Wednesday 29 May 2013


I have been told that it is time to tell some more ‘tales’, well after 30 years and having been employed by more than a dozen airlines, oh I’ve never been made redundant or fired, if that’s what you’re thinking, there are many tales to tell!

My life to date means that I have travelled a wee bit further than the end of my road! Having spent a large portion of this time travelling at 6 hundred miles an hour more than 6 miles above this tiny planet of hours and visiting 6 of its Continents……..How many 6’s is that….666? Well, yes at times it has been a ‘Devil’ of a time…….but I wouldn’t have swapped this time for anything!

As per this article’s title, I have travelled around this world of ours, not in 80 days, though at times I have felt like a jet assisted Phileas Fogg…..yes I’ve used this phrase before! A feeling eschewed especially when operating as a Captain on around the world flights on the Boeing 747-400; travelling from South Korea’s Seoul to Anchorage Alaska then on to New York’s JFK airport before heading across the ‘Pond’ to Oslo prior to the last stop in Tashkent Uzbekistan for the return leg to Seoul….fabulous fun and tales I shall tell, I promise!

For this globe-trotting schedule there were only three flight crew members onboard until JFK; then we became two, although a third crew member on a Canarsie Approach to runway 13L with a side step, or late re-clearance to runway 13R at JFK was invaluable.





 This approach, to one of the world’s busiest airports, one where on the ground in wintery conditions I have had to taxi for three hours, is always demanding.

A colleague of mine who had to return to the parking gate three times prior to his flight being cancelled in blizzard conditions…lost his temper with one of his passengers. With this passenger’s flight being ‘postponed’ due to adverse conditions the Captain threw his UK car keys at this passenger who was insisting that they departed and said “You blooming drive it then!”…….Only to realise ten minutes later that he would need these keys on his ‘eventual’ return to the UK……so cap in hand…..

But back to being aloft at JFK on the Canarsie approach, where we would have to follow the ground based lead in lights, peering out from the flight deck of a Boeing 747, whilst trying to turn inside the Aqueduct race-course and roll-out in line with the runway at around 300 feet brought either a smile to your face or language recorded on the CVR which would not be out of place from a booze fuelled night out with the local Dockers! I still reckon that this approach is on par with the old Hong Kong’s Kai-Tak airport, our passengers never realise how ‘interesting/challenging’ some of these major international airports can be……well not until something goes wrong.

I have checked, 7 days on my travels, 35 hours in my log book averaging around 17,500 miles. Not bad considering it is 21,600 miles to circumnavigate the globe along the equator!

So from A to ZEE, when looking through my pilot log books I realised that I have worked my way through the alphabet…..though the letter ‘X’ uses a touch of artistic licence…..as you will see!

So, starting at the beginning, ‘A’…..we will look at places from Anchorage to Asmara and Amman to Almeria with a few others in-between; so many memories, which have not yet been destroyed by jet-lag, coffee, beer or divorces! Before they are ‘diluted’ I’ll highlight some of them now.

So in no particular order except for alphabetical, I’ll begin…….

Aberdeen, Scotland during the winter of 1984 was my first flight as an ‘Airline Pilot’, on the HS 748. An aircraft type that had two propellers, 48 seats and an auto-flight system which was as sophisticated as a light switch……though not as useful! I was scheduled to fly on G-BEJE a series one version, I didn’t realise it straight away but I was so far out of my depth even on this most basic of aircraft types, that there was a chance that my dreams of being an airline pilot might not come to fruition.

           


Thirty years ago CRM was a type of breakfast cereal and multi crew training was never a part of any initial training curriculum; Romanian bar staff would probably have had more personnel management training than I had.

With nothing to fall back on, I reverted to ‘type’ and kept calling my Training Captain Sir, which he kept telling me off for……I never went to public school, as such but awe can affect your mind-set…..to me he was a God and I felt like a lamb to the slaughter.

The HS 748, or as it was initially known, the Avro 748 or ‘Budgie’….which in my humble opinion harped back to the days of ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines’ but without the glamour…….and a film which should be in the top 5 of any aviation enthusiasts…..was fabulous.

One incident on this aircraft had the brake accumulator explode and propel itself from the nose wheel bay, through the flight deck floor, ripping off the co-pilot’s armrest before running out of steam on the ceiling……having it’s lineage traced back to the Avro Lancaster, a World War Two bomber and celebrating this year it’s 70th anniversary of the famous Dambuster’s raid in 1943.

Though thirty years later this ‘incident’ brings a smile to my face and a proud feeling to have flown it …..I’ve always had a great interest in history!

This aircraft had no Level D flight simulators on which you could hone your skills or computer based training aids to learn your craft. Everything had to be done ‘in real time’….onboard. This included shutting down engines and feathering propellers; I would imagine that ‘Health and Safety’ would have something to say about this now and that all procedures would have to be accomplished whilst wearing a fluorescent Hi-Viz!

