Hong Kong - High speed

Descent and landing in Hong Kong on a beautiful afternoon. 30 minutes are condensed into 3 and a half which makes for a very nice effect I find.

Please excuse the very very stupid autofocus on the camera. I shall replace it as soon as I can.

S.

A few firsts

A few firsts today, my first day flying in over a week:

We landed with the lowest visibility yet, a mere 600 meters. Any lower and it's cat 2 / autoland operations. There was a stiff 20kt crosswind, lightning, and the usual driving rain as well.

I received my latest landing clearance, at about 150ft above the runway. Some ignorant A330 crew flying for a flag carrier decided to take their sweet time backtracking to vacate at an intersection 1500m from the landing threshold, and 1000m from the far end.

Actually I have received later landing clearances, at maybe 100ft, but this was flying a 1300kg tin can doing 55 knots. Flying a 62 ton bus doing 140 knots makes it rather more ... exhilarating.

Finally I logged my thousandth hour today, somewhere near Singapore. I don't suddenly feel different or anything, but the 4 digits look cool in the logbook. I think I was pilot flying as well.

S.

When the heavens open again

Different day, different crew, different place but very much the same theme as my last post. I wrote it a while ago but then lost it in my flight bag for a while.

The sun has set behind us as we race towards Kuching. Singapore Radar says good bye and Kuching Radar says hello. The super advanced weather radar is telling me that our destination is sitting right under a very active raincloud, and the HUGE clouds which are now barely visible in the dwindling sunlight confirm this. I ask for 20 miles off track to avoid the worst of it.

...

10 minutes and 20 000ft later we're getting into the thick of it. Weather avoidance has become futile - the best I can do is avoid the red bits on the radar. Outside the rain is giving us a good planewash and the odd embedded CB I can't avoid massages the passengers, quite forcefully at times. We eventually clear the worst of the weather and accept vectors for final. The weather radar is telling us the approach and landing should be dry-ish. We have flown 30 extra miles by now.

...

Director turns us onto final approach at 12 miles and I intercept the localiser and glide path at the same time, just as we reach the interception altitude. I always get a kick out of flying a constant descent and keeping the engines at idle and even the weather hasn't ruined it too badly today. The runway appears ahead of us and it looks like this will be an uneventful approach.

...

4 miles from touch down and I realise this won't be an uneventful approach. Surface winds are reported calm yet I'm flying straight into 25knots which can only mean that there is a big nasty thunder cell nearby. There suddenly is a whole lot of red right over the runway and some drops are hitting the windscreen. My senses are on high alert for any sign of windshear.

100ft above the ground and the few drops are now a torrential downpour. The wipers are flapping uselessly and the rain repellant (some sort of goo that should make it easier to see out when it's raining) is not working - as usual. All I can see is a blur of light either side where the runway edges should be and a whole lot of black everywhere else. Head down, I fly the ILS to 50 feet then flare on the radio altimeter half expecting the resulting landing to break my back ... and it doesn't. The touch down is beautiful and more or less on centreline - although I can't see any sign of it. Full reverse, full brakes and we're off a few seconds later.

...

After shutting down (20 minutes later because of a gate mixup - but that's another story) I discuss the landing with the captain. He reckons we had about 1000m visibility on touch down and we both agree that it was a rather unpleasant final approach. The rain thunders down for another 15 minutes then suddenly stops, as if someone switched off a tap somewhere. Take-off back to Singapore is uneventful, most of the nasty weather has gone to play elsewhere.

S.

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.

Safety refreshers

It's hard to believe that my SEP course was already a year ago, but it was, and I earlier this week I got summoned back to the academy for a 3 day refresher... A really perfect way to end 10 days' leave at home.

The SEP refresher is slightly less drawn out than the initial course - lasting 3 days instead of 3 weeks - and comprises a written exam about the life saving gadgets which we have on board, a fire fighting drill, opening and shutting the door, jumping down the slide (which is great fun), swimming around in full uniform (which isn't fun at all), learning how to make proper announcements and talking about CRM (or how to avoid accidents).

