Tomorrow, December 8th.
Next posts will be an eye whitness account of what really happened on BA 38, which crashed at London's Heathrow airport........
As well as a tongue in cheek look at the world of contract flying. This was also first published in Airways Magazine.
Friday, 7 December 2012
FROM WAR TORN BAGHDAD TO A WAR ZONE THAT WAS TRIPOLI………PART 2.
Often the flying part is the easiest of the tasks set for a
pilot. It is the organisation and operation on the ground which requires the
greatest skills, both in diplomacy and management, and this day would test both
of these.
Annoyingly my mobile phone would not work here on the ground
in Tripoli, and my only means of communication with my boss in the UK and Iraqi
Airways in Baghdad was through Stockholm Radio using the HF network, not ideal,
so an alternative needed to be sourced to solve this problem, along with other
problems which were starting to unfold on a minute by minute basis.
With various people boarding our aircraft and being searched
by our Iraqi Airways security team, it soon materialised that before anything
could be done we had to pay. This would be for navigation fees, landing
charges, handling and parking charges too. So with a member of the Iraqi
Embassy and a local Libyan handling agent I was whisked off to relieve myself
of several thousand US Dollars. Accompanied by a fabulous gentleman, again a
member of our security team, who did a great impression of Lord Nelson, as he
always kept his hand inside his buttoned up jacket, we drove off to the flight
planning and handling office. Now I have been to many of these ‘departments’ in
my career, but the sight of this one was one which I was totally unprepared
for. It resembled a rundown squat used as a New York crack den and inhabited by
some very untidy individuals. However, the Libyan staff here could not have
been more helpful. They had nothing, their country was in melt down, yet what
they did have they wanted to share with me; a cup of ‘chai’ with them was
almost a humbling experience.
One member of the local Iraqi Embassy staff kindly leant me
his personal mobile phone which was most welcome, and I was allowed to keep it
for the ‘duration’, I am sure he meant just a couple of hours, but I returned
it two days later and with its credit exhausted!
Returning to my aircraft, it materialised that we only had
70 passengers, the problem being that there were so many checkpoints between
the city and the airport that it was becoming very difficult for the ‘refugees’
to make their way. This was compounded by the security teams manning these
checkpoints ‘confiscating’ their money, passports and anything else which they
took a fancy to, along with systematically beating them. We were then advised
that it would be many more hours before any more of our passengers would be in
a position to board our aircraft.
We were advised that these seventy passengers would be
removed from the airport if they did not board immediately, now I didn’t want
to board them, as we were advised that it would be unacceptable to fly to
Tripoli and then only return to Baghdad with seventy passengers, it would have
been a political public relations disaster.
However, I didn’t want to lose those that we had, as there were many
families with children. So a group decision was made to board them and wait as
long as we could.
After three hours on the ground and all extensions to our
insurance running out, we had to leave and with the option of returning to
Baghdad being an unfavourable one, and a guarantee from the Iraqi Embassy staff
that our remaining passengers plus the seventy we already had would be ready to
depart the following day; I decided to offload those already on-board and
depart for Tunis which was only an hour away. There we could come up with our
next plan, and buy us some more time.
The decision to fly to Tunis was made as we were very
fortunate that our senior cabin crew member was from Tunis and who had friends
at the airport there, and it was through him and my UK boss that we were able
to organise our over flight permissions of Tunisia and our landing permit into
Tunis, again it’s who you know in this business! So with the very understanding
passengers disembarked and the aircraft pre-flight checks all completed we
started our engines for a departure to Tunis’s Carthage International Airport.
Although the westerly runway was favoured by the surface
wind, the entry onto this runway had been destroyed so a back-track followed by
a 180 degree turn at the poorly lit runway’s end would be required to take off
in a westerly direction. It was now dark, and not wishing to take any undue
risks Marty and I decided that it would be prudent to accept a ten knot
tailwind and depart using the full length available on the easterly runway.
After an uneventful take-off we were cleared by Libyan air
traffic control to fly direct to our exit point on the Libyan-Tunisian border
However, this would mean flying over the town of Zawarah a coastal town west of
Tripoli which we had earlier been advised by Iraqi embassy personnel was
experiencing hostile actions. Instead we decided on a northerly track between
the eastern edge of Tripoli and the quaintly named town of Castelverde; so keeping
us clear of Zawarah.
Climbing to our cruise altitude of 38,000 feet only took
fifteen minutes, and being handed over to Tunisian air traffic control west of
the island of Djerba, we were cleared direct to a waypoint named Zahra which
was the initial approach fix for the arrival routing into Carthage airport when
using the ten thousand feet long runway 01.
A normal landing using just idle reverse and no autobrakes
ensued. We customarily tried to use as little reverse thrust as necessary to
minimise engine ware and foreign objects damage, accompanied with minimal
braking to reduce brake and tyre ware too. Our preference was to use the
available runway length whenever possible and so reducing our maintenance costs
as much as possible; with only one Boeing 747-400 in our company we had little
flexibility during unscheduled maintenance.
We planned to stay on the ground in Tunis for around sixteen
hours, taking rest in the hotel and coming up with an alternative plan of
action. During this ground time the necessary landing and over-flight permits
were obtained, Tunisian handling bills paid by a member of the Iraqi embassy in
Tunis, and the aircraft was re-catered…most important!
The subsequent flight to Tripoli was uneventful. There were
210 passengers waiting for us on arrival, and after spending the last of my
dollars and donating all the catering which we could spare to the extremely
grateful ground staff, we closed our doors and set off for home, well Baghdad
anyway.
A great adventure and very rewarding that we had removed so
many families from harm’s way; however, it’s a question of ‘the devil you know’
I suppose. Tripoli or Baghdad, as we say Hobson’s choice I suppose. Although a
year on, it seems that Tripoli is actually a safer proposition than Baghdad.
