Landing Gear Problems – Seen from the Cockpit
On 03/11/2011, in Life around runways, by phil
“It’s too much to say I am a national hero, I am absolutely sure that any one of our pilots could have landed the plane and the result would have been the same because we train for situations like this on simulators”, So said Captain Wrona after the wheels-up landing of the LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 at Warsaw. And he is absolutely right. No pilot I have ever known has wanted to be a hero; he or she just wants a quiet life and to do a good professional job, as do our ATC colleagues.
As a counter view to the previous article giving the view from the Control Tower, I would like to say a few words about how this incident would have been seen from the cockpit.
I have never operated ETOPS aircraft and so will not comment on the wisdom or otherwise of continuing across the Atlantic with one of the hydraulic systems out of action. I operated Boeing 747s where we had the luxury of having 4 engines and 4 hydraulic systems. But what I would like to comment on is how one handles a wheels-up landing and some of the decisions that would have had to be made by the flight crew.
The first thing is that no-one would have expected the alternate gear lowering system to fail. This consists of a simple electrical system which releases the uplocks so that gravity and aerodynamic loads will effect a free fall of all the undercarriage legs. The failure of this system would only have become apparent during the initial approach when the crew were ready to lower the gear. At this point there would probably have been sufficient fuel on board for somewhere between 1 and 2 hours flying time. Thus there was time to assess the situation, to consult the airline’s maintenance department, try a number of other methods of lowering the gear, to burn off fuel so as to reduce the landing weight and minimise the residual fuel in the tanks, and to prepare for an emergency landing and subsequent evacuation.
No-one wants to have to deal with an emergency of any sort, but these things are a fact of life and are trained for on the simulator. Most (all) aircraft manufacturers recommend, in these situations, landing with all available gears extended.
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A personal reflection on the AF447 accident
On 01/07/2011, in Safety is no accident, by phil
I write from the perspective of a long retired pilot who only flew on old fashioned round dial types (Britannias, VC10s, 707s and 747s). This does not mean that I decry the modern Airbus and Boeing systems – far from it, I think the Airbus philosophy has made a great contribution to air safety.
The views that follow are drawn from my own personal experience, from reading the BEA’s (Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses) reports and from sifting through various aviation websites. This article is an attempt to discuss in layman’s language what may have happened on AF447 over the South Atlantic in 2009, to explain some of the complications involved, and to pose a number of questions. Those of you with long memories will remember the DH Comet accidents in the 1950s and how the lessons learned improved the structural integrity of all subsequent civil aircraft. When the full story of the AF447 is finally revealed, I hope this accident may act as a catalyst for changes to the way regulators, airlines and pilots conduct training on advanced highly automated aircraft.
The aviation industry has a very good safety record. We learn from every accident and incident. Therefore, if procedures and training are improved as an outcome of this tragic accident and safety is further improved as a result, those 228 people will not have died in vain.
At this point it is right to emphasise that speculation in the absence of facts is of little use. However, in the light of the reports below, certain conclusions can be drawn. But even more important they raise questions that it is hoped will soon be answered.
The BEA has issued three interim reports. The first, issued soon after the accident, discusses the pitot tubes and gives the information on how they function and how they are connected to the flight system.
The second, issued 30 Nov 2009, describes how pitot tubes are certified and the previous experiences of icing on pitot tubes manufactured by Thales and Goodrich.
The third (an update issued 27 May 2011) gives some information from the FDR and CVR regarding the last moments of the flight.
The crew were all qualified and experienced on type. The captain had a total of 10,988 flying hours, with 1,474 on type. The senior co-pilot had the necessary licence endorsements to act as a replacement for the captain during his rest period, and had a total of 6,547 flying hours, with 4,479 on type. The more junior co-pilot had a total of 2,936 flying hours, with 809 on type.
Weather Considerations
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Interesting people, unusual flight plans…
On 11/03/2011, in Interesting people, by steve
David Allen – Raised in an aviation family in an aviation town
Dave was Chief Engineer, Crew Information Systems at Boeing
What were you dreaming of becoming when you were a kid?
