the inaugural flight - aerowinx · the 747-400 is a massive airplane that really put the meaning...

PRECISION SIMULATOR 744

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"The Inaugural Flight"by Mel J. Ott

New YorkTokyo


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"The Inaugural Flight" by Mel J. Ott


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This chapter describes the preflight and departure procedures of the firstTokyo - New York flight on a 747-400. This "Inaugural Flight" was flownwith NorthwestAirlines in 1989.

While this chapter presents the preparation and departure in detail, itdoesn't attempt to explain all details of the following cruise and arrivalportion of this particular "Inaugural Flight" but it rather discusses generalaspects of flying and operating the 747-400.

The author of this chapter, Mel J. Ott, has used the fictitious name of"Cap'n Tarmack" for the past 15 years, representing a "character" pilot thatwhen not flying, is either writing or pontificating about aviation experiencesgathered over the span of a 35 year professional pilot career. ComedianJohnny Carson, host of the NBC "Tonight Show" for over 20 years oftenpresented a character known as "Carnac the Magnificent". This characterknew all, saw all, and often could "divine" an answer even before he hearda specific question. The character wore a long robe complete with a"turbin" head gear and afforded Mr. Carson the ability to step out of hispersonal character and become a bit ridiculous while at the same timepresenting a very entertaining new character. Additionally, almost everynews story about an aviation incident or accident contains the word"tarmac" as a description of the runway surface at every airport. With thatrather convoluted reasoning for a choice of a name, Cap'n Tarmackbecame a very familiar name throughout the Air Line Pilot Association(ALPA) group due to a monthly magazine column written by Mel, entitled"Another Crossing with Cap'n Tarmack". This column presented the worldof the tragic, intermixed with the world of humor of an airline pilot's life, ifthat pilot did not take himself too seriously.

Inaugural procedures: "Cap'n Tarmack" (2. from right) and colleagues.

Photograph: Archive


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Introduction

Introduction

Gentlemen,

Welcome to the world of the 747-400!

As a new owner of Precision Simulator 1.3(short: "PS1") you are about as close to as"real as it gets" as you ever will be!

I would like to first, before we begin the "nutsand bolts" of flying this airplane to use somewords to describe what THIS airplane meant tome, and to so many other pilots. So, pleasetake a few moments to read this recall of anairplane that is stil l able to createGOOSEBUMPS in an old pilot!

The 747-400 is a massive airplane that reallyput the meaning into "The AluminiumOvercast". An airplane, that due to its size,"tricks" the mind while watching it fly anapproach that seems to be way TOO slow forphysical flight.

While flying at 160 knots it LOOKS like it isflying at a 100 knots. While landing at thatsame 160 knot speed, to the PILOT, in thecockpit, it looks as if he is landing an airplaneonly traveling at 100 knots due to his almost 8story height above the runway at touchdown.

With FOUR HUNDRED TONS OF AIRPLANEunder his seat, the pilot can use finger tippressure to change her direction. While in"shirt sleeve" comfort for hours on end thatairplane is plying her way through temperatu-res of MINUS 70 degrees or below and that, attimes, cold soak her fuel in the tanks totemperatures that threaten to "gel" that fueland turn it into slush rather than a burnableliquid.

After a 12 hour ocean crossing with over 400passengers on board, it can "loiter" for anotherhour or TWO, in a holding pattern at thedestination and the Flight Attendants can offeran "hitherto" unplanned "snack" to those same400 passengers, (and cockpit crew of 4!) if soauthorized by the Captain. Grin.

Having already served 1200 meals while enroute the galleys can be asked to provide "onemore round" of meals!

The most visible demonstration of her powerand majesty on a fully loaded takeoff is at an

airport in the winter. While the runways havebeen plowed full length and width and whilethose runways have been in use for hours bysmaller 757's, 737's, 727's, etc., when the"Queen" takes her position onto the far end ofthe runway for takeoff, few ground workers,few off duty pilots, and few Control Towerpersonal are NOT watching.

Her initial acceleration from the runway endwill be unremarkable, again due to her size.She will begin to "lumber" down the runway ata speed that would allow any old Edsel toeasily beat her in the Quarter mile.

However, at about 100 knots she begins to getserious!

Her wings have now come to life and they arecausing a span-wise flow of air off of thosewings into a "vortex" that continues out fromthose wings to the runway edges, and further,that begins to "swirl" the snow that has beendeposited there by the snow plows.

Continuing along now at 140 knots her engineshave finally been able to GET air into theirfrontal zones, for free, rather than have toSUCK air into that same area. The "ram" of herforward speed allow those engines to nowreally put out some "mustard". Grin.

At about 150 knots, and with 8000 feet ofrunway behind, the airplane is getting veryimpatient about wanting to fly. Her "ground-speed" at this time is such that she COULDN'T,even if she wanted to, in the remaining 4000feet of runway be able to endure an "aborted"takeoff. She is now committed for flight and asthe pilot "gently" pulls back on the controlcolumn those wings take a bigger bite of thatcold and thick air.

By now, on the far end of the runway where shebegan her takeoff roll an observer can only seea "snowstorm" at her present position. Thevortex from her wings is now approachingtornado force and snow that is more than a 100feet from either wingtip is now in motion and iscreating a cloud that obscures her view fromeither rear quarter and to her rear.

She initially begins her ascent with her noserising and gaining altitude while her main bodyremains firmly on the runway. The wings arenow at a feeding frenzy with the abundant airand the engines have changed their tone to a


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deep growl as they also gobble delicious gulpsof air.

She finally rises off of the "tarmac"(!) at analmost impossible angle of climb that willexceed 14 degrees of pitch when at full grossweight. She will seem to hang there, almostsuspended in slow motion flight, as shecontinues to gather speed. The obscured viewfrom behind now changes into a sparkling viewof a leviathan taking her rightful place into theatmosphere while leaving behind a visiblerecord of the work that was needed to gain thatposition and to enable flight.

The "snowstorm" left behind will be her lastvisible and physical notice at that airport untilshe returns in about 28 hours and aftercrossing the Pacific Ocean twice, and whiletransporting 800 human beings over 12000nautical miles.

On her landing she will announce herpresence to all of those that have been"ground-bound" since she last departed withthe same "snowstorm" on her arrival as thosewings relinquish their lift and slow to speedsthat finally end their vortex generation.

She will return to her original departure almostas if she is "tip toeing" back home, after beingout too late at night. She will almost "whisper"her way back on to the runway. Her engineswill be at levels that produce only a fraction ofthe growl that they were required to generateon her original departure.

She will turn off the runway, most times, ontotaxiways that are yet unmarked by otheraircraft tires. She will actually land shorter, ather arrival weight, than will many DC-9's and727's. She will seem to creep to the ramp at aspeed that make many think the pilot's are"padding" their flight times and eventually theirwallets. Grin.

But, that taxi speed of a maximum of 20 knotsis to ensure that she does not slide off of thattaxiway due to slippery spots created by the"horde" of smaller airliners that have broughtinto the hub another huge "loading" for herreturn to the air.

With over a million and a half dollars, inrevenue, generated for EACH of her two legs,the outbound and the inbound, she will beallowed a maximum of 2 hours on the ground

to have her tanks re-filled, her engines toppedoff with oil, and for the ground cleaners toprepare her interior for a new set of freshpassengers, before she is tasked with doing allover again.

After the 12 hour inbound flight, her inboundflight crew will be in various boarding areas, inattempts to "commute" back to their respectivehomes. If they are lucky enough their, "views"from that boarding area, will allow them towatch the next "snowstorm" as she departsand for that same and very tired Captain toexperience one more GOOSEBUMP!

Okay, with the "flowery" words out of the way,let's get to the airplane and setup for a flightthat I flew on June 2nd, 1989, which was theInaugural Flight of the 747-400 between TokyoNarita and New York's John F Kennedy airport.I was the Senior pilot on this crew and have apicture to prove it! That picture is published inthe first page of this chapter.

I have prepared a flight plan, with routing thatattempts to take the same path as did thatflight, the only thing that might be different aresome of the names of some waypoints thathave been changed over the years by the FAARoute authorities.

The first section of this Chapter will attempt totake you through a complete cockpitpreparation with as little distraction aspossible. In other words, I will keep the storiesand "bull sessions" to a minimum. Later, as weget to cruise altitude and have about 10 to 11hours ahead of us to either "twiddle ourthumbs" or take a small nap, I will get into morein depth discussion of this airplane and hersystems. And, hopefully there will be enoughtime left over, before landing, to get some of mymost favorite stories told to you also. One ofthe best parts of Airline flying was that youoften got to fly with a new copilot, or at the leastan old copilot that you hadn't flown with forsome time, and therefore your favorite storiescould either be told for the first time, orrepeated again with the hope that the FirstOfficer had forgotten that he had heard thembefore!

So now….let's get to the airplane! I suggestthat you load up PS1 and follow along with thevarious clipping panels as we prepare fordeparture.


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Flight Deck Preparation


The preflighting of the 747-400 is a two manjob for the Airline Pilot and each of the crewmembers, the Captain and the First Officerhave specific duties to perform during thepreflight. Normally, and specifically on myairline, the First Officer completed the exteriorinspection while I went straight to the cockpit toset up the electronics and to "wake up" theairplane.

On the way to the cockpit I would stop by theFirst Class Galley section, and there in adrawer, two levels down from the top, I wouldfind the Cabin Attendant Log Book. A quickreview of that was required of the Captain asthis logbook was just as official and requiredproper sign-off's of the Mechanics on a regularbasis to ensure that all Safety items, First AidKit's and Emergency systems were in properorder, as did the Ship's Logbook that wasstored in the cockpit.

If any such items were placarded "Inop" I thenneeded to check the Minimum Equipment List(MEL) to ensure that those items were notrequired for this particular flight. In somecases, oxygen systems or oxygen bottles werenot required to be in working order, dependingupon the total passenger load for this particularflight. In other words, if there were 20Emergency Oxygen bottles normally on theaircraft, but on this flight only 16 bottles had anadequate charge, and additionally the flightwas only booked for 250 passengers, thenumber of passengers per "charged" Oxygenbottle would be adequate according to thecharts in the MEL.

I always liked the shortened name of thatMinimum Equipment List!

Finally, I looked very closely to see if the coffeemakers were all in working condition.

After that inspection it was up the stairs to theoffice where normally I found a dark and coldcockpit with everything turned OFF.

The First Checklist of the day, was about to beused, and I would always pick up the FlightDeck Preparation Checklist to follow theseprocedures.

1) Place BATTERY Switch ON. Verify the OFFlight is extinguished.

2) Check STANDBY POWER selector toAUTO3) Check HYDRAULIC DEMAND PUMPSselectors OFF4) CheckALTERNATE FLAPS selector OFF5) Check that the FLAP POSITION indicationand FLAP LEVER agree.