I’m no longer involved with the Boeing 747-400 operation in
Baghdad; instead I have secured a fantastic contract flying the Boeing 747-400
for Silkways in Azerbaijan; yet another fabulous
adventure flying freight to destinations as diverse as Hong
Kong, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan China and Europe.
I consider myself to be very lucky.
If you would like to fly with Alan on the Boeing 737,747,777
or Airbus 320/340, then you can contact him at info@simuflyltd.com
Thursday, 6 December 2012
FROM WAR TORN BAGHDAD TO A WAR ZONE THAT WAS TRIPOLI……… YET ANOTHER ADVENTURE!
After five months into my last adventure, sorry position of
employment, one which primarily involved flying around the non-holiday
destinations of Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia on a Boeing 747-400 aircraft for
The Supreme Hajj and Umrah Commission; I was offered the opportunity to operate
a flight to a different destination, Tripoli in Libya.
‘Cool’ I thought; a change of region for my family to follow
on CNN news to keep up to date with my latest movements.
My enthusiasm though was not repeated by my family, who were
deeply unenthusiastic at this prospect. They had become used to the fact that I
was no longer based in a cosmopolitan western city, or by the banks of one of
Italy’s many beautiful lakes; but instead in the semi-secure area between
Baghdad airport’s two north-south runways.
My accommodation was protected not by smart overdressed doormen,
but instead by even smarter and politer ex-Ghurkha guards wielding AK47s. My
once stylish hotel rooms were swapped for air conditioned containers with hot
and hot running water; but I loved it, I could often be heard to say “It is
what it is”, and always with a smile on my face.
Trying to explain that operating into the Libyan war zone on
an Iraqi government backed humanitarian rescue flight would be perfectly safe,
was to be honest; met with more than a little bit of disbelief. Not surprising
really, especially after all of my previous assurances about our safety in
Baghdad had fallen on deaf ears after two mortar shells landed nearby my
compound whilst I was chatting on Skype with my daughter, she being in leafy
Surrey and myself in sandy Baghdad, it was not a scenario that she wanted to
become used to. I was told that this threat of mortars was the reason why there
was a gap between the walls and the bed, so that if the pictures fell off the
wall, they wouldn’t land on my head. Why didn’t they just move the pictures? Or
was that simply another ‘urban legend’ amongst so many associated with this
region?
Now I had been to Tripoli before, using the airport as a
place to fill up on cheap fuel whilst flying a DC10 between my then home base
south east of Paris to destinations in Africa. So I was familiar with the
airport, but that was before civil war had broken out.
The operation almost stumbled at the first hurdle, as the
Iraqi flight planning department led me to believe that they’d not heard of
European Flow Control or their CFMU, Central Flow Maintenance Unit. Not really
their fault as it had been many years since they had operated outside of the
Middle East region. So I diplomatically as possible suggested that they re-file
our flight plan, not through closed Libyan airspace but by the only approved
entry point that the current circumstances allowed.
This meant that over-flight permits were required for
Jordan, Egypt, Greece and Malta as well as landing permission for Tripoli itself.
My fabulous UK based boss, a highly experienced UK training captain and airline
manager, whom acted as a consultant for this operation worked tirelessly to
obtain these on Iraqi Airways behalf, and after a day’s delay obtained all the
necessary clearances as well as the specialised insurance required for this
type of operation.
So having suffered this delay to our flight whilst waiting
for the necessary paperwork to be obtained, and receiving an amount of cash,
which I had a hunch would not be sufficient to cover expected and unforeseen
expenses, we were ready to depart.
The aircraft was fully catered for what we hoped would be a
full load, and fuelled to enable us to fly to Tripoli and back to Baghdad with
extra reserves to cover any unexpected ‘surprises’. Well fuel here in Baghdad
was virtually free, as it was literally coming out of the ground, and how much
we carried was never questioned.
Sitting with my fabulous colleague on the flight deck, Marty
an American Captain who had a terrifically dry sense of humour, plus behind us
a full complement of cabin crew, sufficient security personnel and two ground
engineers we departed Baghdad on runway 33R for our ‘adventure’ to Tripoli.
Our routing took us west from Baghdad towards the Jordanian
border, passing to the north of Petra and the Dead Sea and into Egyptian
airspace, being careful not to cut the corner and stray into Israeli airspace
for obvious reasons. A beautiful day to go flying took us over the southern
entrance to the Suez Canal, where looking down I was amazed at how few ships
were waiting to transit, maybe a sign of either the global economy or the
uncertainty of this region’s stability.
Heading further north we flew over the densely packed city
of Cairo…too smoggy to see the pyramids unfortunately, in-fact I have never
seen them from the air…then coasting out over Alexandria and into the eastern
Mediterranean Sea.
A good time to eat my lamb kebabs and warm chips served by a
member of our fabulous cabin crew, as we had about half an hour of peace and
quiet before entering the busy European area, home to numerous charter flights
dropping in and out of the beautifully scenic Greek islands; a type of flying
which I had thoroughly enjoyed in many previous companies, almost too many to
mention, but for whom I consider myself lucky to have worked for.
I need to add here that in all my years of flying, I have
never met such a professional, friendly and conscientious group of cabin crew,
who accepted whatever they were tasked with, always with a smile on their face.
I doubt if I shall have the good fortune to fly with a comparable group of
friends and colleagues again…..especially as I am flying the Boeing 747
freighter now! No cabin crew, just a load master and occasionally a ground
engineer, not a skirt or sweetly perfumed young lady in sight, and not quite
the same!
With lunch over and the Greek border south east of the
island of Crete approaching, it was time to see if our flight would be accepted
by European Air Traffic Control agencies. Yes, we had the required over-flight
permits but even so we were still an Iraqi registered aircraft flying under an
Iraqi Airways call-sign, the first time in many years that such a flight had
passed through this region.
I need not have worried as we were cleared to enter and
given a direct routing to a position south of Malta. I tempted fate by thinking
that it was all running like clockwork, I should have known better!