I was raised in an aviation family in an aviation town. I was born and raised for 16 years in Wichita, Kansas. My father was an Industrial Engineer for Boeing, one uncle was a factory manager for Boeing in Philadelphia (previously a P-40 pilot during WWII), another uncle was a Boeing purchasing agent, and another uncle was a B-25 mechanic during WWI. So, I was raised listening to how airplanes were built at the dinner table. I remember going to the Wichita airport when I was around 10 to see my dad off on a trip to Seattle. I got to meet Bill Allen in the airport. So I have always been around aviation whilst growing up. We moved to Seattle for 10 months while my father worked on the TFX program (became the F-111, which Boeing lost). In 1968, we moved to Seattle where he became Director of Industrial Engineering for the new 737.
I digress some here. As I was growing up, my mother always brought up a complaint about one trip my father took right after my little sister was born. He was sent to Seattle for one week. That turned into two weeks, and slowing turned into 6 weeks. I listened to this many times over the years. A couple of years ago, after my mother brought it up again, my Dad asked me if I knew what he did during that time. He was sent up to do an analysis of the Renton plant to figure out how they would build the 737. After a week, he told the VP that there was not enough factory floor space to build the 737. That caused a great panic and he brought some other folks from Wichita. They figured out how to build the fuselage in Wichita and send it by train to Renton. They developed the complete plan and gained approval in that six weeks. Pretty amazing.
However, like most kids, I had no real career plans other than going to college.
If it was not aviation, what moved you to become part of the aviation family?
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Watch your water drains!
On 16/12/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
Many years ago while working in Paris I bought a Peugeot 305… Do not laugh, I said it was many years ago and what looks to-day like a hopelessly boxy vehicle was a nice new model from the Lion back then. My Dad was worried about the 305’s Latin origins… in his eyes only German workmanship was worth your hard earned cash. I had no such reservations about French cars and in any case, with the diplomatic discount and all, the price was irresistible.
After several thousand miles of faithful service, I noticed in the middle of a really nasty thunderstorm that there was water dripping inside the car into the foot-well of the front passenger. Water coming from below is bad news, it indicates that your chassis is corroded but water dripping from higher up is even worse… that water can find its way into the car’s electrics and then anything can happen. I took the car to a friendly local garage and upon hearing my story, the mechanic on hand produced a foot long, hard wire of some kind and opened the bonnet. He then stuck the wire into a hole partially hidden by the plastic trim and moved it up and down vigorously. He then closed the bonnet and assured me that there would be no more water… he also gave me the wire and suggested that I clean the hole regularly. Apparently the 305’s water-drains were prone to blockage and all you needed to prevent trouble was the little piece of wire which I was the proud owner of now. I remember thinking on the way back to the ICAO office how lucky it was that aircraft were being built better… this could never happen on a 747. I was wrong!
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The TITAN project – one year down the road
On 06/12/2010, in TITAN, by steve
I have always wondered whether passengers notice the organized chaos that characterizes aircraft at the gate, getting ready for its next trip. Whether it is a 737 operated by a low-cost carrier getting turned around in as little as 20 minutes or a 747 heading to the other side of the world and readied for departure in less than 90 minutes, the picture is much the same: a lot of machines, a lot of people, a lot of activities which magically all terminate all of a sudden as if on command and the aircraft is ready to go!
This is the turnaround process, one of the most critical phases of a flight. Yes, strange as it may sound, an aircraft on the ground being serviced for its next flight faces many organizational and technical hurdles, the handling of which introduces a degree of unpredictability seldom if ever encountered in actual flight.
Mess up the turnaround process and an immediate delay ensues which can throw the whole schedule of that particular airframe out of whack for the rest of the day. The nightmare of all airlines.
Of course what we see around the aircraft is only part of the show. Inside the terminal scores or hundreds of passengers will be streaming towards their gate and some will stop to shop, some to eat, others just to gape… in any case, their on time arrival at the gate is anything but certain. Another potential source of departure delay…
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Inside a jet engine
On 24/11/2010, in Safety is no accident, by phil
If, like me, you are wondering what goes on inside a jet engine the site below from Rolls Royce might help. As a pilot I merely used the thing, in my case four Rolls Royce RB211-524s on a Boeing 747-200 and very good they were too.
