Friday 31 December 2010
A New Year
Thursday 23 December 2010
Happy Holidays
Thursday 2 December 2010
That glow
Tuesday 30 November 2010
It flies!
Sunday 14 November 2010
Dubai
Sunday 17 October 2010
More about training
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Part two begins... slowly
Saturday 25 September 2010
End of part one
Hotel Romeo arrived on time from China, a rare event. We departed on time, didn't hit any weather and were number-one-high-speed for the rest of the evening, making up time everywhere and ending up a nice 30 minutes early back home. Lots of pictures were taken, and to celebrate the event the brilliant Captain H did all the paperwork for the day while I assumed the command position as demonstrated below:
Thursday 16 September 2010
Singapore - High Speed
Sunday 12 September 2010
Thursday 19 August 2010
Hong Kong - High speed
Saturday 14 August 2010
A few firsts
Thursday 5 August 2010
When the heavens open again
Wednesday 4 August 2010
When the heavens open...
I can see the CB drift in as I prepare the aircraft, willing the ground staff to get on with it and allow us to depart early. The huge mass of very dark, almost black cloud is slowly but steadily moving towards the airfield.
...
I call for pushback clearance as the first drops are starting to fall. This will be tight. In the 3 minutes it takes us to push, start the engines and get the checks done the few drops have turned into a steady shower. Tower has just reported a 180˚ change in wind direction, and the intensity is increasing rapidly. Taxi please.
We reach the holding point, #2 for departure. The departure path looks very unpleasant. A company 320 backtracks the runway from the far end where it had been almost ready to go before the 20kt tailwind appears. Just as it starts to roll the heavens really open up and the visibility drops to 2000, 1000 then only 500 meters. That's 500 meters in RAIN. The plane is shaking from the power of the gusts and I feel like I'm sitting in a car wash.
...
20 minutes later it's still raining hard. 2 aircraft have gone around, one has diverted, there are 3 of us on the ground waiting to depart. The rain eases slightly and the other side of the airfield reappears - the visibility is about 1-2000 meters now. Side ways glance, nod, and I call ready.
Lining up I can see maybe 1/3 of the 3000 meter runway. Not a lot but well above our minimums. The runway looks like a swimming pool. Take off.
Hundred Knots! I think to myself that I can't really see much runway at all - the rain is completely defeating the wipers which are frantically flapping up and down and outside is just a blur of grey with some light either side.
Vee-one, rotate! Thank goodness we are flying now - no runway edge to worry about, just the menace of downdrafts and windshear. With TOGA power set and the gear stowed away the rather light 'bus powers into the sky.
...
5 minutes later we are at FL140, 20 miles from the airport and the sky ahead is a clear summer blue with only a few little clouds here and there. The muscles in my legs start to loosen and I stop squeezing the side stick. Captain K is also looking a little more relaxed now, the take off was bad enough for me as pilot monitoring - actually keeping the bus on the very badly lit runway (which we couldn't see) in a 20 knot crosswind (which we could feel) can't have been much fun.
...
Landing at destination, only 100 miles away, is in CAVOK weather. The return leg is only slightly bumpy and by the time we're back the monster CB, 50 miles by 30 miles, has gone to play elsewhere. I see the runway at 12 miles and grease a landing on what is now only a slightly damp runway. Yet another day in the topics.
S.
Friday 30 July 2010
Safety refreshers
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Sinus infections
Sunday 4 July 2010
Deaths, alarms and broken cameras
Thursday 1 July 2010
June
Thursday 3 June 2010
A really visual approach
Monday 31 May 2010
Time Off
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Pictures - 6
Sunday 18 April 2010
Eyjafjallajökull
- For reasons I don't fully understand, but are related to ice and snow, the ash plume is getting propagated into the higher atmosphere - the place modern aeroplanes hang around - with stunning violence. The ash also seems to be extremely fine and lightweight which means it could remain airborne for weeks or months.
- There is a jetstream - a high speed current of wind - located roughly over the volcano which snakes it's way towards the North sea before dying out, and there is little movement over Europe itself. Think of a strong river pouring in to a rather stagnant estuary.
- The affects of ash are not very well documented other than the fact that they ruin gas turbine engines. As no one really knows what intensity is considered a cut off between 'safe' and 'unsafe', and there is very little data available about the actual intensity of the ash floating over Europe.
Wednesday 14 April 2010
What visibility?!
Thursday 25 March 2010
Macau
Monday 15 March 2010
Kinabalu Landing
Friday 12 March 2010
Friday 19 February 2010
Saturday 13 February 2010
Gong Xi Fa Cai....
...or Happy Chinese New Year.
Wednesday 10 February 2010
Sim check recipe
- 2 x Line pilots
- 1 x Examiner
- 1 x Box of tricks (Simulator)
- 1 x Scenario
- 1 x Very very cold CBT (Computer Based Torture ... err ... Training) room.
- Marinate the crew in CBT for at least 4 hours the day before to tenderise the nerves and numb the brain cells. Temperature should be no more than 15° for optimal numbing. Rest overnight.
- Put examiner and line pilots into small room for 30 minutes with the scenario for what's called a briefing. For added spice add some oral questions.
- Put the mixture into the box of tricks for 2 hours. Throw in some engine failures, hand flown ILS and VOR approaches and go-arounds. If you like a crispy crew replace one or all engine failures with fires.
- Remove crew for 15 minutes.
- Repeat step three, reversing the roles of the 2 pilots.
- Return crew to small room for a 15 minute debriefing.