A runway change can be highly destructive to mental model the crew establish during preflight of the aircraft departure. Dozens of decisions, selections and entries are often required to be evaluated and implemented – often while the engines are running and aircraft are waiting behind you.
![B777 EICAS [] FUEL SCAVENGE SYS](https://www.infinidim.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/FuelSys.jpg "FuelSys")
When you’ve been on an aircraft for almost 15 years, especially a modern Boeing, you think it’s ability to surprise you is behind you. Mostly – that’s true. And then …
My airline is currently looking at various options for an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). Originally meant to come with our spanking new 777-300ER’s, they didn’t – for a variety of timing, manufacturing and political reasons. Thus we have an exceedingly handy clip/chart holder and a neat little cupboard where a hundred thousand dollar EFB should […]
I’ve been operating under the miss-understanding that if the visibility observed at the airport matches the minimum required to commence the approach – you’ll have a reasonable chance of completing the approach to a landing. As it turns out – for JAR OPS compliant NPA’s – this is not the case.
Recently I conducted some research into the concept of the requirement for the Pilot Flying (PF) to guard the flight controls when the autopilot is engaged during critical phases of flight such as takeoff or landing. Something I thought was clear cut – is apparently not.
It’s not unusual – especially during Line Training (instructors beware) for your student to generate an EICAS MAIN GEAR STEERING alert during the initial takeoff run. This results from advancing thrust prior to the main articulated gear achieving a lock during the initial takeoff roll.
I was recently asked to confirm that 5 knots is added to the Vref Speed on final approach when an unusual Vref is specified by the Non Normal Checklist. I eventually found a reference …
The next phase of refresher training includes dispatch without the benefit of Electronic Checklist (ECL). No ECL requires some (very) rusty skills on the part of our Glass Cockpit Crews. This is going to such fun to watch …
Recently a crew in the sim elected to hold until the completion of the Fuel Imbalance checklist before commencing an Approach. Since fuel balancing can take quite some time, they were in for a long wait …
The recent phase training combined Engine Failure with Flaps/Slats Drive/Control failures introduced the issue of entering a reference speed when two different checklist are specifying two different Vref settings.
Recently I had a philosophical discussion on board with a crew about the use of VNAV without LNAV engaged. I was surprised to discover that they were unaware of any of the potential pitfalls associated, so I add a section to the P&T.
With pilots coming from a number of other aircraft types and several different airlines, including a domestic fleet, standardisation can be a challenge. The use of Flaps on approach has been in particular an interesting issue, which is hopefully address clearly in the following article.
