ONE DAY, IN AND OUT OF AFRICA!

Okay, doom and gloom first, best get it out of the way now. In the current economic climate, to be honest there are few options for those pilots who are looking for their next, or maybe their first job. Unless of course you fancy working in West Africa, China, or even worse than Lagos or Shenzhen, Ryan-land!

The days of becoming a Hamster (BEA and junior BOAC pilots know what I mean) or a re-born Virgin are long behind us and for most, dipping their toes into the world of contract flying could be the only way of securing employment. Even these two ‘legacy’ carriers that I’ve just mentioned are amongst dozens of others which are looking at reducing the number of personnel in their flight ops departments. But don’t be scared about contracting, having experienced career airlines such as Dan Air, Virgin Atlantic and Thomsonfly, I thoroughly recommend it.

Okay the financial security is not there, but where is it anywhere at the moment? This was personally brought home to me by watching two of my previous airlines’ pensions shrivelling up; one alone lost 22% in the last year, unfortunately not the ex-wife’s 22%!

But, if you’re willing to consider a 12 month contract to just tide you over in the short term, then believe it or not there is still a lot of choice out there in the job market, although to be honest the options as I previously intimated are generally in the less salubrious areas of the world. Which in my own opinion is what makes them more interesting, especially places like Seoul, Bucharest, Casablanca and Asmara?

Okay our industry is in a downturn, but those of us who have been around the block more often than one of Blakey’s buses knows that this is cyclical. (By the way, one of my co-pilots in Virgin Atlantic actually appeared in one of the ‘On The Buses’ films. Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you any further Andy!) Well, over my last twenty five years in this industry I’ve seen it before, and the good times will return; it may just take a bit longer this time.

So to explain where I am going with this, I have recently returned from enjoying my latest experience, adventure as my long suffering wife calls it, and the following ‘story’ highlights just one of those days, those long, long days! I say long day as I should have learnt from my brief time flying the DC10 for a Zimbabwe registered freight company, that ‘Flight Time Limitations’ in Africa were looked at as merely a daft suggestion than a rule. Therefore the day out which I shall shortly explain would never happen to, nor be tolerated by say, a British Airways pilot, and quite rightly so! But then it’s one of the ‘perks’ of being a pilot in the up and down world of contract flying. You need to manage the situation yourself and the need for flexibility and understanding of your environment is paramount to keeping the operation going whilst never forgetting, always being safe. Bizarrely, do you know what though; I wouldn’t swap this topsy-turvy lifestyle for all the weeks on the beach in the Caribbean, or weekends shopping in New York! Twelve years falling over in the same Irish bar in Miami, and delving through the bargain basement in Macy’s in Manhattan, whilst Delsey dining (eating out of, and on your suitcase) in my dolls house sized room in Narita outside of Tokyo, was enough thanks!

Well, this latest adventure was to be a new one on me, as after operating from more than 200 different airports on five continents; I still had to look up the place that I was being sent to in my nine year old daughter’s atlas. You see, whilst being employed by a UK aircrew agency Avcom, though my contract was ‘conveniently’ registered in the Cayman Islands and subcontracted out by them to a small Italian airline Neos, which was based at Milan’s Malpensa airport; I was sent on a detachment for a relatively new Eritrean airline Nasair, by the way that’s in Africa, but you probably guessed that from the title of this piece! I think my lawyer would have fun tracing back any liability issues!

For the spotters I’ve probably added two new airlines to their hit lists, as I too had never heard of either airline until I’d become directly involved with them. Briefly a little bit of history to appease the various marketing departments. Neos, initially partly owned by TUI, started operations in 2002 with a single B737-800W whilst Nasair commenced flight operations in December 2006 initially with a not so new B737-200. Back to Neos briefly, even though the company was from a ‘civilized’ European country, their training department and method of operating the B737NG came as quite a culture shock, but there in lies a tale for another time!

So back to now, there were seven of us in all on my crew, five flight attendants and two pilots. We were to be based for around two weeks in Asmara the country’s capital. I say around two weeks as we could not be guaranteed that Nasair would release us on the day that our parent company had scheduled us to return, there were always ‘problems’ with the tickets, in other words no one wanted to pay for them! As we were on a wet lease fortunately we would be operating one of Neos’s own aircraft, I-NEOW a B-737-800W, by the way the ‘W’ stands for Winglet, and Neos were very proud of that ‘W’! Big picture, little picture!

Now I’m no stranger to Africa but early impressions, infact it only took five minutes to be exact after disembarking from the Yemeni airlines A310, the one which is sadly now at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and walking across the unlit ramp to the overcrowded and steaming arrivals hall, for my suspicions to be confirmed. We had been travelling for the whole day from Milan via Rome to Sana’a in the Yemen then onwards to Asmara. Flying on a B737, A330 and an A310, all of which were dry! The brightly lit hall left a fair amount to be desired, infact appeared to leave a fair amount to still be built. It was going to be proven that I’d definitely stayed in more cosmopolitan cities for sure, even in Africa. Especially as a couple of days later it seemed that we’d exhausted all of the local tourist attractions after visiting the heavily guarded tank graveyard, three octogenarians with locally issued sticks, and the 1950’s bowling alley! By the way the bowling alley had no means of automatically picking up the pins after they’d been knocked down, so you were allocated a young local lad who hid behind the pins to do this for you. This after several beers created a whole new sport!

My crew on this detachment consisted of a real character and all round nice guy in Leonardo my co-pilot and the five fabulous cabin crew led by the senior cabin crew member Ermelinda. After completing all of the airport’s arrival procedures, in triplicate, we shoehorned ourselves and our luggage into the dusty hot Nasair minibus for the short drive to our hotel. Once again using just first impressions to go on, I was preparing for a bit of a disappointment. We pulled up in front of the most decrepit looking hotel I’ve been forced to stay in, and I’ve stayed in Tashkent, Lagos and Hull! I think that we all shared the same opinion that this was to be no luxury holiday! As an aside I was later to find out that we had been ‘upgraded’, even though I had no hot water for two days at least I had water, the previous crew had had no water at all in their hotel/bordello.

Back to why we were here, good news, we were escaping from Asmara, if only for fourteen hours or so as we were scheduled to operate a Hajj flight for Nasair. This meant us operating a sixty minute ferry flight from Asmara to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, load up with an assortment of returning pilgrims, and fly them back to their ‘homes’ around N’djamena in Chad, before another ferry flight back to Asmara. Nice day out I thought, well I’d never done a Hajj contract before, and three new airports to operate from, boy were my eyes about to be opened!

