The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

JD93

It had 4 engines, seemed alot for a plane its size, but Ive put that type into google and yeah now I see its a specialized plane for short take off/landing. Very smooth and cool machine.

The screetching sound was coming from the wheel. dunno.
Also I was on Aer Lingus prop plane, why is there no oxygen in overhead?

I went into a Ryanair cockpit for a few minutes before getting off (also fab flight), Wow some technology. 4 ipad like screens. 2 female pilots very nice people.

martinsvi

JD93 wrote: »

Also I was on Aer Lingus prop plane, why is there no oxygen in overhead?

Since ATR42/72 doesn't climb higher than 25000ft, there is no requirement for drop-down o2 supply

hidinginthebush

JD93 wrote: »

Hi
I took an Airfrance flight from Dublin to London in December, strange kinda plane with noises.
Does anyone know what the screech is off the wheels when I was walking to the back outside to board? Like air or something?

Then after the takeoff the captain flipped up the flaps(i think they were) and it was like some diving howling noise u see in films?

And they never put the engines into the reversing when they landed. Very nose down approach.

Just wondering, its the nicest flight i was ever on. Thanks.

The steep descent is due to the shorter runway at London city. I think they use a 5degree angle rather than 3.5degrees (open to correction, though it was an AF flight instructor that told me that a few weeks ago).

martinsvi wrote: »

what you're describing sounds like BAe 146, it has no thrust reversers, instead it has airbrakes under the tail.

everything except the first sentence is a part of normal operation of this plane.

I think its an avro rj85. Edit. I just saw they're the same thing! :facepalm:

IngazZagni

hidinginthebush wrote: »

The steep descent is due to the shorter runway at London city. I think they use a 5degree angle rather than 3.5degrees (open to correction, though it was an AF flight instructor that told me that a few weeks ago.

You're right. It's a 5.5 degree slope I believe compared to the Standard 3 degrees so a very steep approach indeed and short runway as well. Cityjet always have 2 captains operating flights into London City due to the challenging nature of the approach.

LeftBase

JD93 wrote: »

Then after the takeoff the captain flipped up the flaps(i think they were) and it was like some diving howling noise u see in films?

That's the flap motor brings the flaps up.

eatmyshorts

JD93 wrote: »

Hi
I took an Airfrance flight from Dublin to London in December, strange kinda plane with noises.
Does anyone know what the screech is off the wheels when I was walking to the back outside to board? Like air or something?

Then after the takeoff the captain flipped up the flaps(i think they were) and it was like some diving howling noise u see in films?

And they never put the engines into the reversing when they landed. Very nose down approach.

Just wondering, its the nicest flight i was ever on. Thanks.

The screech noise is from the electric brake fans on each wheel unit that are used to cool the brakes. The 146/RJ doesn't have reverse thrust on its engines, just very good brakes for an aircraft of its size.

The howling noise happens when the flaps are moved from Up to 18, or vice versa. 18 degrees is the first stage of flaps. It is caused by the airflow being squeezed through the gap between the inboard of the flap itself and the fuselage.

The pronounced nosedown approach is the combination of the steep 5.5 degree glideslope in LCY and the fact that the 146/RJ does not have any leading edge devices on the wing.

smurfjed

FUEL (lbs)...FLT TIME....GROUND DIST...AIR DISTANCE...FL.....AVERAGE WIND COMPONENT
020548.......06:39........2507................3008................400...M073

023586....... 06:31........2507...............2966.................340..M068

Heading to Paris over the weekend, at this time of the year the head winds are horrible, you can see from the figures above that the winds add about 20% to the distance that we have to fly. This is well within our range even with an alternate in the south of France, but its worth considering for those of you with an interest in using certain aircraft for routes, you cannot just say that the distance from A-B is X miles, you must apply the appropriate wind factor.

I saw some other flight plans for an A320 operating a flight that is a little big longer than this ground distance, all that they can carry is 8,000 kgs of payload.

smurfjed

smurfjed

Here is another one......

