Cool Blog

alphaone · May 3rd, 2006, 01:52

This guy is dave and writes at www.flightlevel390.com

Check out this story...

It has been a long day, but the end is in sight. The fun began in Los Angeles with two round trips to Las Vegas; now we are enroute to Cleveland with 112 passengers. We had interesting landing conditions on the last flight to Lost Wages, in that the wind forced the tower to utilize runway 7 Right for arrivals, which is unusual. I have landed on 7 Right about a dozen times, maybe... My young co-pilot had never landed on 7 Right. Guess who was the flying pilot?

When we briefed the landing, I told him if he would fly the approach by the numbers and not let the rising terrain freak him out, he would do just fine. In other words, be configured with landing gear down, flaps extended and 1,500 feet above the airport five miles from the runway. If you have never landed on a runway before, those numbers will work everytime and everywhere. The trick is to be flexible with the lateral path leading to the runway. In other words, if the tower is using four mile final approach segments, then you have to use one mile of the base leg turn as part of your five mile configuration path. Sometimes the tower will clear you to fly direct to the runway from a point in space that will not yield a path lined up with the runway, i.e., a crooked final. We call these dog legs. No big deal if the flying pilot's brain will accept this as the path to the runway and get configured. The flying pilot can roll out on runway heading a few hundred feet above the ground. No problem for a 27 year old with cat like reflexes, that is, if his brain will quit thinking about flight attendants and concentrate on a simple geometry problem.

The tower cleared us for a visual approach to runway 7 Right ten miles from the airport and on a right base leg. I could tell by watching our movement over the ground that we had a strong tailwind... One look at the inertial navigation read out confirmed a 60 m.p.h. tailwind. The heavy 767 ahead of us blew through the final approach path and was now banking sharply right to regain the final path. Ooops! I decided to remind the co-pilot about the wind, then to quit coaching him. Being micro-managed while trying to fly a large aircraft on final approach is aggravating and counter productive. He rolled out on runway heading to the right of the actual path, then allowed the wind to blow him onto the path. Once on the final path, he banked gently right until he had a heading that would prevent the crosswind from blowing him off the final approach. In pilot land, this is known as crabbing.

The maximum recommended crosswind for an A320 is 43 mph, although in the hands of an experienced crosswind pilot, it can handle 45 mph. The tower was calling the winds 35 mph with gusts to 42 mph, and to make it interesting, a slight tailwind component. I had previously told the flight attendants and passengers that the landing would be less than smooth, so we were mentally prepared for a firm landing.

As the co-pilot flew the beast over the end of the runway, I could see fingers of sand blowing across the surface and the windsock was standing straight out, perpendicular to the runway. He began to slip, or cross control, the aircraft, trying to bring the fuselage parallel to the centerline, so as not to touchdown at an angle, which is really hard on the aircraft. As he slipped into the wind, the right main landing gear touched down first, then the aircraft bounced about a foot. At the top of the bounce, the co-pilot selected reverse thrust. Yikes! Here it comes... It was as if the aircraft asked, "You want to stop flying? OK, we can do that!" We fell back to the runway with much vigor. Behind me, I could hear stuff clanging in the forward galley. When my vision cleared, we were on the centerline and decelerating rapidly with sand, dirt, and loose paper blowing across the runway. Welcome to Sin City folks.

The co-pilot was mortified as we taxied to the gate. He kept apologizing, but I reminded him that I had warned everyone in the back to expect a rough landing. I then asked him if he would ever again select reverse thrust with the wheels off the ground. He said he would definitely not do that again. I told him not to worry about it.

When I opened the flight deck door, the flight attendants said, "Good job, Boys!" Several passengers complimented the crosswind landing.

That was a few hours ago... Cleveland is about 90 minutes away. Ten minutes ago, we circumnavigated a large storm that is casting a shadow ahead of us to the horizon. It resembles a dark blue road to the edge of the world. Actually, day's end is located there...

Jason · May 3rd, 2006, 18:05

Thanks for the chuckle....I wonder what this guy does in real life?

I don't have time to check out his website right now but my first question for the almighty A320 Captain is how the FO managed to select reverse thrust with weight off wheels?? Another Ernest Gann wannabee!

Ripper3785 · May 3rd, 2006, 21:05

perhaps you made a typo on the link also. www.flightlevel390.com doesn't pull up a 'legit' site.

CapnJim · May 3rd, 2006, 21:09

And your avatar is gay.

AlexF · May 3rd, 2006, 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper3785

perhaps you made a typo on the link also. www.flightlevel390.com doesn't pull up a 'legit' site.

Google Baby!!!

http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com

Maximillian_Jenius · May 3rd, 2006, 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnJim

And your avatar is gay.

My avatar is heterosexual!

CapnJim · May 3rd, 2006, 22:08

Whoops! Appy polly logies, MJ.
But I thought the Veritech VF-6 was kinda androgynous? Like, it's masculine in looks but the pilots refer to it as 'she'?