Our day started with the same battered old company minibus from a few days prior, picking us up at the crack of dawn from our hotel, the temperature outside was only just above freezing as even though Asmara is in East Africa; its elevation is almost 8,000 feet above mean sea level, the cold and thin air not helping the smokers amongst the crew! The drive to the airport only took fifteen minutes along the dusty potholed roads, past the UN complex, dodging the early morning traffic of goats and wobbly cyclists!    

On reaching the airport we passed through what amounted to a ‘gesture’ towards security, I swear the screening machines were probably not plugged in! On the surface though, I must say that their system appeared much better than the shed and clipboard operation of the Lagos airport freight ramp. Heading off in search of the Nasair briefing office, we were fortunate that Leonardo knew the way as he was on his second detachment here, it was located in the main airport’s terminal building and there were no signposts obviously. Neos operations were ahead of the game as they had already faxed through the flight-plans, which is a task that could take more than thirty minutes on the archaic equipment available, no laser printers here! The duty manager or ramp agent, I never did find out his exact title or unfortunately his name had arranged for what he considered to be a selection of ‘suitable’ weather reports to be printed off. However, there were no Notams for either Asmara or N’djamena though; two out of three of our destinations, and my polite insistence over my need for these were met with a smile and a promise that I would have them prior to departure! I was not totally convinced. A lot of people just shrug their shoulders and play the joker card, well this is Africa, but this was one joker that I wanted to keep up my sleeve for when I felt that I really needed it!

However, our first and most important job on being presented with the wad of paperwork was to complete the government currency declaration forms, with to us their obvious flaw, I could tell you why but I won’t! Next task was to make a decision on the fuel which we required to have on board to fly the one hour sector to Jeddah, very simple this last one. In Asmara there’s no JET A1 fuel available to us, even though there’s a fuel farm located on the airport. I should imagine this is reserved for the mighty Eritrean air force, which in Asmara comprised one modern looking Mig 29 fighter, no photos were to be taken we were told, but if you’re interested you can see it on Google Earth! As well as a selection of ‘distressed’ training aircraft, including I believe an old T33. As a result of this fuel situation we always had to plan to arrive into Asmara with at least eight tons of fuel remaining onboard, enough to get back out again and fly to either Khartoum or Jeddah.

So pre-flight briefing complete, especially as Leonardo had already prepared as far as he could manual loadsheets and ATC flight plans whilst in the hotel, such was his efficiency and professionalism which I was to find would be echoed frequently over the next week or so. It was again time for another foray for us through one more ‘security’ checkpoint, after which we were allowed to stroll out to our aircraft. Health and safety nitwits would be jumping up and down at this, as there was not a high-viz jacket in sight! Well, to be honest the only thing moving on the ramp were the two birds which our engineer had  flushed out of the APU exhaust on our aircraft, and also now that the sun had risen we were lucky as the temperature was starting to do so also. As mentioned the apron was not exactly a bustle of activity, there were only three other aircraft, two of which were Nasair B737-200 aircraft being tended to by a couple of scruffy Russian engineers. I’ll add here, that a couple of days later when we had to return to the airport to put our aircraft to bed and complete the mid term parking procedure, you see it was to be staying on the ground for a while, these two characters waved us onboard the most knackered looking of these two aircraft. Wanting to know, by just using hand signals but we got the gist, if we could assist them with some urgent engineering. Which unfortunately we couldn’t, but on our way out through the ‘business class’ section being nosy we peered into the flight deck, where I was surprised to see that on the glareshield they had wired up the same type of Tom-Tom satnav that you could buy back home in Halfords!

The only other airworthy looking aircraft on the ramp was an Eritrean airline’s B767, which not surprisingly also appeared to have seen better days. In comparison our shiny and spotless looking aircraft was a pearl cast amongst swine, parked as it was in the cheap seats as far from the airport terminal as was physically possible. The aircraft was one which Neos had picked up from the unfortunate demise of Excel Airways in the UK and now placed on the Italian register, and having been repainted, in what are basically TUI colours but with the NASAIR logo on the side of the fuselage, and I must say looked very smart.

Our ground engineer, a great chap called Rory who was a Dutchman from Nairobi but married to an Eritrean lass, was sat in the forward left doorway of our aircraft, his legs casually dangling over the side as he wrote up the daily check in the technical log, a set of insubstantial and wobbly step ladders reaching only halfway up to this open doorway not a site that I’d ever witnessed at London Heathrow! Now I could not imagine the female cabin crew with their high heels, climbing up this ladder and pulling themselves up the final three feet to board the aircraft. But this was what our still smiling ramp agent insisted that we needed to do, the reason being that Nasair had not paid their last bill to the airport authorities, so in return we were to receive no assistance with ground operations! I could see Rory looking down at us as we approached grinning away, and I could visualise him mouthing, ‘welcome to Africa!’

Once I had diplomatically persuaded our ramp agent, and that he realised that this flight was not departing using a step ladder, he sprung, sorry loped into action. Fifteen minutes later a knackered looking tractor fired up and spewing blue and black smoke pulled an equally looking knackered set of steps towards us, five minutes of comic too and frowing and the steps were sort of in position.

Leonardo busied himself with the pre-departure safety check and the preliminary flight deck inspection, the APU was already running and thanks to Rory’s previous efforts there was no smell of roasting ‘poultry’! I was pleased to note that the flight deck was actually at quite a pleasant temperature as I stood behind Leonardo in the cramped confines of the B737 cockpit. I checked over the technical log, which Rory had finished, ‘Good’ no defects carried forward. There very rarely were on Neos aircraft I found, as they were kept in excellent condition and maintained to the high requirements befitting an ETOPS operation, and the daily check was now up to date. There was still the same amount of fuel onboard as the aircraft had arrived with, a strange comment you might think, but only if you were not used to African operations. I shall explain why it was unusual for Africa, as last year whilst flying the DC10-30F in and out of Lagos and Dar es Salaam, you would return to the aircraft after a layover and fifty plus gallons could be missing. This was accepted as the norm, another unofficial African baksheesh!