I also had a flight engineer who helped by ensuring that I didn’t do anything too stupid! Nowadays though, with FMS and FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) the computers do it all. One no longer has to set the power manually, while making small adjustments to ensuring that neither the N1, N2, N3 nor EGT limits were exceeded.
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WorldFlight: driving virtual airspace to the max
On 02/11/2010, in Simulator world, by hoppie
On a sunny, crisp Sunday morning in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1990s, Matt Sheil raised the gear of his light twin and called Departure. With little traffic, he received clearance direct Sydney, his home town. Matt pointed the nose to the North-East, engaged the autopilot, and looked where he had put his newspaper.
Ten seconds later, he dropped the paper and stared at the GPS. What the hell was he doing? Sitting here in his own airplane, reading the newspaper, having himself transported home like cattle… why did he actually own an airplane and did not just book a seat on an airliner? The next morning, he sold off the aircraft, and decided that he would take ten years to build a credible, semi-professional simulator, to get the fun part of flying back into his life.
By the year 2000, the simulator actually was flyable and Matt decided to organise a small event to get some operation going. The aircraft simulated was a Boeing 747-400, so an around-the-world series of flights seemed the right way to go. A skeleton crew was assembled, and on November 5, 2000, Worldflight took to the skies, raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service.
John Davis, sim owner, and myself, software engineer, flying the Coventry 747-400
Over the years, Worldflight has grown to an annual event with a large share of followers. By now, up to nine full-size flight decks join the group, augmented by dozens of desktop simulators flown by people all over the world. All aircraft are linked into a virtual airspace provided by one of the virtual ATC networks, VATSIM. They can see each other out of the window, register all on TCAS when so equipped, and create a buzz of traffic that is quite a handful for the controllers.
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New engines for old favorites?
On 21/10/2010, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
There used to be a time when the big aircraft makers were churning out new types with astounding regularity. In the wide-body arena, there was a choice between the Tri-Star from Lockheed, the DC-10 from McDonnell Douglas and of course the 747 from Boeing. Narrow-bodies also came in a nice variety from the DC-9 through the MD-80 and the 727 to the 737. But let’s not forget that in those days a few legacy, long-range narrow-bodies were still plying the skies, just think of the DC-8 and the Boeing 707. Airbus joined the fray at the top end with the A300 which was a short-to-medium range wide-body and the first twin-engine wide-body as such. That was in 1971…
One thing was sure. Each new type brought something revolutionary, some novelty for which the airlines wanted to buy them. Safety and efficiency increased, noise decreased, passenger comfort improved…
In the meantime, the world went through a number of oil crises, stock market crashes, deregulation, 9/11 and the birth of low cost carriers and the market for narrow-body, short-to-medium range aircraft altered radically. The result? Only two types, the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320 family survived and these days if you travel chances are you will find yourself in one of those, no matter where you are in the world.
Not that those types have not evolved over the years. In particular, the Boeing 737 had several versions with the biggest improvements coming with the New Generation (NG) series. But the 320 also improved if in less visible ways.
In spite of the improvements, the basic design of both the 737 and the 320 family has stayed much the same to this day.
When the 737 started sprouting winglets, bringing fuel efficiency improvements in the low single digits, the discussion was already going on: should the manufacturers design new aircraft to replace the existing types or should they think about re-engining the existing ones?
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Volcanic Ash, an awesome danger
On 21/04/2010, in Environment - Without hot air, by phil
Despite the great beauty of many things found in nature, some also present a great danger to mankinds’ activities. The unprecedented closure of so much of Europe’s airspace highlights the problems caused by volcanic ash. This is not just an issue for airlines and the travelling public, but also affects the whole economy and all those industries that rely on air transport.
