CX Topgun
What’s it like heading off on a LRO
flight to HK when a typhoon encounter is likely? Here are the own words of one of our 777 Captains: Guys , as an FO , although diligent, I found that my duty started at sign on, with the command you quickly realise it starts long before that! For this reason, I had been checking the CX website for flt updates, The HKO to keep an eye on the Typhoon, the relevant TAFS to try and judge its position for our arrival and of course Crew Direct. On the CX website I discovered CX250, departing one hour after us was cancelled so in the interest of an evening down by the river in some old pub I checked our Flt number, only to find we are still scheduled to depart. I received an email from Mark Hoey advising at that time we would be the last CX flight to land before ceasing operations for the afternoon period where the TAFS indicated winds gusting 60kts from the NW. On checking Crew Direct I acknowledged an OCN which unusually brought our departure time forward by around 45 mins or so, a well received bit of planning in an attempt to “beat the worst of the weather” into HKG. This of course meant an earlier wakeup and pickup for a mixed HKG and LON based crew both in the cabin and cockpit. To make sure things were underway to contact everyone, I called Crew Control from my room, ( yes you are going to have to use your 5CX BOEING FLEET NEWS 01 November 2016 The Typhoon Challenge Haima and Signal 8 coin sometimes but I am sure that would be refunded with receipts ), they confirmed the plan and that the LON based FO and ISM had been contacted. I then called LON office and spoke to MOD regarding the option of processing all the pax pronto for our departure and they were all over it, a notifly had been sent to request pax come early and a Dep slot had been arranged with ATC, Cargo and Cleaning had been primed for a rapid turn of the A/C also. I wasn’t trying to micromanage, just wanting to make sure everyone was in on the plan because as we all know the smallest of things can unravel the best laid plans, and when Gus and Mark tell you you are the last flight to HKG and have everything and everyone at your disposal to make it happen, you try your best to make sure it gets done safely. At pickup a quick check of the latest forecast showed 1500m +RA and 320/35G45 for our arr, followed the next hour by 300/50G60 , I was definitely keen on getting away as early as we could. HKG based crew are ready early as requested and we left the hotel in good time only to come to a grinding halt in the London Traffic , and sat still on the motorway for a good twenty minutes, during which our steed flew overhead on the arrival. At least we know the A/C is here. Very frustrating, I emailed Mark to update him with our progress and he advised me that the Russians had rejected our Flt Plan, therefore we may need to look at a re-route so we immediately started discussing some route options, none of which were attractive due to the increased time involved, we also discussed the option of getting airborne, with a good amount of fuel over and above plan, start on the flt planned route and as we were confident it was simply an administrative glitch given the change in dep time, there is a good chance the issue will be resolved before entry into russian airspace and experience has shown it is possible to get airborne with one ATC unit not accepting your plan providing its not the first one ! Not sure Flt Ops would have given us the green light on that one and we couldn’t come up with a reasonable option if the approval was not forthcoming as we neared the FIR. The good news is as our driver was now off the motorway trying to get us to Heathrow through the side streets , Mark mailed again to say the plan had been resubmitted and approved so all go. We finally arrived at the customs side gate who were operating in their usual “go slow and make this as painful as possible” mode, with only 30 mins to departure. We arrived at the A/C to find it now on a remote stand, it transpires they had been allocated two standard gates, both of which had BA ground tech returns ! So as we pull up the pax are still disembarking and waiting for buses. I began thinking there is absolutely no chance of potentially even departing at our original sched time! certainly with a remote stand, one set of stairs and a full load to bus from the terminal, I would have bet money on it. So now I am thinking about the latest forecast, and regardless of departure time, we should probably try for HKG, and see if conditions are suitable at the later time, if not, we have the fuel to continue to our ALT TPE with 45mins to spare thanks to some proactive flight planning from Flt Ops, then potentially we could get a recovery crew to TPE ready to take us all back to HKG when ops resume later that evening. 