Below this area on the checklist was thisWARNING:IF FLAP LEVER POSITION AND FLAPINDICATION ARE NOT IN AGREEMENT DONOT APPLY ELECTRICAL POWER TO THEAIRCRAFT UNTIL BOTH THE LEADING ANDTRAILING FLAP AREA IS CLEARED.APPLICATION OF POWER WILL CAUSEIMMEDIATE MOVEMENT OF THE FLAPSELECTRICALLY AND COULD CAUSEINJURY TO PERSONNEL WHO MIGHT BE INTHEAREAOF THE FLAPS.

Let us NOT forget that the First Officer, rightnow, is outside doing this exterior inspection,and we don't want to injure him in any way!

6) Check LANDING GEAR lever DOWN7) SAFETY CHECKLIST COMPLETED

So, with that checklist out of the way, and withthe knowledge that the next steps will notcause any injury or any damage to theairplane, it is now time to bring "on line"electrical power.

Normally, the APU will be OFF, and there willbe Ground or External Power available for use.

If External Power is desired:

1) Check EXTERNAL POWER 1 and/orEXTERNAL POWER 2AVAILABLE light(s) areilluminated.2) Place EXTERNAL POWER 1 and/orEXTERNALPOWER 2 switches ON. Verify theON light(s) are illuminated.

Note: It may take as long as four seconds afterthe ON switches are selected before externalpower connects to the sync-bus.

If APU Power is desired accomplish thefollowing:1) Rotate the APU selector to START andrelease. The APU selector will automaticallyreturn to ON.2) Check APU GENERATOR 1 and 2AVAILABLE LIGHTS illuminated.


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3) Place APU GENERATOR 1 and APUGENERATOR 2 switches ON. Verify that theON lights are illuminated.

I always WANTED to use APU power, ratherthan Ground Power during my "setup" of theFMS equipment. The APU is a superbelectrical generator with excellent "excitation"and "phase" controllers, much more so thanthe average ground power generator on a tug.The FMS likes "clean" and "pure" electricalpower and I always selected APU power NOLATER than 20 minutes prior to departure, toensure that I had a good FMS system and onethat would be free of "spurious" EICASmessages due to a much more "unregulated"power supply of the ground tug with itscontained electrical generator.

Now that we have electrical power on theairplane, the next steps in the cockpitpreparation are to select STATUS on theEICAS glareshield control panel. We want tosee if there are any systems that mightshowing up here with a problem, (things canbreak or fail overnight!) and that may not havebeen entered in the Ship's logbook by thepreceding flight crew. Those items, if any, willshow up on the lower EICAS indicator just tothe left of the flight control graphics.

Additionally, we need to check the hydraulic,oxygen, and oil quantities so that we mayadvise the Mechanics if any of these fluids orpressures need to be "topped" off prior todeparture of our flight.

Next, if the aircraft requires either heating orcooling this is an excellent time to turn ON theAir Conditioning Packs (all THREE are okay onthe 747-400!) to set the Flight Deck/CabinTemperature Selectors as required.

Okay, let's stow our flight bag along the left sidearea of the pilot's seat and then before we sitdown and really get to work, we need to stepback a bit, and take a good and LONG look atthe entire Circuit Breaker panel area on theoverhead panels to see if any circuit breakersare out of their normal position. By standing inthe middle of the cockpit and looking, at eyelevel, at this "slanted" panel area that slopestoward the windshield, a circuit breaker when"popped" will permit a bit of "white" area toshow, and it is very easy, if you are still standingto look at this area and with ONE glance beable to see any circuit breaker out of

position. This same "duty" is much moredifficult if you are sitting in your seat andlooking up at the same circuit breaker area.

Now that everything is in order, it is time to takeour seat(s)! I would like to take this opportunityto tell you that SOME of the items that we needto attend to for preflight and en route operationare those of the FIRST OFFICER. However, inPS1 this is normally a ONE MAN SHOW! So,our workload WILLbe higher than it would be inthe airplane, but, since a Captain must KNOWall of the "flow patterns" and "duties" of the FirstOfficer, it is not above the ability of any Captainto run the entire airplane all by himself,providing he can REACH everything withouthaving to leave his seat!

We begin in the very left upper corner area ofthe Overhead panel, and we check that theELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROL switchesare in the NORMALposition.

1) IRS selectors OFF, then NAV

On a "through flight", one that had you bringthe airplane in to the airport, and then havingyou fly the next leg out of the airport, without atotal shutdown of the cockpit to the "dark"state, rotate the IRS selectors toALIGN prior toentering in present position. After enteringpresent position, return the IRS selectors toNAV and observe IRS ALIGN MODE C, L, Rmemo messages extinguishing within 30seconds. IRS ALIGN MODE memo messagesmust be extinguished prior to moving theairplane.

2) Now bring up the CDU onto the screen (Tabkey) and select FMC. Check the identificationpage and verify that the airplane modelnumber and engine number are displayed.Verify navigation data (2L) first three digitsindicate NW4 (this was what I DID, in PS1there may be other characters presentedhere!). The NW4 told me that this was a 747-400 database and NOT one for an Airbus or a757!). Finally verify that the ACTIVE date is themost current.

3) Select POS INIT page and enter either yourknown Latitude/Longitude for the currentposition of the airplane or the LAST POS aspresented on this page. Observe that the GMTtime is correct.


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4) Select ROUTE page and enter the route ofthis flight. Begin by entering RJAA into theORIGIN line and KFJK into the DEST line andthe FLT NO. In this case I would enter NWA018. Next I would go to the DEP/ARR page andselect DEP for RJAA. I selected Runway 34 forDeparture. I then return to the Route page toenter the ENTIRE route of this flight in thismanner. Please refer to the ICAO Flight pagefor this entry. This is the flight plan filed with the"authorities" and this is the flight plan routingthat I used on the Inaugural Flight on June 2nd1989.

The flight plan has long been mis-placed, butmy Brother in Law, Mr. Donald Doroff is acurrent and active Flight Dispatcher fromNorthwest Airlines and has graciouslyprovided me with a copy of that old flight plan,run through today's computers in order tomake the routing current with the currentAirways and Waypoint names in use today! Ithank Don VERY much for this help! Don alsoflies, at home, with PS1!

Type in:CVC on R4OTR11 on L5COMFE on R5G344 on L1 (Page 2/5)CUDDAon R1PDN on R2N56W150 on R3N54W140 on R4MANJO on R5KURTT on R1 (Page 3/5)SPONJ on R2TOU on R3J523 on L4SEAon R4J70 on L5ABR on R5J90 on L1 (Page 4/5)RWF on R1J34 on L2BAE on R2J70 on L3LVZ on R3

Select DEP/ARR and choseARR for JFK.

Select LENDY4 ARR andRWY 31 R.

With all of that done, NOW goto the LEGS page, and thereshould be a total of 12 Legs

pages! The magic of the computer, the FMSsystem and of PS1!

5) After the route is entered VERIFY the activeroute with the planned route by selecting theLEGS function of the CDU and VERIFY eachsegment waypoint, heading and distance ascompared with the master flight plan routing.


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Also, in the flight plan package are a page thatshows HOW your fuel system should beloaded for this flight, with a total fuel load of326,100 pounds of fuel (see previous page).

Additionally, there is a page that shows theother route choices for this flight. As you cansee there are or were several other choices ofrouting, however the one selected and the onewe are using is the SHORTEST time flight planfor that day, due to the upper air winds!

We have a flight plan time of 12 hours and 21minutes and we will plan to land at JFK with atleast 30,000 pounds of fuel left in the tanks. Asyou taxi out, you MAY get "warnings" from theEICAS that you do not have enough fuel.DISREGARD these warnings, as you havealready checked manually your fuel load fromthe PS1 menu, and you can SEE that fuel loadon the fuel graphic diagram from the Modecontrol panel. The computer does NOT yetknow the actual winds that we will have on this

flight, and once it discovers thosewinds, IN FLIGHT, it will then STOP thislow fuel warning on the EICAS. Thesame thing happened in real world! Orat least, until the First Officer was ableto enter in the actual forecast winds onthe WAYPOINT WINDS pages.

As you can see this would take a LONGtime, and our flight might be delayed!So, the airline practice was to get theairplane into the air, and then whenenroute and when time and flight dutiesallowed, to then make the Wind entriesinto the actual FMC WAYPOINTWINDS pages.

You also do NOT need to do all of thiswork, as the FMS system takesPRESENT wind encountered, andcomputes that wind OUT to the end ofthe flight. In most cases this is goodenough to have a reasonable ETAappear on the PROGRESS page.However, you also have ANOTHERbackup! If you note the time of yourTakeoff, enter that on the proper line ofthe FLIGHT PLAN PAPER copy, youcan then add to that the Enroute Flightplan time to get YOUR OWN predictionof ETAat JFK!

Now, let's get back to the rest of thepreparation, since most of the hardwork is done, and now our computersknow where we are going to ask them totake us!

6 ) S e l e c t P E R F O R M A N C EINITIALIZATION page and enter thefuel reserves, the RESERVES shouldequal the sum of your planned reservefuel on arrival at KFJK plus the fuelrequired to your alternate airport. Itypically, with a KEWR or KPHL as analternate, would enter 30,000 pounds


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for the alternate fuel line. Next we used, onNWA, the COST INDEX of 100. Next enteryour flight planned cruise altitude, and typicallyhere I would enter the maximum altitude Icould climb to with the gross weight of thistakeoff. FL350 should work just fine for thatentry on this flight. Finally enter in the STEPSIZE climb area the number 2000!

7) Select THRUST LIMIT page. Select thrustlimit based on anticipated runway length andrunway conditions. Pratt and Whitney producegreat engines, and it was MY personal choiceto always use TO and CLB and not the derateselections also possible with TO 1 and TO 2.

8) Select TAKEOFF REFERENCE page.Program the anticipated takeoff flap settingbased upon Dispatch requirements oranticipated takeoff conditions. Since this is notgoing to be a maximum takeoff gross weightflight, 10 degrees of Flap is perfectly fine forthis flight. Next enter the FLAP/ACCEL HT andE/O ACCEL HT. These were normally set at1000 feet by NWA, but at Narita, due to specialnoise abatement procedures set in 1500 in allcases. Finally, since this Inaugural Flight wasflown with the sun shining on departure, set inDRY on the RWY COND line!

We will now leave the rest of the CDUprogramming for the time being, and begin toaccomplish the rest of the cockpit preflight. Wewill return to the CDU unit later to finish up itsprogramming when we have more flightinformation available, usually relayed to thecrew just before push back from the gate.

Check the electrical system is set by doing thefollowing:

1) Check STANDBY POWER selector inAUTO2) Check LEFT and RIGHT UTILITY switchesON (Coffee makers!)3) Check BATTERY switch to ON4) Check BUS TIE switchesAUTO5) Check GENERATOR CONTOL switchesON6) Check DRIVE DISCONNECT switches are"safetied"

In the real airplane these switches, the DRIVEDISCONNECT, were covered by a plasticpanel that was WIRED to the closed position toprevent inadvertent use.

Furthermore, the OFF and DRIVE lights willremain illuminated until the associated engineis started.

