Around the world in 66hrs on a MD11F

donkey balls

Saw this on another site a short vid on the operations of a Lufty MD11F as it goes around the globe it kinda gives an insight into how freighter ops work and one of the freighter work horses which is the MD11F enjoy.:D
Also anytime I flew with my aul crowd on the same aircraft about an hour into the flight the lads would get out of there uniforms into t shirts etc.:p
http://dailyherold.tv/2010/03/24/exclusive-first-on-daily-herold-round-the-world-in-66-hours-in-the-cockpit-of-the-cargo-kings/

cocoshovel

Gives a great insight to the amount of work that the MD-11 and its crew do, its truly amazing. The amount of little problems pilots and crews come into every flight shows how prepared one has to be. No toilet for such a long time :eek:

The flight from Hawaii to New Zealand was great in terms of views. There's something exotic about that particular route I think, I was especially intrigued by the way they disinfected the plane at NZ. Is that just for insects or what?

I loved how they only turned on the runway lights shortly before landing in Malaysia , and all that condensation in the hold was weird. Finally, Pakistan seems mental with the way they handle freight.

highlydebased

Great watch! I love the german sarcasm..."Do they think the crew are going to kidnap themselves?"

bkehoe

cocoshovel wrote: »

I was especially intrigued by the way they disinfected the plane at NZ. Is that just for insects or what?

Yeah they're very careful in NZ, Oz, etc about introducing new invasive species of insects, animals, etc, that normally couldn't get into the country. In addition to these insects potentially becoming dominant over an indigenous species they may also carry parasites, disease, etc that could affect people as well as livestock.

Even in South Africa where I've spent a good bit of time they're quite concerned about it too and every aircraft is sprayed with insecticide shortly after closing up the doors for departure although some operators tend to do it shortly before landing. This even happens on flights within the continent. Whats quite amusing though is that returning to Europe there's no concern and no insecticide sprayed!

donkey balls

My aull crowd operated flights that would go around the globe starting in MEM-LAX-HNL-SYD-SIN then SFS-DXB-CDG-MEM we had a courier from AMSTERDAM who junpseated to see his mate in Melbourne it took him a few days and when he landed in Sydney the ops manager arranged for him to be tucked to Melbourne which is another 12 hour drive.
As for the MD11 they are a work horse and are more economic to run than a 747 the MD11 will be replaced in the future with the 777 as they born less fuel and hold more positions on the main deck.

Buffman

I'd say that Captain was raging when he got that overspeed warning in front of the cameras.

That other Captain talking about bringing the family along was interesting, would make a nice holiday!

cocoshovel wrote: »

Pakistan seems mental with the way they handle freight.

Ye, that was funny. Sort of like the antichrist of German efficiency.:D

eitlean

bkehoe wrote: »

Yeah they're very careful in NZ, Oz, etc about introducing new invasive species of insects, animals, etc, that normally couldn't get into the country. In addition to these insects potentially becoming dominant over an indigenous species they may also carry parasites, disease, etc that could affect people as well as livestock.

Even in South Africa where I've spent a good bit of time they're quite concerned about it too and every aircraft is sprayed with insecticide shortly after closing up the doors for departure although some operators tend to do it shortly before landing. This even happens on flights within the continent. Whats quite amusing though is that returning to Europe there's no concern and no insecticide sprayed!

Not in my experience. Coming out of India, back to Europe, we got sprayed before take off. The crew just walk around the aircraft with little sprays. You'd hardly notice them.

bkehoe

eitlean wrote: »

You'd hardly notice them.

Perhaps the Indians have something really bad or it was an exception on whatever airline you were on.

Believe me when I say that I've done Sub-Saharan African trips often enough and with at least 6 different airlines that I'd have noticed if it was a sop. The smell is one of those you never forget as well!

eitlean

Virgin Atlantic. Was even before we took off. I'd imagine that was because there were mosquitos around and for comfort of pax they killed them off for the flight. Though, I would think anywhere that is malaria prone would have the requirement to be sprayed before arrival. Maybe, on your flight they didn't walk the aisle but just let the canisters off in the galley...

roundymac

I flew back from South Africa with Virgin and the cabin was sprayed before take off. They also did it on a return flight from China a couple of years later. They announced that it was being done to kill any bugs that may have entered the plane while it was parked on the ground, but that it was harmless to humans. :eek:

pclancy

cocoshovel wrote: »

I was especially intrigued by the way they disinfected the plane at NZ. Is that just for insects or what?

They've very big on keeping biohazards out of NZ, your baggage gets scanned for any bio material on arrival and you must declare any tiny piece of food or plant life or face fines etc. Lots of interesting indigenous species down here that they want to keep predator free Its kind of refreshing to have immigration officials obsessed with biohazards instead of bomb threats.

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/enter/declare

I enjoyed that doco, interesting to see how the freight dogs live and their interesting route assignments. I'll keep an eye out for that Md11 next time I pass through Auckland.