Tag: flying

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Lyon

So, flying from Nairobi to London last night it soon became obvious that the UK was having another weather nightmare. We made an early decision to divert to Lyon, in France rather than continue and simply end up somewhere like Glasgow two hours later.

We are the first Virgin Atlantic aircraft they’ve seen here and nine other aircraft diverted in as well, so it took a couple of hours to get everybody off the aircraft and on the way to a hotel. Some passengers without visas have had to stay in the terminal…

The local handling agent, Aviapartner, has been excellent, despite the company not having an agreement with them. The hotel, Mercure, has also been very good and have been a great deal of help.

Heathrow isn’t going to reopen until at least midnight tonight, Sunday, so I’m now off to the airport to try and get the bags out of the hold and into the hands of the passengers and crew. Wish me luck!



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Final Harrier Flights

I’ve put together a short (2 min) video of some of the flying at RAF Cottesmore yesterday, 15 December 2010. These were the final flights of the Harrier in RAF and RN service.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssMx5vgzID0

Download now or watch on posterous
   <b><a href='http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-12-16/oIIriujhHypaaprajfAlHdpjqiwACHgutlwucoFsbAifvvewIdncJBwsmbnx/2010_Final_Harrier_Flights_web.m4v' style='color: #bc7134;'>2010_Final_Harrier_Flights_web.m4v</a></b> <span style="font-size: 10px; color: #424037;">(24161 KB)</span>       <br style="clear: both;"/></div>      </p></div>
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More on the Qantas A380 Emergency

Here is a review written by IFALPA after they looked at the stuff that’s so far come out of the QF A380 incident. All fairly straightforward, and once again, it highlights what a great job the highly experienced and well trained QF crew did.

It also poses some really troubling questions that have the potential to shake up the entire system from certification authorities through regulators, through airline training departments. It also blows away the Airbus mantra that their jets are so smart that you can stuff an inexperienced crew from Nigeria in the cockpit, and as long as they can keep the wings level until the A/P is turned on, and then slavishly follow what the totally brilliant and foolproof ECAM system tells them is wrong and what to do in what order, all will be well… Continue reading “More on the Qantas A380 Emergency”

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Qantas A380 Emergency

Qantas A380 in Singapore
Qantas A380 in Singapore

Here are just some of the problems the Captain of QF32 had in Singapore on 4 November:

  • massive fuel leak in the left mid fuel tank (the beast has 11 tanks, including in the horizontal stabiliser on the tail)
  • massive fuel leak in the left inner fuel tank
  • a hole on the flap canoe/fairing that you could fit your upper body through
  • the aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer functions
  • fuel jettison had problems due to the previous problem above
  • bloody great hole in the upper wing surface
  • partial failure of leading edge slats
  • partial failure of speed brakes/ground spoilers
  • shrapnel damage to the flaps
  • total loss of all hydraulic fluid in the Green System (beast has 2 x 5,000 PSI systems, Green and Yellow)
  • manual extension of landing gear
  • loss of 1 generator and associated systems
  • loss of brake anti-skid system
  • unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using normal method after landing due to major damage to systems
  • unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using the fire switch!
  • therefore, no fire protection was available for that engine after the explosion in #2
  • ECAM warnings about major fuel imbalance because of fuel leaks on left side, that were unable to be fixed with cross-feeding
  • fuel trapped in Trim Tank (in the tail)
  • therefore, possible major C of G out-of-balance condition for landing.

The Captain was in the left seat, FO in the right), SO in the 2nd obs seat (right rear, also with his own Radio Management Panel, so he probably did most of the coordination with the ground), Check & Training Captain in the 1st obs seat (middle), training another C & T Captain. All five guys were flat out, especially the FO who would have been processing complicated ‘ECAM’ messages and procedures that were seemingly never-ending.

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The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds

Robin Olds
Robin Olds

I received this email from Monica at St. Martin’s Press:

Wanted to make you aware about this book we recently published. The long-anticipated memoirs of the greatest fighter pilot in American military history, Robin Olds: FIGHTER PILOT The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds By Robin Olds with Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus Visit the link below for reviews, excerpt, Q&A and photos of the book. Enjoy! Monica, St. Martin’s Press http://us.macmillan.com/fighterpilot

From the blurb:

The widely anticipated memoir of legendary ace American fighter pilot, Robin Olds. Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—and an ace with 12 aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He arrived in 1966 to find a dejected group of pilots and motivated them by placing himself on the flight schedule under officers junior to himself, then challenging them to train him properly because he would soon be leading them. Proving he wasn’t a WWII retread, he led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills, becoming a rare triple ace. Olds (who retired a brigadier general and died in 2007) was a unique individual whose personal story is one of the most eagerly anticipated military books of the year.

The book has been co-authored by Ed Rasimus who flew the F-105 Thunderchief and the F-4 Phantom on active duty in Vietnam. I’ve read both his books – When Thunder Rolled and Palace Cobra – and they’re both excellent. I’ll be buying Fighter Pilot.