Aviation English Skills Online

12/04/2020

Across the globe, we find ourselves in lockdown as a result of the pandemic. Sadly, at the time of writing this post, approximately 1.8 million have contracted the virus and more than 110,000 lives have been lost.

Millions of jobs have also been lost due to the forced closure of businesses. The aviation industry has been hit hard as airlines have been forced into grounding most if not ALL of their aircraft fleets. Not to mention uncountable Flight Crew, Cabin Crew, Airport Terminal Staff, Refuellers, Baggage Handlers, Travel Agents, Tour Operators and the like, who have lost their jobs! The Aviation Industry has not seen anything like this event since World War 2. The fall-out from all this is undoubtedly going to have VERY serious and lasting implications, once the world is virus free. So is there anything positive which arising from all this?

Each jetliner burns thousands of kilograms on an average flight. Worldwide more than 6 million kilograms of fuel is burned of by jetliners! 'Countless' tons of spent fuel is exhausted as a gas into the Earth's atmosphere each day.

Over the past three weeks, with the grounding of airline fleets, the pollution in our atmosphere has started to show significant and measurable reductions. In countries such as India, the snow-capped Himalayan mountain range is coming back into view from many locations in the North of the country, for the first time in many years.

At least some good is starting to come to the forefront in this crisis. "Every cloud has a silver lining" as they say. . . . and we are starting to see those clouds with silver linings up in the atmosphere once again!

27/06/2019

What happens if a Plane gets struck by lightening?

I'm sure many of you would have flown in stormy weather at some stage in the past. Did you ever wonder what might happen if your plane got struck by lightening? Well, in my flying career this actually happened to an aircraft I was flying, twice! On one of those occasions, I certainly knew about it!

Many years ago, I was conducting a late night medi-vac flight in the northern part of Australia. It was a dark and stormy night in the tropics and I had been dodging thunderstorms by use of the cockpit weather radar onboard.

Suddenly, I lost virtually all of my electrical instrumentation in the cockpit, including lighting. It was pitch black except for occasional momentary flashes of lightening outside, which temporarily lit up the cockpit. I reached for a flashlight/torch which was secured to the lower console by my seat. I noted that the weather radar screen was dead . . . with no indication of storms in my path. All electrical equipment was unserviceable including the radios, except for a single HF radio, that had been switched off earlier as I was in VHF range of Darwin International Airport. I knew by this stage that it was highly likely that we had been hit by a lightening strike. The only flight instruments I had were standby pitot-static (operated by air and air pressure) instruments which continued to indicate airspeed, vertical speed, altitude and attitude . . . . sufficient for me to keep on flying the plane safely with wings level.

Suddenly, we hit very severe turbulence, with a severe downdraught, followed by a severe updraught . . . I had flown into the core of a thunderstorm and trying to keep the aircraft under control at times, proved very difficult! Using the HF radio, I was able to make contact with Darwin International Airport although there was a lot of static interference on the radio.

Darwin International gave me a couple of vectors to fly, before they were able to confirm my position, because the radar transponder onboard (which puts a blip on their screen) had also failed. Suffice to say that within a few minutes they were able to guide us around the worst of the weather and guide us to a final approach. We landed at Darwin safely, thankfully.

Generally, lightening strikes to aircraft are not so much of a concern to flight operations today, because of special conductive surface materials and static wicks which are designed to minimise the impact of lightening bolts. Having said this though, any prudent pilot would make every endeavour to steer well clear of thunderstorms in their locality!

This is a great short video which I feel, explains the effect of lightening strikes to aircraft very well!

Happy flying guys!

Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXrqTUVN7G8

22/07/2018

When your family car is passed down from you to new owners, somewhere down the line they end up in a wreckers yard. Did you ever wonder what happens to something like a huge Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet when it reaches the end of its useful lifespan?

