wings1011

1500 NM with gear down must take considerable longer than 3h 30 min. im not familiar exactly in what speed the 747 can fly with gear down but I guess its not far from 250kts I guess ? (like on types I know). I also would think that the max alt is limited ? maybe to FL250 ? easy math then would be much longer flt time. Or am I wrong ?

Regards

Wings1011

parabellum

The numbers I quoted in post #15 are taken from the Ops manual, Vol 3 for the B744. I worked on a trip distance of 2000miles rather than 1500, as I guessed he would be avoiding over water as much as possible. Flight time around 6 hours.

CR2

Wings1011... Go back to page 1 AND READ THE THREAD! Its all there and only 3 pages.

__________________
CR2

mcsweep

The 747-4 has Gear Down Performance tables in the QRH. There is no mention of a 50 mile limit for Gear Down Ops. Airlines can purchase Gear Down dispatch option from Boeing and fly PAX in that configuration. There is a way to switch the PFD airspeed barber pole to show the max gear speed/mach as the max airspeed.

TOFFAIR

I think there should be more information to criticize the captain, who knows what problems else might have been on that aircraft... I personally wouldnt be keen to make 1500NM gear down over water, considering OEI, or decompression, or encountering severe wheater (other than icing!). Maybe the reason somehow something private. It's interesting only few question the attitude of the airline, and as mentioned, it wouldnt change anything anyway. BTW, does anybody know if it was an expat?

rdr

there is a 50 nm routing req from any land mass at all times.
climb performance is a problem (less than 1000 feet a min up to 10,000, then about 500 ft a min up to fl 200, for most suitably powered a/c) so terrain a big factor.
noise, is pretty loud.
and she sinks like a brick on the descent.
270-280 kts at 20000 will roughly double the flt time.
did one, surabaya-sin on a 310. circled round the field thrice to gain alt. due to the central javan range of mountains. and southern sumatra.
it does take preparation as it is not something you just jump into the seat and go.

autoflight

There are times when the captain is required to make decisions that are unpopular with the airline. Some of the reasons may appear trivial, but if the decisions are made in good faith there should be no significant action taken.

If the Operation Director or other management staff are so intent on taking away such decisions from the captain, they should fly all the flights.

There are some captain decisions that traditionally suffer little or no management interference, like go-arounds and weather avoidance. Where management feel, correctly or not, that the captain is disrespectful of them or unconcerned about profit and disruption, they are more inclined to interfere severely in those areas.

Pilot retaining his authority to accept MEL items or not, is an area where I have seen airlines more inclined to try to deny the captain his considered choice. Finally, the public statement avoids mention of the captain's multiple considerations.

The process is more difficult in some cultures, with a foreign contract captain or if the co-pilot decides that MEL acceptance is not sufficiently safe.

Often the acceptance decision is reasonably clear cut, and even in the face of company pressure, there is little lasting action. The more difficult situation is where a decision is counter to normally accepted practice.

In spite of the difficulties, the captain is bound to make the most correct decision without fear or favour.