Ask The Pilot

[QF WP]

I got the info from a QF site, and apparently a number of FOs and SOs have bitten. I can think of many worse things than flying a 747-8F. Also ex Cathay (where there were a lot of Aussies) will be very interested. I did hear that Cathay have suddenly realised that they simply do not have the crew needed to fly the aircraft they have stored. The got rid of them, presumably assuming they'd come back on worse terms, and are now in trouble because they aren't coming back, and sadly, management don't know how to fly.

Not surprisingly, management don't know how to fly Can you imagine AJ behind the yoke?

 

[SYD]

Not surprisingly, management don't know how to fly Can you imagine AJ behind the yoke?

I would be *very* surprised if he hasn’t at least landed something on one of the QF flight sims and probably a few flights in a jump seat. No, it’s not the same as actually flying and in charge but helps understand the complexity involved.

When I was running a business line that did that stuff it was always the first thing the troops would do and whack you in the sim and see how quick you could crash and burn! Much to their surprise, I occasionally did a reasonable job - despite the occasional sneaky gale force cross winds thrown in at the last minute…

 

[jb747]

I would be *very* surprised if he hasn’t at least landed something on one of the QF flight sims and probably a few flights in a jump seat. No, it’s not the same as actually flying and in charge but helps understand the complexity involved.

Anyone can do it, when they quietly turn the motion off in the last couple of hundred feet. It makes the pseudo pilot feel good, but more importantly eliminates the risk of damage from allowing them to continue.

Of course, landing is a tiny part of the job…rather akin to someone applying a bandaid, and then declaring themselves to understand surgery.

I do vaguely recall AJ being saying something about wanting to be a pilot when he was young, but being excluded by his eyesight. That’s sort of amusing/sad. I’d be wealthy if I had a dollar for each time I’ve heard something along the lines of “I was going to be a fighter pilot, but my eyes…” Reality is the eye test is the easiest hurdle on the journey.

 

[jb747]

Saw this on Twitter and wondered if many of the pilots here have had the opportunity to perform dual take-offs (as I suppose there aren't that many airports big enough to have parallel runways). What are the concerns with these types of take-offs (GPWS/TCAS etc)

I’m not sure that I’d describe it as an opportunity…though I wouldn’t have minded a trip to San Francisco. I don’t know what restrictions they apply to these departures, but I’d expect that the aircraft I flew would have been excluded. I can see good reasons to exclude all but the locals, as you most certainly don’t want any misunderstandings regarding the departure instructions (i.e. what they’ll do airborne).

There’s not really any risk whilst the aircraft are on the runway. TCAS is pretty smart these days, and shouldn’t become interested unless they actually start to close on each other once airborne. They’d probably have instructions to turn from about 500’.

These are very narrow spaced runways…far closer, than Sydney.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Headline from NZ Herald earlier today

Panic on Air NZ flight as masks drop, false emergency declared​

Are you able to comment on what may have caused the issued referred to in this story per this link?

Mid-air horror: Panic on Air NZ flight from LA as masks drop, emergency declared

'This is an emergency. This is an emergency. Put on your mask,' passengers were told.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[AviatorInsight]

Headline from NZ Herald earlier today

Panic on Air NZ flight as masks drop, false emergency declared​

Are you able to comment on what may have caused the issued referred to in this story per this link?

"The captain mentioned that lots of the flight attendants had never dealt with this before - oxygen masks only deploy if there's significant altitude drop or really severe turbulence."

Or if they're manually deployed.

The 777 had a separate oxygen system for medical purposes. In the overhead, there would be a separate attachment for the mask. This was located randomly throughout the cabin and varied between aircraft.

We routinely got asked to "turn the oxygen on" by the cabin crew. What this meant was to turn on the Therapeutic Oxygen System (TOS). Occasionally, this was accidently misidentified as the Passenger Oxygen System. The same switch that deploys all the emergency oxygen masks from the overhead.

When that switch is selected, a few things happen:

- All the lights come on bright.
- The automatic PA comes on, telling passengers to put on their masks.
- Seatbelt sign comes on.
- Masks deployed.

This happened one night across the Pacific at VAI, and the aircraft had to divert to HNL to get it sorted by engineers.

An ergonomic design fault of the 777 was that both the passenger oxygen and the therapeutic oxygen switches were actually the same colour and in the same orientation. The guarded switch was horizontal for both. The only difference was, that the TOS switch was a bit higher up the overhead panel, so you really had to reach for it (at least I did, as I'm not a big guy).

This also doesn't help pilots who don't take the extra second to look at the switch they're about to operate, especially if it's guarded. It means Boeing wants you to make sure you want that switch activated.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Saw this on Twitter and wondered if many of the pilots here have had the opportunity to perform dual take-offs (as I suppose there aren't that many airports big enough to have parallel runways). What are the concerns with these types of take-offs (GPWS/TCAS etc)

GPWS is a ground proximity warning system (the terrain).

TCAS though looks at the closure rate between two aircraft. If it senses that they're closing too quick and infringes certain parameters, it'll go off.

What I find a bit worse than simultaneous take-offs is the simultaneous opposite direction parallel runway operations.

This is used at SYD a lot especially in the mornings and occasionally at BNE. This consists of one aircraft landing on one runway while another aircraft takes off in the opposite direction.

The TCAS almost always lights up with an aural "TRAFFIC TRAFFIC" during these operations, until the departing aircraft makes a turn away from the approach path.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Or if they're manually deployed.

The 777 had a separate oxygen system for medical purposes. In the overhead, there would be a separate attachment for the mask. This was located randomly throughout the cabin and varied between aircraft.