Well, they also end up in wreckers yards - otherwise known as 'airplane graveyards'. There are several 'graveyards' around the globe allocated for this purpose. One of the largest Boeing graveyards is in the Mojave Desert in the USA. Here are hundreds if not thousands of retired jet aircraft. This short video documentary gives you a good impression of one such graveyard.

For info, A Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet has a useful average lifespan of around 100,000 hours in the air, which is around 11.5 years airborne! Some 747's have had much greater use though.

If you've ever traveled from Phoenix to Tucson you may have seen them, hundreds of airplanes sitting out in the desert. They are all at a huge facility calle...

18/06/2017

Where do Flight crew get rest on L O N G flights?
In 1903, American Orville Wright piloted the first powered flight, The flight in North Carolina USA lasted 12 seconds and covered just 120 feet.
On Saturday 24th March next year, QANTAS flight QF9 will take off from Perth International Airport in Western Australia at 6:50pm and arrive at London Heathrow airport in England the following day. QF9 will fly half way around the world nonstop. Leaving a balmy summer behind in Perth, the QANTAS Boeing 787 aircraft will land in freezing winter conditions in London. Because of time difference between the UK and Australia, the aircraft will be in the air for over 17 hours (depending on wind). It will cover approximately 14,500kms and therefore QF9 will adopt the title of ‘the longest nonstop air route on the planet’.
Because of the extra-long flight time, additional flight crew need to be carried - Two more pilots and extra cabin crew. As it is important for the crew to get a well-deserved rest during such a long flight, special crew rest facilities are provided on the Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft. The pilot’s rest cabin is positioned behind the cockpit and above the first class compartment. This facility has one business class seat and two bunk beds, separated by thick curtains to give the pilots a small amount of privacy. The rest area for flight attendants is located at the rear of the plane, just above the economy passenger compartment.
What would Orville Wright have thought about this antipodean flight 114 years ago? The mind boggles!

Enjoy the shared TomoNews YouTube video showing the 787 Dreamliner crew rest below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biFO06uxiws

CHICAGO — The secret compartments where cabin crew rest on board long-haul flights have been revealed in photos online. Photographs of secret rest cabins for...

25/04/2016

One of the things I most loved to do when I was a child in the 1970's was to construct model airplanes. They came in a kit and usually consisted of a great number of plastic parts which were stuck together with glue. Even included in some model aircraft boxes were the 'stick-on' airline colour schemes.

Who would think that 45 years later, the Boeing aircraft factory in Seattle USA would be making plastic airplanes! Today, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is largely constructed from composite carbon fibre. Much of the main body fuselage and the wings and tailplanes are constructed from plastic instead of metal. This makes the finished product much lighter which means that it is far more fuel efficient.

Please enjoy this speeded up (2 min) YouTube video below of a new Air India 787 Dreamliner aircraft being constructed in the Boeing factory!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFW5fgypGtY

Take a look at how we assembled the 787 Dreamliner for Air India.

01/10/2015

Recently, I visited the magnificent Woodbridge house situated on the banks of the Swan River in Perth’s beautiful Swan Valley. The 1885 homestead was built by Charles Harper a wealthy gentleman, to house his family of twelve. Surrounded by vineyards, the homestead sits in a very picturesque area in close proximity to Perth International airport. The homestead itself is situated directly beneath the mid-final approach path of Runway 21.

On the day I visited Woodbridge House, the stillness and tranquillity of the afternoon was briefly interrupted with the passage of EK420 a huge Emirates Airbus 380 airliner thundering down final approach, landing into the sea breeze. It was at that moment that the concept of how much technology has advanced over the past 130 years really hit me.

Back in 1885, transportation to Australia from the Middle East was undertaken by the ‘new’ P&O and Orient Lines steamships. The journey from Port Said (Suez Canal) to Fremantle (Perth’s local shipping port) took in excess of 3 weeks. The diagonal sea crossing over the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean was arduous and at times uncomfortable, especially for the passengers travelling in Steerage Class. In contrast, the overflying Emirates Flight EK420 was just two minutes from touchdown after completing basically the same route as those steamships (Dubai to Perth) in just over ten hours!

