I'm not a pilot. However, I think UA's 777 sims were made by Rediffusion (now a division of Thales, which also separately acquired Singer-Link). First installation was c. 1993
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Der Flugmeil'faenger bin ich ja, stets lustig, heissa, hopsasa!
Had an interesting situation today at IAD where the fuel truck provided paperwork that they loaded X amount of fuel, but while we were delayed for a lamination issue (I'm assuming that is on the cockpit to help reduce glare, etc), the crew figured out that significantly less fuel was actually loaded. This required the fuel truck to return as what we had was not enough to reach our destination and they figured an additional delay at IAD was better than having to make a detour mid-con somewhere.
Have you experienced issues with the fuel paperwork and essentially what UA will be charged being different than what was actually pumped/loaded onto the plane?
Can you tell the fuel you're expecting versus what was provided to a great extent or is it like a car when you know the tank hold x, so if its at 50% it'll be about Y but if its at full, it Z + some extra?
Sorry I can't answer the question about the 777 gear during pushback. My view of the gear is pretty lousy from the cockpit!
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Originally Posted by aluminumdriver
I've never heard of the bay tour, but he might have just asked for vectors over the city for sightseeing purposes versus our normal turn prior to the city.
A bay tour is similar to the Porte 3 departure, except you keep the routing out over the water and maintain 3,000' until passing the bridge, at which point you resume the normal routing. NORCAL is very familiar with it and has approved it whenever I've heard it requested. It's a beautiful view; we used to do it occasionally at United Express. In 10+ years of being based at SFO for United, however, I've probably done it once or twice, and that was on the Shuttle. I doubt it happens very often in today's fuel environment. I prefer to just rent a C152 from Oakland and loiter over the city at 1,200' and 90 knots with friends...
Had an interesting situation today at IAD where the fuel truck provided paperwork that they loaded X amount of fuel, but while we were delayed for a lamination issue (I'm assuming that is on the cockpit to help reduce glare, etc), the crew figured out that significantly less fuel was actually loaded.
You're probably talking about delamination of the cockpit windows. There are limits to the amount allowable.
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This required the fuel truck to return as what we had was not enough to reach our destination and they figured an additional delay at IAD was better than having to make a detour mid-con somewhere.
To be fair, they were probably just below the cleared fuel amount. This can happen with a very small discrepancy in the amount of fuel boarded and a minor delay (while the APU is burning fuel). If they had been under that amount of fuel while airborne it would have been no big deal, but it's not necessarily a good decision to push back already under the cleared fuel value.
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Have you experienced issues with the fuel paperwork and essentially what UA will be charged being different than what was actually pumped/loaded onto the plane?
The fuel forms are generally very accurate and I've seen few problems.
Of course, while briefing for the first leg of my 777 OE (ORD-LAX), I noticed that we had 30,000 more pounds of fuel than required, and that the fuel value was going up. I went downstairs and asked the fueler what he was doing. He answered, "Is this aircraft 2998?". I won't forget his face when I told him it wasn't... we were slightly delayed, and he was there fueling for the next 777 departure at the gate, which happened to be an ORD-FRA flight. Turns out we had plenty of fuel for all the reroutes and thunderstorm deviations we did that day...
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Can you tell the fuel you're expecting versus what was provided to a great extent or is it like a car when you know the tank hold x, so if its at 50% it'll be about Y but if its at full, it Z + some extra?
We can tell to within 100-200 pounds out of a total of up to about 300,000 pounds of fuel.
Thanks - I don't think it was the APU, we were delayed maybe 15 minutes to clarify if the lamination issue required any activity prior to release and the captain was clearly po'ed (he shared more than might have been PC with the cabin regarding the paperwork not equalling what was loaded), I also overheard the second fuel guy saying it wasn't him in a defensive don't blame me for the mistake tone after adding fuel to the flight.
per pound ... is UA charged per pound or is that transferred to gallons somehow and that is what is used for the cost calculations?
Thanks - I don't think it was the APU, we were delayed maybe 15 minutes to clarify if the lamination issue required any activity prior to release and the captain was clearly po'ed (he shared more than might have been PC with the cabin regarding the paperwork not equalling what was loaded), I also overheard the second fuel guy saying it wasn't him in a defensive don't blame me for the mistake tone after adding fuel to the flight.
per pound ... is UA charged per pound or is that transferred to gallons somehow and that is what is used for the cost calculations?