Adventures in Afghanistan......


                                          ADVENTURES IN AFGHANISTAN!


Having spent a reasonable amount of time recently bumbling around the airports and airspace of Iraq, I now had the opportunity to try my luck at the equally interesting Afghanistan region. A country which posed significant challenges for a multitude of reasons as we shall see.

These challenges are not exaggerated by the following statement reproduced from the Afghanistan A.I.P…….
“………There are continuing reports of indiscriminate small arms and missile attacks on aircraft operating in Afghanistan, primarily at low altitudes. Therefore, operators that undertake flights within the Kabul FIR (Flight Information Region) shall do so at their own risk…….” Not sure how my personal life insurance would be affected by this statement!

Over the last eighteen months I have been ‘fortunate’ to operate in this newly challenging environment, amongst other destinations on my company’s route network. Flying into Bagram, Camp Bastion, Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-E-Sharif, mostly on flights for ISAF; The International Security Assistance Force. A NATO-led security mission inAfghanistan that was established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001.

Primarily these flights originated from Burgos (LBBG) airport in Bulgaria where the freight is delivered from the Bulgarian munitions factories direct to the aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 freighter. AlthougI have operated similar flights from Karup (EKKA) in Denmark and Belgrade (LYBE) Serbia.   

Normally these flights are restricted in the amount of payload which can be carried by the need to 
arrive at the planned Afghanistan airport with sufficient fuel for the return flight back to our home airport. This was a carefully calculated balancing act as obviously payload means profit and fuel means cost to the company; especially as the fuel is extremely expensive in Afghanistan as it needs to be normally trucked in

This is constantly fraught with danger from the convoys being attacked by insurgents. I was talking with a Canadian consultant who dealt with this operation and he said that there was an expected 10% loss on all convoy movements and this was built in at the planning stage……a sobering thought, especially if you were one of the convoy’s drivers.

My particular adventure to this region usually started with our pick up by a shuttle bus, driven by the Burgos airport handling company, from our downtown hotel situated on a pretty Black Sea beach to 
the nearby airport’s crew security building.

At the often sleepy Burgos airport we would have to pass through their security where we would be relieved of our belts and other metallic objects prior to passing through the metal detector. Our crew 
bags would be scrutinised and laptop computers ‘investigated’ as being real. If they only realised what we would be carrying on our aircraft then this process would seem rather unnecessary!

A short bus ride from the security building would take us to our aircraft, which was usually fully loaded and awaiting our arrival. Onboard we would meet our two loadmasters and ground engineer as well as the crew which flew the aircraft in,all of whom would be looking forward to deadheading with us over the next two sectors!

Generally on this operation the Captain completes the walk-round of the aircraft, on a Boeing 747-



400 this would take around 10 minutes and followed by a check of the freight. This is a final check to ensure that all the pallets were correctly loaded and secured. With around 100,000 kilograms (100 
tonnes) of freight which contains high explosive ordnances………it is not desirable to have this moving around unsupervised! Especially after the tragic crash involving the National Airlines Boeing 747-400 at Bagram,should it be proved that ‘load-shift’ was the cause of this accident.

In the cockpit the documents relating to the flight are analysed and checked. These include the weather charts and reports, NOTAMs (Notice To Airmen), the Operational Flight Plan which primarily states the routings and fuel requirements as well as the document stipulating the specific overflight and landing clearances. Included in this information pack should be the document which states our ISAF call-sign and transponder code which we need for entering Afghanistan airspace; as this flight operates with a civilian call-sign upuntil reaching the Afghanistan border.

Once all the paperwork has been completed, and the cockpit checks and crew briefings have been run through, with the co-pilot having loaded the route and performance data into the Flight Management System, it is time to close the ‘front door’ and prepare ourselves for departure.

The pushback tug here in Burgos is not powerful enough to push us back whilst starting the engines, so we have to wait for the pushback procedure to be completed and our aircraft lined up on the taxiway, prior to starting our four Rolls Royce RB211 engines.

With all four engines running and the Before Taxi Checklist completed it is time to move under our own power along the rather bumpy taxiway towards the departure end of the active runway. With the flaps selected to our company standard setting of 20 degrees (Although 10 degrees of flap can also be used if necessary, subject of course to the necessary performance calculations.)

For our flight we are departing from the 10,500 foot runway04 on a NESAR 4A departure; so with our Air Traffic Control Clearance received, along with our take-off clearance, it is time to aviate!
Initially setting 70% N1 by advancing the four thrust levers, checking that the engine parameters are 
all stable, the TOGA (Take-off Go-Around) switches are pressed and the auto-throttle system takes 
over control of setting the required take-off power.