1) Check that the Hydraulic system is set.2) Check HYDRAULIC DEMAND PUMPSOFF and verify the LOW PRESSURE lightsare ON3) Check ENGINE PUMP switches ON

Again, note that the SYSTEM FAULT andPRESSURE lights will remain illuminated untilthe respective engine is started.

Next move to the PS1 "MISC" clipping panel.

1) Set Panel lights as required and LANDING/RUNWAY LIGHTS OFF2) Check NACELLE and WING ANTI-ICEswitches OFF and VERIFY the VALVE lightsare OFF3) Turn NAV lights ON

(I would then turn the WINDOW HEAT to ONand verify INOP lights extinguished, thisfeature is not in PS1).

Check and Set the FUELCONTROLPANEL.

1) Check all FUELPUMP switches OFF2) Verify all MAIN TANK PRESSURE lights areilluminated. If the APU is operating, main tank2 aft pump pressure light should be extinguis-hed.3) Verify OVERRIDE, CENTER WING, andSTABILIZER PUMP PRESSURE lights areextinguished.4) Verify/place all X-feeds to OPEN

On NWA airplanes the #2 and #3 crossfeedvalves worked automatically. When ever theflaps were out of the UP position, these twovalves were OPEN to allow engines 2 and 3 toburn fuel out of their respective wing tanks.Engines 1 and 4 burned fuel out of theCENTER tank. On takeoff it was required thatthere be TWO sources of fuel being used.When the flaps were retracted after takeoff, theManifold/Crossfeed valves for engines 2 and 3were CLOSED to allow them to burn fuel fromthe Center tank, along with Engines 1 and 4.

Check that the Ignition Panel is set (PS1Engine Start and Fuel panel).

1) Check START switches IN, and the VALVElights extinguished


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2) Check STANDBY IGNITION selectorNORMAL3) Check CONTINOUS IGNITION switch toOFF4) Set AUTO IGNITION selector to 1 or 2 asappropriate

We typically used 1 for Eastbound flights and 2for Westbound flights.

Set Fuel Jettison panel.

1) Check LEFT and RIGHT FUEL JETTISONNOZZLE switches are OFF2) Place FUEL JETTISON control selector to Aor B3) Rotate FUEL TO REMAIN selector toindicate 100.0 on EICAS

This setting will allow an immediate dumpcapability right after takeoff with very little extraaction required of a very busy flight crew,should the need arise! By setting the value to100.0, an aircraft loaded to the Maximum ZeroFuel weight will be at or below the MaximumLanding Weight when fuel dumping iscompleted!

4) Place FUEL JETTISON control selector toOFF

Check the Fire Control Panel is set.

1) CheckAPU FIRE handle IN2) Check APU BOTTLE DISCHARGE light isextinguished3) Check ENGINE FIRE switches IN4) Check FUEL TRANSFER MAIN 1 and 4VALVE OFF (PS1 "MISC" panel)

Check and set Pressurization panel

1) Verify OUTFLOW VALVES OPEN2) Verify LANDINGALTITUDEAUTO3) Check TRIMAIR switch ON4) Place RECIRCULATING FAN switches toON

Check and set BleedAir panel.

1) Push APU bleed switch ON and verifyVALVE light extinguished2) Check LEFT and RIGHT ISOLATIONswitches ON3) Turn pack control selectors to NORMAL4) Verify PACK RESET SYS FAULT lights areextinguished

5) Check ENGINE BLEED switches ON

The engine bleed air OFF lights illuminateduntil the respective engine is started.

Okay, with the Overhead panel preflightcomplete, let's proceed to the Forward Glareshield panel for our cockpit setup.

Set up theAFDS mode control panel.

1) Check autopilot DISENGAGE BAR UP2) SET Altitude in the MCP window if you haveyourATC clearance3) Set initial desired HDG4) Set BANK LIMIT toAUTO5) CheckAUTOTHROTTLE switchARMED6) Place left FLIGHT DIRECTOR switch to ON7) Check and set LADF/VOR and R ADF/VORswitches appropriate toATC clearance

Check and set Primary Flight Display.

1) VerifyAutothrottle mode is blank2) Verify roll mode TO/GA3) Verify pitch mode TO/GA4) VerifyAFDS mode FD5) Verify no flags displayed6) Verify NO V SPD displayed until V speedsselected7) Verify ND heading-compare to Compass8) Set Primary Altimeter to Field Elevation orATIS barometric pressure9) Set MDA to 1000 feet above takeoffelevation

Check and set additional items on PS1 "MISC"panel.

1) CheckALTERNATE FLAPS selector OFF2) CheckALTERNATE FLAPARM switch OFF3) CheckALTERNATE GEAR switches OFF

Check lower area of Main Instrument Display.

1) Check Gear Handle DOWN2) Check Stabilizer Trim

This was a tricky one here! If you had a flightthat needed to carry fuel in the horizontalstabilizer you had to have the stabilizer settingat the 6 mark to provide the means to fuel thatarea. In order to do that you had to pressurizeHydraulic Systems 2 and 3 to reposition thestabilizer. We then had to get clearance fromground personnel before activating anyhydraulic system, so the WORD was to our


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Doors

buddies, that when they left the airplane,LEAVE that STABILIZER at the 6 setting!

3) Check speedbrake lever DOWN4) Check flap lever position and flap indicationin agreement5) Check thrust levers IDLE6) Check FUEL CONTROL switchesCUTOFF(PS1 "FIRE" clipping panel)

7) Set Parking Brake and verify PARKINGBRAKE SET displayed on upper EICAS8) Set PASSENGER SIGNS - NO SMOKINGON and SEAT BELTS switch OFF9) Test Weather Radar (Glareshield)10) Verify all flight controls centered (Status)11) PlaceAUTOBRAKES selector to RTO

Okay, we are done! By now the First Officer isin his seat! He has completed the exteriorinspection and is preflighting his own set ofinstruments and has performed VHF and HFradio checks with the appropriate controllingagencies to ensure that our radio transmittersare all working. He has also checked all thesafety items like medical kit, crash axe etc. tobe present in the cockpit and in working order.

From here the First Officer would perform hispanel checks exactly as did the Captain in theearlier text, but additionally since he broughtUP to the cockpit the "fuel slip" that had beenhanded to him during the preflight inspection,he now performed a fuel validation, in that hechecked each tank for its quantities to compareto those of the "planned" pumping of that fuelinto each respective tank.

At this time, if the First Officer was not known toyou, it is a good time to discuss the flight withhim, after asking him his recent flightexperience, total time on the airplane, and if hehas any special requests. A discussion alsowould include the complexity of the SID, anysignificant terrain in the departure area, areview of aborted takeoff procedures,Altimetersettings to be used (whether in inches,millibars, or hectopascals). Finally, a shortdiscussion of the current weather at thedeparture airport and with weather to beencountered during the initial climb.

With all of the "hard work" done, it is time toorder up a round of fresh coffee and to get achance to meet the Lead FlightAttendant!

Doors

Let's take on a very SIMPLE system here now,but one that is ESSENTIAL for this large sizedairplane.

One of the MOST important areas of theEICAS system to check before pushback arethe DOORS section! Other than the fact thatwe wouldn't want to take off with an open cabindoor, we also NEVER want to take off with an"unlocked" cargo door.

Let's discuss both types of doors on thisairplane.

The cargo doors are complex for severalreasons. The most important design feature isthat with a door as large as they are on the 747,that it be designed to be able to withstand thehuge amount of air-pressure that is pushingagainst that door when the airplane ispressurized and in flight.

Consider this. If the door is 16 feet wide and 12feet high (rough guess it could be more, it couldbe less), it has an "area" of about 27,648inches. With a normal pressurization setting of8.6 POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH you cansee that there are over 250,000 POUNDS ofPRESSURE pushing against that door whenthe airplane is in flight.

Time for something more substantial than apadlock, wouldn't you say?!

In order to move, open, and close such a door,electrical drive mechanisms must be installedand there must be safeguards to ensure thatthose same "motors" don't decide to turn on,when they shouldn't!

To provide power to those motors there mustbe an accessible power supply AT the door, incase the airplane is not manned by a flightcrew with no generators turned on or the APUoff (early morning departures with an evenearly morning loading of the cargo bay). And,for the times that the flight crew doesn't wantthe door to be operated there must be ways todisable that power supply from being used onthe exterior portion of the airplane.

In its earlier years Boeing INSISTED uponbuilding "plug-type" cargo doors... in otherwords the door was LARGER than the openingand therefore could NOT ever swing open


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THROUGH that smaller opening whenpressurized. This type of design took up a lot ofspace though as the door had to SLIDE fromeither side and remain within the interior of theairplane when being opened and closed.

For the 747 series Boeing joined Douglas withdoors that simply swing open and allow accessto the cargo bay with, usually, the doorsoverhead and providing a canopy for theloaders. When that design mode was chosen itwas very necessary to ensure that when thedoor was closed that MULTIPLE latches beutilized to ensure integrity of the entiremechanism. I am sure you remember theseveral instances of cargo doors coming openin flight on the DC-10 series of airplanes,several years ago. That also happened to aflight on a 747 out of Honolulu some time ago.

Since that instance on the 747 a re-design wasdone with a means to VISUALLY insure thatthe door was, in fact, locked, and to not have torely on the electronic sensing that, as withanything else, CAN fail sometimes!

The passenger doors are still plug type doorsin most cases. The door has a unique "swivel"arrangement where it moves in a bit first, turnsslightly, and then can "fit" through the dooropening to go out that opening and be latchedalong side the exterior of the airplane. Otherpassenger doors are motorized entirely andretract into the ceilings mechanically. Eachdoor MUST have the ability to be locked andunlocked BOTH internally and externally, sothat requires switching and controls in anoutside panel and with an inside panel thatholds the switches.

Additionally, the doors of most large airplanesare no required to not only open automatically,they must also be able to deploy an inflatableset of "stairs" for emergencies and passengerevacuations. As you can see, there must besome sort of safe guards for inadvertenttriggering of these automatic functions while inthe air and pressurized.

Hence, even a door gets to be complicated ona 747!

Except when you get to the cockpit!

I, proudly, still have the SAME cockpit key thatwas "issued" to me on March 15th, 1965! Thatsame key has allowed me to enter into a 707,

727, and all of the 747 fleets. It is kindof worn smooth after all of those years andthere was NO way that I was giving it backwhen I retired. Grin!

The cockpit door itself is rather flimsy in natureand a couple of good whacks with a "fire ax"ought to soon take it down. Good thing is thatWE have the fire ax IN the cockpit so that wecan get OUT if the there is such an instancethat requires that.

The cockpit door swings OUT from the cockpitso it would be fairly hard to try to kick it IN by anunruly passenger.

Another reason why we are supposed to stayAWAKE at all times in the cockpit!

With all cockpit preparations completed, withthe initial flight briefing accomplished, and witha fresh cup of coffee in our hands, we awaitword from the Gate Agent that all passengersare onboard and seated. The First Officer willthen request pushback and engine startclearance fromATC.

