So glad I'm retired!

[LH-B744]

i agree 100%

Now I know where your 200 or 201 or 2001 forum entries come from. You always say

I agree 100%

when Evan says something. Don't ya?



Well. Evan wrote 76310 forum entries until this very moment. If I only used one third of Evan's forum entries to always respond

'I agree 100%'

then I'd own .. 2543.66 forum entries today.

But let me also say one thing. For all men who are here in this forum longer than the threadstarter, such a procedure is legal. That includes TeeVee, 3WE, Gabriel, Evan, and last but not least, that includes me.

Retirement. I have never talked to Gabriel about that topic.. Probably we should before his birthday...

[LH-B744]

Ahm. Back on topic,
which ever that might have been.

3WE, wasn't it you who warned me, Evan and Gabriel will always use the topic 'automation' to show that they are alive.

Flight should be conducted through closely monitored automation

No, I do not agree. 3WE, you certainly know who of our both protagonists wrote that sentence... Certainly not the one who regularly has a single engined propeller in his hands as a flight instructor.

A good flight always starts with a/t off, a/p off, both hands on the yoke and both feet on the pedals. That imho at least is true for Randazzo's LH-B744 simulator, which I own since more than 5 years.

Is that the difference? Evan is Airbus, and I am rather Boeing. I really do not like too much automation. Have I mentioned that I never use vnav in a 747 simulator? I am in the cockpit, so why should I use vnav.

To come back to AF #447, too much automation creates the problem that you get used to vnav, or whatever it is called in an Airbus. Another problem in an Airbus A330-200 is, that you have to learn the circumstances when the autopilot in an A332
automatically
swiches off.
So, from my point of view, you rather learn the rather complex rules - also called 'Airbus laws' - for the a/p in an A332, than you learn
how to manually fly a heavy jet through FL350 or higher.

And finally the youngest pilot in the cockpit is no longer able to "feel" if during a real long haul flight he should climb another 2000 feet to FL370 with his A332, or if he and his Airbus is still to heavy for FL370. Too much automation can kill you. The computer will save us, the computer is unsinkable. No. As shown during AF #447.

The computer on board kills your instinct for speed and for flight dynamics, if you do not switch it off regularly!

Without vnav, you can feel that you are too heavy to climb higher, with a B744. And if you switch off a/t during climb, as I always do it especially at FL280 or higher,
you are personally responsible for the ground speed during climb flight, with your hand on the throttle quadrant. Then it is completely impossible, with your eyes on the B744 ND (ground speed) and the F/O's eyes on the PFD (v/s), that you become too slow to stay high up in the air.
Described from the cockpit of a B744 simulator.

[kent olsen]

I remember during 747 initial ground school, pointing out to everyone the pages in the book that addressed loss of the pilot tube, or maybe it was loss of the radome. If I remember it gave you pitch attitudes, flap settings and power for different airspeeds. Good information for me when my instructor started playing games during my sim check.

[ATLcrew]

Without vnav, you can feel that you are too heavy to climb higher, with a B744. And if you switch off a/t during climb, as I always do it especially at FL280 or higher,
you are personally responsible for the ground speed during climb flight, with your hand on the throttle quadrant. Then it is completely impossible, with your eyes on the B744 ND (ground speed) and the F/O's eyes on the PFD (v/s), that you become too slow to stay high up in the air.

What?

[BoeingBobby]

Without vnav, you can feel that you are too heavy to climb higher, with a B744. And if you switch off a/t during climb, as I always do it especially at FL280 or higher,
you are personally responsible for the ground speed during climb flight, with your hand on the throttle quadrant. Then it is completely impossible, with your eyes on the B744 ND (ground speed) and the F/O's eyes on the PFD (v/s), that you become too slow to stay high up in the air.
Described from the cockpit of a B744 simulator.

ATL, don't you know that ground speed is very important during climb?

