Fly Me Friendly

According to Alan Joyce from QANTAS, the “Jetstarisation of QANTAS” is supposed to be over. Well, I have a problem with that as I continue to see evidence that, if anything, the “Jetstarisation” is increasing. I would not be surprised to find JQ branded high density A380s flying to the USA and/or Europe while QF dwindles to only a very few select routes.

Thanks to an opportunity presented by Shashank Nigam, I’ve been able to voice my concerns on his very well read Simpliflying site. This is not only getting my thoughts before a large audience, it’s also helping to promote the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, which can only be a good thing.

The article provides a background on the birth of Jetstar, its growth to date and how it is destined to consume more of QANTAS’ mainline routes & aircraft. Head on over to Simpliflying and check out the article.

Thanks to Shashank for giving me the opportunity to gain further exposure to the global aviation world and helping to promote PCDU, it’s very much appreciated :)

As I mentioned in the previous Fear of Flying story, the folks at Flight Experience Melbourne are running a competition for their 737 flight simulator. Write up your scary flying story and you could win a free session in the sim. Woo hoo.

Here’s the second of my scary stories and it relates to heavy aircraft taking off short runways – always a “fun” time :)

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My other “scary flight moment” was when flying from Buenos Aires to Australia back in the late 90’s. At that time Aerolineas Argentinas had exclusive rights to the trans-polar route between Auckland & Buenos Aires and were using their 747-200 aircraft.

With the prevailing winds behind them, they were able to go from Auckland to Buenos Aires non-stop but couldn’t make it in the other direction with those same winds slowing them down. To make the flight to Auckland, the aircraft would fly south from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos way down at the bottom of Argentina. From here they would load up with fuel and continue their journey to Auckland. Due to being full of fuel, they couldn’t take on a full passenger load so you sometimes got some extra space. That was about the only benefit to the flight.

The first time I ever flew back to Australia from Argentina, I had a window seat and was watching the stark, rugged approach as we neared the airport. The screen on the wall was showing our progress and as I looked out the window, I saw a runway that looked a bit short for a 747. Sure enough, we turned final and landed on it. Oh great.

After an hour or two hanging out in the terminal waiting for fueling to be completed, we trooped back aboard and the real fun began. I couldn’t get the image of the runway out of my mind. It really did appear rather short.

Being too big & heavy to use the taxiway, we went onto the runway, turned right and headed to the end where we did a 180 and lined up to take off. The pilots stood on the brakes and ran up the engines, first to check they were running OK then beyond to much higher thrust levels. The aircraft was straining against the brakes with the engines howling when, finally, the pilots released and applied full power.

Rumbling down the runway, I split my attention between the view outside and the screen on the wall at the front of the cabin that was showing speed, altitude, temperature, etc. With the aircraft shaking along the runway, we’d gone past the mid-point where the terminal was and still weren’t near what I figured was VR.

Oh crap :(

Subconsciously my hands went to the arm rests of my seat and began pulling up on them as I thought “Come on you fat pig, lift! Fly!”

I was really starting to get concerned when I felt the nose lift and then the rumbling ceased as the mains left the ground. WHEW!

When you take off from a major runway in most large airports, the gear is probably already retracted before you’ve passed the end of the runway. Not this time. I’d only had a second to start relaxing when the end of the runway flashed by and the gear started to retract. Wow!

Once we were in the air and on our way I started breathing again and realised I was still holding the arm rests. Letting go I looked out the window, wondering how they ever got approval to operate fully loaded 747’s from Rio Gallegos. I wished I could have experienced it from the cockpit – the view would have been incredible.

I only did the Buenos Aires -> Rio Gallegos -> Auckland trip twice and both times I was stressing about getting off the ground before the runway ran out. Eventually QANTAS started flying the route and their 747-400’s could go non-stop between Buenos Aires & Auckland. Aerolineas Argentinas soon upgraded to A340s and Rio Gallegos was no longer required on the trans-polar route. These days QANTAS are using their 747-400ERs which can make it non-stop from Buenos Aires to Sydney so you don’t even have to stop in Auckland if you don’t want to.

I’ve got to say, there are some things from the “good old days” of flying that I really just don’t miss :)

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It’s interesting that QANTAS are using their 747-400ERs on the Buenos Aires route. I guess with the A380 on the SYD <-> LAX and MLB <-> LAX routes the -400ER’s were available to fly additional routes. It certainly makes getting to Buenos Aires a lot more comfortable :)

The folks at Flight Experience Melbourne are running a competition for their 737 flight simulator. Write up your scary flying story and you could win a free session in the sim. Woo hoo.

