross water ,then land (the refinery) then water again, does the change in temperture of the air make the approach a little more difficult than say coming from the other way.

Not really, I actually find coming in on 16L/16R and particularly 25 much more turbulent (mechanical turbulence). Especially on 16R there's the classic dip as you pass Qantas drive. Although with the recent weather in Sydney, it didn't matter what runway was in use it was definitely a challenge.

 

[RooFlyer]

Not really, I actually find coming in on 16L/16R and particularly 25 much more turbulent (mechanical turbulence). Especially on 16R there's the classic dip as you pass Qantas drive. Although with the recent weather in Sydney, it didn't matter what runway was in use it was definitely a challenge.

Can you expand a bit on the ' classic dip' there, please? What cause and what magnitude of ' feel' in, say, a B737?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Can you expand a bit on the ' classic dip' there, please? What cause and what magnitude of ' feel' in, say, a B737?

Every airport has their own idiosyncrasies. So SYD 16R with the prevailing wind means that turbulence generated by the buildings at Sydenham and notably IKEA, will affect the aircraft at around 200ft. Once we're clear of them and the land flattens out (ie Qantas Drive and the clearway before the threshold of 16R) the land heats up (and cools) at different rates to the buildings. This generates a ‘dip’ where the aircraft feels like its at the top of a roller coaster and is starting the drop so more thrust is required to arrest the sink and then it’ll need to come off again before touchdown.

I can’t actually remember the 777 ever being affected as much as the 737 most likely due to the amount of inertia that is carried. It just cuts through the air nicely.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks - I never realised the effect was so marked. There must be some airports around the world where that effect is quite strong, and the thrust on/off essential - how is that sort of knowledge disseminated - by each airline in its internal notes/manuals to its pilots or, if there is such a thing, an 'about this airport' put out by the airport concerned?

 

[jb747]

The effects of terrain are very marked. Water is nice and smooth, but buildings and even worse, valleys, have a substantial effect. Approaches on to 34 in Melbourne, when there is a strong wind, can have a major effect, with lots of throttle input required to offset the 'suck' (undershoot).

Any large buildings, built near the threshold, will destabilise the aircraft as it approaches the flare, when the wind is from the wrong direction.

 

[QF WP]

Following on from the hail incident (and other similar like lightning strikes), I was watching one of my favourite YouTube channels (two pilots who fly a Gulfstream G650 in USA) and they had a close call with a bald eagle (see 11:04 to 11:10).

Obviously ATC won't be able to ask the bald eagle to call them to explain the lack of separation

What damage to the hull (or engines) would you expect to have from such an impact.