Missed Approach Acceleration

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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 [...]

Boeing 787: A Pilots Perspective

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I was fortunate enough to be invited by Boeing and Qantas – along with a very small number of other television, radio and print journalists – to be part of Media Team 787, a media only flight from Sydney to Brisbane and return on board N787BX (ZA003). Configured with 135 seats, less than 30 guests [...]

Boeing 787 Review: The Passenger Experience

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I was fortunate to be invited by Boeing and Qantas – along with a very small number of other television, radio and print journalists – to be part of Media Team 787, a media only flight from Sydney to Brisbane and return onboard N787BX (ZA003). Configured with 135 seats, less than 30 guests were permitted [...]

Boeing 787 Confirmed for Jetstar in August 2013 (Full Press Audio from 26th May 2012)

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I was fortunate to be invited by Boeing and Qantas – along with a very small number of other television, radio and print journalists – to be part of Media Team 787, a media only flight from Sydney to Brisbane and return onboard N787BX (ZA003). Configured with 135 seats, less than 30 guests were permitted [...]

Gear Up Landings and Pilot Error

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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 [...]

WordPress Shortcode for FMA Annunciations, FMC Messages & the MCP

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This post was originally posted to one of my tech blogs with an intended audience of no more than just a few people. Despite its relative obscurity to the aviation world, I’ve received quite a few emails asking for support (who would have thought there would be a market for this stuff?). I’ve reposted the [...]

Runway Change on Departure

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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 [...]

FlightAware Tracking Services Now Available in Australia

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For the first time ever, nationwide flight tracking, airport delays and status updates, real-time maps, and flight alerts are available for private and commercial flights throughout Australia. As of 8am this morning, the FlightAware aircraft tracking services will be available for Australian general aviation and commercial flights. FlightAware are the first (public) tracking service to [...]

Flight For Control – Karlene Petitt

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For the last two years I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Karlene Petitt on a number of projects – including a number of websites and a podcast. As a group, we’ve followed the progress of her first novel with great interest. In fact, in the early days of our collaboration, her book was [...]

Putting the Boeing 787 on the Map

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Who said testing ETOPS had to be boring? At 13:33 PST on the 9th Feb, 2012, Boeing Commercial Airplane Flight 236, painted in Air India livery, departed Boeing Field Intl (KBFI) for an 18 hour maximum ETOPS (Extended Operations) flight test as part of the 787-8 GE engine certification. Rather than engage in just another [...]

A Discussion with Ali Wanchap

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Congratulations to Ali Wanchap on becoming Australia’s newest commercial helicopter pilot. Ali was once plugged into the big city fast lane working in PR and marketing for a major fashion label alongside Sydney’s social elitists. A vacation to Africa changed that when she took a scenic flight in a helicopter. The experience reinforced what she [...]

Migrating to the Boeing 737

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Joining my current airline was a challenging decision. I was leaving one the highest paid jobs in corporate aviation that provided lifestyle options I’ll probably never see again — as long as I’m working for somebody else, that is. If my previous job was based in Sydney it’s unlikely I would have ever left. However, [...]

Metar to Twitter – Free service

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Some time back we set up a number of Twitter accounts that would automate the hourly posting of aviation metars for a small number of airports (examples: @YSSYmetar & @KLAXmetar). We were later inundated with requests from people that wanted us to set up accounts for their own local airports. It was a little time-prohibitive [...]

A Discussion with Jetstar Jeff

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One of the things I like best about aviation is the amazing stories from all the people I’ve worked with. Unlike most traditional (boring) jobs, the career of a pilot generally has a unique and fascinating back-story that deserves to be told. Jeff has worked for a few general aviation organisations, he’s owned a number [...]