With our Flight Management Computers correctly programmed
for the arrival onto Tripoli’s westerly runway, utilising the Instrument
Landing System there, that might or might not be working, Marty and I conducted
a thorough arrival briefing, and escape plan should the need arise. Well, we
were not overly sure what to expect, we had both seen the news as reported on
various television channels and the situation on the ground looked pretty ugly,
and wasn’t about to improve anytime soon.
Having already discussed the benefits of landing in either
daylight or at night, and decided that both had their advantages and downsides
too. You see we were used to operating into airports where there could be
threats from the ground and understood what was needed to be done. So a
daylight landing it was to be, but a continuous descent approach would be
flown, staying above 3,000 feet for as long as possible. This was the height
that we considered to be safe from SAFI, or Small Arms Fire.
So with all our pre-descent procedures complete and
clearance to enter Libyan airspace obtained we started our descent, and
finished our last cup of coffee. We were handed over by the Maltese controller
to a surprisingly chirpy Libyan one, who passed over the weather for Tripoli
and gave us our arrival clearance and asked us to pass on any information as to
whether the ground based navigation aids were actually working! He couldn’t be
sure as to if they were, or how long they would remain functioning, yes we were
in Africa where this was a ‘routine’ experience, but nevertheless reminded us
that we were also entering a hostile area.
Again we need not have worried as the ILS was functioning
correctly and so were the approach and tower control frequencies for Tripoli.
Keeping our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary,
unknown military aircraft, lasers or unfriendly items sent our way from the
ground, Marty and I configured the aircraft for landing.
Going back to lasers, aircraft are these days being targeted
too often by them, primarily by idiots on the ground who think that it is funny
to try and shine them into the cockpit of aircraft, be this in the UK, the
Canary Islands or many other countries. Though when it happened to me on the
approach into an Iraqi airport at night, it tended to concentrate the mind and
reminded me of the old saying….”It is better to be on the ground wishing you
were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground!” A foolhardy
and dangerous thing to do as it could blind the pilots and lead to a less than
satisfactory outcome to all on-board that particular aircraft.
However, apart from a gusty wind and associated turbulence,
the approach and landing was uneventful and we exited the runway and headed to
our designated parking spot. I didn’t realise how busy it would be here, with a
multitude of aircraft arriving and departing on rescue flights.
I also didn’t realise that now the fun was about to begin in
earnest, especially as we were greeted by a pickup truck driven by a character
waving a pro-Gaddafi green flag and shouting out associated Arabic messages
extoling the virtues of that regime, and down with the USA, down with England.
We decided it might be prudent that for a while some of us became ‘honorary’
Australian citizens.
I can’t help but wonder what happened to this guy? But that
would be irrelevant as we now had more important things to worry about, and a
deadline that could not be extended to comply with. This deadline was dictated
by our insurance company that would only give us cover for a maximum of three
hours on the ground in a war zone, so we needed to get organized, find our passengers
and leave as swiftly as possible.
This would prove to be easier said than done………
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Dogging.....pilot style!
I was thinking whilst sitting staring out of my window at
32,000 feet above southern Kazakhstan, how life as a Boeing 747-400 pilot
flying freight is so different in lifestyle, both on and off the flightdeck,
when compared to flying the passenger variant. I suppose looking over and
seeing my co-pilot wearing slippers and a tee-shirt adorned with the logo of a
heavy rock band started this train of thought! Cargo generally doesn’t care
what you like, generally passengers do though, and they appreciate a pilot to
look like a pilot and not a refugee from some rock concert.
Being a cargo pilot is often seen as the unglamorous side of
aviation, in a way I suppose it is, but it is definitely no less fun. Freight
doesn’t start complaining when it is departing late, it doesn’t throw up on the
freight in-front of it in turbulence and nor does it pose the options of
requiring you to recycle divorce lawyers every five years or so. Yes it is not
packaged in the same way that some of the bubbly blonde stewardesses whom I flew
with in Virgin Atlantic were, nor were they as cute as some of the Korean
flight attendants, with their often doll like features, and I am not referring
to the dolls which require a bicycle pump to bring them to life. I mention this
as freight pilots are often considered to be at the crasser end of the pilot
community, which is not true. This reminds me of all the sarcastic comments
made by pilots towards us, our operation and aircraft, all of which bring a
smile to my face.
I first started my airline career as a co-pilot on the Avro
748 aircraft; I suggest you check your history books in the chapter following
on from Orville and Wilbur Wright! These were affectionately known as
‘Budgies’, why I don’t know, maybe because they went cheap……just a guess. These
aircraft, even though I am regressing to almost thirty years ago were as
sophisticated as a Roman chariot, but I loved them.
This aircraft would generally spend its day flying
passengers around the UK and the parts of Europe which could often be seen if
you stood on the English seaside cliffs! They were like a bad wine, they didn’t
like to travel too far; as it also had the range of the previously mentioned
Roman chariot!
However, at night the 48 seats would be removed and she became
the aerial equivalent of a post or mail van, just with a slightly longer route.
We would fly from London down to the Channel Islands carrying newspapers and
return with flowers. Or fly from Liverpool to Ireland with the days post.
Generally starting work when ‘normal’ people were considering going to bed and
finishing when they would be having their breakfast; which is why we were often
considered as being nocturnal bat like creatures. Often I would sit down at
breakfast, my girlfriend with her coffee and me with a can of beer, well it
would help me to sleep, I would try and convince her…..and me!
The fun flights on this old aircraft would be the ad-hoc
charters to destinations we would not generally visit. Firstly I say old, for
example, one aircraft had a brake accumulator explode, this was located in the
nose wheel bay under the co-pilots seat, it burst through the flight deck floor
and removed the co-pilots arm-rest, and fortunately this occurred on the ground
when there were no crew on-board. This part was traced back to having started
its life on an Avro Lancaster of World War Two fame……..thinking back I am sure
some of the Captains probably came from the same vintage too!