Once again I could see that Leonardo was well up to speed and knew his job. After checking the many items of cockpit safety equipment which amongst others included, a BCF fire extinguisher, Draeger smoke hood, crash axe and crew life jackets in the back of the pilot seats, he took out the various Jeppesen charts for all three sectors. Remember the saying, ‘In God we trust, all else we check!’ Well it sometimes pays off even if you think that it’s not necessary. One UK Company that I worked for, I found that there was an item written by one Captain some pages back in the aircraft tech log which stated that the cockpit lifejackets had demo use only stamped on them. So it pays to check, remember the A320 surfing on the Hudson, best to find this sort of thing out before you actually need them?

Meanwhile, Ermelinda popped her head around the cockpit door, I pointed out that the galley power was now on in case there was any chance of a cup of something hot, whilst also discussing between us the need to keep the forward toilet locked so only the crew could use it. The need for this became apparent as the further back down the aircraft you walked the worse was the smell of stale urine. You see a lot of the passengers that we carried during Hajj operations had no concept of toilets or how to use them, bizarre but true as some of the stains up the fuselage wall would attest to. So some bright spark had come up with a colour poster for the toilets which tried to explain the obvious, two different methods of how to use them were illustrated, and we live in the 21^st Century, some times it’s hard to believe. Needing some fresh air, I rather pointlessly donned my high-viz vest, well you never know where there might be an ‘elf and safety’ spy, and stepped into the fresh air of a bright Eritrean January morning to start my aircraft walkround.

Arriving back on the flightdeck Leonardo had loaded the FMS with all the required navigation and performance data, and completed the cockpit setup, ensuring all the switches were in the correct position prior to starting engines. I tried to persuade Rory to come and join us on our adventure, chatting to him whilst I signed the technical log, but he would have none of it. Rory swiftly left before I tried any firmer means of persuasion and was replaced by our smiley agent and a shabbily dressed colleague, one who advised us that he had our Notams. His helpful assessment was that, “there were no valid Notams, except in Asmara where no fuel was available!” Brilliant, that was it, and all we were going to receive, a kind of poor man’s verbal briefing. He was to be known for the next ten days as Mr. Notam, amongst other names not suitable for a family publication. Heaving all the ground staff off of the aircraft with copies of loadsheets and ‘security’ documents, I instructed Ermelinda to close the front door, and unfortunately still no hint of a cup of coffee! Leonardo was pilot flying for the first sector, so after he completed a comprehensive first emergency and departure brief, we amalgamated the pre-flight and before start checklists into one, expediting our departure, and allowing us to leave a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Clearance to start engines was obtained from both ATC and our ground crew, noting the reduced duct pressure provided by the aircraft’s APU due to our high altitude, we started our number two engine, and boy was it slow to start. This was followed by an equally sluggish number one engine; all parameters were within limits though. Dismissing the ground crew, and accomplishing the after start checklist finishing with setting the flaps to five degrees, our take off setting today, Leonardo called for taxi clearance. All clear on both sides, and clearance to taxi to the runway’s only holding point, I released the brakes, no increase of engine power was  required, as we were both very light and parked on quite a marked downhill slope!

After checking the full and free movement of the flight controls we received our departure clearance from the Asmara tower controller which was basically a left turn after departure avoiding the city on course climbing to 35,000 feet. After reviewing the take off briefing Ermelinda gave us a cabin secure check, and I armed the auto-throttle whilst Leonardo selected the engine start switches to continuous as per Neos company procedures. With the before take off checklist now complete, we received clearance to enter and backtrack runway 07, we seemed to enter the runway at the bottom of a dip, as it was all up hill to the runway’s end. Two rather large eagle type birds (sorry I’m no Bill Oddie!) were basking in the sun, wings outstretched but definitely in our way slightly off to one side of the runway centre line and right in line with our number two engine, flashing our landing lights had no effect. Unfortunately Boeing’s do not come fitted with a horn, whilst slowing down so as to not ruin either of our days, they fortunately realised we were the bigger bird and with half a dozen lazy strides became airborne and headed off towards the tank like armoured vehicle parked on the airport’s perimeter. Turning off of the centre line at the runway’s end, taxiing to the left I started to follow the painted yellow line to guide us while turning around, and quickly decided against it as I was pretty sure that my B737 was not the four-wheel off road version, which is where we would be if we’d continued.

Now pointing the right way and lined back up on the centreline with all checks complete, we were given takeoff clearance. I mentally ran through the rejected takeoff drill, switching on my weather radar and switching off the taxi light as we rolled slowly forwards, Leonardo advanced the thrust levers to 40%N1 before pressing the TOGA switches and off we trundled. There seemed to be more potholes on the runway than the road outside of our hotel, one was so large, that later on our return we would actually steer the aircraft around it as I imagined replacement tyres were probably at a premium here in Asmara.

I quickly called 80 and shortly after V1 and Rotate speeds almost simultaneously, as Leonardo eased the nose up to around 15 degrees of pitch initially before the automatics worked out a more suitable pitch attitude for our initial climb out. The only instruction we were given by ATC was to fly around the city before turning onto a heading which would intercept the Northerly track out of the Asmara VOR defining the airway up to the Eritrean Saudi Arabian border. A task made easier for us due to the high elevation we were starting from, so as a result our TAS was immediately about 20% higher than our IAS giving a larger radius of turn comfortably keeping us visually on the periphery of the town. Not that I thought they’d be any noise monitoring posts, not here not anywhere in Africa, noise abatement in Africa is more of a courtesy than a requirement I’ve found. Anyway passing around 9,300 feet the autothrottle system set the full climb thrust rating, and with a hint to Leonardo that the 10,000 feet checks could be delayed awhile, considering the altitude which we’d started from; we were shortly passing both the minimum safe altitude and transition altitude of 11,500 feet and heading in the right direction. After reselecting the altimeters to the standard setting Leonardo selected the B system autopilot and then the minimum clean speed on the MCP so that we could accelerate the aircraft and retract the flaps on schedule. With the aircraft cleaned up and the after takeoff checklist complete and accelerating to our initial climb speed of 290 knots prior to selecting VNAV, it was time to concentrate on looking out the window and realising just how beautiful this country actually was. My spell as a tourist was curtailed by the Asmara controller handing us over early to Jeddah, no radar in Eritrea and no known traffic meant ‘no problem’.