6CX BOEING FLEET NEWS 01 November 2016 The Typhoon Challenge Haima and Signal 8 Thankfully the MOD Matt was doing an outstanding job with the whole turnaround, The cleaners, caterers were in and off in a flash and the security checks completed within about ten mins of sitting down in the cockpit! In fact five mins later, the first bus of pax arrived. Even though I was flying the sector I got the FO to complete the setup as he was a local lad, some additional help with local knowledge provides some additional situational awareness when so many things are running through the brain! and this meant I was free to keep things moving. All pax on and waiting for fueling to complete only ten mins after our planned dep time! While waiting for the fueling to complete we checked in with ATC to see if the slot would be still valid and they advised they had only our original departure information and slot available, no idea about the earlier departure and in fact he could not locate a plan, you have to laugh sometimes. A quick chat to the MOD and a phone call later, all was resolved with a new TOBT at :45 , ( 25 mins later than planned but still 30 mins earlier than original sched. ) I think the refuelers hi vis jacket almost got caught in the L1 door it was closed so fast ! I was just trying to constantly stay one step ahead of ‘the next thing that might hold us up ‘, so I asked the RQ to ask the ISM to get all pax seated a.s.a.p. and make that call so we would be in a position to push straight away. Push back at :45, 25 mins later than our early escape plan time, thats a turnaround on a remote stand in about 40 mins, awesome stuff. Great I think to myself , we can get some shortcuts and potentially make up a bit more time , the plan already CI250 so I don’t think we could do any better. As we rounded the corner to the Hold Point, we discovered seven other A/C waiting to depart. Its like someone doesn't want us to get to HKG! Once airborne, OPT levels and CI250 showed an ETA of 11:45 local, not quite the 11:10 we were going for and that put us closer to the TEMPO 50G60 period. As there was a real possibility of diversion to TPE, the FO and I got the RQ and SO to work for a longer period than normal ( 6:20 ), and that would allow us the remaining flt time plus a second approach, plus diversion to TPE, without being in the seat for 8 hours. We achieved a good rest and when back in the seat we set about reviewing ; Fcom3 Limitations : AFDS and X Wind etc SUPP INFO : Windshear FCOM 1 : Flaps Load Relief, Protections, PWS system inhibits and indications, WS GA procedure including a manual GA with TOGA not available as I believed this to be the most likely reason for a GA given the NW wind ( 60kts at RIVER ), and the wx on the base leg approach for 25R. GA from above, how we would fly this and whether the standard MAP route would be appropriate. We then discussed how many approaches we would be prepared to fly so there would be little need for discussion/decision making while getting flogged around in nasty weather, fully dependant on the reason for the GA. If it was due to rain, i.e. VIS, we would 7CX BOEING FLEET NEWS 01 November 2016 The Typhoon Challenge Haima and Signal 8 have sufficient fuel to hold for a lengthy period if necessary waiting for conditions to improve, or if rapidly changing we could shoot three approaches if we thought it likely to result in a successful landing. If the GA was due windshear, more consideration is placed on pax comfort and with the wind increasing in strength, we would limit our approaches to either one or two max. We agreed that as it was a very dynamic and gusty environment , regardless of surface wind, if we found ourselves starting with more than 38kts XW on the ground in the G55 or G60kt period, we would commence an approach to 1000ft and make the call at that point if X/W outside limits, a GA would be a no brainer. At about an hour out we sent IOC an ACARS asking for a typhoon update, however I think we should have been more specific because the reply, although prompt, was simply the last known lat/long of the centre. So a Satcall to IOC followed, and a request to talk with Mark who had said he would be on hand throughout the day to assist. Mark let us know what conditions the last CX and KA A/C had experienced and what the HKO had suggested would be occurring at our ETA which was very nice info to have. The issue now was shifting from Windshear to Vis as the latest ATIS showed 1500m in Mod SHRA with CBs, with the potential for being rained out we considered mitigating this by requesting a CAT2 approach in the event of a return following a GA, however this would prohibit an AUTOLAND as the X/W when based on LVO conditions is limited to 25kts, and we need the full 38! So the next discussion was would it be legal to fly a CAT2 then disengage at 100ft, and still comply with the limitations by conducting a manual landing, but regardless of this point, given the max X/W and the heavy landing weight ( TPE fuel plus 45 mins ), the chance of a pod strike if not handled correctly in the visual segment is very real , therefore we really