One of these notable ad-hoc flights took me to Tromso in
Northern Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, where we set off from Newcastle in
north east England carrying a gear box and shaft for a fishing trawler. After a
couple of hours of droning across the North Sea we stopped in Bergen for fuel,
and what a beautifully scenic airport it was too. From here we headed north
starting our descent into Tromso at three in the morning in broad daylight, the
sun didn’t set at this time of year, and when we reached the hotel I realised
the locals didn’t set either!
The descent had us navigating between two N.D.Bs, along a
steeply sided fjord; my captain had a brand new video camera, except back then
it was the size which required balancing it on your shoulder, if you were
strong enough possibly supported in both arms but with a battery pack that
could jump start a train. On this occasion we were flying below the peaks of
the fjord’s cliff walls which is when he asked if I would fly an orbit, as
‘no-one was watching’ and the location was just so stunningly beautiful. I
managed to complete this circular pattern without bumping into anything, though
it probably bemused the fishermen on their boat below us! I don’t think we
would get away with it these days.
One flight we used to operate between the UK and southern
France would have us transporting 20,000 passengers at a time, though these
were day old chicks and the flight was the only one where we were paid a dry
cleaning allowance. You see each chick would be injected twice, once with a
vaccine and secondly with a glucose based serum to prevent dehydration, now
that is one job I would not have the patience for. Inflight these chicks would
give off the same heat as a low wattage light bulb and sweat as a result.
During these flights this sweat would freeze on the cabin ceiling and during
the subsequent descent into warmer temperatures thaw out and run down and into
the cockpit, dripping onto our backs.
It was always easy to spot this crew in the crewroom on their
return to base, as they were generally huddled around their own table and kept
at arm’s length by everyone else and strangely they were generally not invited
to the pub for a drink afterwards!
A memorable flight had us entering Liverpool Speke airport, before
John Lennon posthumously gave his name to it, outside of which could be found a
billboard advertising ‘Welcome to Liverpool, a Nuclear Free City’, now I had no
idea what that meant, except that on that particular day it was wrong. After
having our ID passes checked entering the airport, they were checked again
leaving the airport building and then, should our identities have changed in
the short walk across the tarmac, checked again by a ring of police surrounding
our aircraft. Our freight on this occasion was spent nuclear fuel rods from the
Sellafield nuclear power station and they were in transit to a destination in
southern Europe. A flight which required us to parallel the coast all the way
down to southern Spain before being allowed to turn eastbound towards our
destination. This flight was banned from overflying any populated areas, even
though it had spent the preceding six hours on trains and trucks passing
through one of the UKs largest cities.
After four fun years flying the ‘Budgie’ I spent the next
fifteen years flying passengers; before joining Korean Airlines and
experiencing the fabulous Boeing 747-400 freighter. Flying for this airline
allowed me to operate the passenger, combi (half passenger and half freighter
aircraft), freighter and extended range freighter variants of this versatile
aircraft. Regardless of what you might have read or heard I found KAL to be an
absolute delight to work for and with the odd exception great people too.
Respect and understanding their history and culture would reap its own rewards
and in my case returned back to me.
Along with the normal KAL passenger destinations I would
spend time on layovers on their freight network in many diverse countries, my
favourites being Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Anchorage Alaska and Bangkok Thailand
amongst many others.
We would often operate ‘round the world flights’ which makes
you realise just how small this planet of ours is. Setting off from Seoul in
South Korea we would initially drop into Anchorage; spending time drinking beer
in one of the most famous freight dog bars, F Street Station. Well the social side was a huge plus point, but
geographically it was a destination which used to confuse the life out of me; crossing
in-flight the International Date Line meant that we would arrive the day before
we departed, I was not only a pilot but a time traveller too!
I have many memories of this vibrant city, to me it had the
air about it, that something was just about to happen. Witnessing a drunken gun
fight from the safety of my hotel window acted out by two extremely wobbly men,
whose shots were more of a danger to overflying seabirds than each other was
one of my funniest memories. Or waiting in the blowing snow at a railroad
crossing for a train which had to be at least a mile long to pass was not one
of my favourites. However, sitting on the terrace of a delightful fish
restaurant at the head of the fjord leading directly to the city of Anchorage,
hence its name I suppose, feasting on the most succulent halibut whilst
watching a pod of frolicking orca, wondering when the next earthquake would
strike is a scene which is permanently engrained in my brain, again yes life
was good.
Next stop on this particular adventure would take us to New
York’s Kennedy airport and see us spending a couple of nights on Manhattan
Island, in a hotel opposite XXXX and trust me I never want to stay there again
when the New York dog show is on, the noise the smell and like my Korean
colleague I too was a dog lover!
Departing from New York we would route over the North
Atlantic towards Oslo, the most expensive destination on our global circumnavigation
and fortunately for the bank balance spending only one night there.
Feeling like a jet assisted Phileas Fogg would see us
heading south east for Tashkent and a couple of nights in this fabulously
entertaining city. This was certainly a city for people watching, absolutely
fascinating.
It is also one of only two cities where I have been mugged,
the first one being Amsterdam where I was stabbed in the leg by a trilingual
mugger when I refused to hand over my money and here in Uzbekistan where I had
to hand over twenty dollars and a packet of Marlboro cigarettes for no apparent
reason but to a local policeman.
Tashkent would be our last stop before heading back to our
home base of Seoul, around 36 hours of flight time for the logbook, ten days away
from Seoul and a big dent in the credit card; fabulous fun though and it made
me realise just how lucky I was to do what I did, something I never forget.
Again with KAL, it was flying from Chicago direct to Seoul
one evening that the term ‘Freight Dog’ really became a reality. On boarding
the aircraft I was advised that the flight would be empty except for one small
piece and that was a travelling container for a dog. This was being done as a
favour for a US marine colonel based in Seoul and his dog, Scooby Doo…yes that
was his real name, was to travel out to be with him.