As we approached the border between the two countries level at our cruise altitude of 35,000 feet, importantly there was still no cup of coffee or sandwich yet, and as an aside still no contact with Jeddah ATC either, though we could hear other aircraft transmitting to them, we were still just a bit too far away. The arrival routing for Jeddah, via waypoint KASER had already been programmed by Leonardo into the FMS and the expected runway 34R, so we knew that we were heading in the right direction. Just enough time for a quick check of the Notams for Jeddah, nothing special except that if we had passengers we were to inform them when we passed various holy sites, I suppose so that they could start praying, fortunately we were empty, so not necessary. Although maybe if they thought it was my landing, then this alone would be sufficient need to summon up divine intervention! So I busied myself with a quick fuel check, plenty was my conclusion as we had enough to hold for a good few hours before returning ‘back’ to our alternate of Asmara, and time to quickly complete the rest of the paperwork. Leonardo in the mean time calculated the necessary landing data, speeds flap and autobrake setting required for landing an empty aircraft on a 4,000 meter runway! Time for a quick landing brief, and now we were in contact with Jeddah ATC, descent clearance.

The arrival routing was promptly cancelled by the Jeddah radar controller and we were cleared descent to 6,000 feet and to maintain high speed, which for Neos meant M0.78 until reaching 290kts IAS. We were number one for the approach and sent direct to the initial approach fix for runway 34R, crossing the coast to the South of the airfield, even in the haze and the blowing sand it was obvious how beautiful the beaches could have been. Approach checks complete now that we had selected QNH, and still admiring the scenery out of the window I contemplated if bikinis and beach bars would ever be allowed down there! Leonardo was enjoying himself too, and I could see the mental cogs whirring as he kept updating his high speed continuous descent approach. Twenty miles from touchdown he started to slow up, calling for flaps to be extended and as we did so intercepting the ILS localiser and glideslope, this was good I thought, and it was followed by a thoroughly respectable landing considering the turbulence caused by the thermals and gusty wind. Exiting to the left of the runway after a landing roll which would have impressed a carrier pilot, it was obvious where we had to taxi to as up ahead appeared the mighty Hajj terminal. This was a structure modelled on what I could only describe as a vast number of interlinked Bedouin tents, spectacular, and possibly a future design for London’s Heathrow? Parked at this terminal were aircraft from airlines which I had never heard of before, some of which were operating old, very old by the look of them, classic B747 types.

Our parking stand was a remote one abeam the terminal’s main structure, and apparently flanked by stockpiles of bulging discarded sacks, pieces of luggage and a vast array of water containers, or so I thought! This was where the fun was about to begin, and by the end of the turnaround I’d need something stronger than coffee to calm my nerves. As true here as anywhere it would materialise, the easy part of aviation is the flying, the operating of the aircraft. The difficult part is what goes on whilst you have the aircraft doors open and trying to manage the ground operation, with those members of the ground staff whose sole goal it is to make life as easy as possible for them, whilst severely harassing and messing with you!

 

The fun was about to begin!    

                                                         

It’s only after the forward door opened that I realised just how hot it was, even in January the temperature was heading up to forty degrees. It was then that the groundstaff literally stormed the aircraft, there seemed to be a lot of men introducing themselves as ‘chiefs’! But before dealing with them I wanted to ensure that we had chocks in place on the main wheels so that I could release the parking brake, after a long taxi in high temperatures with a light aircraft the brakes get hot quickly. The problem with a light aircraft is that it wants to accelerate even at idle thrust, so the technique is to allow the groundspeed to slowly increase to 20kts, and then apply one smooth brake application to bring the speed back below 10kts, but even this procedure will cause the brakes to eventually heat up.

So tie off, high-viz on, I made my apologies and left to check outside, we had chocks but that is not what immediately concerned me. Our forward hold was being loaded with an assortment of cases and sacks. The sacks being luggage, but when I tried to pick one up I quickly realised that standard weights for loading could not be used; I tried several in turn and reckoned that they must weigh twenty to thirty kilos each. Not only that, but there was a whole trolley loaded with various water containers, these contained gallons of Zam-Zam or holy water, and I estimated that there were around a hundred and fifty of these.

On re-entering the flightdeck I was told that we were full, 184 passengers and after making a quick mental calculation I realised that we had a problem, we would be too heavy. I asked the most senior looking ramp agent, who spoke flawless English, exactly how much baggage we had, only to be told it’s no problem, which was not the answer I was after! I pressed home my request for accurate information, but there was nothing forthcoming, it was then that Ermelinda asked to speak to me. She had a problem with the catering, and needed water uplifting too, but no one would talk to her, she was just shrugged off, a cultural problem to be overcome. I insisted that she was to be spoken to respectfully, and that her requests were to be actioned, this was met with more ‘yes, yes, yes!’ Leonardo reminded me that we needed to uplift fuel too, which I duly requested, which I was told was on its way. Our schedule allowed us the luxury of a two hour turnaround, and I realised I was going to need all of it!

So to the maths, we needed to depart with 16,000kgs of fuel for the flight to N’djamena, that was easy as that figure was non-negotiable, but calculating our zero fuel weight was the problem. Even being conservative with the figures, 150 pieces of baggage and the same again in containers of water, plus 184 passengers, we were more than 3,000kgs over the structural limit! I reckoned that we could take all the passengers but only 65 bags and no water. Well, this was not possible according to the ramp agent, nobody else leaves anything behind I was told. I insisted on my request but he just walked off. I tried calling Milan on our company mobile phone but was unable to be connected, the reason being, I had to register the phone and receive a validation from the operator first, Saudi Arabian red tape I suppose! So I did the only thing I could think of and handed over responsibility for this to Leonardo as it seemed way too complicated for me, and do you know, he had the situation resolved and our ops on the phone in less than 10 minutes. I was amazed, on speaking to the duty ops guy I was unceremoniously put on hold, and then heard a voice I was not expecting, my chief pilot. We bounced the ball back and forth between the two of us sparring like two unyielding tennis players, but it was explained to me that this was a once in a lifetime journey for the pilgrims and that I couldn’t leave anything behind. I hit what I thought was a winning backhand explaining in detail my predicament with the weight I was expected to carry, but was smashed out of the court and left knowing what was wanted of me!

I ended the call, Leonardo gave me a sympathetic smile, but I needed some time on my own to decide my next course of action and asked Leonardo to leave the flightdeck. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t consider an evening flight on Saudia back to London, but that was not the professional way to behave, so I formulated a plan, another plan!