If there are any extra crew or deadheadingpassengers onboard and in the cockpit, theCaptain will have "briefed" them to ensure thatthey were aware of the location of theirEmergency Oxygen masks, how to operatethe Intercom system, and the location of theemergency exits. Additionally, the Captainwould have instructed them of the SterileCockpit procedures that prohibit anyconversation below 10,000 feet, not pertinentto the flight.

When the Ground Crew, via the Interphoneannounces that Pushback is beginning, theCaptain will...

1) Place the Flight Attendant advisory light toOFF signal a Sterile cockpit environment.2) Turn the SEAT BELT sign to ON.3) Place the HYDRAULIC DEMAND pumpselector 4 toAUX and number 1 toAUTO.

He then checks Brake Pressure is in the greenband and verifies that the brake source light isextinguished. This light will take about 5seconds to go out as the hydraulic pressurebuilds up.

Manual Engine Start


337

Taxi

4) Select DOORS on the synoptic display andverify that all doors are closed.5) Select ENGINE on SECONDARY ENGINEDISPLAY to display the engine indications forthe engine start.6) Verify that all passengers are seatedthrough a VERBAL "affirmative" from the LeadFlightAttendant.7) Turn the beacon ON.

Meanwhile, over the First Officers seat on thisTWO MAN crewed airplane, the First Officer isalso VERY busy. Since we are going to have tofly this airplane all by ourselves(!) tonight, wemust do HIS duties too!

1) Push all fuel pump switches to tankscontaining fuel to ON. Verify pump lowpressure lights are extinguished.2) With fuel quantity in tanks 2 and 3 greaterthan the quantity in 1 and 4, verify all X-FEEDswitches are ON.

Both Pilots then respond to the BEFORESTART CHECKLIST.

Once this is completed the Captain will advisethe ground crew that the flight crew is ready forpush back and engine start, and he will releasethe PARKING BRAKE at this time. The FirstOfficer will turn TWO Pack selectors OFF, asone pack may remain on during the enginestart. Of course, since Pack 1 supplies the airconditioning to the cockpit, this is the Pack thatremains ON. Grin.

After "noting" that the pneumatic pressure inthe Manifold is at least 25 psi (look at theUPPER EICAS screen and just below the EGTindicators) the Captain will announce, StartFour, as the normal starting sequence (NWA)is 4,1,2, and 3.

Now things begin to get VERY busy in thecockpit, and they are about to get evenBUSIER here in PS1! The engine startsequence is a "two man show", but you and Iare going to have to do it all by ourselves!

1) Select ENGINE START-FUEL overheadpanel.2) Announce Starting 4 and PULL the #4 Startswitch.3) Announce ROTATION with the firstindication of N2 RPM.4) Switch to the PS1 FIRE panel and move the#4 FUELCONTROLswitch to RUN at 15% N2.

5) Monitor engine displays for normalindications until the engine is stabilized at idle.

LEAVE YOUR HAND (or "mouse") on theFUEL CONTROL SWITCH until the EGTpeaks and begins to drop. During this timeEGT should rise within 20 seconds afterselecting RUN. N1 rotation must be indicatedby the time N2 reaches 40%. If any of theseindications are not observed place FUELCONTROL SWITCH to OFF, and attempt arestart of the same engine.

6) Switch back to the Engine Start-Fuel Paneland start the remaining engines. Follow thesame above procedures.

If conditions require, after the last engine isstarted turn ON the ENGINEANTI ICE.

Call for and respond to the BEFORE TAXICHECK.

With all 4 engines running, with a "wave off"received from the ground crew, we are finallyon our way to New York!

Once the aircraft begins its taxi movement, theCaptain will call for or place the Flap handle tothe 10 degree position for this flight. He willthen select STATUS on the Secondary EICASand perform a control check by moving thecontrol wheel full left then full right, and then fullforward and aft. He will then move the rudderfull left then full right. He can hold the nosewheel steering tiller during this rudder check toprevent nose wheel movement. This is hard todo in PS1, but a little bit of "swerving" of our tailwon't hurt anything!

Return the lower EICAS to the secondaryengine display.

With at all times having at least ONE pair ofeyeballs LOOKING outside of the cockpit, thetwo man crew will accomplish the following,and again since we are making this flight in a"solo" mode, we are going to get REAL busyagain!

1) Verify/Enter proper weight and balanceinformation entered into the CDU2) Verify proper thrust selected in THRUSTLIMIT page of CDU.

Taxi


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3) Verify proper flap setting, climb thrustcommand, and V speedsACTIVATED!4)ARM LNAV and VNAV5) Verify Flight Director turned ON6) Verify Stabilizer setting in GREEN BAND7) Enter V2 speed from the CDU into the IASwindow of theAFDS mode control panel

And, now in the real airplane was a good timeto put the SHOULDER HARNESS on! Tonightwe can leave it off. Grin.

An engine failure is really NOT an emergencyon a 4 engine or 3 engine airplane. It will causea "diversion" but it should not affect any safetyof flight. I can also state that an engine failureon a 2 engine airplane, depending upon thesegment of the flight is also not an emergency,save for the fact that all of YOUR "eggs" arenow in one basket!

Engine failures are more difficult to handle onairplanes that have wing mounted enginesversus those that mount them on the aftfuselage. The position of the engine on theairplane and the resultant loss of that thrustduring the engine failure will require the pilot to"input" rudder forces to "balance" out theasymmetrical unbalance of one side of theairplane having more thrust than does theother side.

I only had 3 "real" engine failures in my careerand each was very simple to handle andcaused no undue alarm. One of those failures,in a 727 on takeoff out of JFK did trigger theEngine Fire Warning, and the resultantincreased heartbeat rate until we determinedthat after only having to "fire" one fireextinguisher, there was no continuing fire.

A Captain is required to have a checkride each6 months and so simple math can show youthat I sat through about 60 of those "events"and it is during those checkrides that theengine failures come at you fast and furious! Iand most other pilots "welcomed" theseplanned failures as it allowed us to confidentlygo back to the "line" with the knowledge thatthe airplane and ourselves could easily handlethe engine failure and the flight control inputsrequired to "limp" back around for a safelanding.

Engine Failures

It was always taught, and personally utilized,that EVERY takeoff COULD be an enginefailure event. So, on every takeoff, all of us inthe cockpit are watching VERY closely all ofthe engine parameters as displayed on ourinstruments. Seeing that all 4 N1, N2, EGT,and FUEL FLOW gauges are in the samealignment is always reassuring and if any oneof those are showing a difference, at least 4 setof eyeballs "zeroed" in on that engine, leavingthe other 2 set of eyeballs to remain to fly theairplane. As the 747 transitioned to a 2 mancrew, in theory, we still required an off dutycrew member to be in the "observer" seatduring the takeoff to add to the "viewing"!

The most "dramatic" engine failure scenario iswhen the simulator is programmed for amultiple engine failure and when BOTH ofthose engines are out on one side of theairplane. The 747-400, at FULL gross weight isentirely capable of operating right after takeoffin a safe manner with two engines failed, but itdoes take a lot of effort to "clean her up" withthe flaps and gear and to be able to accelerateto faster airspeed as soon as possible to beable to climb to a pattern altitude that will allowyou to return to the airport for a safe landing.

The "worst" time for most airplanes toexperience an engine failure is right at the V1speed. This speed is determined by calculati-on to be the highest speed that would still allowyou to STOP in the remaining runway distance.An engine failure below this speed is arequired "abort" and an engine failure after thisspeed is more safely handled with a continuati-on of the takeoff roll until Vr (Rotate) andeventual climb out at V2 speed. At V1 speedthere is adequate rudder "authority" to be ableto keep the aircraft flying straight ahead evenwith an outboard engine failure. In 4 engineairplanes it is considered to be "safer" tocontinue up and into the air right at V1 then it isto attempt to stop the airplane in the remainingrunway distance and perhaps "go off" the farend into the runway lights/stanchions/waterwith more disastrous results.

So, of course, almost every engine failure inthe simulator is right at V1 speed. Grin.

Surprisingly, in the 747 fleet, the actual MOSTdifficult time of engine failure for the pilot is atabout 80 - 100 knots during the takeoff roll. Atthat point in the takeoff, the "mass" of the


339

Takeoff Procedure

airplane and its inertia will overcome thefrictional "grip" of the nosewheel tires and notallow forward "straight ahead" travel of theairplane. Also at that time the rudder does not,yet, have enough "authority", due to the lowairspeeds, to be able to hold the airplanestraight either. What IS required is anIMMEDIATE reduction of ALL engines to idleand a maximum application of brakes.

Of course this is also "practiced" in thesimulator and it always seems to happen whenthe weather is "programmed" down to veryfoggy conditions that only allows the pilot tosee about 3 to 4 runway centerline lights aheadof the nose.

There are 5 major "segments" of the takeoff,then, that each pilot watches for, very closely,during that takeoff.

1. Initial application of "equal" thrust being "putout" by each engine.

2. The transition through the "dark zone" of 80 -110 knots where nosewheel steering andrudder authority is not sufficient.

3. The transition through the V1 speed rangewhere the "Go - No Go" decision is made.

4. The transition through Vr and V2 duringinitial climb with the gear and flaps extendedwhere a MULTIPLE engine failure is thetoughest to handle.

5. The transition through Vzf (zero flaps andacceleration to 250 knots) until established in aclean configuration where it is "feet up", light'em up, and let's get some coffee up here!

Rest assured that an engine failure for thepassengers on takeoff should not be a majorconcern as the flight crew has practiced thosefailures literally hundreds of times and wouldnot be in the cockpit unless they could handlethem!

Call for and respond to the TAKEOFF CHECKitems.

When cleared onto the active runway the Pilotflying (that is you and me!) will "brief"OUTLOUD the initial clearance altitude and

Takeoff Procedure

the initial assigned heading, sounding likethis... "Runway Heading to Five thousand", orwhatever the clearance really is.

The Captain will place the outboard landinglights to the ON position.

Now let's go FLYING!

After the aircraft is aligned with the runway,smoothly advance all four thrust levers toapproximately 1.1 EPR and allow the enginesto stabilize evenly. Then advance the thrustlevers to approximately the takeoff thrust valueand then push the TO/GA switch and VERIFYthe correct thrust is set.

If a takeoff warning horn occurs at powerapplication, do NOT continue the takeoff. Thecause of the warning should be correctedbefore takeoff.

Begin to monitor and listen to that great VOICEof the copilot. Grin.

He will announce 80 knots, V1, Rotate, and V2.

Announce POSITIVE RATE after you have leftthe ground and then raise the Landing gear tothe UP position. The POSITIVE RATE must beonly announced after seeing BOTH thealtimeter and vertical speed indicate a positiverate of climb.

Call for flap retraction on the schedule aspresented on the SPEED TAPE of the PFD.

After flaps are retracted turn on the Packs thatwere OFF for takeoff, and of course we KNOWthat Pack 1 is already ON! Watch for andobserve the EICAS gear and flap positionindicators are normal and then place theGEAR handle in the OFF position.

Leave the Landing Lights ON until passingthrough 10,000 feet on the climb.

