Recently a crew in the sim elected to hold until the completion of the Fuel Imbalance checklist before commencing an Approach. Since fuel balancing can take quite some time, they were in for a long wait …
B777
Slats Drive Go-Around
The last phase of recurrent simulator training included a two engine go-around after a Slats Drive failure. For no apparent reason the AP/FD pitches to less than 10 degrees and accelerates well through Flap Limit speed. According to Boeing, this is expected behavior.
Boeing 777 Fuel Leak
I’ve had precious little time in the B777 over the past 12 months, and to be honest I don’t anticipate flying one again. But I came across some content that I created early last year and thought one last article for old time’s sake. We introduced a Fuel Leak into the last recurrent phase towards […]
Infinidim B777 Procedures and Techniques
For the last decade or so, I have been working on a document called Boeing 777 Procedures and Techniques. It has it’s genesis in what was originally a Common Errors document based on observations of Pilot/Student actions in the Simulator – but most particularly Instructor/Examiner activity in the Brief/Sim/Debrief as well. See the Feb 2021 […]
V Australia 777 Delivery Flight : #2 Melbourne Airport – 07:00 03Feb09
In February 2009 I was part of the team that picked up Virgin Australia’s (then V Australia) first Boeing 777-300ER. Having arrived into the airline in June 2008, it had been a long 7 months – very long – but now we were about to get an aeroplane – and fly it. For the benefit […]
Low Missed Approach Altitude Restriction
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 […]
Low Visibility Operations – Boeing 777
As a second officer in the B747-400 in the early 90’s, my exposure to Low Visibility Operations (LVOPS) or LWMO as Cathay called it then (Low Weather Minima Operations) was pretty minimal. Thus my first real exposure to racing down a runway at 300kph in 75m visibility Fog – or someone calling “LANDING!” on approach […]
V Australia 777 Delivery Flight : #6 Seattle – 17:00L 03Feb09
In February 2009 I was part of the team that picked up Virgin Australia’s (then V Australia) first Boeing 777-300ER. Having arrived into the airline in June 2008, it had been a long 7 months – very long – but now we were about to get an aeroplane – and fly it. For the benefit […]
V Australia 777 Delivery Flight : #9 Seattle Tour – 12:00L 05Feb09
In February 2009 I was part of the team that picked up Virgin Australia’s (then V Australia) first Boeing 777-300ER. Having arrived into the airline in June 2008, it had been a long 7 months – very long – but now we were about to get an aeroplane – and fly it. For the benefit […]
When do you Rotate?
A while ago I was looking into tail clearances on takeoff, rotation technique and most importantly what tools were available to train and evaluate rotation technique in the simulator and the aircraft. As part of this review the question was raised about the calling of “Rotate” on takeoff and the initiation of the rotation manoeuvre […]
V Australia 777 Delivery Flight : #10 Delivery Party – 19:00L 05Feb09
In February 2009 I was part of the team that picked up Virgin Australia’s (then V Australia) first Boeing 777-300ER. Having arrived into the airline in June 2008, it had been a long 7 months – very long – but now we were about to get an aeroplane – and fly it. For the benefit […]
Clipboard Reference : 06Jul16
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 […]
Performance Limited Takeoff
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.
Engine Out Drift Down – and the FMA
I’m working on an update to the Practices and Techniques document I developed in 2008. 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 for it’s development. Something that’s been missing for a while […]
EICAS CABIN ALTITUDE – Controllable?
I’m working on an update to the Practices and Techniques document I developed in 2008. 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 for it’s development. Just one of the many subjects currently […]