Ask The Pilot

[Major]

Have you ever had any problems with the tug whilst being pushed back and positioned or are these drivers pretty good ?

 

[jb747]

Have you ever had any problems with the tug whilst being pushed back and positioned or are these drivers pretty good ?

They're normally excellent. I can only recall having an issue with them once. That was in London, and he pushed the aircraft into an odd position, and then wasn't doing the right things to extricate it. I sent him away, and with the help of the engineer on the headset we were able to drive ourselves out. It wasn't a difficult spot to get out of....

 

[Maverick116]

Hi JB, i am not sure if you can answer this question. Last Friday I was on a connecting flight from Singapore to Australia (Not Qantas) I was on a Airbus A330.

Around 2 hours into the flight the cabin got extremely smelly of what smelt like burning plastic. The cabin crew where frantic up and down the aircraft searching for the origin of the smell. It lasted around 10 minutes and most of the passengers where terrified.

The cabin crew later said the smell was fro static outside the aircraft, mmmmmm not sure about that one.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[darrend]

jb - I'd be interested in seeing a simulator session on video. With audio would be great if you could swing it. A lot more action in that.

 

[jb747]

Hi JB, i am not sure if you can answer this question. Last Friday I was on a connecting flight from Singapore to Australia (Not Qantas) I was on a Airbus A330.

Now I'm curious. Who runs 330s from Singapore to Oz other than QF?

Around 2 hours into the flight the cabin got extremely smelly of what smelt like burning plastic. The cabin crew where frantic up and down the aircraft searching for the origin of the smell. It lasted around 10 minutes and most of the passengers where terrified.

Well, I guess the most likely cause is burning plastic. If the cabin crew are searching all over for the smell, then I'd suspect the air conditioning is either the cause, or is distributing the smell. The fact that it lasted 10 minutes and then stopped, may well mean that it was found and isolated, or that a generic 'smoke in cabin' checklist isolated it. For instance if one of two air conditioning units is a problem, you turn one off at random, and see what happens. If it gets better, problem solved, and if it doesn't, then try the other.

The cabin crew later said the smell was fro static outside the aircraft, mmmmmm not sure about that one.

Static from outside of the aircraft. Have to store that one away.

Any time the aircraft is in cloud it carries a huge static charge. It can manifest itself with St Elmo's fire, most often on the windscreens. It's your own personal lightning display. A big enough charge can even have it showing up like torch light within the engines and off the nose. But, it has no smell whatsoever.

You can smell lightning though. Or more correctly, the ozone that it leaves behind. That's normally quite a transient smell, and the cause should be obvious...especially to the pilots.

 

[jb747]

jb - I'd be interested in seeing a simulator session on video. With audio would be great if you could swing it. A lot more action in that.

What? Put up a video full of my mistakes. Not likely.....

 

[Maverick116]

Thanks JB, my thoughts also, Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Brisbane everyday

 

[Major]

Etihad also use A330 BNE- SIN

 

[Awesom Andy]

Also SQ SIN-ADL daily, and that orange star doing its daily run to/from MEL.

 

[Flashback]

PER-SIN on SQ used to be an A330 service, not sure if it's still the case or not.

 

[anat0l]

What? Put up a video full of my mistakes. Not likely.....

You? Make mistakes? Surely you jest...

I suppose there would be some confidentiality or procedural concerns that might prevent you from doing it anyway.....

 

[Harpoon]

When doing a tour of MEL tower a few years ago, a pilot reported a broken piece of taxiway to the tower while we were there.

How often do you see and report debris on the runway/taxiway? Is it very common? And if you see something ahead on a taxiway do you stop and wait for ground staff to inspect/remove debris before continuing?

 

[darrend]

What? Put up a video full of my mistakes. Not likely.....

Better there than in the real machine. I've done a few sim runs over the years - 767 largest. Be interested to see the 380.

 

[AVC]

On the subject of air-con packs. How many does the 380/747 have? (for some reason I thought the 747 had 3)
And if the 380 has two, does a single have the capacity to maintain the cabin temp by itself with one shut down?
Cheers

 

[darrend]

When doing a tour of MEL tower a few years ago, a pilot reported a broken piece of taxiway to the tower while we were there.

How often do you see and report debris on the runway/taxiway? Is it very common? And if you see something ahead on a taxiway do you stop and wait for ground staff to inspect/remove debris before continuing?

In my experience not often as there are frequent checks of movement areas including taxi & runways. I recall an incident many moons ago when a friend was operating a light piston out of AF. He noticed a sheet of newspaper as he taxied and thought nothing of it. Turned out that sheet (or maybe there were more) found it's way behind the prop and covered the cooling air intakes at the front. He got airborne and on climbout noticed the temperature guage going north in a hurry. Fortunately for him still in the circuit. So chopped power and went back to land. Just goes to show it does not take much and who would have thought a sheet of paper would get behind the prop anyway, certainly unless that happened I would have thought it very unlikely.

 

[jb747]

When doing a tour of MEL tower a few years ago, a pilot reported a broken piece of taxiway to the tower while we were there.

How often do you see and report debris on the runway/taxiway? Is it very common? And if you see something ahead on a taxiway do you stop and wait for ground staff to inspect/remove debris before continuing?

Not very often. I've seen rubber on the runway a few times...thankfully before we started our roll. I recall a jumbo in Singapore whose jet blast picked up a sign that was beside the taxiway, and blew it neatly onto the tarmac right in front of me...

 

[jb747]

You? Make mistakes? Surely you jest...

Mistakes don't matter...it's how they are corrected that makes the difference.

I suppose there would be some confidentiality or procedural concerns that might prevent you from doing it anyway.....

An issue for sure. The sessions are taped, and we're shown them being wiped before leaving the debrief.

I'm not sure how much you'd really see anyway. A few flashing lights and ECAMs being actioned....

 

[jb747]

On the subject of air-con packs. How many does the 380/747 have? (for some reason I thought the 747 had 3)
And if the 380 has two, does a single have the capacity to maintain the cabin temp by itself with one shut down?
Cheers

The 747 does have 3. The 767 has two. The A380 has two, but parts of the system (such as the pack valves) are quadruple.

A single pack will maintain temperature in all of them, but pressurisation is a much more important issue. With the 767 you can despatch with one, but you are then altitude limited (forget the number, but about FL300). 747, I think you need two, and the A380 can go with one (and no particular limits). The 767 limit is imposed not by the inability of the pack to maintain pressure above FL300 (it can), but by considerations of a second failure.

 

[Harpoon]

Sorry if this has already been answered but it's been bugging me for about a decade!

For engine start, my understanding is that the APU pumps air to the engine to spin the turbines, and when it reaches a certain RPM, fuel is added starting the jet engine. Is that simplisticlly more or less what happens?

If so, does that explain the noticable change in air conditioning or lack there of, when the plane is being pushed back and the engine startup sequence commences? Or is the change in air con for another reason?

 

[jb747]

For engine start, my understanding is that the APU pumps air to the engine to spin the turbines, and when it reaches a certain RPM, fuel is added starting the jet engine. Is that simplistically more or less what happens?

If so, does that explain the noticable change in air conditioning or lack there of, when the plane is being pushed back and the engine startup sequence commences? Or is the change in air con for another reason?

That's more or less it. The air-con is turned off at engine start, as we need as much bleed air pressure as possible to ensure the engine gets to a self sustaining RPM as quickly as possible. Fuel is added somewhere between 15% to 25% N2 or N3. The starter cuts out once the engine reaches 45 to 50%. Attempting a start without sufficient pressure will result in the engine stalling, or simply stagnating and not accelerating (generally with rapidly rising temperature).