Accelerating down the runway which has more lumps and bumps than the lunar surface; we initially start rolling uphill and then after a third of the runway is behind us, up onto a more level surface where we can now see the runway’s end!

After about seventy seconds we pass our V1, this is the maximum speed by which we need to start initiating a rejected take-off should a problem occur, followed seconds later byour calculated rotation speed of 165 knots. Now the 340 tonne aircraft is maneuvered into the air and with a positive rate of climb confirmed, the 18 wheels belonging to the landing gear are raised into their respective wheel wells. Automatic braking occurs to stop the wheels from spinning when tucked up inside and here they will stay locked up until we finally configure for landing.

The next three hours see us drinking coffee and eating rather tasty crew meals as our route takes us from Bulgarian airspace over the countries of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan andTurkmenistan before reaching the Afghanistan border at a navigational fix called LEMOD.

All flights which are planned to land at an Afghanistan airport require a descent down to around 28,000 feet prior to entry at LEMOD, also clearance needs to be granted by the Kabul area controllers using our new ISAF call-sign and transponder code. With two-way communications established with Kabul ATC, Turkmenistan dismiss us and now the fun begins!

With all flights into Afghanistan these days…..well nights actually…..as most of my operations into these airports are during the hours of darkness fortunately; we use a procedure similar to ops into Iraq, where we switch all of the aircraft lights off during the descent. This was ‘suggested both byprudence and the Afghanistan AIP. (Although I believe that the latest version of the A.I.P. has been amended and thissuggestion has been deleted.) These lights would remainextinguished and 
generally not switched back on until committed to land and crossing our destination airport’s 
perimeter fence.

I have mentioned in previous articles about mortars and rockets landing on both Baghdad and Basra airports whilst I was operating there, as well as being targeted by lasers inbound to Erbil and Kabul. Watching military aircraft dispense flares on departure from Camp Bastion and Baghdad……because of cockpit warnings……all adds up to the fact that the threats are obviously real and that see and be seen doesn’t apply here!
As stated earlier there are several airports in Afghanistan which we operate into, all having their own ‘peculiarities’, however, we will look at them individually from North to South, starting in this issue with Mazar-E Sharif (OAMS).The other airports will be discussed in a subsequent article in Airways Magazine.
Due to the dynamic nature of operating in Afghanistan no two days are ever the same, so no inbound routings until reaching the initial approach fix can be ‘accurately’ planned for.Afghanistan has high mountains and Mazar-E-Sharif has no radar, so we must always know where we are, unfortunately aircraft have impacted the mountains in this country when situational awareness has been lost, the last one being and Ilyushin 76 which took a ‘short cut’ inbound to Bagram and impacted the Shakar Dara Mountains. Onboard the Boeing 747-400 we can use the TERRAIN feature which gives a visual depiction of the terrain on the N.D. (Navigational Display) in front of both pilots, this in conjunction with the E.G.P.W.S. (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System), gives great situational awareness and protection.
Kabul Air Traffic Control eventually signs off from assisting and gives clearance to xxxxx where the approach begins and other hazards come in to play………especially as the airport is still mined!
We will continue with the approach into Mazar-E-Sharif and the other Afghanistan airports in the next issue!


