Emirates A340-300 incident @ JoBurg. Report is public

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Re: The Emirates A 340-300 incident report is public

According to the report EK started operations in 1986 and the UAE CAA came into being in 1996.

So EK has effectively been operating without a CAA for about ten years.

Hence a lot of very personnel interpretations of training and performance issues by the few in control, became law. Effectively the EK FOM a complilation of notes and FCI's was the bible and there were many serious mistakes in it.

During this period EK hired the wrong people to run it’s OPS department, people that also bluntly ignored the advice of many very capable pilots in the EK pilot pool.

Genuine professionals were slaughtered in their attempt to raise important safety related issues and some others simply resigned.

To setup an aviation authority that is effective and efficient takes a very long time. It is time that EK realizes that pilots, who are critical, often do so because they are genuinely concerned. If mistakes are made they should be admitted and corrected.

Those that knew that things were wrong were afraid to stand up against it and they were right not to do so. It's too dangerous.

I feel sorry for the Captain and First Officer on that flight. They were not given the tools to do their job properly and were rostered to a restricted or even a restricted + Airport.

I am pleased to see that for the A 380 induction, EK has chosen a capable chap but he needs all the help he can get.

Good luck James and thanks for your help in the past.





Flight Detent.

On the B 737-800 we have the same problem, it’s very critical.

I look outside during the takeoff run and rotation. As soon as directional cues disappear I transfer inside.

Rotation continues but never above 10° pitch until I am airborne.

To determine that, I use the “click noise” that emerges from the solenoid in the gear handle locking mechanism.

It’s very difficult to judge a rotation rate; the issue is not to go to high in pitch with the gear on the ground. As long as Boeing does not provide us with a specially designed tool to determine that moment we have to use something else.

Maybe we could use the radio-altimeter but I don’t think I could do that (get it in my scan) since I really need to focus on that pitch, my ears do the rest.

On the A 340 the click could be replaced by the disapearing of the SSOI indicator. I do not agree with the conclusions of the report to use the nose gear air/ground sensor iso the main gear sensor to remove the SSOI from the PFD.

Hope that answers your question.