I took pity on the poor creature and carried him up to the
upper deck, made him a basket out of blankets and gave him a water bowl and
later cooked him a steak. Even dogs can travel first class with fine dining and
‘sleeper’ seats if you take the time and effort!
Occasionally during the thirteen hour flight I would take
him down the rickety ladder and onto the main deck where he could run around and
play a game of Frisbee together using a plastic plate. This was surely setting
a world record as I calculated that the distance travelled by the Frisbee was
in the region of half a kilometre! Every now and again during the cruise the
curtain separating the flight deck from the upper deck cabin would part and
Scooby’s head would peer in…..I have a couple of great photos of this true
freight dawg but I shall release the best ones after I retire!
Several years later my life as a cargo pilot found me flying
the DC10 for Avient, a Zimbabwe registered company based at the time in Vatry,
a small airfield close to Paris France. We would spend most of our time flying
down to Africa, visiting the ‘cosmopolitan’ cities of Lagos Nigeria, Entebbe
Uganda and Dar-Es Salam in Tanzania, great fun but I thought an airline with a dubious
future. I was to be proved wrong as they are still managing to exploit their
particular niche in the worldwide cargo market.
The DC10 was a fabulous aircraft to fly but I found a
confusing one to operate. The aircraft were of a particular vintage and oozed a
history of adventure, with smells to accompany it, by the way don’t get me
started on the toilet facilities, more opulent ones could be found down a side
street in Addis Ababa Ethiopia!
There were no luxurious sleeper seats to rest in on-board,
often on flights out of Entebbe where our cargo would be tonnes of frozen perch
from Lake XXXXX, I would find myself ensconced in every available item of
clothing I could lay my hands on, reclined on a mattress which could have once
been stolen from an unsuspecting Russian homeless person. The reason you see was
that the main deck cargo compartment had to be kept at freezing temperatures to
preserve the freshness of the fish, it was during these flights that I realised
my life had taken an unexpected turn, strangely not for the worse though, and
as the Italian Mafiosi would threaten, yes….I was sleeping with the fishes!
One thing which was an oddity for these parts of Africa was
that when you left the aircraft overnight several gallons of fuel would
disappear, as a certain element of the locals would help themselves to what
they could carry for their cars and fires, I can only imagine the performance
of these less than mint condition vehicles when being run on Jet A1 fuel! Oh,
and don’t get me started on the money flights where we would carry over sixty
tonnes of bank notes from the mint in Kuala Lumpur via Salallah in Oman to
Lagos Nigeria, again another story for when I retire…..
My next experience as a freight pilot would be several years
later after a spell flying the Boeing 737 for several European airlines and it
is where I can be found now, again operating the Boeing 747-400 freighter for a
fabulous airline based in Baku Azerbaijan called Silkway West. My routes now
take me to Hong Kong in the east and London in the west, with many airports in
between. Often I would be operating ISAF (International Security Assistance
Force) flights into Camp Bastion, Kandahar, Kabul and Bagram Airbase in
Afghanistan; flights which bring their own challenges……for obvious reasons but
a subject for another day.
So the life of a freight dog maybe not the most glamorous
one in the world but for pure variety, challenges and excitement, I certainly
consider it to be one of the best. As Scooby would say, Woof!
If you would like to fly with Alan on most Airbus and Boeing
aircraft types, then he can be contacted on 00 44 1372 879195 or by e-mail at info@simuflyltd.com
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
UNRELIBLE AIRSPEED INFORMATION AND UPSET TRAINING
A subject rarely covered in recurrent simulator training,
often due to time constraints but one which has proved to be more dangerous
than any engine failure scenarios, is one where the crew of a jet aircraft is
faced with either a total or partial loss of Air Data Computer information.
The aircraft itself is to be found perfectly capable of
flight, however, often fatal crashes result due to the crew receiving incorrect
airspeed and altitude information and then acting inappropriately.
When I was undergoing my basic training, I commenced a
‘solo’ take-off in a little two seat Piper Tomahawk from Oxford airport. As I
accelerated down the runway I noticed that my IAS was not increasing, now I’d
never rejected a take-off, so continued down the runway, until the little
aircraft became airborne of its own accord. I was climbing away at an above
normal pitch attitude and with full power and 0kts IAS. Now I knew I must be
faster than 0kts as I was neither a helicopter nor dead! I reverted to
P.A.T….Power…Attitude and Trim, I flew an untidy circuit at what must have been
a higher than normal approach speed as the houses below seemed to be getting
bigger much quicker than normal! I touched down, bounced and then stabilised
and taxied to the ramp to meet my equally bemused and relieved instructor.
Investigation by the engineers found that the hose behind the pitot tube had
become detached. I learnt a very valuable lesson, very, very early in my
career.
It is time for all of us to review and learn from the
mistakes of others and use current technical information and training
guidelines to assist us should we ever be faced with both a widely confusing
and terrifying situation, especially at night and/or in IMC. I was lucky it was
a beautiful clear summer’s day.
These days’ modern glass cockpit jet aircraft have numerous
backup systems alongside an independent standby system to relay correct
airspeed and altitude information to the pilots. However, with the addition to
numerous warning systems such as Stall Warning, Overspeed and Airspeed Low; the
combination of this information can conflict in our perceptions of our
situation. This confusion degrades the crew’s management and performance, again
often with fatal consequences.
With the recent very public accident involving Air France 447, the aircraft involved, an Airbus 330 crashed as a result of some of the previous mentioned reasons. It now seems that finally the aviation industry is waking up to the realisation that something needs to be done. Americans call this a Monday morning quarterback response, in the UK we say ‘closing the stable door after the horse has bolted’. The result is the same; this wake-up call has come too late for countless hundreds of passengers and crew. Correct training should assist in our own behaviour and responses when faced with a similar situation, eliminating as much as possible the chances of reading accident reports similar to those described further on.
The findings of the Air France flight 447 crash report
stated, amongst others, the following:
1.
There was no explicit task-sharing between the
two co-pilots. (CRM FAILURE)
2.