I love maintenance test flights, this is where we get to test a system to make sure its operating as its supposed to, prior to flying with passengers. In this case it was the pressurization system. This certainly isn’t the norm as it’s an expensive exercise, but for us, passenger comfort is #1.
Just after we arrived at the aircraft we were followed by the cleaning crew, these guys were great, vacuumed everything, polished things, sprayed some nice smelly stuff, fitted out the toilet, we were kinda impressed as even for us, this level of service was impressive, unfortunately for them, they had come to the wrong aircraft, they were supposed to be on the identical looking aircraft that was parked beside us ☹ They only realized this once the catering truck arrived at the correct aircraft.
So now we had a lovely clean and nice smelling aircraft, this was turning out to be a good day. Following the normal start process, off we went, the airport was quiet, ground control quickly changed us over to Tower controller who immediately cleared us for takeoff , even though we were about ½ km away from the runway. Because we are able to use reduced takeoff thrust, we must use maximum thrust periodically to ensure that the engine can develop maximum thrust. This was going to be fun, a very light aircraft with maximum thrust, we elected to follow the manufacturers noise abatement procedure, so we had a target climb speed of 170 kts.
Following a normal rotation, gear up, we continued rotating to maintain the speed, but limited it to 25 degrees nose up, even at that angle, we rapidly accelerate through 170 kts, way too much power. At 1,500 feet we selected climb power so things slowed down. We are 22 EPNd lower than the stage 3 limits, so noise abatement isn’t a major issue for us, but certainly for stringent airports that require the exact profile, we really have to advise our passengers about the cabin angle.
We climbed to FL340, noted the pressurization readings along the way, then up to FL380, the system was doing exactly as required, so advised ATC that we were ready to return, they had us turn right to intercept a south bound airway. At this stage we had flown about 300 miles, so we had about 200 miles to the Top of Descent.
We decided once again to do an RNAV approach, so we based the descent on the premise that we would cross over the airport at 6000 feet as we would be crossing over the eastbound departure path, sure enough ATC cleared us down to FL160, then 9000 feet then 6000 to maintain due to outbound traffic. Listening to the departing traffic, he was cleared to climb to 5000 feet with crossing traffic (us) at 6000 feet. We had a rate of descent of 750 fpm approaching 6000 feet when we got a TCAS Advisory message, this basically meant that the closure rate between the two aircraft was too high. We could see on TCAS that the traffic was passing behind us and below us, and from his call sign we knew that it was an A340. Neither aircraft exceeded the altitudes given to them, but the closure rate was enough to set off the TCAS.
Once clear of the A340, we get cleared down to 2500 feet, cleared for the approach, contact tower, it really was a quiet ATC day ☺
Met the A340 crew a couple of hours later, they were training a new crewmember, ATC had held them at 3000 feet after takeoff and they accelerated, they were then cleared to 5000 feet and selected open climb, they were quite impressed when they got a 2500 fpm climb rate ☺.
Our little joyride took 1hr:50 and covered over 600 nms.

smurfjed

smurfjed

Just following on from previous discussion on wind, you can see that the aircrafts TAS is 90 knots faster than the speed over the ground.

smurfjed

host_found

How do you log hours or maintain hours.

i.e. does a captain rights in something like a log book for him and the FO or its an automatic system maintained by the airline where all the hours on different flight are recorded in seperate columns?

For example, 10 hours as Captain and 5 hours as FO on 747 etc

smurfjed

Most of my colleagues don't have logbooks as they have no expectations of working anywhere else. We use Sabre Aircrews for crew rostering, this records flight time and pilot flying. This can be printed out in a report format, but not in a logbook format, so basically they have no record nor interest in knowing specific flights, night or cross country records.

But this is the mentality of someone who starts as a cadet and will retire with the same company and only operate with one regulatory authority.

For me, i record all flights in LogTen Pro, and print out monthly Sabre rosters.