I am now retired, but with many friends knowing that I worked in aviation, I have been asked over and over again what the fuss is all about. So, I have trawled a number of aviation and science websites and have put together the following layman’s guide. Back in 1982, when I was the Flight Training Manager of the British Airways 747 Fleet, one of our Boeing 747-236 aircraft flew into a volcanic ash cloud over Indonesia. The incident occurred at night, the crew couldn’t see the ash cloud either visually or on the radar, and the forecast had given virtually no information. At that time the aviation industry knew relatively little about the effects of volcanic ash on jet engines. The crew did a magnificent job after all 4 engines stopped and managed to get back on the ground at Jakarta. Wikepedia has a good account of what happened here.
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Anniversary – Airbus A380 first flight
On 08/04/2010, in Anniversaries, by steve
5 year anniversary on 27 April 2005
After many decades of being the biggest passenger aircraft on the planet, the 747 had to cede its unique position to the Airbus A380 who took to the air for the first time at 10:28:23 on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse Blagnac Airport, Airbus’ home base.
First flight...
Development of the A380 was not without its problems but then which big aircraft program is these days?
The A380 has been in regular revenue service with several airlines for some time now and the very wide set of contrails and clearly recognizable sound of its engines has become a normal part of the day for those living around Brussels. Most A380s coming back from London pass over the Brussels area. At first their passage was reason to grab binoculars but not any more. They are just another aircraft, only a bit bigger…
The 380 entered service at around the time the aviation industry was passing through the biggest depression it had ever seen. It is not a good time by any measure to introduce a new aircraft type… But with some of her operators climbing again and 380 flights being full her creators can look towards the future with confidence.
Happy anniversary!
KLM and Aeroflot take-off from taxi-ways
On 02/03/2010, in View from the left seat, by phil
Strange as it may seem one of the more difficult things that pilots have to deal with is finding their way around airports. Despite ICAO standardisation many obvious things like airport signage are not always the same at every airport, and even if they were, airport layouts will always differ. Surprisingly, navigating the aircraft down through the descent and arrival routes, then flying the approach and landing can often be easier than trying to navigate around the taxiways after vacating the runway. Equally, after all the hassle of getting the passengers on board, completing the checklists, pushing back on time, starting engines and leaving the ramp, finding ones’ way to the runway is not always as easy as it may seem. It really is extraordinary how difficult a seemingly simple task can be!
On the aircraft I used to fly, we had no map displays – only the basic fight instruments and paper charts. We followed our progress around the taxiways as carefully as we could following the charts. But even in good conditions it was surprisingly easy to become confused or to make a mistake. Usually this was resolved very quickly by reference to the marker boards and by checking compass headings, or by asking the tower for help. But sometimes one made a wrong turning, especially in poor visibility, or when everything was covered with snow, or at an unfamiliar airport.
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Flying the Boeing 747
On 26/02/2010, in View from the left seat, by phil
I came relatively late to the Boeing 747, first flying it in 1981 long after all the early teething problems with the PW JT9D-3 engines had been solved. We had two versions of the aircraft in British Airways, the 747-100 series with the more powerful PW JT9D-7 engines and the 747-200 with RR RB211-524 engines. The -200 version had the longer range but both variants were a delight to fly.
The first 747 delivery
Previously the two jet types I had flown were the Vickers VC10 and the Boeing 707, both excellent in their way but not as magnificent as the 747. It was not just its size that made it so. In contrast to the various earlier types of jet transports, which all had some handling vices, the 747 had none. And, again, in contrast to the earlier types it had more system redundancy than any of them. The only handling vice that I could find (if it was a vice at all) was that the nose wheel could skate along the surface if one tried to turn when taxiing at too fast a speed.
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747
On 25/02/2010, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Joe Sutter with Jay Spenser
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-088241-9
For some time now we could read a lot about the development problems afflicting the latest big aircraft types. Just think of the Airbus A380, the 787 or the A400M military transport. Proud projects yet they started life with what appears to be more than their share of setbacks. Perhaps it is now the time to read something about the 747, the “Queen of the Skies”, the aircraft on which at one time Boeing had bet the future of the whole company… Was her birth any smoother?
There is no better guide to lead you through those exciting years than Joe Sutter, one of the most celebrated engineers of the twentieth century and the person who had spearheaded the design and construction of the 747.