There was an inconsistency between the measured
speeds, likely as a result of the obstruction of the Pitot probes in an ice
crystal environment. (INSTRUMENT FAILURE)
3.
Even though they identified and announced the
loss of the speed indications, neither of the two co-pilots called the
procedure "Unreliable IAS". (S.O.P. FAILURE)
4.
The co-pilots had received no high altitude training
for the "Unreliable IAS" procedure and manual aircraft handling. (TRAINING FAILURE)
5.
No standard callouts regarding the differences
in pitch attitude and vertical speed were made. (S.O.P.
FAILURE)
6.
Neither of the pilots made any reference to the
stall warning and neither of the pilots formally identified the stall
situation. (EXPERIENCE/TRAINING FAILURE)
As we all know, during CRM training we discuss the ‘Swiss cheese model’ where it is generally not one action which causes an accident, but multiple actions which when added together, lead to disaster. The above six points relating to Air France show five different ‘actions/failures’ which led to the deaths of 228 passengers and crew, on an aircraft which was perfectly capable of flight.
Again and I cannot reiterate this enough. We all need to learn from
these mistakes, through refresher training and ensure that through knowledge
and practice; can respond correctly and safely should we ever be unfortunate
enough to encounter a similar situation.
BOEING AND AIRBUS CHANGES IN
ATTITUDE.
Finally both Boeing and Airbus have recognised the need for
further training in recognising and recovering from the situation where the
pilots have to, sorry, need to ‘return back to basics’; so being able to
produce a safe and successful outcome when faced with problems affecting pitot
and static failures.
For example, with respect to the soon to be introduced
Airbus A350, Airbus Company’s training department has decreed the following at
a recent conference.
“Airbus is going to train pilots for its A350XWB
differently.
The first three days in the A350 simulator will be about letting the pilots find out that it is "just another aeroplane". Without using any of the sophisticated flight guidance systems they will be able to find out how it flies and what that feels like. These pilots may not have done that for years on the aircraft they fly now, so they might find out a few things about themselves as well as the A350.
Airbus' flying training manager David Owens stated at the Royal Aeronautical Society's annual Flight Crew Training Conference in London that pilots will not be allowed to switch on the automatic systems until they have learned how to fly the aeroplane.”
Although Airbus’s Owens didn't spell it out, it seems the industry is beginning to learn that never letting the pilots treat the aeroplane like a flying machine means they never find out what it can do. And more importantly, what it can't; so again requiring us to go back to basics.
The first three days in the A350 simulator will be about letting the pilots find out that it is "just another aeroplane". Without using any of the sophisticated flight guidance systems they will be able to find out how it flies and what that feels like. These pilots may not have done that for years on the aircraft they fly now, so they might find out a few things about themselves as well as the A350.
Airbus' flying training manager David Owens stated at the Royal Aeronautical Society's annual Flight Crew Training Conference in London that pilots will not be allowed to switch on the automatic systems until they have learned how to fly the aeroplane.”
Although Airbus’s Owens didn't spell it out, it seems the industry is beginning to learn that never letting the pilots treat the aeroplane like a flying machine means they never find out what it can do. And more importantly, what it can't; so again requiring us to go back to basics.
Boeing
has been working with the FAA and the aviation industry to develop training
aids that improve a pilot's ability to respond to challenging situations.
Boeing has provided an updated training aid as part of their continuing effort
to reduce loss-of-control airplane accidents. The upset recovery training aid
focuses on helping flight crews recover from unusual flight attitudes that can
result from unusual weather or other "upset" conditions as a result
of loss of reliable cockpit information. This enhanced training also increases
the pilot's ability to recognize and avoid situations that can lead to airplane
upsets, and potentially fatal consequences.
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES-CASE STUDY REVIEWS
Going
‘back to basics’ starts with understanding how the pitot static system, when
functioning incorrectly can affect our displayed information.
FIRSTLY THE STATIC SYSTEM.
For
example when the static ports are blocked, disaster can and has occurred.
Partial recognition of this can be explained as follows.
Should the static ports be blocked or covered, then during the take-off roll, both the altimeter and the airspeed indicator operate correctly. After lift-off, assuming the trapped static pressure is that of the field elevation, the altimeter indication remains at the field elevation. With respect to airspeed, the sensed dynamic pressure fails to increase as rapidly as it should during climb because of the trapped static pressure. Therefore, if the airplane actually climbs at a constant speed, the airspeed indication decays, reaching the lower end indication. If the captain relies on the airspeed indicator for proper information, the typical response will be to reduce the pitch attitude to maintain the erroneous airspeed, possibly causing the airplane to exceed its airspeed limitations. Complicating this situation is the fact that the overspeed warning does not operate if connected to the same erroneous airspeed source.
The
above scenario led to the following accident. On October 2nd 1996 shortly after takeoff
just past midnight, the Boeing 757 airliner crew discovered that their basic
flight instruments were behaving erratically and reported receiving
contradictory serial emergency messages from the onboard computer, such as
rudder ratio, mach speed trim, overspeed, underspeed and flying too low. The
crew declared an emergency and requested an immediate return to the airport.
As a result of the blocked static ports, the
basic flight instruments relayed false airspeed, altitude and vertical speed
data. Because the failure was not in any of the instruments but rather in a
common supporting system, thereby defeating redundancy, the altimeter also relayed
the false altitude information to the Air Traffic Controller, who was
attempting to provide the pilots with basic flight data. This led to extreme
confusion in the cockpit as the pilots were provided with some data (altitude)
which seemed to correlate correctly with instrument data (altimeter) while the
other data provided by ATC (approximate airspeed) did not agree.
Although the pilots were quite cognizant of the
possibility that all of the flight instruments were providing inaccurate data,
the correlation between the altitude data given by ATC and that on the
altimeter likely further compounded the confusion. Also contributing to their
difficulty were the numerous cockpit alarms that the computer system generated,
which conflicted both with each other and with the instruments. This lack of situational
awareness can be seen in the CVR transcript. The fact that the flight took
place at night and over water, thus not giving the pilots any visual
references, was also a major factor. All onboard died in the ensuing crash.