SierraPilot123 · May 3rd, 2006, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by SierraPilot123

"Yesterday, a new Directive came from The Management Bastion addressed to all line pilots. It concerned unauthorized reading material in the flight deck, such as newspapers, books, magazines, and the Big One... Laptop computers. The next crew who is caught reading or using any of the afore-mentioned items (in flight) will be in trouble, or so the Directive threatened.

So, that leaves performance manuals, flight operation manuals, and my favorite... The A-320/319 aircraft manual. I think I will calculate the cruise altitude again." http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/

Is this true of most airlines??? I had a friend whose dad flew for Alaska a while back. He said he reads a book during cruise on their long flights and scans the instruments every min or so.

CapnJim · May 3rd, 2006, 22:26

Two words: USA Today.

SierraPilot123 · May 3rd, 2006, 22:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnJim

Two words: USA Today.

Thought so. Thanks.

nwa757 · May 3rd, 2006, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason

Thanks for the chuckle....I wonder what this guy does in real life?

I don't have time to check out his website right now but my first question for the almighty A320 Captain is how the FO managed to select reverse thrust with weight off wheels?? Another Ernest Gann wannabee!

I wonder what you do in real life, besides slamming people that fly larger jets than you. I have been reading this guy's material for over 2 hours now... he is an excellent writer. Cheers to your pessimism!

http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/

PS- CapnJim, your avatar isn't exactly normal.

alphaone · May 4th, 2006, 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwa757

I wonder what you do in real life, besides slamming people that fly larger jets than you. I have been reading this guy's material for over 2 hours now... he is an excellent writer. Cheers to your pessimism!

http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/

PS- CapnJim, your avatar isn't exactly normal.

I think the guy is legit, and enjoy reading his stuff, but I am only a C172 pilot to this point....Maybe we should invite him to join like we did Caneman?

Bigey · May 4th, 2006, 02:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphaone

I think the guy is legit, and enjoy reading his stuff, but I am only a C172 pilot to this point....Maybe we should invite him to join like we did Caneman?

I've been reading Dave's stories for the past 2 years now. Really great stuff!!

Seems like he genuinly enjoys his job, which is great!

Jason · May 4th, 2006, 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwa757

. Cheers to your pessimism!

.

Thanks!! I do work hard at it! [sarcasm] I just happened to read it on a bad day but I guess that doesn't justify my response..... He's probably writing to a different audience, but personally I just don't find airplane stories interesting when they're written with technical inaccuracies(sp?) just to add flair to the story.

Jason

PS - If you really do want to know what I do in real life I'd be happy to share.

USAFplt · May 5th, 2006, 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason

Thanks!! I do work hard at it! [sarcasm] I just happened to read it on a bad day but I guess that doesn't justify my response..... He's probably writing to a different audience, but personally I just don't find airplane stories interesting when they're written with technical inaccuracies(sp?) just to add flair to the story.

Jason

PS - If you really do want to know what I do in real life I'd be happy to share.

what are you talking about!? His posts are quite technically accurate...let me guess you fly the -320 too right? ha

BobDDuck · May 5th, 2006, 11:20

He seems to avoid using tech jargon a whole lot, but as far as I could tell he doesn't seem to stretch anything for entertainment value. Pretty well written for a pilot.

flyover · May 5th, 2006, 11:31

Quote:

The maximum recommended crosswind for an A320 is 43 mph, although in the hands of an experienced crosswind pilot, it can handle 45 mph.

Well in the hands of Tex Johnson it could probably handle 46 mph. This is a bizarre statement.

But his other stuff is pretty good. And based on his blog links seems like a good guy.

BobDDuck · May 5th, 2006, 12:14

Somehow I can't picture Tex flying the 'bus.

