Week 18: Under-performance is not acceptable!

This week we attempted to complete performance, as well as starting (and finishing) mass and balance. Unfortunately we didnt manage to finish performance; we covered pretty well all of the theory, however ran out of time going through the Performance manual so will need to find a few hours one evening this week. Ordinarily we could be trusted to cover study in our own time, but the manual (known as CAP 698) is allowed in the exam and a significant number of the answers can be found within. Therefore, if we learn it to a good standard we'll avoid the blind panic of not knowing where to find something!

As for Mass and balance, this is a subject that we will see every single working day, as the aircraft needs to be loaded correctly to prevent this sort of thing....

Simply put, this was likely caused by the load being incorrectly placed (ie. too much heavy stuff at the back), or could have been something as simple as the cargo being loaded/removed in the wrong order. The reason this has significance for flight crew is an incorrectly loaded aircraft can be difficult or even impossible to fly safely. This was unfortunately what happened to the below Boeing 747, which suffered a significant load shift as it made its initial climb; the load went towards the tail, the centre of gravity shifted and within seconds the outcome was unavoidable. For those questioning my morals for posting this, the most important part of aviation safety is prevention. Therefore the more of you that know about this who go on to fly, the less chance there is of it happening again!!

If i've scared any of you to the extent you now don't want to hop on a flight to go on hols, calm down! Passenger flights are loaded in a manner that prevents such load shifts because the seats are bolted to the structure, and you're strapped into them. Therefore, unless the entire aircraft population as one decides they all need the toilet and only the one at the rear will suffice, you're pretty safe! You may think the guys on the tarmac are randomly lobbing your precious Louis Vuitton at whatever space they spot, but the number of bags in each section is carefully calculated. So the next time you fly and the cabin crew effectively force all the passengers into specific seats rather than spreading about the cabin, you'll know why!

Week 17: New Zealand's getting closer!

Not a huge amount to talk about this week, asides from moving onto our fourth subject of module two, Performance. It follows on quite nicely from Principles of flight, but with more focus on the sections of flight that are normally restricted due to variable factors like load, the weather and legal regulations. Put simply there's a huge amount of time spent using performance charts (such as the one pictured) to decipher how much runway is required for a take off or landing. Fortunately, easyJet have taken an electronic approach to this, so when I do eventually start line flying performance calculations should be significantly more straightforward!

On a more exciting note, we have started to complete our Student Visa paperwork, which is mad as it genuinely doesn't feel that long ago I was on my first day at Nursling. Fortunately the form isn't that complicated, especially when you compare it to the United States. Back in 2006 I was fortunate enough to take part in Camp America, and that required a monster application form plus a visit to the embassy in central London, where I was then grilled and genuinely felt I was putting someone out by wanting to visit!

So I find myself up late again, studying hard as there don't seem to be enough hours in the day! On the upside, we only have 14 days of lectures left then we are into our mocks and revision period. Get on with it I say!

Week 16: 2 down, 5 to go!

By Wednesday cp112 had completed their second subject of module 2, Radio Navigation. It feels good to have made a dent into module 2, but it's also quite sobering to know we have 5 more subjects to complete, with only 19 days of instruction before the mocks are upon us once again!

Friday brought our third subject, Human Performance and Limitations, which most students find quite interesting as the material requires mostly common sense, as well as a brief examination of human physiology. As a subject there is also a significant amount of time spent watching video documentaries; air crash investigation it is!

Initially we've looked at some physiology, but also failures due to human error (which for the stato's account for 70-80% of accidents). Time and time again 'Reasons Swiss Cheese Model' is used as a foundation of discussion, the first accident we looked at being the collision of two Boeing 747's at Tenerife in the late 1970's. The theory suggests that no accident is ever attributable to one single occurrence, and investigators can normally follow a reverse time-line from the incident with many factors contributing to the final outcome. Put simply if one of the slices is moved/altered and the path is stopped (path of opportunity), the final outcome can be significantly different.

In the case of the Tenerife disaster, there were a significant number of 'slices' (listed below) which all had some bearing on the final outcome, and a cursory look at the list shows that removing any one of them could have avoided the catastrophe.

• Bomb Scare on adjacent Island:- No bomb scare, neither aircraft would never have been there
• Crew Hours:- KLM flight crew running short on hours may have caused rushing
• Last minute refuel:- Captain of KLM elected to take on additional fuel following a delay, when his 747 had sufficient for the planned leg.
• Fog:- During the refuel a bank of fog covered the airport preventing the crews from seeing the potential collision. No refuel = no fog = visual contact with threat!
• Taxi Ambiguity:- PanAm crew misinterpreted which exit taxiway to use, putting them on the runway for longer.
• Lack of take off clearance:- KLM Captain commenced take-off roll without proper clearance
• Call stepping/blocking:- When ATC attempted to tell the KLM to hold position, the PanAm also transmitted reporting they were on the runway Unfortunately as both transmitted simultaneously, they cancelled each other out.

Away from being tied to my desk I went for a run around the Itchen valley country park. It's quite an intriguing place as the approach lights for Southampton Airport are mostly in the park, so the aircraft on approach are quite close as they descend on short final overhead. Below are a few of the pictures I took.....

Approach lights heavily guarded by fences and razor wire (i'm sure much to the annoyance of the metal thief's!)

The Localizer. Basically a bright orange aerial used to give guidance in azimuth to arrivals from the opposite direction. As a guy if you sit on it, you're not having children!

Week 15: some context

Happy new year to all of you, hopefully you all overindulged on New Years Eve! 

RNAV has continued to develop our knowledge of navigation but from a more practical sense, and as much as it seems to be saturating our brains with a long list of facts, it's a more interesting subject as we can see how it will be applied practically. For those budding pilots similar to me who have done a lot of visual flying, you have to accept that 99% of the flying done for the airlines is based on information read off the instrument panel rather than which way up the houses are!

Virtual Flight Deck (VFD)

MCP across top, two CDU's facing upwards

Thus far we have learnt about the various ground based beacons, as well as the instruments within the cockpit used to interpret them. Learning from a powerpoint presentation makes things difficult to appreciate, so CTC use a computer programme that brings together all of our knowledge into a single scenario. From a technical stand, as a class we used a control display unit (CDU) to initialise the flight management computer (FMC) and the Inertial reference system (IRS), for a flight from Heathrow to Dublin. We then were able to operate the Mode control panel (MCP) (the source of most autopilot inputs), following on the glass screens and operating a real flight from the moment we applied take off power to touchdown in Dublin.

For myself and my course-mates on the MPL, the use of glass cockpit style screens will also become our main source of information from the moment we start flight training in Hamilton. These are a few images of the Cessna 172 instrument panel, starting with the traditional 'steam driven' dial panel (right), followed by the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit (below). Even the most clueless amongst you will notice the lack of separate screens, with information more easily accessible from a single source.

On closer inspection the observant will notice three standby dials just above the throttle/mixture levers (Airspeed, Attitude and Altitude), but the main screen for normal operations matches closely something found on a modern airliner. This is where the MPL and Wings courses start to differ; the Wings cadets will fly the DA20 with conventional dials, then if necessary can fly the conventional paneled Cessna 172 before moving onto the glass cockpit Twinstar. However, due to the nature of the MPL course the cadets are exposed to glass cockpit operations from the outset, so that the transition through the various competences is almost seamless! Hopefully during my time in New Zealand ill be able to post a fair few videos/pictures whilst flying, but for the moment you'll have to accept the one I pinched off the CTC website!