I’ve had two very scary flights in my life and I’m adding them to the collection even thought I can’t win ‘cos I’m staff (I run the blog :) So, here’s the first of my two stories.

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We were returning to Boston on United Airlines (from memory a 757) in the mid-90’s. It was coming up on winter and the weather was grey, windy and lots of rain. The pilot came on the PA to advise that due to weather, Boston Logan airport (our destination) was going to be closing. We were to be the last aircraft that would be allowed to attempt a landing and that the crew would give it their best shot to try and get everyone where they were going on this dark & stormy evening.

He also told us all to ensure we buckled up tight and stowed all loose gear because it was probably going to be a bit of a ride. Oh joy.

All cabin crew were strapped in, lights were off and window shades were open as we descended further into the soupy clouds. I had a window seat behind the wing on the right hand side and was watching the outside world as we descended.

The turbulence started to kick in as we got lower and then we broke through the overcast, coming in over the grey, seething waters of Massachusetts Bay. Now the thumps and rattles which had us all shaking about in our seats were “enhanced” by rocking & rolling as we got closer to the surface.

Looking out the window, I was seeing alternate dark grey sky and then very dark grey sea. The aircraft was rolling with the engines surging while the ailerons & spoilers were deflecting madly as the crew fought the variable & gusty winds down the approach path.

Soon we were over the inner harbour and I was starting to see some of the navigation equipment that’s anchored in the water. We were still having quite the roller coaster ride but it eased off as we got over the tarmac, although the crew were still working hard to keep us aligned.

Finally we thumped it onto the deck, the spoilers deployed and almost immediately the thrust reversers were applied. Through the rain on the window you could see the airport buildings and aircraft looking very windswept and miserable.

As we taxied off the runway, the lead flight attendant came on and in a slightly shaky voice said “Welcome to Boston, folks.” There was some laughter but it was mostly a quiet cabin as we all breathed a huge sigh of relief.

On the way off the plane I stopped to chat with the captain as he stood at the cockpit door (remember when they used to do that?). I congratulated him on the landing and said it was the hairiest ride I’d ever had. He agreed it was a pretty good one but noted that he was ex-US Navy, at which point we both agreed that night landings on a carrier are the most intense experience of all (I think there’s a joke about that, right? :)

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Given this is my personal blog, I can share the joke with you:

The best things in a pilot’s life are a good landing, a good orgasm & a good shit. Night carrier landings are the only way you can experience all three at the same time :) :)

I got word this morning from Carlo at Flight Experience Melbourne that he’d just arrived at Melbourne airport (YMML) and seen an Antonov parked on the ramp. Talk about perfect timing as I was taking one of my workmates to the airport for his trip home to Sydney (flying Tiger Airways – good luck with that!).

After dropping him off, I shot off around to the viewing area near the AirServices compound on Operations Rd. As expected, this was too far away to be of much use for photos, but gave me an excuse to go check out where it was parked (and take a couple anyway, what the heck).

 

 

On my way back I stopped off at one of the ramps where some of the cargo, VIP and QANTAS maintenance operations are so I could get a shot of the Ansett DC-3 (VH-ABR) parked in front of a RAAF BBJ (A36-002) and the A319 that flies to the “blue ice runway” in Antarctica (VH-VHD). Nice :)

I then scooted back around towards the main terminal area, stopping on Link Rd to get a distance shot of the An-124 that, although a bit further away, was better as it had fewer fences & hills in the way. From there I headed back to the freight area and started hunting around for a good view of the ramp. Fortunately I found a spot where I could park the car and get up to a fence, shooting through the links to get a reasonably good view of the beastie.

While I was snapping the shots, a QANTAS 737 was being towed from maintenance to the terminals, letting me get a good size comparison shot. Yes, that thing is *huge*

Not sure why it was parked on the ramp at Tulla, but if I find out I’ll be sure to post it here. Meanwhile, you can see all the shots I took (including larger copies of each shot) over at the YMML Antonov page on my photo gallery.

While returning from Nykolai’s scout camp I dropped into Avalon airport (YMAV) to check out Tanker 10, a converted DC10 that’s now used as a super-heavy water bomber. It’s parked in the keyhole and not easily viewed without a huge zoom lens, something I don’t have.