SECONDLY
THE PITOT SYSTEM.
Blocked or malfunctioning pitot tubes cause
their own system malfunctions and subsequent erroneous information indications.
If
the pitot probe is plugged, its sense line likely contains air trapped at a
pressure equal to that of the field elevation static pressure. During the take-off
roll, therefore, the sensed dynamic pressure remains zero and the airspeed
instrument remains pegged at its lower stop. If the flight crew does not reject
the take-off, the pitot pressure remains plugged at field-elevation pressure as
the airplane climbs, but the static pressure begins to drop. The altimeter
operates almost correctly during the climb. However, the resulting sensed
dynamic pressure causes the airspeed indicator to come alive seconds after lift-off.
Regardless of the actual climb speed of the airplane, the faulty airspeed
indication continues to increase as altitude increases, until the airspeed
catches up to the correct value. The indicated airspeed continues to increase
through the correct value as the airplane climbs. The VMO speed can appear to
be exceeded. Additionally, an overspeed warning can be triggered. If the pilot
flying trusts the faulty airspeed indicator because of the temptation early in
the climb to believe that some movement means the indicator has begun to
operate normally, the pilot flying is in grave danger of increasing pitch,
reducing thrust, or both to reduce the erroneous indicated airspeed. This could
cause the airplane to exceed its stall angle of attack, though the stall
warning system, which is driven by angle of attack, should continue to function
normally.
The above can explain partially what
happened to Birgenair flight 301 which was a Turkish registered Boeing 757. During
takeoff roll at 11:42 p.m. the captain, one of Birgenairs' most senior pilots,
found that his air speed indicator (ASI) was not working properly, but chose
not to abort takeoff. The co-pilot's ASI was functional.
While the plane was climbing through 4,700 feet
(1,400 m), the captain's airspeed indicator read 350 knots. The autopilot,
which was taking its air speed information from the same equipment that was
providing faulty readings to the captain's ASI, increased the pitch-up attitude
and reduced power to lower the plane's airspeed. Co-pilot’s ASI read 200 knots,
and decreasing, yet the airplane started to give multiple contradictory
warnings that it was flying too fast, including rudder ratio mach airspeed and
overspeed lights and sounds.
CRM
AND QRH CHECKLIST USE.
So three crashes have been highlighted, to three
aircraft all of which could fly with a little sitting on your hands analyzing
the situation and reverting to basics, Pitch and Power. Have some basic numbers
ingrained in your brain with which you can ensure that the aircraft will remain
in a stable flight condition and also within the aircraft flight envelope;
these figures can be refined once the aircraft is confirmed as being under
control.
These scenarios requires good Crew Resource
Management skills, use your colleagues on the flight deck to assist in
identifying what ‘might’ or has failed, then together come up with the correct
checklist. Remember aviate first. The QRH states that when you are faced with
‘flight with unreliable airspeed’, then both altitude and vertical speed indications
could be incorrect to.
Which leads us to the QRH checklist:
IAS DISAGREE
or
Airspeed Unreliable
IAS DISAGREE or Airspeed Unreliable
Condition: One or more of these occur:
•The captain's and first officer's airspeed indications disagree
by 5 knots or more.
•The airspeed or Mach indications are suspected to be unreliable
(Items which may indicate Airspeed or Mach Unreliable are listed in the Additional
Information section).
Objective: To maintain control using manual
pitch and thrust.
1.
Check pitch attitude and thrust.
2. If
pitch attitude or thrust are not normal for the phase of flight:
Autopilot disengage switch . . . . . . . . . . .Push
Autothrottle disconnect switch . . . . . . . . .Push
F/D switches (both) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OFF
Establish
normal pitch attitude and thrust setting for the phase of flight.
Note: Normal pitch
attitude and thrust setting are available in the Flight With Unreliable Airspeed
table in the Performance Inflight chapter.
3. Altitude, vertical speed, and reference EPR indicator may be
unreliable.
4. Crosscheck PFD airspeed displays and standby airspeed
indicator. A PFD airspeed that is more than 10 knots different than the standby
airspeed should be considered unreliable.
Then the Boeing QRH
checklist directs you to trouble shooting. But the aircraft is now being
controlled.
The easiest way to
maintain control would be if at or above your minimum safe altitude, Level Off.
The aircraft is obviously easier to stabilise when flying straight and level.
Disengage the Autopilot
Flight Director System and Autothrottle.
RULES OF THUMB…..
AT FL100…….MAXIMUM LANDING
WEIGHT………TO FLY AT 290kts-------3’ PITCH AND 70%N1
AT FL100…….MAXIMUM
TAKE-OFF WEIGHT……..TO FLY AT 290kts-------4’ PITCH AND 75%N1
(INCREASE THE ABOVE N1
FIGURES BY 10% FOR EACH ADDITIONAL 10,000ft.)
BELOW 10,000ft REMEMBER
THE B747-400 IS NOT A DEVIL TO FLY!!!! SO 6’ PITCH AND 66%N1 (ALL THE SIXES!!!)
So, know your aircraft
systems, know your checklist Recall items, know basic aircraft performance
numbers know how to practice good CRM……all of which will lead you to ‘knowing’
how to protect your aircraft and stay safe. Even when in the dead of the night
when your body is feeling naturally tired, after a moment of reflection, you
KNOW what to do.
A PERFECT WORLD……………..MAYBE ONE DAY.
“I ADD THE FOLLOWING CAVEAT……ALL
BELOW IS MY 'SOUL' OPINION.”
Currently there are
approximately, oh I don’t know, but it is in the hundreds of thousands, airline
pilots globally, however, in ten years’ time this number will have both reduced
and increased. Okay I know that does not make sense, neither mathematically nor
linguistically.