I told the ramp agent what I wanted, no baggage and no Zam-Zam water, only passengers which caused a rather heated argument, another one that needed to be defused, I could feel myself starting to get wound up by it all which was not acceptable, so I left to supervise the refuelling! Glad I did, as the holy water was being loaded into the aft hold, on explaining that this was not to be placed onboard, I was rudely ignored, so climbing onto the conveyor belt I started unloading the rear hold myself, more heated discussions in the now forty degrees sunlight followed. Also it appeared that all the baggage was in the process of being loaded too, contrary to my instructions! I felt that I was losing control of the situation, and needed to make my mark in the sand, literally, but summoning over the senior ramp agent who previously spoke excellent English, he now pretended to not speak or understand English at all. It was only when I insisted on seeing his identity pass and made a pretence of writing his name down that his ability to speak English returned. I now played my joker, and said I would take 65 pieces of baggage, and arrange for the rest to be taken by our next flight. I had no idea if there was to be another flight, but it was a way for me to feel happy that we were safe, and for him to save face; an important concept which I had learnt to work around whilst being employed by the Koreans.

With the loading arrangements to my satisfaction, and the refuelling complete it was time to load the passengers. As each bus in turn deposited its colourful load onto the ramp, it was obvious that they had more water and cabin baggage, enough to send Ryanair cabin crew into orbit! Leonardo had managed to complete a loadsheet which had us at maximum zero fuel weight, and just over a 1000kgs below maximum take-off weight, so performance off of the 4000m runway would not be a problem.

So I was happy, I had finally managed to have the aircraft loaded the way that I wanted it. I remembered the B757 whose gear collapsed on taxi out from here last year after being overloaded on a Hajj flight, just because it’s a Hajj flight doesn’t mean you can compromise on safety, as there will always be something waiting to catch you out, and bite you! Ermelinda too had found a way to establish her own authority, as each time a member of the groundcrew boarded she insisted on personally scrutinising their identity pass, and made sure she took her time in doing so!

I thought it crazy, but our little team were fighting just to complete our little pieces of the big picture. Working the Hajj was becoming a bit like commuting on the M25 motorway; I certainly couldn’t do it on a daily basis, my sanity wouldn’t allow it! So passengers loaded, bizarrely men at the front and women at the back of the aircraft, even though they had boarded together, once onboard they had segregated themselves. All doors closed, pre-departure checks and Leonardo’s briefing complete, as he was pilot flying again for this sector, I started to smile, after all the problems, the hassles and the fights, as a team we had managed the situation and scored a small victory because I him to call for start clearance twelve minutes before scheduled departure time. For the second time today we were about to depart early, not even my boss could complain at that, well he would when he found out what I had left behind!

Except that the gods were against us, Jeddah ATC advised us that they had no flightplan for us to N’djamena, and that we must contact our company, in Italy!

I wasn’t prepared for the next twist, as nobody had told us. Saudi Arabia does not recognise Chad, and would not accept a flightplan to there as our destination. So our ops department in Milan had filed us to Khartoum in Sudan with one callsign, and on entering Sudanese airspace we were to change our callsign and destination so that we could continue onwards to N’djamena. Now I didn’t mind this arrangement, but it would have been nice for someone to have told us!

With this vital information known to us now Leonardo asked for start clearance with our new callsign to Khartoum. Success, we were cleared to start and pushback with no further delay, still a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. We had beaten the Hajj demons and emerged victorious…for now!

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN....CONTINGENCY PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE PART 2.

It is often joked that a good landing is one which you can walk away from, and that a really good landing is when you can reuse the aircraft with the minimum amount of work being required! The ability to satisfy this requirement is a result of professional and consistent training alongside careful planning.

We have already looked at how pilots need to plan and project themselves into the future prior to taking off, now we need to consider what happens or more importantly what could ‘possibly’ happen once airborne, during the climb and the cruise. The following once again are purely some of my own views and opinions on operational matters garnered from almost thirty years in the airline industry; ones which might be of interest to those not so familiar with flying large aircraft around the world.

Our contingency planning doesn’t finish with the 25 mile circle around the departure airport, or the fix depicting this area’s minimum safe altitude. This thought process needs to be continued for the remainder of the flight again projected forward in both miles and time now taking into account other potential hazards.

Firstly, during the climb out, especially when operating at high weights we need to know what altitude the aircraft can climb to in event of an engine failure, this is important regardless of how many engines your aircraft has, especially when flying towards or over high terrain.

Some years ago when flying from Seoul to London and about twenty minutes after take-off, one of the engines surged then seized on my Boeing 747-400, we were above the maximum altitude that the aircraft could maintain on three engines and therefore had no choice but to descend. Fortunately we were flying over the Yellow Sea towards China where the highest obstacle would be a ship’s mast or a flock of seagulls and therefore of no relevance, this time! Another point we had to consider was that permission would not be granted to enter Chinese airspace at this lower altitude, so a turn back towards Seoul would need to be sought from the South Korean controllers. Now we knew that this could only be done by turning left, otherwise we could have infringed North Korean airspace, with even more serious consequences.

As this was a failure which meant we would not be continuing the flight to London, a decision was needed to be made about reducing the aircraft’s weight to the maximum certified landing weight prior to making the approach. How much fuel would need to be jettisoned and where would this event occur, I knew there were specific areas and minimum altitudes to complete this task, but we were at twenty something thousand feet over the sea, so no problem.

I had worked through this problem in my mind many times before; when considering the ‘what-if’ scenarios which could potentially occur, so I already had an outline of a plan, and I am sure most pilots go through these mental processes at some stage when all is quiet. Make life as easy for yourself as possible, especially in high workload environments, that’s my mantra.

However, should an aircraft suffer an engine failure and once the aircraft is correctly reconfigured and a stable flight path is maintained; having followed these three important actions. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate……in that order; consideration needs to be made should a subsequent engine fail too. This would be a potentially serious situation when flying a four engine aircraft, critical when flying a three engine aircraft and obviously catastrophic if flying a twin engine aircraft.

However, again with careful contingency planning prior to an event such as this, then extra thinking time can be created, reducing the likelihood of becoming dangerously blinkered or suffering from tunnel vision.