The cockpit is still STERILE (no un-necessaryconversation) and we are in the climb to cruisewhile following our ATC Clearance. Thefollowing are the "housekeeping" items for theclimb.

1)At 10000 feet turn OFF Landing lights.2) CARGO HEAT (not in PS1) switch ON.3) FlightAttendantAdvisory switch (not in PS1)ON (non-sterile cockpit).


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4) Turn SEAT BELT sign OFF, unless required.5) Be aware of transition altimeter altitude andset to 29.92 at the appropriate time. The FMSknows the proper time.6) At any level off point, VERBALLY announceto yourself or to the WORLD, that you have1000 FEET TO GO, and then 500 FEET TOGO prior to reaching your assigned intermedi-ate level off altitude.

We now settle down to about 10 hours or moreof Cruising and maintaining the systems on theairplane.

The rules for flying enroute, not necessarilyneeding to be followed at your computer desk,yet important enough to mention anyway!

The Oxygen mask must be ON the pilot flyingif:a) above 25000 feet and one crew member outof seatb) Flight is being conducted above FL410.

Monitor the FUEL PANEL as described onpage 185 of this manual.

The fuel system is a WORK OF ART on thisairplane. For a system with many tanks, manypumps, and so many possible fuel loadsituations, the designers of this system cameup with a beauty!

Essentially, the system is operated like this:

1)All pumps ON for departure2) Crew actions only require turning OFFvarious fuel pumps as EICAS messagesappear to notify them of that action!

What could be simpler?!

As simple as it was, this system demanded theMOST time from the crews INNER thoughts ofany other system. On all long haul flights, theamount of fuel left in the tanks is a paramountthought and direction for that entire flight, and itwas often said that a pilot was muchSMARTER with this thinking ability at thedestination end of that flight, with an extra10000 pounds in his tanks, as he had SO manyMORE options of what to do if anythinghappened mechanically or if the weather wastoo bad for a landing.

Enroute

Fuel Jettison

Fuel dumping is done by using the "fuelmanifold" system that allows ANY tank to feedANY engine. This "manifold" is usuallyinstalled in the front area of the wing andextends out to the wing tips where on eachwing a valve is also installed to be used for fueldumping.

On the earlier versions of the 747 the fueldumping required the Second Officer tomonitor the dumping and to halt that dumpingwhen the required fuel to land was at that levelin each tank. He had TWO switches to initiatethe dump valves and then simply ran therespective tank manifold valves to ensure thateach tank stayed in "balance" in relation to hispartner tank on the opposite wing.

In the two-man crewed glass cockpit airplanes,other than the required manual initiation of thedump valves, the remaining part of the systemis done automatically AFTER the Captain hasentered into the system the amount of fuel thathe wants to REMAIN after dumping.

It was common procedure for EVERY takeoffto set up the Fuel Remaining in the Dumpsystem on the ground and the value chosen forthe 747-400 was always at 100,000 pounds offuel remaining. Our maximum Landing grossweight was 630,000 pounds so we could havean empty airplane of about 430,000 pounds,along with 100,000 pounds of "people" andcargo.

With a FULL fuel load the 747-400 would takeup to ONE hour for dumping down to the100,000 pound level, so you can see that if youhad a REAL bad emergency such as a fire, thatfuel dumping would not be able to be used andan overweight landing would be required. Theoverweight landing would be very safe as longas the touchdown was soft and smooth - themain worry being about the tires being able toabsorb a hard landing with full gross weight.

According to all data that I have seen, the fueldumped will dissipate into a harmless andunrecognizable form if it is dumped from above7000 feet or so. It will simply be borne away bythe air currents and be dissipated over such awide area that it would be unrecognizable.

I had to dump fuel several times, once in a 727with an indicated engine failure and twice in a


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Cruise Climb

747 as we returned to land shortly after takeoffbecause of a seriously ill passenger. Iunderstand that on one of the 747 incidentsthat because we were flying on a north andsouth heading over Lake Michigan, just as thesun was setting, that the passengers seatedover the wings had a very beautiful "rainbow"of colors as the "oily" liquid encountered ourwing tip vortices and as the fuel spiraled off ofthe wing due to that effect.

As we continue to "motor" along here, we mustalways be ready for another possibility, that ofa need to get the airplane down to THICKERand more breathable air!

Depressurization would be a nightmare inANYairplane, especially while over water. Thehighest that you could fly would be in the12,000 to 14,000 foot range and at that altitudethe fuel burn goes WAY up while the groundspeed goes way down!

One of the "beauties" of flying an airplane thatdoes not need ETOPS rules is the multiplebackup systems of 4 engines, 4 sources ofpneumatic bleed air, and 3 air conditio-ning/pressurization systems. Of course, with alarge enough HOLE in your airplane, all ofthose systems are worthless!

I don't remember ever being more than 3 - 4hours from any airport, even on flights betweenLos Angeles and Sydney. The route betweenTokyo and New York or Detroit always allowedyou to divert to either Honolulu or Anchoragewhile over water and with normal headwindsyou could probably continue on to Tokyodepending upon the exact longitudinal positionof your flight during the pressurizationbreakdown.

We planned each flight for the event of a singleengine failure that included a "drift-down" to alower altitude level and the resultant higherfuel burn required due to the added drag of anengine out during my "generic" 747 years. Iwas delighted to find that it was POSSIBLE tohave an engine failure on takeoff out of Tokyoand STILL be able to fly to New York city on 3engines!

We, of course would not do that in reality, wewould return to Tokyo and either get a different

Depressurization

airplane or have this one fixed... but theknowledge that the airplane had the capabilitywas very reassuring.

Losing cabin pressurization would require anexplosion of some sort that has torn out aportion of your cabin wall or several windows.The "Emergency Descent" portion of ourchecklist was for an immediate donning of theoxygen masks by each pilot and then to initiatea High Speed descent with full spoilersextended and the landing gear extended andby running the indicated airspeed right up tored-line. This would get us down to below16,000 feet in less than 2 - 3 minutes from39000 feet.

But wait a minute.

If you HAD such a hole or structural failure inyour airplane, would YOU want to stress iteven further with such an abrupt maneuver?The passengers ALL would have their ownoxygen masks to use and enough breathingtime for at least 10 - 15 minutes. Why not "tippytoe" down gently to the lower levels and keepthe airplane all in one piece!

This type of decision is one that I had alwaysplanned to make for myself, rather than play"monkey-see monkey-do" and rush to followthe checklist. Course, the way things workedout I never had to do such a maneuver and thatwas just fine with me, too!

Almost all airline transports rarely ever cruisewith Indicated Airspeeds above 330 knots andthen only for short legs on flights of less than 2hours of duration. The ideal way then is toclimb as high as possible and to only NEED tofly in the area of 280 knots or LESS while stillhaving TRUE airspeeds of 500 knots. That iswhy the airspace above 31,000 feet becomesso VALUABLE and desired in flight planning. Ican state that even the mighty 747-400 couldNOT travel non-stop to Tokyo from New Yorkeven with LESS headwinds at 31,000 feet thanit CAN go non stop against heavy headwindsat 39,000 feet. The difference being is that theairplane needs to only INDICATE 260 knots orso at 39,000 feet while it needs to fly at least at310 knots at 31,000 feet to maintain Machcruise of .86. This difference of 50 knots ofDRAG over a 12 - 13 hour period and the fuel

Cruise Climb


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that it requires is the ruling factor.

Many times our flights would take up to an hourdelay and be required to sit on a taxiway afterpushback from the gate in order to receivepermission from ATC to be able to cruise at orabove 35,000 feet on a flight from Tokyo to theUnited States. While this was frustrating for thecrew and passengers we would often stillarrive on schedule! The higher altitudes gaveus the higher tailwinds and the "wait" forrouting down and along the most favorable jetstream patterns, for that night, were worth - thewait! Another factor to be considered is thatmost large transports need VERY cold tempsto be able to climb to and cruise in the FlightLevels above 35,000. If the temperatures inthose altitudes and above are too warm, flightis just not possible until much more fuel isburned off.

A good rule of thumb, to remember for winterand summer flying, and for airplanes thatcruise in the .86 Mach range is that whenwestbound in the winter time over land that iscovered by SNOW the airplane will likely travelabout 6 - 7 miles a minute. Eastbound, sameseason, same area, about 10 miles a minute.Summer time - westbound over land that isnow green with grass, about 8 miles a minute -eastbound, same area, 8 miles a minute!

Way down south where the water color turnsaqua and the waves become calm... prettymuch always figure on 8 miles a minute nomatter the time of year!

The ability of the airplane to fly at the higherflight levels depends primarily on the weight ofthe airplane and secondarily on the temperatu-re experienced at that flight level.

During the initial segment of a long haul flightwith 747-400 gross weights of 870,000 lbs fortakeoff, the airplane can initially be cruised atFL310 for the first 2 - 3 hours. After burningabout 70,000 lbs of fuel the airplane will weighless than 800,000 lbs and can then climb toFL330. Another couple of hours at that flightlevel while the airplane burns off another50,000 lbs of fuel and it is then time to climb toFL350 with an airplane gross weight of750,000 lbs.

This "step climbing" will continue throughoutthe flight and when the airplane is at the600,000 - 640,000 lbs gross weight, FL410 will

be available.

Rather than memorize all of these grossweights, charts are provided for the flightcrews, in both the older 747's and newer -400models. The -400 airplane will also alert thecrew via computer messages that it is time toclimb higher... just in case their minds have"wandered"! Additionally, the computergenerated flight plan will have already plannedthe flight legs at the proper altitudes thatcorrespond to the predicted gross weightduring those waypoint passages.

The above "suggestions" of gross weightexperienced before climbing to a higheraltitude do have quite a bit of "slop" built intothem. Those weights are the "ideal" time toclimb for best fuel burn during the flight.However, if the flight crew happens to be on avery busy "track" that day with competingairliners that will also want the SAME altitudesas they do... it is often a good idea to "grab" thehigher altitude SOONER to ensure that YOUget it... rather than a "friendly" competitor.

There are all kinds of "games" played bycompeting airline crews and it makes the daygo faster if you can gain an upper hand and beable to look DOWN on that white and blueairplane below you….while your RED tailcruises into the sunset towards Japan and allof that COLD Sapporo beer awaiting you!

The cruise speed is almost exactly the same atFL310 as it is at FL410. In both cases Mach .86is the target speed. What will differ is theIndicated Airspeed, as at 31,000 you will seeabout 330 knots Indicated to maintain .86Mach while at 41,000 feet only about 250 knotsIAS is needed to produce .86 Mach.

Remember as the air thins to allow less dragon the airframe for a constant mach speed italso "robs" the engine of its breathing ability toproduce the power necessary to maintain themach cruise speed. The airplanes wings mustbe able to create enough lift to support theairframe at altitude. That lift is created byspeed. That speed is enabled by enginepower. To go higher the pilot must either delayfor a lighter airplane, which is just whathappens as the fuel burns off, or to ask formore engine power. If he is already operatingthe engines at 91 - 92% N1 RPM he has to waituntil the fuel burns off!


