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One of the limitations I’ve encountered with today’s all singing all dancing aircraft simulators is the total inability to simulate casual mapshift. As you know, the position of the aircraft (for display on the Map and as used by a number of systems) – is determined by the FMC (Flight Management Computer). Of course the [...]
There has been some discussion recently around FMC scratchpad messages, their role in flight deck alerting, and an appropriate crew response. Most particularly around the habit that some crew develop – usually during transition simulator training when many spurious messages are generated and often cleared without real understanding of their meaning). We areseeing this in [...]
Sometimes something as simple in the aircraft as looking and assessing the indications in front of you can be far more complex that it first seems. I was reminded of this in the simulator recently as several crews were required to assess aircraft pressurisation performance during a door unlocked indication failure in flight. First, some [...]
The Boeing 787 is certainly a revolutionary step from anything Boeing has done recently – and from anything else Boeing seems to have planned in the future it would seem, judging by the 737-Max. From what I can glean on the web, the 737 Max while incorporating some revolutionary technologies in the engines and airframe [...]
We are reviewing Decision Making Models at the moment. On the 777, we’ve used FORDEC, which is very close to the European model, except we’ve replaced “Check” with “Communicate”, which may or may not have been a good thing. Other fleets in our airline are using GRADE or NMATE. There are several reasons why Decision [...]
I’ve recently been contacted by a friend from a previous airline who now works for another Middle Eastern carrier, flying 777′s. Interestingly enough – he’s chasing down information on Missed Approach Acceleration – an issue I also encountered when I arrived at my current airline in 2008. Image Credit: At that time, the initial training [...]
This failure seems simple enough – one of the engines is low on oil pressure; the checklist reduces thrust and shuts down the affected engine. Then there’s the reality of dealing with an engine NNM (Non-Normal) under various conditions of high altitude and high thrust settings. This failure has something of a history in 777 [...]
Currently I’m evaluating research on the roles of the Captain vs the First Officer in the detection and correction of procedural errors on the flight deck. Fortunately I’m not looking at our entire operation, just one small corner of it. First, some background. Delaying Final FMC Performance Data Entry Our SOP’s are pretty much based on Boeing’s [...]
Ok, so this one may be a little controversial. As you read it remember that unlike many of my professional brethren, in my dim dark past I actually have been a Cruise Relief First Officer (actually a Second Officer, or more accurately at times, the Captain’s sexual advisor) on a ULH operation for almost 3 [...]
There’s an old adage in aviation that reads, “There are two types of pilots: Those that have landed gear up, and those that will.” I’m not a big believer in these silly phrases — their purpose being to bring solace to the group of pilots that are most likely to make the mistake. That doesn’t [...]
Abu Dhabi (OMAA/AUH) High Temperature Flight Operations. After my recent debacle in Abu Dhabi – and another occurrence involving offload and a 4 hour delay- I was asked to prepare some specific advice for Captains operating out of Abu Dhabi. Background Due to high temperatures, most Abu Dhabi departures during mid Summer experience a potential [...]
A Runway Change, particularly once the aircraft has begun to move under it’s own power, can be a profound change to implement on the flight deck. If you sit on the flight deck in cruise, look around and consider the worst sequence of runway change – say from a long runway away from terrain and [...]
Years ago, back in the mid 90′s, when I was undertaking my instrument rating, a friend sent me a link to download a tacky little PC-based procedural trainer that I ended up using for hours on end in an attempt to reinforce the principles behind VOR and NDB intercepts and approaches. There’s no doubt in [...]
A few weeks ago I gave my initial insights into the 737 type rating process (after migrating from our 777 fleet). I intended to post quite regularly on the specifics of training, but the nature of the course content was quite intense leaving me with little option other than neglect everything outside the little 737 [...]
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