want to fly a CAT1 APP to a F30 ( This particular A/C not F25 A/L proved ) AUTOLAND at max X/W onto a wet, possibly contaminated ( water ) RWY, the decision to use a slightly lower A/B setting ( 3 in this case ) and accept a longer rollout. TOD ATIS gave 320/30G40 with the wind gradually increasing in strength as forecast, so we requested flew high speed through SIERRA until approaching the green and yellow weather returns soon after. As there was generally very little traffic we were given direct TD and cleared 4500ft for the ILS25R from TD. As the wind direction was backing but steadily increasing in strength, we had the SO constantly updating the CX Pilot Toolkit X/W calculator to ensure we were going to be within limits. There was a collection of cells along the base leg but we managed to sit just inside the yellow, and as expected we started experiencing some turb approaching River, Spot wind 340/60 at River so the LNAV intact depicted a turn inside the final approach, however halfway through the turn this corrected so no need to intervene. From this point I was pretty much rehearsing the Windshear GA procedure that I would fly at that ALT and config, established on the ILS now and experiencing some very healthy transient changes in speed and bank, two areas of return lay between us and the RWY so we configured to F15 with Gear Down to provide a little stability and a safe upper and 8CX BOEING FLEET NEWS 01 November 2016 The Typhoon Challenge Haima and Signal 8 Windcheck from the Tower is 310/35G45 ( 38kts across ) , suggesting some very accurate forecasting. During this approach I was feeling some pressure I have to admit, the apprehension of the nasty conditions , in fact my first approach into a T8 , and even though it shouldn’t make a difference, we also had one of the Swires and Rupert Hogg on board, combined these carried some weight. However I felt we had talked over every contingency , and we had been given amazing support from the fleet office which means everything was on our side, and that provided me with a good level of confidence in flying this approach. From D10 to D5 there were two occasions I was in the process of moving my fingers to the TOGA buttons in preparation of a GA as it had the ‘feel' of an excursion which would not return to original, speed or bank, however thankfully it wasn’t necessary. I thought afterward, its strange how we rely so much on ‘feel' in a modern A/C huh? We had briefed that the most likely WS GA would occur around RIVER and be pilot observed, again probably between there and somewhere around D5 when we clear the terrain to the North, then we can expect a PWS below 1200ft, where there was moderate rainfall, but we were assuming the wind would settle to a more constant speed and direction from D4 with a more laminar flow across the water which is exactly what happened. We cleared the moderate rain at 800ft agl into a very black scene, with lots of whitecaps on the water, and to my surprise, no RWY out the window! I was looking to the left off the windscreen near the pillar but I had too look behind the pillar through the sliding window to see the RWY due to the amount of drift we were holding off, In the past I have been visual a lot earlier and the picture did not look right. so this was a real eye opener. The RWY surface looked like a peaceful place to be right now. The ER did the most perfect Auto landing I have ever seen in 38kts across, ( W/V 300/45 ), in fact the only disturbance to this came when I took the AP out and was surprised at just how much rudder and C/W input was required to continue tracking the CTR line with the wings level. We taxied off at A5 as planned and I remember just exhaling as I was stowing the Speedbrake to initiate the cleanup. That weight had just been lifted. Mission accomplished ;-) Overall I found this a really good flight in terms of learning for all of us as tech crew on the day, more so for me personally. The backing from FLT OPS through Mark and Gus communicated to us directly, and often, was not only a massive confidence boost, but made me want to go the extra mile to get the job done. with the obvious discontent that the whole industrial situation has created, I found that because we all had ownership in this flight , because so many people had been instrumental in making this flight get off the ground, we just focused on the task , and I honestly had a feel good moment after landing, like the good old days! Post flight we sat in the cockpit and had a brief discussion about what went right and what didn’t, a few passengers stopped at the 9CX BOEING FLEET NEWS 01 November 2016 The Typhoon Challenge Haima and Signal 8 cockpit door to say thank you, I haven’t seen that in some time. On the way home I received a “well done, thank you” e-mail from both Mark and Gus, and a day later an e-mail from CX GM Europe thanking us for the part we played. This was an awesome flight for me |
Would this cock kindly identify himself.