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Turbulences

I remember that we would cruise initially atFL310 out of Detroit for Tokyo, with full loads,for about 2 - 3 hours.At that time the N1 speedswould have decreased back to about 88% N1RPM and during the climb at climb power theywould increase to 95% N1 RPM. At level off atFL330 we would be back at the 91% level. Anhour or two later you'd see the 88% RPM - timeto climb to FL350, etc, etc.

Now I want to give a short discussion of anEASY way to HAND FLY the airplane atwhatever SPEED you would like to fly at, withthe Autothrottle OFF! My experiences with jetengines and with the 727/707/747 family andthe DC-10 were all quite similar in the powerreadings that you can obtain from the N1gauges. The EPR (Engine Pressure Ratio)readings were quite dis-similar as each engineseemed to measure the pressure at a differentspot in the engine.

Many of us used to cheat and use fuel flow forcruise and approach settings... much to thechagrin of our Flight Ops department who onlybelieved that EPR could give us an accuratevalue. However that meant always looking upnumbers in a book and at times pilots who areflying the line don't have any extra time tospare!

For an example... a 727 has a fairly narrowgross weight range from high to low because itcan't carry very much! Half full or full thedifference between the approach weights arenot that great (50 passengers times 160pounds equals 8000 pounds versus 100passengers equaling 16000 lbs)... so in anairplane that usually weighs around 145,000for landing... the range between heavy andlight is less than 8%. Hence, we the lowly linepilot who flew the airplane 80-85 hours amonth for 10 years or more soon began tonotice that the fuel flow, per engine, wasusually at the 3000 lbs per hour figure when thegear and flaps were out on the final approach.Surprisingly at cruise with the gear and flapsup the fuel flow was also 3000 lbs per hour perengine!You think anyone could make us look up somenumbers to find an EPR setting that would alsoproduce 3000 lbs per hour! Heck... we had it allfigured out without the book.

Manual Power Setting

It even got better.

At 10,000 feet when ATC had assigned you tofly a speed of 240 knots for vectors, we foundthat 2400 lbs per hour would produce 240knots. In the same area if ATC wanted us to flyat 250 knots... 2500 lbs per hour would do thejob. Once again we EARNED our right to belazy and not have to look up the numbers in thebooks to get the right EPR! By simply addingan extra 0 to the speed assigned you couldproduce the fuel flow required to produce thepower to overcome the drag to obtain thespeed. By now you can figure out that if ATCwanted you to fly at 310 knots at 11000 feet...you would need to have a fuel flow of... youguessed it... 3100 lbs per hour. Love it!

Now here is the funnier part. A 747-400 will dothe same ration... but you gotta DOUBLE thefuel flow. In other words each engine will burnabout 6000 lbs per hour on the approach withgear and flaps out and in cruise and MID pointof a long haul flight each engine will be burningabout 6000 lbs per hour!At the start of the flightwhen you are heavy the engines will beburning over 7000 lbs per hour and later in thelast 2 hours of a 14 hour flight they will beburning less than 5000 lbs per hour each. Onthis airplane there can be LARGE differencesin the weights so you have to a bit more"creative" with your thinking. If we visit the ATCthing again and if they wanted us to fly at 300knots at 11000 all we had to do was DOUBLEour old 727 fuel numbers. That airplane wouldhave needed 3100 lbs per engine... the 747-400 would need 6200 lbs per engine.

Along the reduced workload of Cruising,comes always the possibility of enrouteTURBULENCE.

We need to discuss that!

Of course the ol' Tarmack policy is to avoidsevere turbulence if at all possible!

I am happy to report that the 747-400 does nothave a Mach tuck problem. As speed nearsMMO, drag increases rapidly and thrust is,therefore, insufficient to accelerate theairplane to this speed at the higher altitudes.

Sometimes, however, avoiding all turbulence

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becomes impossible, and turbulence withintensities greater than moderate may beencountered. When the airplane is operated atits optimum altitudes based on weight,margins available to the buffet boundary willnormally be greater than 0.5g. Because of this,buffet and control margins will be adequate formost conditions. However, if moderate orgreater turbulence is anticipated or encounte-red, operating at 40,000 feet, or more, lower isadvisable.

An alert pilot can be his own best source of"unexpected" turbulence. First, while it iscommon practice to NOT listen in on the HFfreq's for the enroute portion betweenmandatory waypoint reports, I have found thatby just keeping the volume low that I can stillhear the flights that are ahead of me and Ialways turn up that volume a bit when they getto the portion of their report that givesturbulence in "codes".

Code 1 is very light,Code 2 is Steady Light turbulence,Code 3 is Light to Moderate,Code 4 is Steady Moderate,Code 5 is Moderate and Greater, andCode 6 is Severe Turbulence.

By hearing a flight ahead of you some 30minutes that is running into some Code 3 whileyou are sitting there with just a little bit of Code1 "jogs" you to perhaps, pick up the interphoneto the Lead FlightAttendant and suggest to herthat we might be having a rougher ride aheadand if she could start to "stow" some of theserving carts and batten down the Galley'sperhaps we can keep a lot of the passengershappier! The Flight Attendants always reallyappreciated the flight crews that took theirduties into consideration and when we madesuggestions that would make their job easier.

Another thing to watch while you are in thecockpit is the Outside Air Temp. Usually thatgauge will sit pretty steady in the upper levelsof the atmosphere... usually right at about-50°C or so. If you keep one part of that gaugein your "scan" and notice that it has changedmore than 2 - 3 degrees in the past 5 minutes...you will often, and more often than not, start toexperience turbulence.

This type of phenomena, abrupt changes inOutside air, are the big hope of forwardscanning infra red transmitters, and for

Doppler types of transmitters, to aid inpredicting turbulence in front of you. Suchinstruments are not yet on the market but are inthe planning stages.

All of the above has dealt with the Clear AirTurbulence factor, so it is also important to alsoconsider that WHENEVER you are in cloudsthat have some vertical development that youshould be alert for turbulent air. I realize that itis a "bother" for the passenger to wear hisseatbelt for the entire flight but, shucks, we inthe cockpit did that PLUS wearing our shoulderharness when below 10,000 feet.

The pilot bunkroom was just behind the cockpitand I did prefer a little bit of "chop" to rock me tosleep on those long nights in the bunk!

One of the greatest advances of the 747-400was the RADAR system, the system thatplaced the radar "return" right ON and INTOthe ND display. Now, for the first time a pilot canSEE where that thunderstorm is, in relation tohis actual route. Prior to this, the pilots had tolook at the Radar screen, and then visualizewhere that "blob" of clouds were in relation totheir present position and in relation to theirtrack of flight.

Radar scopes all send out a "beam" from theirtransmitter and if that beam bounces off ofanything in front of it, the beam is reflectedback to the receiver and eventually makes itsway to the radar scope mounted in the cockpit.

This means that you can see mountains andcities and even other large airplanes verynicely on the radar scope! Clouds will NOTshow up until they have a lot of moisture in theirinteriors. As it seems that your favorite cloudsare Thunderstorms you would be in luck with aradar scope in the cockpit on a dark and stormynight!

Most radar scopes have a maximum range ofabout 300 nautical miles and IF you can see"radar returns" from clouds out that far you canbe sure that you are approaching some realbiggies!

Each radar system has a gyro guidancefunction that always tries to keep the antennaof the radar in line with the horizon no matter

Weather Radar


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Lightning

what the pitch attitude is of the nose of theairplane. In other words if you are climbing at10 degrees pitch up, the antenna will move to10 degrees down to stay on the horizon line.This is important because of the "tilt" control onthe radar set. If you set the "tilt" knob (not inPS1) to 1 degree above the horizon and thedisplay then shows no thunderstorms you canbe almost certain that you wil l beABOVE/HIGHER than those particular storms.If you set the "tilt" knob to about 2 degreesabove the horizon and you still can see theradar return, you can be sure that you aregoing to have to deviate around thoseparticular cells. This is a very good enhance-ment for night flying and for when you are inother clouds and can't see out of your frontwindow. However, there is an old saying inaviation and it goes like this: "One peep isbetter than 10,000 sweeps"! This means thatone lil' ol' look out the window can often tell youmore than watching several hundred sweepsof the radar antenna and what it is reporting forweather in front of you.

It takes a couple of years of using radar toreally be able to tell if you should venture into acloud area or get the flock out of that area andmake an end run around the thunderstorm line.And, you should never forget that just becauseyour "tilt" says that at this time you are on top ofthe weather ahead that also during the next 10minutes some of those clouds can "grow"another 10,000 feet of "head"!

As long as you know the upper winds from yourIRS unit you are safe in flying along side athunderstorm on the UPWIND side as close as5 miles or so. However, if the winds at altitudeare 60 knots or so, you should be at LEAST 60miles from them if you are on the DOWNWINDside. This rule, 1 mile deviation for each knot ofwind should keep you out of any hail orturbulence caused by "blow off" from upper airwinds as they encounter the rising air currentsof the thunderstorm itself.

I also love thunderstorms, but only when I amon the ground and am able to watch them witha cold beer in one hand.

And since this CREW PARTY is getting a bitlouder in nature, let's all have ONE MOREROUND!

Lightning

Now, back to thunderstorms... the BANE ofevery airline pilot! Mean son of a guns, the onlyforce of Mother Nature that can DEFINITELYbreak your airplane!

Radar sets in the airplanes will usually allowyou to see the worst of the weather and willpermit you to alter your course to "pick" yourway through the lightest areas. There arethose times though that when you make yourdecision of where you want to "penetrate" thefrontal line at, you are about 30 - 40 miles fromthat line of weather. And, even in the 6 to 7minutes that it takes for you to fly to yourintended "probe" of that weather, the weatherthat was below your target could erupt into amajor new cell just as you got there.

Then it was time to FIRST turn ON everyLIGHT in that cockpit. Dome lights, fluorescentlights, everything. In fact the 747 family has a"Storm Light" that does all of that for you, turnson every light. If the lights were left in the dimposition that they often are when flying at night,any close lightning bolt could "blind" the pilotstemporarily and with the lights on in the HIGHposition this was a good prevention of that.

Once you were IN the sonofagun, it was best toride it out and let the airplane "give" in itsaltitude and pitch and roll. If you fought her tokeep her absolutely straight and level, YOUadded a lot of flight loads to her wings and tailand that was a no-no!Again, the wonderful 747family had a "Turb" position of the autopilot thatreduced the autopilot "trim" movements to halfthe normal movements, to again, allow theairplane to wallow rather than be rigid and in aposition to get that fatal "bend".

It was also important to NOT make any turnsand proceed straight ahead for that is normallythe quickest way out of the cell. If you werelucky you wouldn't enter the "hail section" ofthat cell and you wouldn't suffer any damage tothe airplane, in fact you had a fresh wash joband she would glisten and gleam the rest of theday!

Stay out of thunderstorms!

Static electricity is always present in anyairplane because as that airplane movesthrough the air it is rubbing against themolecules of that air. The friction of that


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rubbing will set up the static electricity charge.