Also, use your crew, all of them. You might have extra crew members travelling with you as passengers, their input and assistance during a time of high stress when things are not going well can be invaluable. Captain Alfred Haynes on his United Airlines DC10 at Sioux City airport is a text book example of how to utilise all the experience available to increase the chances of a more successful outcome.

In aviation there can in some cultures be a mental desire not to lose face, but this can be diplomatically circumvented, with a little bit of thought’, so reducing the chances of a serious situation becoming a critical or catastrophic one.

I remember seeing a video reconstruction of a crash involving a carrier from the USA, where the captain and flight engineer on a Boeing 727 were ridiculing the co-pilot when he tried to interject as their inflight situation deteriorated. I believe it was the captain who said “What’s the difference between a bird and a co-pilot………Answer. A bird can fly” This kind of attitude should have no place on the flight-deck of an aircraft. Unfortunately it is still with us though and a recent crash on an A320 in Asia just confirmed that it’s still there, occasionally.

Once in the cruise, with your meal ordered a hot cup of coffee by your side and the BBC World Service selected on the HF radio, it’s time to relax. Yes and No. I totally understand that you can’t constantly scan the sky like a World War Two fighter pilot or stare unblinkingly at your engine displays. You’ll soon tire yourself out, but before you do drop down a couple of gears just assess where you are where you’ll be in the next hour or so and what options do you have.

If flying west from Hong Kong, for example, you will soon find yourself flying over some very high terrain. There are specific ‘escape routes’ when flying in this airspace. Familiarise yourself with them, maybe create a visible picture through the Flight Management Computers, just as an aide memoire almost. Should the need come to make an emergency descent, know how low you can descend to; not just based on the height of the ground below you, but also considering the wind speed over the mountains and what the local altimeter pressure setting might be.

I often see pilots use the area on and around their oxygen masks as a storage area for charts, manuals, snacks and bottles of water. In the event of a rapid depressurisation you don’t want to be groping around amongst these, your time of useful consciousness above 30,000 feet is measured in tens of seconds, not minutes, and literally every second counts. This may seem a wee bit pedantic to some, but it’s just another link in the chain assisting your self-preservation when faced with this kind of emergency.

On the Boeing 747-400 freighter for example, should a main deck fire break out, the checklist states that you should descend to either the lowest minimum safe altitude or 25,000 feet, so always know your minimum safe altitude, not only for your current location, but also in the direction of the nearest airport.

Which brings me to one of the most important aspects of situational awareness, where is the nearest suitable airport for the most catastrophic of emergencies. To the fare paying public they might not like the answer to this……..

If you are over the middle of the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean then your nearest airport could be hundreds of miles and several hours away. Aircraft have crashed when they have tried to stay airborne with a fire which can’t be extinguished. Never rule out the prospect of a ditching or an off airport landing on dry land. Think about what could lead up to making such a drastic and potentially final decision as those; it could be a last resort one day for some unfortunate crew. The need to ditch into the water, which was so expertly controlled and executed by U.S Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his crew in New York’s Hudson River, maybe your decision and not because it’s been taken out of your hands because your aircraft’s engines are no longer functioning.

However, the above example is an extreme one, generally we operate in regions where an airport can safely be made in 30 minutes or less, and so know where these airports are, have an idea what runways and aids can be available for their forecast weather conditions. Again situational awareness can be enhanced by entering these airports into your Flight Management Computer and maybe drawing range rings around them.

As touched on in my previous article, it’s also a good idea to know where the most suitable medical facilities can be obtained should a member of your crew or passengers become seriously sick, something to keep in the back of your mind as it’s a situation like all that should not be rushed but carefully thought out, discussed and acted upon. Again use all the facilities available to you, your cabin-crew have received basic medical training; however, some of them could quite possibly have been nurses in a previous life, know this and use this knowledge. Whenever I have requested the services of a doctor over my aircraft’s P.A. system, even in these litigious times, at least one has always come forward. Some airlines I have flown for subscribe to a ‘Medlink’ service, which allows direct access to medical experts through either HF or satellite communication systems. Again use everything available to you.

It’s not feasible to consider here every eventuality as I am sure that there are still some that are waiting around the corner, waiting to catch us out, regardless of how prepared we are. All we can do is the best that we can, both in advance and on that fateful day.

Contingency planning helps us to understand better our flight operations, and to increase our chances of a successful outcome when the unplanned for occurs. When these thought processes are completed it also justifies a quick ten minutes listening to the BBC World Service whilst sipping that hot coffee!

Finally the descent and approach sections of flight operations need to be considered separately, as this is the time when the majority of incidents and accidents occur; without being flippant it is of course when we purposefully aim to return to the ground, so it is even more important to enhance your situational awareness.

To conclude, again I have no desire to teach my colleagues to suck eggs, as I know that many of the above thought processes are also carried out by them in a very similar manner. The above statements are purely and simply my own understanding of how I would like my crew to operate on a daily basis.

 

Once again after the above has been read by some future passengers it a trip to a ‘Fear of Flying’ course may be required, which coincidentally my company Simufly Ltd can offer, along with putting you in the pilot’s seat of almost any Boeing airliner if you are brave enough and would like to experience the above scenarios for yourself!

 

You can contact Captain Alan Carter at info@simuflyltd.com or on +44 (0)1372 879195

In the air and on the ground!

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE.

Well, I realise that today I am living Tom Cruise’s worst nightmare, one that he was threatened with in the film ‘Top Gun’. I am that man hauling a hundred tonnes of plastic ‘doggy do-do’ out of Hong Kong, but I do it with a smile on my face as I consider myself to be in a very fortunate position none the less!

Sitting here at 32,100 feet, or as the Chinese prefer to call it 9,800m, as the captain on the flight deck of my nice warm Boeing 747-400; I find myself leaning forward on the glare-shield, the aeronautical equivalent of a car’s dashboard, trying to make out the mountains south of Lanzhou through the diminishing daylight which my terrain display tells me are almost 23,000 feet high. Not quite Everest or the Himalayan range, but I still need to think about them, just in case, plan ahead, which started me thinking.

As a pilot our life literally flies by, not just because we criss-cross this tiny planet of ours at over 500mph, but because as a contract pilot I am always thinking at least a month or two ahead, trying to engineer ways which allow me to travel home as much as possible; manipulating my schedule so that I can also do this at the lowest cost. However, there is also a far more important need to think ahead.