I am implying that the
number of commercial, in other words primarily airline pilots, will have
numerically increased, but their collective experience will have decreased as
the ‘veterans’ of the industry retire. This will leave a very worrying gap.
Now I am not a
‘dinosaur’, one who harps on as to how it used to be, and how it should still
be done. Yes, admittedly I have been flying the ‘Airlines’ for almost 30 years,
in-fact since I was 19 years of age and have over 18,000 hours of flying
experience in my log books. I have also been fortunate to fly for airlines from
more than ten different countries, embracing many different cultures; I have
seen the good and the bad, promoted the good and walked away from the bad.
I do understand the need for progress and industry advancements. But and it’s a big ‘but,’ I have my concerns that sophisticated automation is taking over. HAL (One less than IBM, for those who remember the Stanley Cubrick movie 2001) is becoming more and more of a worrying reality on the modern airliner flight deck.
I am also finding that
reliance and reliability are frequently taking over from awareness and understanding.
In my role as a training captain I have seen supposedly experienced pilots
literally stabbing at buttons and flicking switches hoping that these actions
will rectify a particular situation, showing minimal understanding of the
systems involved. Somewhere, something at a basic level has broken down. Would
you want your family flying as passengers in the back of this crew’s aircraft;
neither would I.
(The muscle is the Auto-flight system, the brains the Flight Management Computer, the operator and over-seer.....the pilots.)
In the last couple of years we have seen how situational awareness, when absent, can and will cause a perfectly serviceable aircraft to fly into the ground. How a lack of understanding basic aerodynamics will place a reasonably serviceable aircraft at the bottom of the ocean; or how personality disorders, often through local cultures, will reduce almost four hundred tonnes of Boeing’s finest aircraft into scrap metal.
(Korean Airlines Boeing 747-200 C.F.I.T in Guam)
These all could have and should have never occurred; their victims should still be alive. An aircraft commander guilty of these crimes is only spared being described as a ‘serial killer’ due to simple definition and timescale, but they are just as complicit as any Fred West or Ted Bundy.
Teaching and training,
discussions and consultations, sharing of experiences but above all learning
and understanding; should mitigate the number of these incidents and accidents.
(Air France Airbus 330 loss of control and crash into the Atlantic Ocean.)
I find that the attitudes of members of all nations can be included in my statements. The western world is not exempt, poor attitudes prevail here too…..one Far Eastern airline I flew for, the ex-pats had an unofficial ‘shoes on – shoes off’ policy for take-off. If it was an ex-pat as the aircraft commander then they felt that they could relax and make themselves comfortable. However, if it was a ‘local’ Captain, then shoes would remain on until gear up in case of a runway ‘excursion’ or rejected take-off. I now realise in equal measures the arrogance and ignorance of this mentality.
(TACA Airbus 320 runway 'excursion in Honduras.)
There are many excellent pilots in Africa and Asia, just as there are many in the western world, yet disturbingly there are similarly many that shouldn’t be entrusted with anything more complex than a light switch, let alone a hundred million dollar plus aircraft.
There is arrogance,
ignorance, mistrust, unprofessionalism and a general lack of ability globally,
throughout all cultures. We have regulatory bodies such as the FAA, JAA and
EASA amongst others, though they try hard and their motives are well founded but I find that often they are realistically impotent. Yes their members and
regulators can push out rules, requirements and guidelines. Yes these same
bodies can carry out company department audits and random spot checks on
airport ramps. I have been ‘ramp-checked’ and been asked the most ridiculous
questions by various people, on one occasion it caused me to suspend belief in
both their qualifications and sanity.
However, more often
than not these are no more than carefully orchestrated charades. Whether it is
slipping members of an African ‘authority’ several thousand dollars to go
shopping instead of digging any deeper into a company’s infrastructure, or
trying to pull the wool over the eyes of European regulators in a way that
would have the directors of the iconic movie ‘The Sting’ blushing in disbelief.
Hundreds of innocent
people, men, women and children die needlessly each year because of mistakes
which should have been avoided. Whether the root causes are due to improperly
policed national authorities allowing pilots with falsified documents to be in
command of multi-million dollar aircraft, or western pilots who ‘slip’ through
the ‘training’ net due to company politics, amongst other ‘crimes’. I have
personally witnessed many of these, not in deepest darkest Africa or a once
colonial outpost in the Far East, but in Europe.
(A pilot with fake documents and a barely trained co-pilot got into a Yak-42 private jet to fly three-time Russian league champion team Lokomotiv from Yaroslavl to Minsk.
44 died after a failed take-off.....)
These ‘so called’ pilots are no better than east European pick pocket gangs which can be found roaming on any given afternoon any busy London street, as they too think that they can and will get away with their crimes and deceptions. I say they shouldn’t, they should be made accountable and to a lesser extent, ‘exposed’.
The sixty thousand
dollar question is….what is the answer? Well I can only see one option; a
totally independent non-affiliated team of ‘over-seers’. A team which has the political and regulatory
backing of aviation authorities globally; a team which has the powers to descend
on an airline and request immediately training documents and operational line
documents. A team whom are able to attend flight simulator training details or
‘fly the line’, as observers with crews which have not been cherry picked; this
team would have the recognition of the member states and able to make their
findings heard, respected and ultimately acted upon.
I know we already have
teams of auditors belonging to various authorities and organisations; however,
there are also consultants that are brought in by the soon to be audited
companies to show how to pull the wool over their eyes. Everyone wins except
for those innocent people who die as a result of these charades.
How do we go about
making this fabulously rewarding profession all we hope and desire it to be? Petitions,
lobbying….strongly worded letters? I am told that we have systems involving
checks and balances in place and in a moral unbiased world they would work.
It’s obvious that they don’t as yet another aircraft over-runs a runway
breaking up and killing yet more innocent people. As well as a disregard for
SOPs and ATC procedures where but for the grace of your God, nobody was killed.
This is where I need
your advice and assistance. Or sadly, am I just wasting my time…………
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