747 size aircraft are commonplace today but when Boeing started building the first 747, it was bigger than anything ever built before and needed the world’s largest workshop just to be put together. Everything about the 747 was big including the larger than life personalities who were involved in or influenced this magnificent project.
It was far from smooth sailing and tensions between people as well as technological challenges all added up to make the project leader’s life difficult.
But Joe Sutter and his brilliant team of engineers carried on, never faltering, never doubting, pushing and pulling and even performing the odd miracle when that was called for.
If you think the 380 or the 787 had problems, what about reading that the third 747 in the flight test program actually crashed in Renton two weeks before the FAA was scheduled to certify the 747? Ok, it was pilot error and there was little damage but still… As it turned out, the FAA was actually very impressed by the crashworthiness of the aircraft and the incident had no adverse effect on certification.
With so much in Seattle hanging on Boeing’s future, the Sutters’ friends kept bugging Nancy Sutter, Joe’s wife, whether she believed her husband knew what he was doing… When the 747 first flew on February 9, 1969 Nancy was standing near the runway’s edge at the calculated unstick point, rewarded for all her patience with the best view of this historic event.
After reading this book, you will see big aircraft in a totally different light. Highly recommended.
Order your copy here.
Anniversary – Boeing 747 first revenue flight
On 09/12/2009, in Anniversaries, by steve
40 year anniversary on 22 January 2010
N736PA
Pan American World Airways is long gone but the 747, into its fifth generation, still strives. Forty years ago on 22 January 1970 it was a Pan Am clipper that introduced this undisputed king of large aircraft to revenue service. N736PA, a 747-100 flew from New York to London and became famous on account of the originally scheduled 747 having had to turn back from the runway due to engine trouble. This rather ominous start of revenue services was quickly forgotten, helped in no small degree by the now legendary reliability of all 747 variants.
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Same time, same place, same level…17
On 04/12/2009, in Same time, same place..., by steve
Navigation, the art of getting lost – Part 2
A taxiway will do…
A few years later, however, we got our share of uninvited visitors, too. This time it was a Sunday and the observation terrace was crowded by people, some of them waiting for flights due in later, others just there to watch for the fun of it. Well, they were in for more fun than they had bargained for.
Quite unknown to us, high above in the skies a fully armed fighter on routine patrol duty was in trouble. Not in big trouble mind you, just enough to loose all his navigation capability and his communication with the ground. As his fuel state deteriorated rapidly, the poor guy started descending, no doubt searching for one of the “secret” military fields the location of which only he was supposed to know. As he popped out from the solid cloud cover, he saw a field, which happened to be us. He took us to be the military field, no doubt because he wanted to see a military field so much…
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Legend & Legacy – The Story of Boeing and Its People
On 02/12/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Robert J. Serling
Publisher: St. Martin’s Pres, New York
ISBN-0-312-05890-X
When we read about Boeing these days, it is more often than not something negative. The new version of the 747 and the Dreamliner delayed, repeatedly it seems and for reasons that make one wonder what is going on in Seattle and Chicago. It is easy to forget that with the Dreamliner they are working in uncharted territory where surprises are not that unusual, even with the best of planning.
It is about time you dropped the daily paper and read a book about Boeing the company and Boeing, the people who have built this icon of aviation. Robert J. Serling created a masterpiece, taking you behind the scenes with humor, objectivity and abundant anecdotes. Published in 1991, the book talks about a Boeing that is yet to endure the effects of 9/11 and the latest economic crisis but when we read that the company once went seventeen months without selling a single plane on the domestic market and almost went bankrupt, one cannot but wonder. Has anything really changed?
Industrial history books can be dry and a bore. Not Legend & Legacy which reads like a novel except that it feels real from the first page to the very last and even when you read about incredible characters and incredible deeds that helped win WWII and conquered the commercial skies.
What about the salesman who almost traded a used 727 for 12 million bucks worth of underwear or the test pilot who barrel-rolled a prototype jetliner representing one-quarter of the company’s net worth… He felt the stunt would help sell the plane!