We routinely got asked to "turn the oxygen on" by the cabin crew. What this meant was to turn on the Therapeutic Oxygen System (TOS). Occasionally, this was accidently misidentified as the Passenger Oxygen System. The same switch that deploys all the emergency oxygen masks from the overhead.

When that switch is selected, a few things happen:

- All the lights come on bright.
- The automatic PA comes on, telling passengers to put on their masks.
- Seatbelt sign comes on.
- Masks deployed.

This happened one night across the Pacific at VAI, and the aircraft had to divert to HNL to get it sorted by engineers.

An ergonomic design fault of the 777 was that both the passenger oxygen and the therapeutic oxygen switches were actually the same colour and in the same orientation. The guarded switch was horizontal for both. The only difference was, that the TOS switch was a bit higher up the overhead panel, so you really had to reach for it (at least I did, as I'm not a big guy).

This also doesn't help pilots who don't take the extra second to look at the switch they're about to operate, especially if it's guarded. It means Boeing wants you to make sure you want that switch activated.

Thanks for your insight. The Swiss cheese lined up perhaps.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Back in 2013 I recall flying in one of the ex BA QF 767's between Sydney and Melbourne - VH-ZX? .... This config had 5 rows of business class and two rows (Row 23 - 24) of economy behind a bulkhead followed by the main galley before the bulk of economy. Just after we reached the cruise the oxygen masks popped out above where I was sitting in Row 23. There was only 2 of us traveling in this section of the cabin and we looked at one another and realised the masks in remaining rows behind us and to the side hadn't deployed. One of the FA's walked into the cabin and grabbed an off duty Captain out of business class who was paxing down to Melbourne. He took one look shrugged his shoulders and went and sat back down.

 

[jb747]

The 777 had a separate oxygen system for medical purposes. In the overhead, there for
We routinely got asked to "turn the oxygen on" by the cabin crew. What this meant was to turn on the Therapeutic Oxygen System (TOS).

In the 747-400 there were also two guarded switches. One was red, the other black. Pretty much irrelevant in a dark coughpit. But they were also at 90 degrees to each other, which made a lot of difference.

There was another gotcha though. If the therapeutic system was turned on, and the crew didn’t tell you they were finished with it, but just took the passenger mask off the system, it was possible that the pressure within the system would build up enough to initiate a full mask trip. For that reason there was a dummy mask that was permanently left in the system, to ensure the pressure could not build up.

 

[AviatorInsight]

In the 747-400 there were also two guarded switches. One was red, the other black. Pretty much irrelevant in a dark coughpit. But they were also at 90 degrees to each other, which made a lot of difference.

There was another gotcha though. If the therapeutic system was turned on, and the crew didn’t tell you they were finished with it, but just took the passenger mask off the system, it was possible that the pressure within the system would build up enough to initiate a full mask trip. For that reason there was a dummy mask that was permanently left in the system, to ensure the pressure could not build up.

Interesting. I’d never heard of that and mustn’t have been an issue by the time I came onto the 777. Which location was the dummy mask kept plugged in at?

 

[jb747]

Panic on Air NZ flight as masks drop​

From experience, 99% of the panic is from the journalists writing about it. The passengers, in the main, remain calm, and do the right thing.

Interesting. I’d never heard of that and mustn’t have been an issue by the time I came onto the 777. Which location was the dummy mask kept plugged in at?

From what I recall, it started as an unofficial fix from the CSMs, who’d just leave a mask plugged in after they used the system. Then some started putting one in every time they got on board, in case the system was used in their time off. Eventually the company realised it was a good idea. I think it was in/near the forward lower galley. I’ll ask around.

 

[Captain Halliday]

From experience, 99% of the panic is from the journalists writing about it.

Must have been written by the cadet.

They forgot: “terror in the sky”, “plunged”, “thought we were going to die”, and my personal favourite (not used often enough IMO) “left trembling from the ordeal”.

But I’ll give the writer points for good use of “harrowing”.

 

[Mattg]

Must have been written by the cadet.

They forgot: “terror in the sky”, “plunged”, “thought we were going to die”, and my personal favourite (not used often enough IMO) “left trembling from the ordeal”.

But I’ll give the writer points for good use of “harrowing”.

At least they didn't just use this:

The Lazy Journalists Plane Story Generator

www.radans.net

 

[Major]

Do Australian airlines address the issue of pilot fatigue sufficiently to avoid incidents like this ?

The Aviation Herald

Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation

avherald.com

 

[jb747]

Do Australian airlines address the issue of pilot fatigue sufficiently to avoid incidents like this ?

I don't think so. But then I don't think that anyone actually does. I suspect that a high percentage of the 'pilot error' accidents over the years could really be attributed to fatigue.

 

[Quickstatus]

Australian pilots are able to access a US E-3 visa

A nurse I work with has a pilot son with a charter service in the NT flying twin and single engine Cessnas

He is heading off to work for AA
His nurse mother is ecstatic because the AA package includes 2x J return for family to the US pa

Is it better for an airline to recruit the lower hr pilots than established pilots from the majors?

 

[jb747]

Is it better for an airline to recruit the lower hr pilots than established pilots from the majors?

Might be cheaper, but I don't know about better. In any event, I very much doubt that it's a case of either/or. Most likely any they can get.

 

[D747]

Might be cheaper, but I don't know about better. In any event, I very much doubt that it's a case of either/or. Most likely any they can get.

Does anyone know roughly what percentage of pilots have left the industry during Covid?

 

[QF WP]

Would this qualify as a decompression event (not sure if it just a crack, or there was a breach).

One of the cabin windows cracked as 2012 built LOT Polish airline - FL360aero on LinkedIn

One of the cabin windows cracked as 2012 built LOT Polish airline Boeing 787 Dreamliner (SP-LRA) was descending to New York (JFK) , originating from Warsaw...

www.linkedin.com