Normally these flights are restricted in the amount of payload which can be carried by the need to arrive at the planned Afghanistan airport with sufficient fuel for the return flight back to our home airport. This was a carefully calculated balancing act as obviously payload means profit and fuel means cost to the company; especially as the fuel is extremely expensive in Afghanistan as it needs to be normally trucked in. This is constantly fraught with danger from the convoys being attacked by insurgents. I was talking with a Canadian consultant who dealt with this operation and he said that there was an expected 10% loss on all convoy movements and this was built in at the planning stage……a sobering thought, especially if you were one of the convoy’s drivers.
My particular adventure to this region usually started with our pick up by a shuttle bus, driven by the Burgos airport handling company, from our downtown hotel situated on a pretty Black Sea beach to the nearby airport’s crew security building.
At the often sleepy Burgos airport we would have to pass through their security where we would be relieved of our belts and other metallic objects prior to passing through the metal detector. Our crew bags would be scrutinised and laptop computers ‘investigated’ as being real. If they only realised what we would be carrying on our aircraft then this process would seem rather unnecessary!
A short bus ride from the security building would take us to our aircraft, which was usually fully loaded and awaiting our arrival. Onboard we would meet our two loadmasters and ground engineer as well as the crew which flew the aircraft in,all of whom would be looking forward to deadheading with usover the next two sectors!
Generally on this operation the Captain completes the walk-round of the aircraft, on a Boeing 747-400 this would take around 10 minutes and followed by a check of the freight. This is a final check to ensure that all the pallets were correctly loaded and secured. With around 100,000 kilograms (100 tonnes) of freight which contains high explosive ordnances………it is not desirable to have this moving around unsupervised! Especially after the tragic crash involving the National Airlines Boeing 747-400 at Bagram,should it be proved that ‘load-shift’ was the cause of this accident.
In the cockpit the documents relating to the flight are analysed and checked. These include the weather charts and reports, NOTAMs (Notice To Airmen), the Operational Flight Plan which primarily states the routings and fuel requirements as well as the document stipulating the specific overflight and landing clearances. Included in this information pack should be the document which states our ISAF call-sign and transponder code which we need for entering Afghanistan airspace; as this flight operates with a civilian call-sign upuntil reaching the Afghanistan border.
Once all the paperwork has been completed, and the cockpit checks and crew briefings have been run through, with the co-pilot having loaded the route and performance data into the Flight Management System, it is time to close the ‘front door’ and prepare ourselves for departure.
The pushback tug here in Burgos is not powerful enough to push us back whilst starting the engines, so we have to wait for the pushback procedure to be completed and our aircraft lined up on the taxiway, prior to starting our four Rolls Royce RB211 engines.
With all four engines running and the Before Taxi Checklist completed it is time to move under our own power along the rather bumpy taxiway towards the departure end of the active runway. With the flaps selected to our company standard setting of 20 degrees (Although 10 degrees of flap can also be used if necessary, subject of course to the necessary performance calculations.)
For our flight we are departing from the 10,500 foot runway04 on a NESAR 4A departure; so with our Air Traffic Control Clearance received, along with our take-off clearance, it is time to aviate!
Initially setting 70% N1 by advancing the four thrust levers, checking that the engine parameters are all stable, the TOGA (Take-off Go-Around) switches are pressed and the auto-throttle system takes over control of setting the required take-off power.
Accelerating down the runway which has more lumps and bumps than the lunar surface; we initially start rolling uphill and then after a third of the runway is behind us, up onto a more level surface where we can now see the runway’s end!
After about seventy seconds we pass our V1, this is the maximum speed by which we need to start initiating a rejected take-off should a problem occur, followed seconds later byour calculated rotation speed of 165 knots. Now the 340 tonne aircraft is maneuvered into the air and with a positive rate of climb confirmed, the 18 wheels belonging to the landing gear are raised into their respective wheel wells. Automatic braking occurs to stop the wheels from spinning when tucked up inside and here they will stay locked up until we finally configure for landing.
The next three hours see us drinking coffee and eating rather tasty crew meals as our route takes us from Bulgarian airspace over the countries of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan andTurkmenistan before reaching the Afghanistan border at a navigational fix called LEMOD.
All flights which are planned to land at an Afghanistan airport require a descent down to around 28,000 feet prior to entry at LEMOD, also clearance needs to be granted by the Kabul area controllers using our new ISAF call-sign and transponder code. With two-way communications established with Kabul ATC, Turkmenistan dismiss us and now the fun begins!
With all flights into Afghanistan these days…..well nights actually…..as most of my operations into these airports are during the hours of darkness fortunately; we use a procedure similar to ops into Iraq, where we switch all of the aircraft lights off during the descent. This was ‘suggested both byprudence and the Afghanistan AIP. (Although I believe that the latest version of the A.I.P. has been amended and thissuggestion has been deleted.) These lights would remainextinguished and generally not switched back on until committed to land and crossing our destination airport’s perimeter fence.
I have mentioned in previous articles about mortars and rockets landing on both Baghdad and Basra airports whilst I was operating there, as well as being targeted by lasers inbound to Erbil and Kabul. Watching military aircraft dispense flares on departure from Camp Bastion and Baghdad……because of cockpit warnings……all adds up to the fact that the threats are obviously real and that see and be seen doesn’t apply here!
As stated earlier there are several airports in Afghanistan which we operate into, all having their own ‘peculiarities’, however, we will look at them individually from North to South, starting in this issue with Mazar-E Sharif (OAMS).The other airports will be discussed in a subsequent article in Airways Magazine.
Due to the dynamic nature of operating in Afghanistan no two days are ever the same, so no inbound routings until reaching the initial approach fix can be ‘accurately’ planned for.Afghanistan has high mountains and Mazar-E-Sharif has no radar, so we must always know where we are, unfortunately aircraft have impacted the mountains in this country when situational awareness has been lost, the last one being and Ilyushin 76 which took a ‘short cut’ inbound to Bagram and impacted the Shakar Dara Mountains. Onboard the Boeing 747-400 we can use the TERRAIN feature which gives a visual depiction of the terrain on the N.D. (Navigational Display) in front of both pilots, this in conjunction with the E.G.P.W.S. (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System), gives great situational awareness and protection.
Kabul Air Traffic Control eventually signs off from assisting and gives clearance to xxxxx where the approach begins and other hazards come in to play………especially as the airport is still mined!
We will continue with the approach into Mazar-E-Sharif and the other Afghanistan airports in the next issue!



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