You will read about the conception, gestation and birth of the legendary 747 which will forever wear the crown of very big
airplanes even if it was overtaken by new types like the Airbus A380.
This is a compelling, fascinating journey from William Boeing’s Red Barn to the 777 shown through the hearts and eyes of the people on all levels who are and will always be the essence of the Boeing Company.
Pick up a copy and expect to miss even your favorite football game!
Same time, same place, same level…16
On 30/11/2009, in Same time, same place..., by steve
Navigation, the art of getting lost – Part 1
Faultless navigation plays an all important role in the safe operation of aircraft. There are scores of instruments both in the cockpit and on the ground, the purpose of which is to make sure that pilots and controllers are constantly aware of where their airplanes are flying. Of course, not all the available systems are of equal sophistication, while some provide direct readout of position, others require quite a bit of interpretation. Different aircraft may have different equipment installed and under certain conditions controllers on the ground are the only ones who can really tell at a glance the position of a particular plane.
Constant positional awareness of the flight crew is helped by specialized charts quite unreadable to the layman. What you see is a maze of lines, circles, symbols, figures and arrows, but to a pilot they tell all he needs to know. Controllers mainly rely on their radar to keep track of what is happening but they can read a navigation chart as well as any pilot can. Still, navigational errors do occur, almost always leading to hot situations in the cockpit and on the ground. Here are a few of the more notable ones from our experience.
Shitbombers and the mountains
If you loose your way in the sky while flying over flat ground on a bright summer day, though awkward, things are not likely to take a nasty turn in a hurry. You can always try to read the name of a nearby railway station or if this fails, call in to ATC for some friendly advice. However, if there are mountains around, you are flying in clouds and radar has difficulties tracking your flight, it is better to watch your every step.
Remember the old Chinese saying “Luck never comes in pairs or disaster alone”? Well, this seems to be especially true for flying. The five shitbombers (we called the agricultural sprayers shitbombers) were plodding along in a tight formation, heavily loaded with fuel, on a ferry flight bound for the Middle East.
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When blue means green
On 27/11/2009, in Environment - Without hot air, by steve
The KLM 747 shown below circled The Netherlands for an hour on 23 November with one of its four engines running on a 50 % mix of biokerosene. The new fuel aptly tagged “sustainable kerosene” was manufactured from the camelina plant by a biotechnology company in Seattle, USA.
KLM said that this was the first ever flight in Europe powered partly by sustainable kerosene.
Some 40 people, including politicians, airline officials and journalists, were on board.
KLM stressed that its interest in sustainable kerosene is conditional on the availability of solutions that do not jeopardize the food supply, forests or water resources.
This flight was definitely an important first step towards cleaner and sustainable air transport. The general availability of sustainable kerosene is one aspect that will determine how quickly companies adopt the new fuel.
I have only one nagging question… what color will the contrail be behind a fully bio aero engine? (SMILE)
Sway – The irresistible pull of irrational behavior
On 08/10/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN – 978-0-38552438-4
Put two identical products in different packaging and with different names and different prices on a store shelf. Have the more expensive one recommended by a well known face, the other advertised only by itself. Which one will sell more? The one endorsed by the celeb… of course you will say. But what if I told you that our everyday lives, our every decision, every move we make is subject to what the authors term “sway”, our tendency to chose the irrational over the rational.
No place is safe from this peculiar human failing. The book opens with a chilling account of the Tenerife ground collision of two 747s and how a particular genre of “sway” played a determining role in the way events unfolded on that fateful day.
Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics and organizational behavior, Sway reveals the many dynamic forces that influence our personal, business and professional lives. You will read about loss aversion (how we will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (our inability to reevaluate our initial diagnosis of a person or situation) and the chameleon effect (our tendency to take on characteristics that have been arbitrarily assigned to us).
But there is more… Sway introduces the Harvard Business School professor who convinced his students to pay more than 200 bucks for a 20 dollar bill, brings convincing examples from the airline world, the world of football and the NBA and tells us why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance.
This book will change forever the way you think about the way you think.
If you decide to buy the book after reading this review, you just got swayed… but buy it anyway. This is one decision you will not regret.
