BA A380 Taxis into Jet Bridge
I recall MIA having the simplest pilot self parking system imagineable, just a large mirror in front of the aircraft, so that one could see the guiding line for the nosewheel and the cross line for stopping, no other human intervention was necessary, definitely D.i.Y. none of the "improved" methods whereby one had to intepret lights and/or keep looking sideways to guess when one was at the correct stopping point - which led me to almost drive an engine into a passenger boarding bridge one day. Didn't, but it was close.
KISS
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The towing scenario does seems a tad unlikely, given that the BA209/208 scheduled turnround at MIA is only 2:15.
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What has that got to do with it? Many stands around the world are tow-on only for larger aircraft as they are restricted in width. I can think of several BA examples where tow-ons and 2-hr turnrounds go together.
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I was due to travel back to LHR on the A380 in question.
I was in the lounge and decided to come down to board roughly 50 minutes prior to departure. When I got to the gate I was greeted by an empty gate and another pax informing me that the flight was cancelled. I then went right up to the gate and the Captain/FO was explaining that there was some system in place for taxiing into the gate and that it had clearly failed. These weren't his exact words - I'd had a couple of glasses of wine and was pretty tired too.
There was absolutely no mention of the aircraft being towed to the gate and it was implied that the blame did not lie with the crew operating the flight.
Other than that the BA staff, including the flight crew put in a great effort (including the Captain/FO handing out bottles of water and apologising there was nothing stronger) to organise hotels and transport for c500 passengers.
I can't complain as I got another day in the Florida sunshine and an upgrade from W to J on AA on the flight home the next day.
I was in the lounge and decided to come down to board roughly 50 minutes prior to departure. When I got to the gate I was greeted by an empty gate and another pax informing me that the flight was cancelled. I then went right up to the gate and the Captain/FO was explaining that there was some system in place for taxiing into the gate and that it had clearly failed. These weren't his exact words - I'd had a couple of glasses of wine and was pretty tired too.
There was absolutely no mention of the aircraft being towed to the gate and it was implied that the blame did not lie with the crew operating the flight.
Other than that the BA staff, including the flight crew put in a great effort (including the Captain/FO handing out bottles of water and apologising there was nothing stronger) to organise hotels and transport for c500 passengers.
I can't complain as I got another day in the Florida sunshine and an upgrade from W to J on AA on the flight home the next day.
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Hell, QR flew all the way from Miami to Doha with the lower empennage smashed up.
Surely, BA could have made it to LHR with just a couple of dents in an engine cowling. A little speed tape will fix most anything.
Surely, BA could have made it to LHR with just a couple of dents in an engine cowling. A little speed tape will fix most anything.
"A little speed tape will fix most anything."
thread creep maybe, but in the 70s operating into Bucharest under Ceaucescu communist rule, things were pretty basic and life not very pleasant. We were just boarding pax (bussed out to stairs) when the aircraft - a DH Groundgripper - lurched briefly side to side with a pronounced clunk audible.
I went to the fwd door in time to see a forklift truck disappearing round the corner of a building, towing a baggage trolley. Passengers said it had run into us. The trailing edge of the port inboard flap by the hold door had a V-shaped dent about a foot wide by 8 inches deep. The skin was all squeezed up into ridges about 4 ins high.
As we didn't have local staff we carried an additional ground engineer on these flights. We ran the flaps out to see if there was damage to the mechanism and the Eng and I went to try to talk to LHR engineering and ops by phone (not easy in those days). Fortunately the F/O kept an eye on things and stopped another pair of loaders trying to whack it all back flat with a pair of sledgehammers. We also by coincidence had a passenger who was a PanAm structures engineer who volunteered to help us out.
In the end we borrowed a hacksaw and cut out the damaged bit, secured the loose skin edges with some cardboard some and nuts and bolts from the local agent's car and speed-taped it over, with phone OK from London to fly back at Captain's discretion.
All the pax had been watching this Heath Robinson repair work with great interest. I offered them the choice of flying back with us or staying the night in Bucharest for a replacement aircraft could get there. No takers for that so they all flew back happily in our patched up aircraft. Never heard anything more about it. Good stuff, that speed tape.
I went to the fwd door in time to see a forklift truck disappearing round the corner of a building, towing a baggage trolley. Passengers said it had run into us. The trailing edge of the port inboard flap by the hold door had a V-shaped dent about a foot wide by 8 inches deep. The skin was all squeezed up into ridges about 4 ins high.
As we didn't have local staff we carried an additional ground engineer on these flights. We ran the flaps out to see if there was damage to the mechanism and the Eng and I went to try to talk to LHR engineering and ops by phone (not easy in those days). Fortunately the F/O kept an eye on things and stopped another pair of loaders trying to whack it all back flat with a pair of sledgehammers. We also by coincidence had a passenger who was a PanAm structures engineer who volunteered to help us out.
In the end we borrowed a hacksaw and cut out the damaged bit, secured the loose skin edges with some cardboard some and nuts and bolts from the local agent's car and speed-taped it over, with phone OK from London to fly back at Captain's discretion.