I suppose I could check crew direct but cannot be bothered. The whole moon landing was described in about a paragraph less than that rubbish. |
This is not serious right ? Its a joke ?if it is its bloody hillarious !
But if it is for real then screen4 should be called in with the full kit pronto!! |
Wow, you watched an autoland! Well done!
Why would anyone have a chat with a GM, sitting in his office, about flying an approach?
Originally Posted by Michael Hunt
(Post 9563472)
Would this cock kindly identify himself.
I suppose I could check crew direct but cannot be bothered. The whole moon landing was described in about a paragraph less than that rubbish. |
He went out of his way to help Cathay and in return we get
- no 25 year housing - cancelation of RPs - C-scale - no more temp bases - no fleet allocation in seniority - handwritten rosters Did I forget anything? |
Well that's fantastic . I'm so impressed that you got an email from GL and MH .
I didn't get one when I landed in Europe in a 38 kt crosswind in vicious turbulence . It's what we do when required I certainly wouldn't bother to write a load of drivel about what a hero I was , and how I had thought of everything during the flight . Aren't we supposed to be in Contract compliance ? Screw it . depart when you are ready take lots of fuel , have a go and then divert it's really very simple . And why promote yourself when Mr Boeing did the landing not you ? Did you remember to pack extra sick bags for those reading this ? |
But allowed, unfortunately! The AOA switched off CC early!
|
Nope.... it was Prior to the email, saying we could acknowledge etc
|
Thanks muppett,
my life is now complete. Or, even 'completer' had remained awake to finishing reading.... that.......zzzz... reading t.......zzzzz |
If it wasn't for his bell end he would of slipped off the end and hit himself in the head
|
With brown nosing twats like this one, do we really have any hope?
Future training captain there folks, pathetic tit. |
I am curious about an Autoland 13 kts above the FCOM Limitation. How is that in any way a 'Good' decision-unless of course you have an unconfined fire!. Muppet!!!!!
|
Originally Posted by clear to land
(Post 9563746)
I am curious about an Autoland 13 kts above the FCOM Limitation. How is that in any way a 'Good' decision-unless of course you have an unconfined fire!. Muppet!!!!!
|
Wow! My 14 years in and out of Kai Tak typhoons never seemed so dramatic and ......
oh yes, did I mention, there was no autoland off the IGS! Give the chap a medal. |
i like this narrative better:
http://http://thebulletin.org/harrowing-story-nagasaki-bombing-mission8592 |
Think I want to puke
|
As we enter Movember and think about men's health perhaps it's time to reflect on men's values also. In an era when masculity is under attack, what does it mean to be a man. Many of us can do no better than look at the example of our fathers. Strong, stoic, considerate, honest, self sacrificing for the good of their family.
Also often quiet, not good at self promotion, in fact abhorred by the idea. Not ones to brag about their new car, or house or their job. They knew that bragging, no matter how seemingly humbly presented, is a need to feel self important. They understood that you don't win the respect of your circle of friends or colleagues by trying to impress them with tales of how good you are. But we live in a different world. A world of social media, constant connectivity and for many a need to allow everyone and anyone to peer in to their life. But the example of the strong, silent type stills resonates today, (think Clint Eastwood) because I would like to think that the way we express ourselves hasn't become akin to a slumber party for 12 year old girls. |
That's pretty much how it was in the heady days of "A" Scales. We were all very well paid and were included by Managers as 'part of the team'. They used to put on a few beers after coming to Kai Tak and giving us a "Commercial orientation" briefing. We would discuss their jobs and ours so there was a lot of mutual understanding and respect - and you could put a face and personality to a name. It felt very inclusive and everybody went the extra mile to get the job done.
Oh dear Sir Adrian - what have you done?? |
Crickey........
I didn't get anything from anyone after my flights in and around Typhoons...... What a load of dribble...... |
Not an Aussie - try 3 hours further east..
Pushing to get the job done by management/management wannabie at whatever cost - sound familiar? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_1420 Lucky for CX2_8 20th Oct, this wet behind the ears moron didn't make 'em join the stats |
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