May 3rd, 2006, 01:52	#1
alphaone Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 781	Cool Blog This guy is dave and writes at www.flightlevel390.com Check out this story... It has been a long day, but the end is in sight. The fun began in Los Angeles with two round trips to Las Vegas; now we are enroute to Cleveland with 112 passengers. We had interesting landing conditions on the last flight to Lost Wages, in that the wind forced the tower to utilize runway 7 Right for arrivals, which is unusual. I have landed on 7 Right about a dozen times, maybe... My young co-pilot had never landed on 7 Right. Guess who was the flying pilot? When we briefed the landing, I told him if he would fly the approach by the numbers and not let the rising terrain freak him out, he would do just fine. In other words, be configured with landing gear down, flaps extended and 1,500 feet above the airport five miles from the runway. If you have never landed on a runway before, those numbers will work everytime and everywhere. The trick is to be flexible with the lateral path leading to the runway. In other words, if the tower is using four mile final approach segments, then you have to use one mile of the base leg turn as part of your five mile configuration path. Sometimes the tower will clear you to fly direct to the runway from a point in space that will not yield a path lined up with the runway, i.e., a crooked final. We call these dog legs. No big deal if the flying pilot's brain will accept this as the path to the runway and get configured. The flying pilot can roll out on runway heading a few hundred feet above the ground. No problem for a 27 year old with cat like reflexes, that is, if his brain will quit thinking about flight attendants and concentrate on a simple geometry problem. The tower cleared us for a visual approach to runway 7 Right ten miles from the airport and on a right base leg. I could tell by watching our movement over the ground that we had a strong tailwind... One look at the inertial navigation read out confirmed a 60 m.p.h. tailwind. The heavy 767 ahead of us blew through the final approach path and was now banking sharply right to regain the final path. Ooops! I decided to remind the co-pilot about the wind, then to quit coaching him. Being micro-managed while trying to fly a large aircraft on final approach is aggravating and counter productive. He rolled out on runway heading to the right of the actual path, then allowed the wind to blow him onto the path. Once on the final path, he banked gently right until he had a heading that would prevent the crosswind from blowing him off the final approach. In pilot land, this is known as crabbing. The maximum recommended crosswind for an A320 is 43 mph, although in the hands of an experienced crosswind pilot, it can handle 45 mph. The tower was calling the winds 35 mph with gusts to 42 mph, and to make it interesting, a slight tailwind component. I had previously told the flight attendants and passengers that the landing would be less than smooth, so we were mentally prepared for a firm landing. As the co-pilot flew the beast over the end of the runway, I could see fingers of sand blowing across the surface and the windsock was standing straight out, perpendicular to the runway. He began to slip, or cross control, the aircraft, trying to bring the fuselage parallel to the centerline, so as not to touchdown at an angle, which is really hard on the aircraft. As he slipped into the wind, the right main landing gear touched down first, then the aircraft bounced about a foot. At the top of the bounce, the co-pilot selected reverse thrust. Yikes! Here it comes... It was as if the aircraft asked, "You want to stop flying? OK, we can do that!" We fell back to the runway with much vigor. Behind me, I could hear stuff clanging in the forward galley. When my vision cleared, we were on the centerline and decelerating rapidly with sand, dirt, and loose paper blowing across the runway. Welcome to Sin City folks. The co-pilot was mortified as we taxied to the gate. He kept apologizing, but I reminded him that I had warned everyone in the back to expect a rough landing. I then asked him if he would ever again select reverse thrust with the wheels off the ground. He said he would definitely not do that again. I told him not to worry about it. When I opened the flight deck door, the flight attendants said, "Good job, Boys!" Several passengers complimented the crosswind landing. That was a few hours ago... Cleveland is about 90 minutes away. Ten minutes ago, we circumnavigated a large storm that is casting a shadow ahead of us to the horizon. It resembles a dark blue road to the edge of the world. Actually, day's end is located there... __________________ 8/20/05 PPL 8/16/06 IR

May 3rd, 2006, 18:05	#2
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 977	Re: Cool Blog Thanks for the chuckle....I wonder what this guy does in real life? I don't have time to check out his website right now but my first question for the almighty A320 Captain is how the FO managed to select reverse thrust with weight off wheels?? Another Ernest Gann wannabee! __________________ ...till we meet again on the high seas...ARRRRGGGGHHHHH Last edited by Jason; May 3rd, 2006 at 19:38.

May 3rd, 2006, 21:05	#3
Ripper3785 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Oahu, HI Posts: 121	Re: Cool Blog perhaps you made a typo on the link also. www.flightlevel390.com doesn't pull up a 'legit' site.

May 3rd, 2006, 21:09	#4
CapnJim Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: All up in Cantubury, tellin' tales. Posts: 4,444	Re: Cool Blog And your avatar is gay.

May 3rd, 2006, 22:08	#7
CapnJim Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: All up in Cantubury, tellin' tales. Posts: 4,444	Re: Cool Blog Whoops! Appy polly logies, MJ. But I thought the Veritech VF-6 was kinda androgynous? Like, it's masculine in looks but the pilots refer to it as 'she'?

May 3rd, 2006, 22:26	#9
CapnJim Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: All up in Cantubury, tellin' tales. Posts: 4,444	Re: Cool Blog Two words: USA Today.

May 5th, 2006, 11:20	#16
BobDDuck Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Left Seat Posts: 5,482	Re: Cool Blog He seems to avoid using tech jargon a whole lot, but as far as I could tell he doesn't seem to stretch anything for entertainment value. Pretty well written for a pilot. __________________ TBJC08 The Gear Monkey The Gear Monkey Store

May 5th, 2006, 12:14	#18
BobDDuck Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Left Seat Posts: 5,482	Re: Cool Blog Somehow I can't picture Tex flying the 'bus. __________________ TBJC08 The Gear Monkey The Gear Monkey Store

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