This is most evident when flying through "drysnow" and at night. If the snow is at the higherlevels and if the outside air is well below thefreeze point, the entire airplane will have a softblue glow, while the leading edges of the wingsand especially the windshield wiper attachbolts, right in front of your face, in the cockpit,will have a much brighter bluish glow. This isnormally a non event and usually disappearsas soon as the area of snow is left behind.Once in awhile, however, there will be a staticdischarge into that snow cloud FROM theairplane. This will be seen as a bright flash andperhaps some sound but not always.

Each airliner type airplane that I have flown asstatic discharge "wicks" mounted on thetrailing edge of the wings and they are primarilydesigned to eliminate any static in the area ofthe "vent" holds for the fuel tanks. They sureworked good for me for over 32 years as Inever had any trouble with fuel tanksexploding!

I experienced at least 3 lightning strikes in mycareer, the most memorable was in a 727 whileflying an approach into Bozeman Montanafrom Billings. There is a mountain pass just tothe East of Bozeman and the Victor Airwayleads you through that pass towards theairport. There are mountains above you onboth sides of the pass so it behooves you to beon centerline. This was a night flight and wewere in cloud as we flew through the pass. Theradar set was showing NO thunderstorms butthe mountains on both sides of his producedradar returns, because of the terrain, thatlooked like thunderstorms. The air was bumpyso there was some convective activity in thearea but not of such a size to indicate on theradar and there was not yet any rain beingproduced.

However, right in the middle of that pass ournose lit up like a Christmas tree and there wasa sound that felt like you were inside an empty55 gallon oil drum and someone had just struckit with all of his might with a sledge hammer!

On the ground as we inspected the airplane wecould see that the entire fiberglass structure ofour "radome" had been torn away by the forceof the lightning strike.

I have flown around and through many

thunderstorms so I was very surprised to seethat even when the weather was "slight"enough to not produce an "echo" on the radarset that you could still take a lightning strike.

On the ground the airplanes are ALWAYS"grounded" by a metal strap before fuelingcommences and I have heard that sometimesas you roll up to the ramp after a flight andwhen the ground personnel open up the firstcargo door, to unload your baggage, that theywill sometimes get a small static "shock" whenfirst touching the airplane. Most of them nowwear rubber gloves and shoes if they are incharge of opening that first door.

I never took a lightning strike in the 747-400 buthave always wondered what would happen toall of those computers if such an event wouldoccur. It will happen sometime and I want toread about it... rather than have to write aboutit!

With the airplane still in Cruise, let's considerhow WE are going to POINT this airplane allthe way to New York and how the old-timersused to do the same thing!

Navigation over the high seas has evolvedfrom the days of the ancient mariners with theirsextants and accurate timepiece to satellitenavigation that places a map of the entireworld, with terrain features at the pilotsdisposal.

The initial navigation of the oceans by earlyairline transports included "navigators", crewmembers, that would "shoot the stars" much asdid the early seamen. Along with the naviga-tors were "radio operators" that would useADFreceivers to obtain cross bearings frompowerful onshore low frequency stations andlater on there were "Ocean Stations", shipsanchored at sea with large radio transmittersplaced at strategic places on the ocean itself toprovide navigational aids to the overheadairplanes.

LORAN (Long Range Navigation) transmitterswere used for a time on the airlines but by thelate 50's and early 60's DOPPLER became thesystem of use for long range flights. Thissystem sent a series of signals to the earthbelow and then recorded the "shift" in their

IRS


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Descent

patterns as they reflected back up to thereceivers in the airplane. The system was quiteaccurate for those days but there were timeswhen an airplane would encounter a "calmstate" (no waves) on the ocean below and thatwould often trigger a Doppler "dropout" andleave the crew to older methods.

Usually this meant that they had to wake up thenavigator and ask him to do a star shot!

Even in the 707 airplanes there were stillaccess holes in the cockpit roof for thenavigator to insert his sextant for a fix!Additionally radar screens were used as"backups", especially for Pacific ocean flightsup on the northernmost routes. The RussianKuril Islands produced a very good return forour flights to Tokyo in the 60's and I can stillmentally picture a couple of the "hooks" on twoof the islands that told me that I was abeam ofan island that I could reference on a map andthis would give me a backup that the Doppler,Loran, and the Navigator were shooting mestraight "skinny"!

The introduction of the 747's in the early 70'sintroduced a complete new system ofnavigation called INS. Inertial ReferenceSystem was the long hand name and as simplyas possible it was a system that used "gyro's"for alignment and for measuring the effect andaffect on them by acceleration sensors. If theINS knew exactly where it was at - at the startof the flight - the sensors could measure using"G" load or accelerometers and compute from"known's" of airspeed and altitude into a newposition.All of the output of this computing wasshown to us in the cockpit as pure numbers.The Latitudes and Longitudes of the global gridsystem became as familiar to us as were theold dit's and dah's of the Morse code. Insteadof dialing in a VHF radio frequency for ChicagoO'Hare's VOR the pilot would type in themeasured Lat/Long of that navigational aidand could navigate TO it from thousands ofmiles away compared to the less than 300miles of actual radio reception range.

As the 747 fleet introduced new airplanes INSwas soon left behind and the IRS (InertialReference System) took over the main job ofgetting us to where we wanted to go. The IRSwas part INS, with additional computers thatwould "sweep" the known radio aid frequen-cies in the area that corresponded to theposition determined by the INS portion. The

computers tuned 3 separate radios to knownILS and VOR freq's and took the readings ofDME and Radial from those stations and bydoing this could UPDATE the small but alwayspresent "creeping" errors of the INS system."Creeping" errors are friction of the gyro's andeven some "bending" of the Laser beams oflater INS systems.

It was not uncommon to be off course up to 15 -20 miles after 6 - 7 hours over water with theolder INS systems - while it was rare to be offmore than 1 mile by using the IRS systems.

Now and for the foreseeable future all of theabove methods are obsolete as GPS and thesatellite systems rule the navigational worldand one more chore of the pilot has been madeas simple as buttering his breakfast toast!

At TOD (Top of Descent) we may have alreadyentered a waypoint crossing "restraint" into theFMS system via the CDU (Computer DisplayUnit). That entry may have looked somethinglike this:

LENDY 280/FL190

We were telling the computer that we wantedIT to get the airplane down to FL190 feet atLENDY intersection (in the New York area) andat that time have the airspeed slowed back to280 knots.

As the "magic" airplane purred along at 35,000feet, say, with a couple of pilots riding likecontented Cheshire Cats all curled up in theirLAMBSKIN pilot seats, all we had to do waswatch the "show". At about 75 nautical mileswe get a message. Especially if we hadalready dialed in 19000 feet on our altitudeselector and had "armed" the VNAV descentfeature of the autopilot.

That "message" was to see the Autothrottlebegin a slow and gradual movement to idle andto watch the nose begin to settle below thehorizon. The "magic" had computed the actualwinds aloft, the time it would take to descendthe airplane at the current gross weight, andthe distance it would take to slow from thedescent speed of about 320 knots, OR Mach.82 back to 280 knots.

Descent


348


The autopilot was no dummy either. Ratherthan stick to a one speed setting it would oftenslow back to about 290 knots and keep that forquite some time. As it approached the actualLENDY intersection and if it saw that the upperair winds had changed dramatically enough sothat IT was about to make a mistake and MISSits actual crossing altitude and speedassignment, it then used its "ace" and dippedthe nose lower allowing the speed to build backto a normal 320 knots and to thereforeincrease the sink rate and to get back on itspre-determined descent schedule/angle tothat waypoint.

If it had erred in the other side of the coin andfound itself a bit too low too early it would VERYslowly put on a bit more power, as if it didn'twant us to notice. Grin.

Now, that is the way we did it and rarely did wehave to take over and correct the systembecause it was that good and trustworthy.There were times however that ATC wouldstep in and issue a different clearance, suchas, "Northwest 12 stop descent at FL280 feetdue to opposite direction traffic, I'll call yourfurther descent." That meant the controllerwould watch our "blip" on his screen until wewere clear of the conflicting traffic and then tellus when to re-initiate the further descent.

So, then we would do as I would like for you todo with your request of how to get down fromFL280 to 18,000 feet.

You could PRE-DIAL in the 18,000 feetnumber into the altitude selector while flyingalong at FL280. As long as you did NOT pushthe Altitude Selector you would remain atFL280. At the same time, the autopilot andAutothrottle would continue to maintain anormal cruise speed of about Mach .86. Assoon as we were clear of traffic and told torestart the descent we would simply PUSH theround Altitude Selector and the Autothrottlewould begin to retard and the descent wouldtake place.

At this time the Autoflight system had NOTbeen told of just WHERE or WHEN we wantedit to level off at 18,000 feet. However, itWOULD still be PLANNING to make thatcrossing at FL190 and 280 knots as we hadoriginally told it we wanted it to do.

And if we had been "held up" by that controller

for enough time for the auto-system toconclude that it could NOT now make thecrossing of 280/FL190, at LENDY, it wouldsend up a digital warning that "DRAG ISREQUIRED".

Thank goodness, Autopilots do not yet havethe ability to extend speed brakes!

So, something for the pilot to do!

And while helping the magic out we woulddirect our gaze to the ND and see a little "arc"at some point beyond LENDY that WAS theactual predicted point, without HELP from us,where the magic would finally have theairplane done to 280 knots and FL190. So, thepilot would slowly pull on speed brakes and asmore were extended into the airflow we couldwatch that same "arc" begin to move right backuntil it was right on top of LENDY. That was thecorrect amount of speed brakes to use. And itmade us look so smart. Grin.

You might be surprised to know that theairspace over Japan and out to the east overthe Pacific ocean can be one of the mostturbulent air areas in the world and it is the areawhere I had some of my worst encounters withwindshear.

The sub-arctic jetstream usually lays close tothe Japanese islands and this jetstreamcauses many intense and tight low pressureareas to form just offshore from your country.They usually move in a northeast direction andare the causes of many rainy and windy days inNarita and Yokohama!

The best way to handle windshear is to avoid itat all costs. Most airline meteorologydepartments spend a lot of time in theforecasting of windshear possibilities that canbe caused by known weather systemsapproaching the major airports of the world.The right combinations of low pressure areasthat are moving swiftly can produce largechanges in wind patterns just a short "height"above the runway surface and it is this type ofcondition that is fairly well predicted.Windshears caused by large thunderstorms inthe vicinity of the airport are so short lived andsporadic that they are very difficult to predictand usually the first warnings of such

Windshears


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Approach

conditions are relayed through pilot reportsfrom airplanes that encountered the shears.Based upon those reports airline flights areoften delayed or canceled until the thunders-torm has left the airport area.

During our 6 month flight checks in thesimulator we always practiced in recoveringfrom windshear conditions. The actualconditions that may have caused an airliner tocrash are replicated in the simulator and evenwith the advance knowledge that a windshearis about to effect your airplane it is often veryhard to fly safely out of the windshear. The poorpilot and crew that had no such warning in thereal world did not have that advance alert and itis very easy to see why there was an accident.