Ultimately then in all aspects of our professional life we pilots are plotting the future, or we should be. Projecting ourselves not only socially months ahead, but on the flight deck, also hours and miles ahead.

Contingency planning and having a working solution for that just in case situation, in all professional pilots lives normally commences before the engines have even been started, often in the briefing office or during the formal pilot’s briefing when on-board their aircraft.

In my opinion it is beholden of all pilots to have a plan, one of my training captains, whom was and probably always will be wiser than me, from too many years ago told me, “Always have a plan Alan, it doesn’t have to be the most correct or accurate one, but at least have one.” Again very wise words which I hear every day in my head whilst at work, I can hear the mocking laughter as some of you think that I have odd voices swirling around my cranium, and that I should be confined to the nut house! Maybe I should be, after all I have spent the equivalent of two years in an aluminium tube; that is a lot of chicken dinners and instant coffee.

The often heard phrase, “What’s it doing now?” should be banished from the flight deck, especially as aircraft become more sophisticated and automated. The pilots should be in control at all times, telling the aircraft what to do, not the other way around. The computers are there to increase operational awareness and the automation to reduce workload, therefore a thorough knowledge of these systems is required if they are going to be used to assist in troubleshooting and planning.

For pilots this process of forward planning starts even before we depart, as all aircraft crews run through a thorough briefing confirming with each other verbally that everyone understands what will happen in case of an emergency during the take-off and departure phase. Primarily in case of an engine failure, but they should also consider other failures, if only to themselves.

 

So first of all the engine failure case after V1; this is the speed calculated for every take-off, and is defined as the one that should a take-off be rejected, the first actions to stop the aircraft have taken place prior to reaching it. It should be mandatory for every pilot to be able to run through the required actions in their sleep; the only differences being those on the day due to primarily high ground or the weather.

This scenario is practiced repeatedly when all pilots have their six monthly check-flights. So no excuses; not only must the aircraft be totally under control but a thorough understanding of the escape manoeuver to avoid any obstacles should be engrained into their mind. What is the route, how high will we fly, where can we hold if necessary to evaluate the situation. Do we need to jettison fuel to reduce the aircraft weight for landing and where can we do this; is the weather good enough to return?

Though there are many other situations which can cause the adrenalin to pump faster, and these should also be considered. For example, what happens if the undercarriage won’t retract, especially if there is high ground immediately after take-off, as the extra drag will penalise the aircraft’s rate of climb. Alternatively, what is the best course of action if the flaps won’t retract, where will I fly to to sort out the problem?

Maybe there could be Windshear, a phenomenon often associated with Hong Kong, the airport which I have just departed from, in this case I must remember not to raise the undercarriage (extra drag as the closed sections of the gear doors will open)  or retract the flaps until at a safe altitude and clear of the Windshear. Also, we should consider the use of maximum take-off thrust and the highest flap setting on the longest runway available. It is also a good idea to possibly consider delaying the lift off until you have reached the lift off speed for your aircraft’s maximum take-off weight, so building in an extra safety margin in extreme cases.

On my aircraft the Boeing 747-400, generally the captain uses the left autopilot and the co-pilot the right autopilot, each of which require a specific and different hydraulic system. So should a hydraulic system fail in its entirety, which has happened to me, think about which autopilots are available. Aircraft have crashed when pilots have thought an autopilot was controlling, when none were actually engaged.

The most dangerous scenario is that of a fire which can’t be extinguished or confirmed to be extinguished. It’s not just acceptable to say we’ll ask for radar vectors for an emergency landing, as this option might not be available. Again there could be high ground and/or bad weather. A plan needs to be thought out which will keep you safe and have you back on the ground in the shortest possible time.

However, it’s not just the aircraft systems that require a wee bit of thought in this contingency planning, but the weather too. If I take-off, should the situation require it, is the weather good enough for me to return and land, generally this is due to low visibility or a low cloud base, and in extreme situations the wind too. In this case we need to designate an airport as our take-off alternate, and we need to understand what rules apply to selecting one; distance, time and its own weather and suitability.

The one failure, which I only ever hear of being spoken in hushed tones, is that of a complete radio failure. When this situation is raised, often it is met with a blank or vacant expression, and if you ask ten pilots you would probably receive ten different answers. Even though there are rules and documentation to assist should this occur; excuses will be made to make an important phone call or a visit to the washrooms instead of answering.

Not to be forgotten are our passengers, what happens if one of them suffers some form of medical emergency. I shall use an extreme case, purely as a hypothetical example.

You are departing from Sondrestrom in Greenland for the USA, as you are climbing away you are advised that a passenger has suffered a major heart attack and needs immediate medical treatment. Well he or she won’t thank you if you turn around and land back, they might have to wait a day or two for suitable treatment, which would subsequently lean towards needing a mortician as opposed to a surgeon. So do you turn around and go in the opposite direction of your planned routing to Keflavik where there is an excellent teaching hospital, or press on to the Canadian Inuit town of Iqaluit. This thought process requires ‘local knowledge’ as opposed to systems, but is equally as important.

All of the above need to be considered on every flight, but before any actions are taken, or switches moved, pause, take a breath and check with your colleague what has happened. We all know this but it doesn’t always happen, when in the heat of the moment and the stress levels are raised the wrong course of action is taken, occasionally leading to disastrous consequences.

Finally, also be clear with what you mean. For example a pilot often raises his finger to his colleague indicating there is a thousand feet to go before reaching a particular level; however on one occasion my illustrious co-pilot misunderstood and his motor reflex was to select the first stage of flap, even though we were descending through 23,000 feet. That type of action concentrates the mind very quickly, which is why we have SOPs, Standard Operating Procedures, which we should know better than our wedding vows but practice more rigidly!

For you pilots who have read this, I apologise for having you ’suck eggs’, a phrase I’ve never understood. But for those of you not so familiar with aviation, when you see a pilot leaning forward staring out of the window, he is not dreaming of that first rum punch and the blonde stewardess from First Class on the beach in Barbados, he is actually contingency planning. Honestly!

Remember, all of the above is considered often before our first cup of coffee has been delivered to the flight deck and our meal order taken. A different thought process is required once airborne, but is equally as important to understand. In the light of recent accidents these could require quite drastic decisions to be made. However, that is a topic for another time, and once read for some passengers it may require a trip to a ‘Fear of Flying’ course, which coincidentally my company Simufly Ltd can offer, along with putting you in the pilot’s seat of almost any Boeing airliner if you are brave enough and would like to experience the above scenarios for yourself.

