A Day in the life of a Long-ish Haul Pilot Part 1
As requested?
Day1
0915L report. Decide to stay in a hotel local to LHR as this is an early report for me and I am paranoid about being late for report whilst wanting to maximise rest. Happen to meet the Captain whilst waiting for the bus from the car park to our reporting centre. Drop off hold luggage then swipe in. One computer fails me but then I am able to print off the schedule and crew list, 2 pilots and 12 cabin crew. Captain rejoins me for a bit of brekky and a nice latte in the canteen before we assemble for briefing. I am going to operate, so I check the paperwork that is waiting for us in ops. We have 2 x computer flight plans, the filed flight plan, sig weather charts, TAFs and METARs combined in a brief with NOTAMS and notes on specific aircraft acceptable deficiencies (there are none). I then decide upon a fuel figure in consultation with the Captain. As there are no foreseen weather or ATC or other operational problems, I decide to take the computer calculated fuel.
Go through security to our transport and meet with the rest of the crew. However today there is no bus for our crew at the scheduled time and we have to wait 10-15 minutes for it to arrive. However it does give us a good opportunity to mix and chat with the cabin crew. Therefore get to the aircraft late, which is parked on a non jetty stand. I, as operating pilot, check the tech log and brief on any thing of note (there is nothing of note), send for the flight plan by datalink and do the walk round. Today we have a very good dispatcher who seems to have a handle on things. Meeting up again on the flight deck, we work through the checks from the Electronic Check List and obtain a clearance. Unfortunately approaching boarding time we are short of one passenger. Despite several calls they have not appeared. However as they have no hold baggage, we can go without delay. Everything comes together and despite the transport delays we are able to push on time for a short taxi to depart RW 27L. The departure runway is surprisingly quiet at this time in the morning; I suppose it is after the first wave of SH departures. However we are delayed with another company aircraft waiting for final loadsheet figures to be datalinked to the aircraft and then join a short queue of departing aircraft that all seem to require a DVR SID. While waiting we have a little chuckle as ATC keep mixing up Kuwait and Qatar call signs. We do take note that one is Airbus 340 as is probably going to be a slow climber ahead of us on a similar route to the Middle East.