smurfjed

smurfjed

Trip to Paris cancelled by the passenger…. ☹

One of our bigger aircraft went technical, so we got called in to replace it. As usual, we had to reposition the aircraft to the VIP apron, as we taxied out of our remote parking, a sister Gulfstream was ahead of us taxing out for departure. We had very similar flight numbers with only the last digit missing and both of us were heading to the same city, but different airports.
Our passengers showed on time and we had a full house, so one flight attendant had the pleasure of sitting in the jumpseat, the other had to sit in the toilet, but before you freak out, our toilets are legal seats for takeoff/landing complete with full seat belts. I’m surprised that M’OL hasn’t thought of this for his B737’s☺
With a strong headwind, our flight time was only 1:19, the fun part of this was that we were going to a military airport right in the center of the city, this was a first for me as usually the people with enough clout to get access to that airport also have the clout to use larger aircraft. In descent we got cleared straight to the final approach fix as number 1. The view of the city was amazing; we normally cross over this area around 4000 feet, but this time we were landing right in the middle of it. Dropped off our guests, got some fuel and off we went again. Generally we use the VOR at this military airport as the turning point for the base turn into the international airport, so its pretty busy airspace. We were cleared takeoff with a heading of 250 degrees, so we climbed to 500 feet before turning and contacted the radar controller, he kept us at 2000 feet and sent us out under the arriving traffic, so once again we got a great view of the city, once clear of the inbound traffic we were cleared to FL360. We heard the 2nd Gulfstream calling radar following his departure from the international airport.
We got changed over to the next radar controller as we were still climbing, first thing he asked us was our “ETA and door open time”, wow, usually people don’t care about ferry flights, but this time they were really interested!! We guessed that the controller had asked us by mistake, he actually wanted to know about the aircraft behind us, so we were honest and told him that the other Gulfstream was a couple of minutes behind us. Sure enough he asked them the same question, but they were cheeky, they asked for a direct routing to the final approach fix, and got it even though it was over 500 miles away ☺
Two controllers later we were back in home territory, we listened to 2 airline flights asking for the Left Runway but were refused due VIP movements. Then we called up and were immediately cleared to the final approach fix on the Left Runway. Knowing that they had made a mistake and would realize this as soon as we landed and cleared to the right rather than the left, I decided to tell them that we were a ferry flight and would be happy to use the Right runway, he asked us 3 times to confirm that we were empty and to confirm our parking position, in the end he advised us that we were going to the Right runway but our request for a RNAV approach couldn’t be approved due traffic.
As we got closer we listened to aircraft getting told that they were number 11 for landing, so we just decided to slow down rather than ending up with radar vectors and a very long downwind. After a few minutes we got told, cleared directly to the final approach fix for the right runway and cleared for the RNAV approach, so I guess that slowing down worked.
Got home to see the other Gulfstream on the national news as it parked and the passengers got off, there was a large guard of honor waiting for them ☺


smurfjed

lord lucan

Is it possible to retract the landing gear whilst it's down and the aircraft parked?

LeftBase

lord lucan wrote: »

Is it possible to retract the landing gear whilst it's down and the aircraft parked?

In some aircraft it is and has happened. However most or all modern jets have systems in the gear that will not allow it to be retracted when the aircraft weight is on it. You can pull up the lever but nothing will happen. I wouldnt go doing that mind you....just incase...;)

AFAIK it happened to a Crossair Saab once. The Captain retracted the gear on stand and it did retract and the aircraft collapsed. That same Captain was in command of the Crossair RJ100 that crashed in Zurich killing all on board.....

Best username ever

When you do a CATIII landing in very heavy fog, with auto land, do you get scared a little that something may not go according to plan?

LeftBase

Best username ever wrote: »

When you do a CATIII landing in very heavy fog, with auto land, do you get scared a little that something may not go according to plan?

You always assume something will go wrong and prepare for it to happen. You also keep a keen eye out for the start of any issues so that you can fix them or abort before it all go's sideways.

Best username ever

I've looked a few videos of this on YouTube, and the aircraft calls out.. 50, 40, 30, ...10, and you still can't see the runway. That must be a bit scary.

LeftBase

Best username ever wrote: »

I've looked a few videos of this on YouTube, and the aircraft calls out.. 50, 40, 30, ...10, and you still can't see the runway. That must be a bit scary.

Well you can see the Localiser/Glideslope dots lined up and the ROD is at the right level so you know you are on line with the runway and not descending too fast.

You trust the instruments!;)

....and also listen out on the radio to arrivals/departures and trust ATC have not lined someone up on the runway....

smurfjed

http://www.fox11online.com/gallery/entertainment/photo_galleries/photos-plane-off-runway-in-outagamie-county

Unfortunately it is very possible to retract the landing gear on the ground, the Gulfstream is fitted with a weight on wheels system called a "nutcracker", if it is inoperative or not armed, the aircraft still believes that its in the air, so the wheels will retract, the thrust reversers will not deploy and the engines will not go to ground idle. There are at least 2 aircraft where this happened.

I'm sure that Mr Paul Allen (Microsoft) wasnt too amused to see his aircraft like this.

smurfjed

Suasdaguna1

Most disconcerting thing for me on cat 3 approaches, is early morning post a long trip.....going into overcast at 200feet, no decision height, 75metres is what we require for a cat3b on the 340s.....it's in the back of my mind that I hope this bitch is on the centre line and flares. We have numerous warning indications for glide/loc/radio altimeter failures and system failures.

