The recent recurrent training phase included a SLATS DRIVE failure during takeoff at high weight. At some point, the crew is confronted with the decision about whether to retract flap or not. The results of doing so would not be so amusing had I not done the same myself ……
This post went live in Feb, 2010 – back when I was in the wilderness of looking for a smartphone. I’ve since gone Android – first the Nexus One, now the Nexus S – and I’m pleased with both of them. But I’m writing an article at the moment about the lack of choice when […]
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 […]
Recently, I was THAT GUY … Have you ever slept in for work? In aviation that takes on a special meaning, given the way the tasks of dozens of people and departments revolve around the scheduled departure time of a flight. In my previous company we were collected for work by crew transport – a […]
This weekend I was forced to trade Nuclear Chicken for Chocolate Cake. The Cake was wonderful as always – but Nuclear Chicken would have been nice …
It seems like I’ve spent most of my life commuting to work. Of course I’m not alone in this, but while for most it’s a suburban to city drive, for some of my friends this means a walk/car/train/tram experience from Geelong to Melbourne, for me it’s a little more. Geelong to Sydney. This morning I rose at 6am to […]
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 […]
My wife and I irregularly take breakfast at a charming cafe about 20 minutes out of Geelong Victoria where we live. It’s called the?Red Door Cafe,?Inverleigh. We don’t just go there for the food and fare. Don’t get me wrong – they do a gorgeous breakfast made with for the most part locally grown organic […]
I have recently been looking at the allowances paid down route to us in LAX, with a view to developing and easy way to identify a discrepancy in what we should be paid; and to re-calculate what the difference should be in the event of an early arrival or delayed departure. Accordingly, I have developed […]
![Cold Temperature Altimetry Corrections [Corrected 26Jun17]](https://www.infinidim.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ColdTemp12.jpg "coldtemp12")
I’ve been looking at Cold Temperature Altimetry Corrections in anticipation of potentially operating into such environments again in the near future. While my professional past includes operating the 777 to Moscow, Baku, Seuol, Beijing and a few other cold temperature destinations – most of the last decade has been focussed on Australia, Los Angeles, and […]
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 […]
I’m working on an update to the Practices and Techniques document I developed several years ago. While this has been a published document in my airline for several years, it was recently taken offline and is now a training background reference, as was the original intention of it’s development. Just one of the many subjects […]
Most pilots at some point develop a set of crib notes on the aircraft and operation they fly. For some this is quick and dirty, it essentially gets them through line training and these home grown notes are often then abandoned. Current Version : 06.Jul.2012 and can be downloaded as a PDF here. For many […]
So recently I was called out to operate a Check Simulator session on one of our pilots who is returning to the fleet after a spell on another aircraft type. Since this was a one-off session, he was rostered with another pilot in support. When this occurs I like to make contact with the support […]
A question concerning a recent change to the missed approach procedures in Dubai UAE (OMDB) has raised some interesting points about the 777 in this flight regime – high thrust, low altitude, high pilot workload; and ATC procedures that would seem to be not too well thought out. Specifically the new procedure introduces a not-above […]
