FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - CX881 and CX216 landed in Shenzhen today? (March 16?)
Old Apr 1, 2018, 3:34 am
  #28  
Cambo
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Posts: 1,310
Originally Posted by mizzou miles
With the exception of the first bullet, the rest of these make no sense. You seem to imply that the airport authority would choose to divert CX flights because of "familiarity" with SZX or "cultural par" or "spare aircraft" sitting around. The airport doesnt just decide to send CX somewhere and allow AF or SU or whatever to go ahead and land. And CX certainly does not have ground crew or aircraft sitting around waiting for diversions - that is a fools errand. Not sure why you think that a HKG based crew would be any safer landing at SZX than any other crew. Its a strip of concrete and the wheels hit the centerline. Pretty basic the world over with the exception, I'll grant you of a few airports like SAB, EGE or the old HKG airport!
Flight safety is Swiss cheese. Once the holes line-up you end up with a smoking hole and press coverage.
- Where your car sat-nav gives you (usually) proper guidance to your destination, when moving around at an airfield, it's far easier to get lost. Airport charts and GE do look very clear. The real world when on the ground is quite different: Easy to get lost, let alone, create a dangerous situation. It's quite challenging to go to an airport you never have been before, let alone, where ATC only speaks ICAO RT level 4 Cenglish and no more then the official ICAO phrases. And it can be quite easy to miss something noted on Airport and/or Approach charts, with the consequence, things can go haywire.
- When airport capacity is limited, or even (temporary) access suspended, ATC will have to make a priority list, and does communicate this to the cockpit crew with "Expected holding time 1:50 minutes", for example. That priority list will not be random, though based on a best safe outcome with the least disturbance to everybody. As such, the flights with the "best" diversion-resolution options will be denied (or better: stacked later in the holding list, where the captain will immediately decide to divert), then the ones with, etc. Even a ground-ding is easily created, which will be registered on your history for the rest of your career (effectively blocking your options to move to another airline and/or even causing a loss of license).
- Pilots seldom tend to get more then a few times a year (if at all more then once) to the same far away destination. Many airlines do have SOP's to take care to always schedule an inexperienced on the destination pilot with a very experienced (flight time as well on that destination) pilot (be it an experienced FO with an inexperienced on destination CN, or the other way around). Just to avoid Swiss cheese holes start lining up.
- And it's really much easier to resolve IROPS issues, when you can do so from 100km away, from a fully staffed near local office, with contracts/contacts in place, in stead of having to do so, from far away and/or with limited staff at a outstation airport. Let alone, you can bring in replacement crews, when your main base is just 100km away.

And yes, as a pilot, I did have to find my way around unknown airports, as well as (unexpectedly) diverting to other airports as the original destination. It gives a huge a mount of stress, just to "be sure", you did not oversee something (with the least consequence having an upset ATC, then the potential loss of license due to airspace infringement and ultimately the smoking hole). How much you prepare on these things, there are always surprises.
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