All the pax had been watching this Heath Robinson repair work with great interest. I offered them the choice of flying back with us or staying the night in Bucharest for a replacement aircraft could get there. No takers for that so they all flew back happily in our patched up aircraft. Never heard anything more about it. Good stuff, that speed tape.
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There used to be a gate at BHX that had two sets of positioning lights. It was a sort of 'local knowledge' situation and the BA 767 that often used the stand never had a problem.
Along comes an AA 767 not aware of the local knowledge and only the quick thinking of an employee on the jetway who bashed the stop button avoided a similar collision.
It's the same old same old; if there is some system which can go wrong or be misunderstood it probably will be eventually.
Along comes an AA 767 not aware of the local knowledge and only the quick thinking of an employee on the jetway who bashed the stop button avoided a similar collision.
It's the same old same old; if there is some system which can go wrong or be misunderstood it probably will be eventually.
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Jet v Jetty
No not flying for BA, he became v angry and retired from BMI at first opportunity. Last seen in a take away near EMA threatened me with violence because he thought, wrongly, I was talking about him to a mate.
People get v bitter if convinced they have been unfairly treated. Most of us thought he had been unsharp with mitigating circumstances and the extra training awarded was the minimum the company could do
The Queens flying club is not perfect but one issue they got right over the years is a method of informing those nudging the periphery of the system that they need to rethink. I benefited from it several times.
Civil aviation would benefit from such a system, IMHO
People get v bitter if convinced they have been unfairly treated. Most of us thought he had been unsharp with mitigating circumstances and the extra training awarded was the minimum the company could do
The Queens flying club is not perfect but one issue they got right over the years is a method of informing those nudging the periphery of the system that they need to rethink. I benefited from it several times.
Civil aviation would benefit from such a system, IMHO
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ExSp33dB1rd, I couldn't agree more. Stand 2 at LGW used to have a similar convex mirror so you could see your nose wheel and the paint lines. No need for complex calibrations, expensive electronics, a ground crew to switch it to the right aircraft settings, no waiting around for missing said ground crew, power systems and so on. But it wouldn't be aviation if it wasn't made over-complex and over-expensive... Combine convex mirrors with simple paint markings that all ground equipment must be clear of (including air bridges) that pilots can see easily (poles with flags at snow prone airports), and you're done.
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No need for complex calibrations, expensive electronics, a ground crew to switch it to the right aircraft settings, no waiting around for missing said ground crew, power systems and so on.
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Cameras anyone?
Why do they not equip the multi-multi million dollar crafts (ca $375,000,000.00) with cameras that cost what - maybe $100 for being airworthy and additional wires, some ports... Its beyond me. My car has 5 cameras on board and shows me the entire car surrounding except for the front where I have radar and can look out. But the car costs ~7000-times less...
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Cameras anyone?
Of the wonders of modern science (other than aircraft with no propellers) the small size of a decent camera is now amazing. Unfortunately they still need a readable size screen(s) somewhere useful if you're going to monitor them. The options would be at least 1 screen with a single camera image, or a changing image as you select desired camera (more knobs and buttons), or a set of screens to help to fill all those empty spaces up front. I wouldn't have thought any such options practical. Wait! Bring back the fight engineer!
However, as with your car, the insurance companies may offer a kick-back in the way of lower premiums. In an incident like this it is just possible clear evidence of who could be liable would save a lot of expensive squabbling.
However, as with your car, the insurance companies may offer a kick-back in the way of lower premiums. In an incident like this it is just possible clear evidence of who could be liable would save a lot of expensive squabbling.
On most modern airliners you've got ample screens to display on. When taxiing you surely don't both need PFD and Nav and all engine/systems displays.
You could even have a button that just switches one half of the screen onto cameras when turning into a stand.
Where is it displayed on the 380?
You could even have a button that just switches one half of the screen onto cameras when turning into a stand.
Where is it displayed on the 380?
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Where is it displayed on the 380?
e.g. http://www.airlinereporter.com/wp-co...7/IMG_5373.jpg
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On most modern airliners you've got ample screens to display on. When taxiing you surely don't both need PFD and Nav and all engine/systems displays.
You could even have a button that just switches one half of the screen onto cameras when turning into a stand.
Where is it displayed on the 380?
You could even have a button that just switches one half of the screen onto cameras when turning into a stand.
Where is it displayed on the 380?
I'm not sure taxiing onto stand with heads in is that wise anyway.
With parking systems with their various idiosyncrasies and marshalers seemingly all with different tempo of hands coming together in the X for final spotting it does not matter how many outside cameras would be fitted. The last
20 metres or so there is nothing more one can do but focus straight ahead. .
In the past I cant tell you how many times I held off the stand waiting for two wingwalkers and marshaler, with lighted wands required at night.
Now our mobs' FCOM requires none. No marshaler, no wingwalker, at certain airports with these magic systems that supposedly scan the ramp safety zone for obstacles and movement..
Already lead to problems.
20 metres or so there is nothing more one can do but focus straight ahead. .
In the past I cant tell you how many times I held off the stand waiting for two wingwalkers and marshaler, with lighted wands required at night.
Now our mobs' FCOM requires none. No marshaler, no wingwalker, at certain airports with these magic systems that supposedly scan the ramp safety zone for obstacles and movement..
Already lead to problems.