First flight in 2 weeks tomorrow and I'm really looking forwards to flying again.

S.

Sinus infections

My only advice on the subject is to never, ever, ever get one. Ever. They are painful, unpleasant things which involve lots of anti-biotics, anti-congestants, hideous nose sprays and getting the inside of your face hoovered through a tube stuck down (or up?) your nose.

Needless to say I'm not working, just have enough energy to laze on the sofa and stare at the computer screen wishing the week would hurry up and end.

S.

Deaths, alarms and broken cameras

I had a very varied and interesting day today. I was called to fly to Sandakan then Shenzhen - a gruelling 11 hour duty day starting at 6 in the morning. This sector is notorious for ending late due to Hong Kong flow control.

The first event took place on initial approach to Sandakan. We were descending through a layer of light haze - about 5000ft above sea level - when there was an almighty BANG. Out of nowhere a rather large bird had smacked straight into the Captain's windshield... Well I think it was a large bird judging by the 50cm x 50cm red splat it left behind. The startling thing is we didn't see it come and had it ended up in an engine I think we would have spent the night in Sandakan. I now have a newfound respect for the strength of our windshields.

The second event took place en-route to Shenzhen, about half-way, was the master warning going off as the Captain and I were both busy daydreaming. I don't mind saying my heart and book both made a leap for the ceiling. The FIRE - SMOKE IN LAV warning had just gone off telling us that some faggot had decided to light up in one of the toilets. Fire is a very severe risk on an aeroplane and smoking in the toilet is extremely dangerous due to the amount of flammable paper in the immediate vicinity. Thankfully the cabin crew reacted quickly, admonished the culprit and ventilated the toilet.

The arrival into Shenzhen was spectacular - the sky over Hong Kong was clear and the visibility extremely good for once. There plenty of amazing photo opportunities as we overflew Hong Kong Island, Victoria Harbour, the old Kai Tak airport (whose runway surprisingly hasn't been built on yet) and came very close to some heavy jets on approach to Hong Kong airport. On departure we overflew an equally clear Zuhai and Macau and got a stunning view of the runway in the middle of the bay.

Unfortunately I can't share anything I saw because today was the first day in 6 months that I didn't bring any camera with me Typical.

S.

June

June has been a very busy month. Lots of flying, and all my days off were filled with some activity or another... Not that I remember having many days off.

The intense thunderstorm season is slowly starting again the weather radar is getting more and more colourful. Although the whole year is thunderstorm season at the equator June-November seem to be the more active months.

I've had a few interesting moments this month - Kinabalu was landing runway 20 for a few days which involves an offset VOR approach over the city centre. It's quite fun to fly, especially with a bit of weather, and I shall post a video soon.

I also flew into Hong Kong for the first time, after months of flying over/around/beside it en-route to China or Macau. Hong Kong does beat Singapore on the airport coolness scale, the airport is busier, the spacing tighter, the weather is different (less thunderstorm, more wind) and one could be forgiven for thinking it's London from time to time with all the English accents on frequency. There are plenty of nice looking tails to enjoy too. Once out of the airport and in the city I think prefer Singapore though, Hong Kong is a little too wild for my taste ... and I don't understand any of the adds in the underground.

I have a few videos to upload, will attempt to do so soon.

S.

A really visual approach

Captain E's visual approach to Kota Kinabalu, over the hills. First 30ish seconds are accelerated - we weren't really going 400kts so close to the ground.

Filmed a few days before I went on leave.

Time Off

Immediately after completing my session in the box of tricks I went home for a fortnight - hence the lack of posts. The cool crisp dry May air was lovely to breathe, as was being able to drive my car after nearly 7 months away. Unfortunately I didn't get much "rest" with all the rushing about to see various friends and I managed to drive 1500 miles spending a fortune on petrol, but going home really was healthy.

I've been back a week now and am slowly getting back into the rhythm of 12-14h days and sleeping at the oddest hours. My roster isn't exactly gentle but on the other hand I gather the hours very very quickly.

Stories will recommence once something interesting happens.

S.