[kent olsen]

Had a nice lunch with some old friends I used to work with back in the 90's. We were talking about the equipment we flew (74-100's and 200's with P&W engines) and how reliable they were. I remembered a meeting we had with United where they wanted to do our engine overhauls. I asked the fellow how many hours United got between overhauls. He smiled and held up his hand, 5 thousand hours he said. I then asked our VP of Mx how many we got. Bob smiled and held up one hand and said "I'll give you 5 thousand and his other hand and here's another. The United guy looks and said, "your getting 10,000 hours between overhauls?" Bob says " yes and I have two engine now that have 14,000 hours we are preparing to pull". The United guy just shakes his head and says "how are you doing that?" The president looks at us with a smile and says "your asking us? Thank you all this meetings over". As everyone got up to leave he asked Bob and myself (Chief Pilot) to stay. He says "that was great. Check the other JT9 operators in the world and see how we compare and then report to me what you are doing to get those hours."

We found two other JT9 operators who were getting 7500 but no one close to us. The trick?? Reduced power takeoffs, reduced power climb to Fl 200, at the top of descent nose over before slowly reducing power (the JT9 had a tendency to compressor stall if you pulled the power back and then nosed over). Then when Bob sent the engines out he upgraded blades and other components to later dash engines and was very strict with the power runs after the overhaul looking for max thrust with low EGT's .

[Evan]

The United guy looks and said, "your getting 10,000 hours between overhauls?" Bob says " yes and I have two engine now that have 14,000 hours we are preparing to pull". The United guy just shakes his head...

All done with an FAA-approved time in service interval extension I assume. Or maybe that's why you have four engines on board. Anyway, kudos to United for playing it safe.

[ATLcrew]

Had a nice lunch with some old friends I used to work with back in the 90's. We were talking about the equipment we flew (74-100's and 200's with P&W engines) and how reliable they were. I remembered a meeting we had with United where they wanted to do our engine overhauls. I asked the fellow how many hours United got between overhauls. He smiled and held up his hand, 5 thousand hours he said. I then asked our VP of Mx how many we got. Bob smiled and held up one hand and said "I'll give you 5 thousand and his other hand and here's another. The United guy looks and said, "your getting 10,000 hours between overhauls?" Bob says " yes and I have two engine now that have 14,000 hours we are preparing to pull". The United guy just shakes his head and says "how are you doing that?" The president looks at us with a smile and says "your asking us? Thank you all this meetings over". As everyone got up to leave he asked Bob and myself (Chief Pilot) to stay. He says "that was great. Check the other JT9 operators in the world and see how we compare and then report to me what you are doing to get those hours."

We found two other JT9 operators who were getting 7500 but no one close to us. The trick?? Reduced power takeoffs, reduced power climb to Fl 200, at the top of descent nose over before slowly reducing power (the JT9 had a tendency to compressor stall if you pulled the power back and then nosed over). Then when Bob sent the engines out he upgraded blades and other components to later dash engines and was very strict with the power runs after the overhaul looking for max thrust with low EGT's .

And yet, towards the end, your crewmembers had to pay their own hotels and missed several paychecks. But hey, at least them motors lasted forever...

It's not a knock on you or on your VP of Mx, I just mean crappy management will finish an airline off no matter how good the nuts-and-bolts people are. Happened to my first airline, too, so I can relate.

[ATLcrew]

Without vnav, you can feel that you are too heavy to climb higher, with a B744. And if you switch off a/t during climb, as I always do it especially at FL280 or higher,
you are personally responsible for the ground speed during climb flight, with your hand on the throttle quadrant. Then it is completely impossible, with your eyes on the B744 ND (ground speed) and the F/O's eyes on the PFD (v/s), that you become too slow to stay high up in the air.
Described from the cockpit of a B744 simulator.

ATL, don't you know that ground speed is very important during climb?

Sometimes I wonder if he himself has any clue what he's saying...

[kent olsen]

Nope not crappy management. Just the owner would borrow money from the other companies, Helicopter, Farms, ground handling and Museum to make it thru the slow time of year. It finally caught up with him and he passed away a year or so later.