Training procedures in today's simulatorsalmost directly reverse what pilots used to dowith windshear encounters. If you are flying anairplane that has a sudden loss of airspeed,due to a windshear, it is almost instinctive towant to LOWER the nose and attempt toregain the airspeed. That is NOT the thing to dowith today's instruments and new procedures.What is taught now is that during the windshe-ar encounter it is better to RAISE the nose andseek a HIGHER pitch attitude - right up to thenibble of an airfoil stall, while at the same timeapplying full, forward to the firewall, thrust leversettings. Rather than accept a "sink" in altitudeand possible ground contact it is better to usethe "energy" already in the airplane with itsairspeed to maintain altitude or at least notdescend as much as you would if you pushedthe nose over to attempt to regain the lostspeed.

Windshears are most dangerous close to theground and any shear that is above 5000 feetare really not a problem other than encounte-ring turbulence. It is the shears that are closerto the ground while the airplane is "dirty" withits flaps and gear extended that are the mostdangerous.

Let's begin to plan for a Stabilized Approach tolanding.

My airline always TAUGHT the "stabilizedapproach concept". This simply means that theairplane is fully configured for landing PRIORto the Outer Marker with landing flaps and

Approach

landing gear down and with engines set at athrust setting that allows you to fly the SAMEspeed all the way down the ILS Glideslope.

Turn inbound to intercept the ILS from at least20 miles out, and at about an altitude of 5000feet above the GROUND!

When you are ON the ILS, watch for theGlideslope needle to begin to move down fromthe top of that instrument.

You should now be flying at about 180 knotswith 10 degrees of Flaps.

When the needle hits "one dot" or one levelABOVE center on your Glideslope, lower theflaps to 20 degrees, and put the landing geardown and reset your airspeed to 150 knots. Bythe time the gear is down you will have slowedback from 180 to the 150 knot speed and youshould then see that you are ON the center ofthe Glideslope. Now lower your flaps to 25 or30 degrees (we used 25 degrees most of thetime at NWA) and let theAUTOPILOT interceptthe Glideslope and establish your 150 knotspeed and to keep you on the centerline of theILS.

By the time you get TO the Outer Marker thatautopilot should have everything all "figuredout"! In other words you will be in EXACT trimfor all of the controls, the engines will have anEXACT N1 speed to maintain your 150 knots,and you will be ON the glideslope and on thecenter of the ILS.

From this point on, even if you turned theautopilot OFF, you shouldn't have to makeANY major changes inANYTHING!

That is a stabilized approach!

Let's now turn to a discussion of the actualapproach, and specifically CAT II and CAT IIIBapproaches and the actions and proceduresfor both.

Autopilot landings are completed, routinely,every day in the airline system. They arecompletely safe when used within limits ofcrosswind and turbulence and allow theaircraft to land with forward visibility as low as300 feet!

When an autoland is decided to be used by theCaptain a separate checklist is used for the


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Approach Check and the prescribed proce-dures are followed very closely. On my airlinethe approaches for CAT II and CAT III were allflown by the FIRST OFFICER. He had hishands on the control column while the Captainhandled all radio communication andmonitored BOTH instrument panels.

CAT II procedure:At the Decision Height specified on theApproach plate (usually 100 or 200 feet) theCaptain would have his hands also on thecontrol column and slightly behind the FirstOfficer's hand on the thrust levers. If there wasNO visibility at the DH the Captain gives thecommand to "Go-Around" to the First Officer(who has NEVER looked out the window butwho has continually watched his instruments)who then toggles the TOGA switch(Take-Off/Go-Around) and allows the autopilot tocomplete the Missed Approach procedure. If,however, there WAS runway "environment"(lights, markings, strobes, etc.) at the DH, theCaptain would have announced in a loud voice- "Landing". At this time the First Officer wouldhave relinquished any pressure he had on thecontrol column and would have removed hishands from the thrust levers. The Captainwould then pull the thrust levers to idle andcomplete the flare if he decided to disconnectthe autopilot for a manual landing after runwaysighting. His other option would be to allow theautopilot to complete the landing.

CAT III procedure:This procedure is still the same in that the F/Ois controlling the airplane through the autopilotwhile the Captain handles radio communicati-on and monitors both instrument panels andthe autopilot control panel for ANY warnings orflags that may indicate less than perfectalignment and that all THREE autopilots areworking as a team. This time as the INNERMARKER is passed (a WHITE LIGHT and arapid "beep beep beep" tone) and if there areNO warning flags, the Captain will announce"LANDING" and allow the autopilot to continuethe approach and touchdown. The pilots willNOT be able to see ANYTHING until thenosewheel is lowered to the pavement afterthe flare! If there had been ANYTHING notnormal or amiss during the approach theCaptain, again, would have given thecommand to "Go-Around" and the First Officer,through the use of the autopilot would havecompleted the MissedApproach.

All of this is designed to have one pilot at ALLTIMES watching the airplane instruments onhis panel and using the autopilot while theCaptain is able to compare his instrumentpanel to that of the F/O and to make thedecision to either continue to abandon theapproach. Since the F/O has always been"inside" the airplane with his vision he is in thebest condition to transition to the MissedApproach. And, since the Captain was lookingout the window for the CAT II approach he wasin the best position to transition for the landing.

This sounds a lot more complicated than itreally was! Autolands were neat and fun to do.Not as much fun as doing it yourself, however,and that is why MOST landings are done by thepilot. Why give away the good stuff?!

Usually what determines whether an airport isCAT III or CAT II is the surrounding terrainunder the approach path. This must be as levelas possible to allow the aircraft's radaraltimeter to get as accurate of a reading aspossible as it continues on down the path to therunway from the Middle Marker. Once thatcondition is met, either through man madeconstruction or natural flatness the transmit-ters are maintained to a higher degree ofaccuracy and side areas along thosetransmitters area kept free from groundvehicles and other obstructions that may tendto deflect the beam.

The times of weather at most airports whenthey are actually at CAT III minimums isactually quite small in MOST areas of theworld. London, Amsterdam, in fact mostEuropean capitols would be an exception butreally only Dulles Airport in the WashingtonDC area and Seattle in the Washington statecome to mind as well known foggy airports withenough long haul flights to support maintaininga CAT III operation.

The differences between the two categories, inthe airplane, require additional crew trainingand also a higher maintained standards forcertification down to CAT IIIb (and I DON'Tknow if there is a CAT IIIa or not!). For actualuse in Cat IIIb the airplane must haveEVERTHING working, i. e. all 3 Autopilots, 2separate Flight Directors and 2 radaraltimeters. CAT II can be performed with somecomponents inoperative.

The crew must do DIFFERENT "briefings" in


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Evacuation

the cockpit for each category and there aredifferent duties and CALL OUTS for eachcategory and it is NOT permitted for a crew to"change" from a CAT II to a CAT IIIb approachUNLESS they pull back up and go out at briefthemselves and reconfigure for the newapproach.

However, you can "brief" for a CAT IIIb andthen switch to a CAT II! So, guess what, Ialways briefed for the CAT IIIb and then wewere set no matter what!

CAT IIIb allows an approach and landing withvisibility of 600 feet and with NO ceilingrequirement.ACAT II usually requires a ceilingof at least 100 feet and visibilities in the 1200foot range.

The "carbon brakes" of the 747-400 series area great improvement over the older series747's and in fact do have "torque limits" toprevent heavy braking from DAMAGING thelanding gear section that is attached to thewing! In other words, if the pilot presses his footto the brake pedal for maximum stopping effortthe torque sensors in the wing mountedlanding gear will "relax" their maximum effort tonot exceed a value that may damage theactual structure of their installation.

A maximum effort brake use while on anaborted takeoff is about 98 percent sure toblow every tire on the main gear after a periodof 10-15 minutes due to heat buildup from thestoppage. Even with a medium braking effortand while at the ramp after arrival, if you shoulddo a walk-around of your airplane you will hearmuch "crinkling" and hissing as the brakestransfer their heat buildup to the metal wheelcasings... and I have seen a couple of timesairplanes that actually had wheels casings"glow" cherry red from the heat buildup.

Finally, as this party is WINDING down, and itmight be time to EVACUATE the Captain'sroom... grin, let's consider that our landing atJFK turned into a disaster. Something wentwrong, something failed, and we ended upOFF the end of the runway.

Wheel Brakes

Evacuation

If there is an incident aboard the aircraft thatwould require a passenger evacuation theflight and cabin crew follow specifiedchecklists to fully prepare the passengers forthe time that the order is given to evacuate thecabin. Examples of such times would be whenone or more landing gears do not extend or aloss of hydraulic pressure that may disable theaircraft's brake systems and when it issuspected that the airplane may overrun theavailable runway surface, or, if there is anengine fire or other fire in the airplane structureand when landing is needed as soon aspossible.

In the case of an engine fire the crew willcoordinate with the Cabin crew aboutUNUSEABLE Emergency Exits, such as thoseon the SIDE of the fire. Or, if there is a fairlygood crosswind blowing across the runway inuse most evacuations will be primarily to theupwind side.

Without going into specific airline "codes" itshould suffice to say that there should be noevacuation started until the command is givenfrom the cockpit. In airplanes with wingmounted engines you can surely see the needfor them to be shut down before the evacuationover the wing positioned exit doors are started.

On occasions that a violent landing might beimminent the Cabin Crew will have thepassengers practice the "brace" position forthe contact on the runway. This will include thepassengers leaning forward in their seats andthe grasping of their ankles! Bet you haveheard that one before... bend over... here itcomes!

If there is time before the actual landing theCaptain should always speak to the passen-gers and describe in at least the elementarydetail of what will be involved in the actuallanding. If he is too busy attending to justkeeping the airplane in the air he will delegatethat little "fireside" chat to the Flight Engineeror in the case of 2 man airplanes to the LeadFlight Attendant after he has briefed him/her insufficient detail to allow the correct passage ofinformation.

There are other coordinated efforts going onoutside of the airplane in the event of seriousemergencies and that is when the Airline'sDispatch Office helps assist the flight crew.They will be in direct contact with the Control


352


Tower via telephone lines and with the FireDepartments at each airport. Again, winds willbe discussed and the fire trucks will plan toapproach the airplane from the upwind side. If"foaming" of the runway is deemed necessarythe planning back and forth of how long that willtake versus the amount of fuel on board theairplane and of how long it can stay in the air isalso taken into account.

I never had an incident or accident thatrequired an emergency evacuation but due tothe excellent flight simulators I was able to actas if I had had such an emergency at least 64times during my 64 6 month checkrides for myairline!

This ENDS my portion of this manual, I hopethat you now understand, a bit better thesystems and operation of the 747-400, and Ihope that you continue to enjoy the wonderfulworld of that airplane, that is presented to you,right at home on your computer, from HardyHeinlin and hisAerowinx company.

I can tell you that my enjoyment of this softwareis almost beyond words, as whenever I get a bithomesick for the old cockpit, I simply load inPS1 and am transported back to the old"office"!

Regards,

Cap'n Tarmack

the inaugural flight - aerowinx · the 747-400 is a massive airplane that really put the meaning...

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