United is charged per gallon. The fuel form we have converts the pounds of fuel we have (that is how we calculate fuel) to gallons of fuel (which is what the fueler uses and charges United). What we are doing is comparing the fuel onboard in pounds to what the fueler says we have in gallons. Like Gumpfs said, it is rare to have a mistake, the tolerance is 40 gallons I believe. Just guessing but the most likely issue was either the fuel was increased by the Captain or dispatcher for the trip and the fueler didn't get it, thus not loading enough fuel, or less likely he made a mistake in his fueling and they caught it on the paperwork.
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These views are my own and do not represent the views of United Airlines or the ALPA.
Most pilots seem to know how many hours of flight they have (per machine), and there has been mention here about number of landings within in a period, etc. I have trouble remembering where I was yesterday - so how do you do it?
Is there a common personal log format that you all maintain, or does each person track this information separately/differently or even better, does UA provide the appropriate systems to help you track the data? If it is a personal log, what type of info is captured and tracked?
You may have heard about the accident with the B747 at BRU last week.
I was actually surprised (and happy for the crew) that nothing worse happened, looking at the pictures and the circumstances.
The plane was taking off from the 20 diagonal (2,984 m).
This runway has often been described as "dangerous". Would any of you know why it would get that description?
Most pilots seem to know how many hours of flight they have (per machine), and there has been mention here about number of landings within in a period, etc. I have trouble remembering where I was yesterday - so how do you do it?
Is there a common personal log format that you all maintain, or does each person track this information separately/differently or even better, does UA provide the appropriate systems to help you track the data? If it is a personal log, what type of info is captured and tracked?
The number of hours in each aircraft type of United is shown on our paycheck on the 15th of every month.
Many pilots also keep a small personal log for every flight they fly. I have one and record the date, name of the other pilot(s), aircraft number, city pair, and departure and arrival time. I don't keep a running total of the time, however.
All of our legalities (including landings) are tracked by United. Right now I have a big red square over the 26th of June on my online calendar, since that's the day I go non-current for landings.
You may have heard about the accident with the B747 at BRU last week.
I was actually surprised (and happy for the crew) that nothing worse happened, looking at the pictures and the circumstances.
The plane was taking off from the 20 diagonal (2,984 m).
This runway has often been described as "dangerous". Would any of you know why it would get that description?
The only thing I've seen is that it's shorter than the two parallel runways.
The only thing I've seen is that it's shorter than the two parallel runways.
Yeah, it is. I just remember hearing in the media and interviews that pilots do not like that runway. From observations, I've noticed that planes, when using that runway, generally make a sharp left or right after a positive climb to avoid flying over parts of BRU, which is a political issue.
Most pilots seem to know how many hours of flight they have (per machine), and there has been mention here about number of landings within in a period, etc. I have trouble remembering where I was yesterday - so how do you do it?
Is there a common personal log format that you all maintain, or does each person track this information separately/differently or even better, does UA provide the appropriate systems to help you track the data? If it is a personal log, what type of info is captured and tracked?
Many pilots maintain a personal logbook to track their hours. Helps back-up United's records when it comes to being paid or tracking currencies. My electronic log book goes all the way back to 1984.
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These views are my own and do not represent the views of United Airlines or the ALPA.
We're required by FAR to keep a bound logbook that shows our currency. A lot of things aren't required, like total flight time, time in type, etc, but way back when, as a flight instructor, it got ingrained in me to do as I teach, and I actually have about 12 logbooks that keep running totals of aircraft type, registration numbers (not nose numbers), PIC time, SIC time, Flight Engineer time, night, IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) takeoffs, landings, instrument approaches, and a bunch of other stuff.
I always told myself that if I ever interviewed for another flying job, all things being equal, the guy with the most concise record keeping and met the letter of the law for logbooks would get the job.
The time is here, and thankfully, my applications and resume have exact up to date records in bound logbooks. I hope don't actually need it, but, like a lot of other things in the flying business, it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Freshairborne
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These are my own observations and/or opinions, and not necessarily those of the Air Line Pilots Association or UAL Corp.