On the day I was there, a QANTAS 747-400 was also in the keyhole, possibly getting ready to depart after maintenance.

Over at Plane Crazy Down Under, we’re trying to get up closer to Tanker 10. If we do, I’ll be sure to get better images loaded here.

 

 

 

 

While I was there, I also grabbed a few photos of Canberra A84-232, now parked as a gate guardian near the entrance. I also grabbed a photo of QANTAS’ last 747-300, ex VH-EBU. Once painted in the Aboriginal “Nalanji Dreaming” scheme, it is currently stripped of engines and remains as just a fuselage & wings painted a base blue colour with a red tail. It was being used to provide spares and keep the other 747-300’s running. Now that they’re gone, it is probably going to get parted out into scrap.

I got the word from John that the Victorian chapter of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia was having a Christmas BBQ at Moorabbin airport (YMMB) today. So, I went down to hang out, meet new people and spread the word about our podcast.

It was definitely worth while as I definitely got to meet some interesting people, including Keith Meggs (founding member of the AHSA & current president) and Dr Carlo Kopp, a defence analyst who’s work I’ve been reading for a very long time. Dr Kopp is one of the founders of Air Power Australia, an independent defence think tank.

After a few hours chatting with a number of the people there, I headed off to the Australian National Aviation Museum to catch up with what might be new and on display. I’ve been a member for a while although I’d lapsed and not renewed my fees for a few years – ooops. I renewed recently as part of my DC3 excursion to Albury (yes, I need to write that adventure up – sorry – been busy :) and sorted out the back fees so I’m definitely current now :)

Going through their book pile, I found a number that included biographies, novels and historical narratives. After buying a stack of them, I noticed more in a pile waiting to be put out on display. Guess I’ll be going back again after payday to buy some more :)

The other task I have after I get paid is to join the AHSA as it would seem I may be able to help them with getting their print, audio & video archives online. While I’m certainly no historian, I do enjoy reading biographies & historical narratives and am definitely a big fan of capturing & preserving history online for people to access.

I’ll keep you posted on how all this progresses :)

We’ve been getting through some rather crappy weather for the past two months. Lots of wind and rain with the occasional good weather day sneaking in here and there.

I crewed the hot air balloons again last weekend and could see on the account sheet at the fuelling station that we’d only had about 10 flying days in the past month or more. Ouch!

It’s AFL grand final this weekend and about 100,000 people are expected to squeeze into the Melbourne Cricket Grounds for the game, despite the predicted crappy weather on the way. I’m supposed to be crewing both days this weekend but it’s not looking great.

To give you an example, check out this TAF for Melbourne Airport over the next 30 hours:

TAF AMD YMML 240409Z 2406/2512 29015G28KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT035 SCT045
FM240900 35013KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT030 SCT040
FM241200 36020G32KT 9999 SCT040
FM241800 36028G42KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT030 BKN040 OVC080
FM250000 34020G34KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT020 BKN035
FM250600 29015G25KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT025 SCT040
INTER 2406/2412 4000 SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN020
INTER 2500/2510 2000 SHOWERS OF RAIN AND SMALL HAIL PELLETS BKN015
RMK FM240600 MOD TURB BLW 5000FT
FM241200 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT TILL 250800
T 17 14 12 11 Q 1009 1009 1009 1007


This would have to be the longest TAF I’ve ever seen. Plus the weather is continued crappy with increased patches of crappy likely.

Not great for ballooning :(

The latest trailer for A Pilot’s Story is up on their site. All three trailers are there, so you should go over and check them out. The third trailer was first shown as part of the nightly entertainment at Oshkosh 2009 and it’s wonderful.

I’ve been following the development of A Pilot’s Story through a discussions, interviews and plugs on a number of aviation podcasts. Will Hawkins of the Pilot’s Flight Podlog podcast and Rico Sharqawi have teamed up to form Wilco Films, an independent film company that, amongst other projects, is producing A Pilot’s Story.

From all that I’m hearing, A Pilot’s Story will be up there with One Six Right as it goes to the heart of why we fly and the joy of first solo, all accompanied with beautiful high definition imagery.

The guys are seeking funding to help complete the movie and distribute it. There’s a donation button on the web site. Help out if you can ‘cos this is a movie that deserves to be delivered.