The crew have to be cat 3 sim qualified to do one of these approaches. Part of our sim detail is an autopilot failure at 50feet, an engine failure at decision height on a cat3a app, pilot incapacitation.....screw this up, together with insufficient knowledge of all procedures and what approach lights one expects to see for cat2/3a/3b with dh and no dh.....consider the sim check failed.

The only low VIS approaches with a manual landing are cat 2 approaches with required VIS of 350metres........this sometimes happens due undulating terrain at the threshold which can confuse the radio altimeters and cause the aircraft to flare to early leading possibly a deep landing and worse again a tail strike. I am aware Cork has this type of approach.

amen

In some aircraft it is and has happened. However most or all modern jets have systems in the gear that will not allow it to be retracted when the aircraft weight is on it. You can pull up the lever but nothing will happen. I wouldnt go doing that mind you....just incas

interested. so you pull the handle by accident and don't notice.

Taxi out and start your t/o roll. As speed increases you get some lift at what point would the gear retract ?

LeftBase

amen wrote: »

interested. so you pull the handle by accident and don't notice.

Taxi out and start your t/o roll. As speed increases you get some lift at what point would the gear retract ?

I should hope that you would notice in your checklists. On most jets you cannot really "knock off it" as you have to pull it out and up/down. If you hit it hard enough to move it you would notice due to the undoubted pain and swearing! You may get an indication too in some planes if the gear lever is easy to move.

I assume the gear would retract when no weight is on it but the exact weight or extension of oleos I'm not sure of.

globemaster1986

Here is an accident report from an incident in 2008 in Waterford where a student doing a touch and go raised the gear while the aircraft was still on the runway.

http://www.aaiu.ie/sites/default/files/upload/general/10905-0.PDF

"The operation of the squat switch is predicated on the full weight of the aircraft being on the wheels, ‘weight-on-wheels’ as it is often referred to. In this condition it is impossible to retract the landing gear using the gear lever and all normal configuration warnings activate if such an attempt is made, thus confirming that the squat switch is serviceable. In the subject event the aircraft was rolling at speed prior to take-off, thus generating a degree of lift that allowed the aircraft to be “light” on the ground, thus deactivating the squat system."

Lustrum

I never realised the CAT III sim training was so intensive!

What have you found to be the hardest detail in the sim? Is there anything in particular that took you longer than you would have liked to master in the sim?

Suasdaguna1

Lustrum, the training is nothing out of the norm....the capt does most of the work re the management of the systems, but the F/O has an equally important role, monitoring systems, initiating call out s that must be responded to( challenge and response stuff) and be ready to intercede re incapacitation.

eusap

Hey all,


Last night at bristol airport the pilot done something very odd that i have never seen on the 100's of flights i have taken, the pilot taxied on to the runway stopped then the engines revved up to what seemed like half way while the brakes where still on the plane shuddered a lot. He held it there for about 10secs before releasing the brakes and taking off.

Is this something to do with the cold weather?

yaeger

That would have been for fan blade icing! Likely freezing fog conditions and even in the short taxi you would have had the fan blades would have gathered ice on the leading edge or behind the blade. This will show as a vibration or you may even feel it in the cabin and you may even hear the ice shedding and hitting the inner cowling! Sit on brakes, increase power 50 to 70% and hopefully shed the ice. Alot of that happening over last week I'd guess with the weather we had.

APM

on our aircraft (B738) in those conditions we set the power to 40% N1, check stabilised. then up to 70% N1, again check stabilised and then set take-off thrust, for the reasons mentioned above

lord lucan

LeftBase wrote: »

Well you can see the Localiser/Glideslope dots lined up and the ROD is at the right level so you know you are on line with the runway and not descending too fast.

You trust the instruments!;)

....and also listen out on the radio to arrivals/departures and trust ATC have not lined someone up on the runway....

How does it work when it comes to taxiing to your stand in heavy fog. Are the runway/taxiway/apron lights and onboard map enough or would you have to make use of an escort vehicle with Follow Me sign on the back?

LeftBase

lord lucan wrote: »

How does it work when it comes to taxiing to your stand in heavy fog. Are the runway/taxiway/apron lights and onboard map enough or would you have to make use of an escort vehicle with Follow Me sign on the back?

Most airports have decent enough taxiway markings and centreline/side lights so you can see where you're going easily enough once the landing lights are off. You may switch off your taxi light in heavy fog so as to avoid the glare off the fog. A lot of ground controllers will prompt you to turn too using their ground radar in really poor conditions.

At a busy airport there would be a lot of follow me vehicles required!