A kid in the tower, a pilot without license and other things
On 08/03/2010, in Viewpoint, by steve
The unprecedented success of the air transport industry is due mainly to the spectacular improvements in safety booked overt the years. True, the convenience of being able to travel to the other end of Europe for a meeting and back the same day count for a lot, but without the safety factor, few passengers would accept the hassle of endless security queues and legroom appropriate for the shortest 10 % of the population only.
The exemplary safety record is the result of constant vigilance, safety management systems and the responsible attitudes of those working with or around aircraft.
Any disturbance that could negatively affect safety or even the perception of safety would be a disaster to the industry on a scale that would dwarf the effects of the recent financial meltdown in the world.
In a well running system complacency is one of the biggest dangers while it is also one of the most basic treats of the human character. Fighting complacency must be one of the most important items in any safety manager’s kit.
Recently however we seem to be seeing signs of a disturbing trend.
A taxiway will do… KLM 737 takes-off from Taxiway B in Amsterdam
On 16/02/2010, in Life around runways, by steve
PH-BDP in Warsaw
I do have a trip scheduled to Warsaw… what I pity I was not on KL1369 two days ago! As I said in another article, I am one of the few air travelers who does check the life west (under your seat you know), follows the safety briefing and confirms the nearest exit (may be behind you). I also follow the taxi operation, trying to figure out which runway we would be using…
What a wonderful discovery it would have been to see the 737 line up on a taxiway and take off from there without further ado!
That is exactly what PH-BDP did two days ago around half past eight in the evening in what appears to have been darkness but otherwise good visibility.
Only heroes and luck stop terrorists today
On 28/12/2009, in Battle stations, by krisztian
It has been a long time ago since the media last brought us news concerning the airlines and terrorism. Until Flight 253 of Delta Airlines departing Amsterdam bound for Detroit came in the news. Second day of Christmas brought us back to reality. If you want to know what happened, you can read all the news items concerning this event. What interests me more, is what went wrong and why. Even more interesting, how can we prevent this in the future.
A lot of comment has been given concerning the fact that the passenger who now is labeled as a terrorist, was on Terrorism Watch lists, that his father had warned the US government about the activities of his son. People pose the question: how could such a passenger board a US bound flight? But why try to find the blame in a paper carousel that is so far away from the operations on the ground and the true security measures that have been put into place.
Consider the following. All US bound passengers have to go through profiling. Passengers coming from connecting flights from anywhere must at some point before heading towards US territorial airspace go through the profiling process. This process was set up to filter passengers with evil intentions. Airport security, the x-ray people, are there to filter all equipment which might be dangerous for the flight. So, what happened?
Aerodrome control towers of the world – Schiphol, Amsterdam
On 25/10/2009, in Towers of the world, by steve
Tower No. 3
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has had four control towers in its history, with number three and four doing service simultaneously these days. Number four is a strange looking creature, sitting out in the fields and watching over the airport’s fifth runway.
However, this article is about tower number three, the tall, torch-like edifice on the grounds of the central area of the airport. With her height of 101 meters (330 ft) she was the tallest tower in the world when built in 1991. Schiphol is the world’s lowest major airport; its entire area is below sea level, with the lowest point 3.4 meter (11 ft) below.
The tower had a somewhat troubled start.
Visiting an office with a view
On 06/10/2009, in The lighter side, by heading370
Familiarization flight with Transavia
One of the countless drawbacks of 9/11, a few of you may have realized, is that even for air traffic controllers it has become increasingly difficult to visit a cockpit of an airliner, indeed most of the airlines adopted a closed cockpit door policy. I used to take every opportunity to at least say hello to the crew and was always happy to take the jumpseat for an interesting landing. But those times are over I’m afraid, probably forever and I don’t even ask the cabin crew anymore as I know the answer will be a polite: Sorry it’s not possible…
A happy crew
In the past Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) had agreements with various airlines which offered us ATCO-s the chance for fam. flights to see the place where all that actions happen. One of my most memorable experiences goes back to 1996 when I flew in the cockpit of a Swissair MD-11 between Zurich and Montreal Mirabel. So I was particularly happy when we learned about the great new initiative: Transavia Airlines (commercially rebranded as transavia.com after the basiqair period) was willing to renew the nice tradition of familiarization flights for air traffic controllers, offering us Maastricht controllers a quota of 50 flights a year.
Needless to say I was amongst the first ones to apply and received a confirmation email the previous day that I will fly on the 8th of March with TRA5143 from Amsterdam to Alicante and back on the same day.
Is the training of air traffic controllers better?
On 20/08/2009, in Viewpoint, by steve
One of the surprising and possibly unexpected early recommendations coming out of the investigation of the recent Air France Airbus 330 crash is that training in certain basic piloting skills and the handling of unusual situations must be strengthened and improved. Excuse me? Have we already reached the stage where the pilots of a sophisticated aircraft like the 330 are left wondering what to do when the screens go blank or numbers no longer add up?
One accident, however tragic, is probably not enough to draw far reaching conclusions on this thorny issue. But it does pose a question in a different context: is the training of air traffic controllers any better and is it keeping up with developments in the cockpit?