At the least, go and watch the trailers. The latest one is great, and not just ‘cos it’s got balloons in it :)

With the recent announcement from Boeing that the first flight of their 787 was to be delayed due to structural issues in the wing box area, many of us knew right away it was a major show-stopper issue. Boeing made the announcement only a few days before people were expecting the first flight, catching many by surprise. With so much riding on this project and so many delays already experienced, Boeing were pushing hard to get the 787 in the air as soon as possible. That Boeing couldn’t start the test flights while addressing this problem in parallel showed us it was a big issue, something that would either lead to a structural failure in flight or would require so many changes that testing would have to start again after the modifications were made.

Subsequent to their announcement of a delay, it was confirmed that the issue involves wing flexing travelling into the fuselage leading to delamination of wing panels. This report and others do not paint a very pretty picture with many predicting that the 787 won’t fly until next year (2010).

All of this puts a major strain on the credibility of the programme, Boeing’s bottom line and their share price. They are eager to reach the first flight milestone and progress quickly towards delivery payments from customers. Anything that is feasible and safe will be done to get the 787 airborne ASAP, thus the longer the delays we’re seeing, the bigger the problem becomes.

The 787 is breaking new ground in many areas, from structures to systems to construction & assembly processes. In many ways this is similar to the de Havilland Comet that ushered in jet travel to an eagerly awaiting world.

While bringing in new technologies such as advanced alloys and new bonding methods, the Comet was also extensively tested prior to its entry into service. The Comet also utilised existing concepts such as large, square windows & hatches in the fuselage. As was tragically discovered, stress concentration occurred around the corners of the windows & hatches, leading to higher pressures in those areas and, eventually, metal fatigue that ruptured the fuselage with catastrophic results. By the time the problems were resolved, the Boeing 707 had eclipsed the Comet and, together with the Douglas DC-8, taken over the jet transport market. Boeing and Douglas both certainly benefited from the painful lessons learned from the Comet.

Returning to the present, Boeing discovered the 787’s structural problem during fatigue testing of a designated airframe. Despite countless computer simulations the issue was apparently never predicted and, like the Comet, took them by surprise.

Fortunately in this case the problem was discovered on the ground and without loss of life. Also fortunate for Boeing is that the Airbus A350 is still lagging the 787’s schedule, although the distance between them is rapidly decreasing. If the 787 doesn’t fly until 2010 and Airbus can hit the A350’s scheduled first flight in 2011, things could get very bad for Boeing.

While I doubt many 787 customers will be seriously considering converting their orders over to the A350 at this point, if the A350 continues on track and meets its target figures, further delays of the 787 will make the Airbus product start to look more interesting to 787 customers. If that happens, Boeing will be in big trouble indeed!

For those of you who may like Japanese manga/anime and flying, I definitely recommend checking out Area 88, an anime equivalent to Top Gun. I had been reading comics for some time and stumbled over the Area 88 manga in the 1980’s. Amazed by the attention to detail in the drawings, I was hooked. When I found the Original Video Animation (OAV) and 12 episode series on DVD, I had to pick them up as well.

An excellent summary of the plot and various differences beween the manga, OAV and the series can be found at the Area 88 article on Wikipedia . As mentioned, the attention to detail is excellent, the story is entertaining and the music in the 12 episode series really helps bring it together. There is enough difference between plot lines & scenes in the manga (comic), the OVA and the series to make it worth collecting all three.

If I let my “picky aviation geek” side come out (the same “picky aviation geek” that gets me in trouble when I watch Die Hard 2 with friends :), I can find any number of issues that I can point out within Area 88:

• There are a number of different aircraft types at the base so maintenance & spares must be a nightmare
• The series introduces a “poor kid” pilot who flies a Harrier but he flies it like any other aircraft and doesn’t make effective use of it’s ability to VIFF. This is slightly balanced in the OAV because the Harriers are on the enemy side and the mercenaries have to adjust their tactics to deal with their viffing.
• The base’s airstrip has “A 88″ at each end where usually there would be the runway number (eg: 03, 31, 27, etc). Sure, it’s the base’s code (Area 88) and it could be there, but really, no.

There are a number of other issues that lead to a slight cringe factor at times, but on the whole there are none that make me give up in disgust. Fortunately the story, music and well drawn aircraft keep me hooked and make it easier to ignore the niggling bits.

It’s definitely worth reading/watching just for the pure enjoyment factor. Not perfect, but good enough to own and watch/read every now and then.