So … for the second time in 2 years and the third time in 25 … I’m doing another Type Rating. This time it’s the Boeing 737NG and it’s very … different. For the first thing – I have LOTS of time. As practically every other pilot who’s ever gone through a type rating knows […]
So having come back to Virgin after a COVID-enforced absence, a common request from a few pilots is for me to update my Wide Body EBA Remuneration Spreadsheet for the Narrow Body 2021 EBA. Sure, I thought. How hard could that be? Well … The 2021 EBA is quite a radical change from the previous […]
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So having recently come from a night freight operation where we were quite often operating towards the limits of the Maximum Flight Duty Period (MaxFDP) – After having stuffed up the calculations a couple of times, I decided to create a VA Max FDP Calculator Spreadsheet that would calculate for me the number I usually […]
![Infinidim Redundancy Calculator [Updated 06Aug20]](https://www.infinidim.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/stock-photo-stressed-out-female-pilot-worried-at-work-1356670775.jpg "stock-photo-stressed-out-female-pilot-worried-at-work-1356670775")
Howdy All This spreadsheet is for the benefit of the Wide Body Crew (A330, B777) under the Virgin Australia Wide Body EBA who will be affected by tomorrow announcement. I believe it’s pretty accurate, but as always – all care, no responsibility. Between the difference in LSL between the States and the application of Tax […]
In September 2020 after 20 years on the Boeing 777 – I commenced a Type Rating training course on a new aircraft type. This series of blog posts (Ha!) tracks my progress (or lack of) through that tumultuous exercise. Having trained (helped) many others through this exercise over the last 20 years – it was […]
As part of my move towards becoming a freighter pilot, I had to travel to Sydney today to undertake a week of training in SEP (Safety & Emergency Procedures); NTS (Non Technical Skills, or Crew Resource Management); and the usual induction activities that take place when you start with a new airline. This is my […]
So having completed my type rating on the BAe 146, the next step was 5 days of Safety and Emergency Procedures training at the head office in Bankstown. All pilots are initimately familiar with the yearly requirement to complete SEP. Typically it’s a day of briefings and presentation, a re-familiarisation with the cabin emergency equipment […]
With my BAE146 Type Rating and Induction SEP (Safety and Emergency Procedures) and NTS (Non Technical Skills, or Crew Resource Management) training complete – it was time to fly the actual aircraft. Somewhat unusually in this case it requires heading across to Cologne, Germany to ferry back a newly purchase and refurbished aircraft to Australia. […]
It would seem that Graf Helmuth von Moltke was correct … “No plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main force.“ In this case, our main enemy is of course … COVID. Our flight to Germany was uneventful in the main, with Victor Pody capturing some magnificent images of our […]
Depending on your version of the plan, we are now anywhere from 2 to 5 days late. But hey – that’s what plans are for – to let you know what you’ve deviated from when things actually happen. Otherwise we’re in a world without reference and that’s just insanity. Rumour has it the last crew […]
After a week of our small but dedicated group working towards the common goal – yesterday we flew our BAe146 for the first time in approximately 3 years. This is the last BAe146 to be delivered by WDL Cologne having operated a fleet of them over years. This was a flight of firsts (my first […]
So after two+ weeks in Cologne, we finally set off today to our first overnight, which ended up being Belgrade, Serbia. The choice of our first stop came down to stopping somewhere just outside Europe (rather than pushing all the way to the Middle East on our first day) and avoiding the Earthquake region in […]
Another long day. Three sectors, 8+ hours flight time, 12 hours duty – or so. While the days are long with moment of frustration and stress – in the back of my mind I know this is (yet another) once in a lifetime experience. Hence … these posts. We now need a moment of Ronnie […]