 

You can contact Captain Alan Carter at info@simuflyltd.com or on +44 (0)1372 879195

CONTRACTING – Life as a contract pilot, does not mean you have to sell your soul to the devil!

Contracting as a pilot is as much about lifestyle choice as career choice. I have sat on both sides of the fence, as an employee on a permanent contract and as an employee with a rolling three month contract. This has allowed me to conclude that the grass is greener on both sides of the proverbial fence!

Contracting, as a concept is almost a necessity as opposed to an option, as these days the only routes open to the majority of pilots; whether being their first job or simply their ‘next’ job and also regardless of their experience, qualifications and backgrounds, is contracting. There are very few opportunities to join major or ‘minor’ airlines that do not involve a third party agency. I have dealt with many over the last ten years of my thirty in the industry, both good and bad ones.

I have often been asked why I have left large reputable airlines, such as Virgin Atlantic and TUI to take up life as a contract pilot, well there is no short answer to that; but let me try to explain.

When I first started in this industry, as a newly qualified commercial pilot back in 1983, there were few opportunities for employment. The search for that first job was a task made harder by not having e-mails or fax machines, concepts equivalent to alchemy and teleporters, to assist in my applications. All enquiries had to be written by hand and entrusted to the postal service, activities which my eleven year old daughter told me that she had seen in one of her on-line history books!

However, I learnt very quickly that it is not necessary what you know, but who you know. After having written dozens upon dozens of letters to every aviation/aeronautical company I could trace. Using telephone books and back copies of Flight International magazines, no split second Google searches available, my enquiries, when replied to, came up empty. It was my uncle, a carpet fitter who came to my rescue, whilst laying carpets for the then Chief Pilot of a since deceased airline Dan Air and having explained his nephew’s plight, secured me an interview with this company.

So at age 19 and the proud owner of a shiny blue CPL, I was offered a position with Dan Air as a second officer on the HS 748 turboprop, my career was launched and as they say. “The rest is history!” I was now an employee of an established and well respected airline, and the last line of the company seniority list backed up this claim.

After six years with Dan Air flying as a co-pilot on the HS748 and the Boeing 727, I was offered a position with Virgin Atlantic Airways as a Boeing 747-200 co-pilot; I was both thrilled at this opportunity and saddened to leave Dan Air. Flights in and out of wintery Shetland Islands and up and down the now defunct Berlin corridors were to be replaced by long-haul operations to the United States and Japan. I couldn’t believe my good fortune and so started my twenty plus years love affair with Boeing’s ‘Jumbo Jet.’ Again I was the last entry on another company’s seniority list and now I was also bonded.

Bonding was a new concept to me; as it meant that I now owed the company several thousand pounds that would be reduced by a fixed amount each month, until repaid in full after two years. A fair concept which I readily agreed to and still do to this day, the cost to the company for my training would be repaid by my loyalty.

After eleven years flying for this fabulous airline, I decided it was time for a change. Even though I was on the first page of the seniority list at number 35 and a Boeing 747-400 Captain, it was time to broaden my horizons and take a gamble, a huge gamble.

I dipped my toe into the murky waters of the contract pilot world, decided that it was worth the plunge, and signed a contract with an Antipodean recruitment agency as a Boeing 747-400 contract captain with Korean Airlines. No seniority list to protect me, no company pension plan to look forward to, just an adventure to undertake and enjoy.

Now that is the attitude that I would encourage anyone deciding on life as a contract pilot to take. There is no job security; you are at the mercy of your benevolent employer’s employer, and you must remember that you are now some way down the food chain. You are employed not by the airline but by the agency which you have chosen. There are good one’s out there, one’s which will do all they can to look after you, and there are some that see you as a commodity, one which can be treated like an unwanted puppy at Christmas when the going gets tough.

My recommendation is to choose an agency that your colleagues personally recommend, not because of a glossy website or impressive online advertisements. For example, the best agency, in my opinion for Korean Airlines, would be CCL, a small almost bespoke agency that looks after its clients, no large multi-page website, just a well respected reputation.

I have been told by various agencies at different times such things as, “Oh, a contract is not a binding document….you must be flexible!” But with these agencies flexibility is a one way street. Or it has been suggested to me, “Don’t worry that you are not receiving your contracted days off, it’s best not to rock the boat!” These agencies are only interested in their monthly fee; you are literally a piece of meat to them, and one which has an instantaneous ‘sell by date’ if you step out of line or raise your head above the parapet.

The golden rule with contract flying is to remember that you can be offered a six month, one year or ten year contract, but they are all of equal length, that length being the notice period.

In my opinion what you get out of contracting is the ability to be flexible, if you can afford it and have gained the required experience, to move around the world. I have found out that this world is actually a very small place and the aviation industry even smaller. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world; the departures lounge in Jeddah, a bar in Anchorage or a ferry boat in San Francisco you will eventually bump into one of your colleagues from a ‘previous life’.

This is one of the facets that I love about contracting, being involved with and meeting new people, new personalities. Okay, they are not always nice personalities, but crossing global cultures there are actually few stereotypes. Good and bad colleagues or employers exist whether in Baghdad or Seoul, London or Paris. Contracting allows you to meet them all!

I would never have operated tsunami relief flights in Indonesia with the Boeing 747 for Korean Airlines, civilian rescue flights out of Tripoli again on the Boeing 747 but for the Iraqi government, taken crew rest and slept amongst the frozen fishes between Entebbe and Paris in a Zimbabwe registered DC10, looked down with sadness on Darfur whilst flying between Eritrea and Chad in an Italian Boeing 737NG for Neos an Italian airline. There are many more adventures which I have had, too many to mention here and hopefully more to come.

This is the beauty of contracting; you just don’t know where you’ll be this time next year!

Try it, your wife or husband might disagree, and yes, your job security could be redefined as the sky marshall sat behind you on the upper deck as opposed to a final salary pension scheme. But whether you are starting out with that shiny new CPL and looking to gain invaluable experience in India or a seasoned veteran trying to keep up with the alimony payments; you’ll love it, I do!

British Airways BA 38, Boeing 777 crash at London's Heathrow Airport. And the world of contract flying..

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.

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

Baku to Dubai (DWC) and back to Baku

Baku to Camp Bastion (Afghanistan) and then back again.

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………