Aviation lifestyle blog. Airlines. Training. Travel.
Managing a departure with a performance limited takeoff can be one of the more challenging tasks that face the Captain of an aircraft today. It all sounds simple enough in theory. Based on the Airport/Runway, Ambient Weather Conditions and Aircraft, a computer will spit out down to the kilogram how much weight you’re allowed to lift off the runway. From this number a passenger/cargo and fuel load is determined – and off you go. But all is not as it seems.
As Boeing’s first Fly-By-Wire aircraft (although not necessarily fly-by-wire by the Airbus definition) the 777 introduced a flight control augmentation system that the first fly by wire Airbus aircraft did not – Thrust Assymetry Compensation, or TAC. The basic problem is clear. During an engine failure on a twin wing-mounted engine aircraft there is an [...]
When I arrived at V Australia in 2008 I discovered that what was missing was the institutional knowledge that an established airline develops over time, but never writes down … so I did. Eventually it became the SOP Guide : Practices & Techniques document. This blog series documents the continual growth of this training resource. [...]
One of my first tasks when I arrived at V Australia in early June 2008 was to watch simulator transition training being conducted at our new simulator in Silverwater, Sydney. The students were straight off the street pilots who had come from regional airlines – in most cases it was their first jet, their first [...]
The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority released a Crew Resource Management training package mid-2010 designed to provide training material to general aviation and Low Capacity RPT (LCRPT) operators. Titled “Safety Behaviours: Human Factors for Pilots”, the toolkit includes a DVD and a number of work booklets that can be used to supplement existing classroom-based group [...]
Recently I was asked to write an article for an internal company training newsletter about flying slow. Having finished it I thought I’d replicate it here for others. Note the following article is aimed specifically at the Boeing 777 series aircraft, although the concept is common across all transport category jet aircraft flying slow at [...]
In episode 5 of Flight Podcast we talk with John King of King Schools. Kings Schools has a hand in training over 50% of the pilot population in the United States at some point in their career via a library of over 90 courses that can be completed using interactive DVD’s or online via their [...]
Recently, after commenting on the latest of Qantas’ engine troubles, I was asked to talk about what was an “interesting” in-flight moment for me. Despite this being one of the most common questions, I realised that I’ve never blogged about “interesting” flight moments – which of course immediately motivated me to do so.
Friend and fellow podcaster Karlene Pettit recently blogged on managing the A330 speed/configuration during approach. I thought it might be interesting to explore the topic on the 777.
In our most recent episode of Flight Podcast we talk to Janine Shepherd. Janine Shepherd was a champion cross-country skier in training for the Winter Olympics when her life was suddenly and irrevocably altered during a training bicycle ride to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. A speeding utility truck struck Janine and shattered her [...]
On the way to the conference, the status of EFB in the modern flight deck is reviewed from inception over the last decade to the current move towards consumer devices such as the iPad.
Recently I conducted some research into the concept of the requirement for the Pilot Flying (PF) to guard the flight controls when the autopilot is engaged during critical phases of flight such as takeoff or landing. So many of the habits and procedures we use as professional aviators are instilled in us by previous instructors, [...]
Between trying to record and produce for an Australian based aviation TV program, podcasting (which is taking for more time than any of our participants ever expected – due in part to the extroadinary popularity of it after only one episode) and a hectic international schedule, the posts to this blog have dropped off a [...]
The FAA freely releases all their questions and answers making them a useful took for flying schools engaged in that level of training. The data, however, is often difficult to implement into other online applications because the data is generally disseminated as a text file or PDF. We’ve parsed the data into a MySQL database [...]
Some time back we set up a number of Twitter accounts that would automate the hourly posting of … [Read More...]
From all of the contributors at flight.org, we would like to wish you all the best of the holiday … [Read More...]
One of my fellow pilots was diagnosed and treated for Prostate Cancer about two years ago. … [Read More...]
It's Tax time again and as since I'm one of those lazy people who does all the work at the end, … [Read More...]
In March of this year, a Southwest pilot inadvertently broadcast a homophobic tirade of foul mouthed … [Read More...]
The industrial unrest within the Qantas group is no secret. The long-haul pilot body, engineers, … [Read More...]
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