Back when Charles Harvey and his family were living at Woodbridge House, aviation hadn’t even been invented. Indeed, the concept of air transportation was nothing more than a dream. What would Charles have thought had he been able to see into the future? Flying at 85% of the speed of sound and well above 40 000 feet above the ground, the Emirates Airbus 380 jetliner carries up to 500 passengers in relative luxury.

The resourcefulness and ingenuity of mankind has brought us to this point in 2015. Can you possibly imagine air travel in 130 years from now? The mind boggles!

Paul Darwin
Aviation English Skills Online

16/05/2015

DO JETS NEED POWER TO FLY?

Aviation Quiz Question:
Just how much power /thrust is required to keep an aircraft airborne (flying in the air)?
a) 75% b) 40% c) 0%

As long as the aircraft has vertical height above the ground, absolutely no thrust is required! Even the largest airliners will glide to ground level without power. So if you answered c) you are correct! Indeed, the higher an aircraft flies the further it will be able to glide. The best descent profiles for jets is ‘thrust cut off’ (idle engines) from the top of descent, right down to the start of the approach phase. This saves a lot of fuel if the pilots can achieve it.

Amazingly, in July 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 experienced total engine failure at an altitude of 42 000 feet above ground level. The crew, unable to restart the engines, flew the aircraft for almost 150 kms and even managed to successfully land the jet on a disused WW2 runway near Winnipeg in Canada – totally without engine power!

In 1985 the Captain, Robert Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal received the well-deserved Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship for their handling of this powerless flight.

www.aviationenglishskills.com

日本の航空会社のパイロットのための英語のトレーニング,

18/07/2014

Why? Another Malaysia Airlines aircraft is down. My heart goes out to all those people who have died, and the families they leave behind. What astounds me though is why Malaysia Airlines would fly over a known war zone? Not to mention, why the UN and ICAO would permit civilian aircraft to plan air-routes over a war-zone? This is a tragic and futile loss of innocent civilian lives and another huge blow to Malaysia Airlines.

14/04/2014

Because of Murphy!

According to the US National Transportation Safety Bureau, there’s a one in 90 million chance of being killed in a plane crash, with three-quarters of passengers surviving, in even the most serious of crashes. Indeed, your airline flight is statistically a lot, lot safer than the taxi trips you take to the airport.

So, are airline safety briefings really necessary?

The simple answer is yes! Have you heard of Murphy’s Law? Murphy is the aviation industry’s worst enemy! Anything that could possibly go wrong in the air will, and usually at the worst possible time. The flight crew and cabin crew on any aircraft try to make sure that they are always ‘one step ahead’ of Murphy - by running through endless checks and delivering safety briefings to all on board. To follow, are just a few facts that most passengers probably don’t realise about some aspects of safety briefings.

Seatbelts, Seat-backs and Tray tables

Seatbelt protection is not just for crashes! Have you ever been in a vehicle, travelling at over 200 km/hr and then slamming on the brakes? Inertia will send you flying - literally, (unless you are strapped in)! Most passenger jets reach this kind of speed before they become airborne. If the flight crew notice any serious abnormality, or obstruction before “V1” decision speed, they will, in the interests of safety, abort the take-off and apply reverse thrust and heavy braking (especially on short runways so they can stop before they run off the end of the runway). This happens more often than people think! If your seat-back is reclined during take-off it can cause head, neck or even spinal injuries, not only to yourself but to the poor passenger sitting behind you. The tray table, you leave down can also cause injuries and obstructs the safe evacuation of passengers sitting next to you. In the cruise, it’s always a good idea to keep your belt fastened too, even though the seat belt sign is off. CAT (Clear air turbulence) is invisible to aircraft radar and often strikes without warning. Severe CAT can cause neck injuries or even worse if the aircraft drops suddenly. That fastened seatbelt around your lap will always protect you. Whenever seated - keep your belt fastened.

Life-vests

As an experienced pilot, the first thing I do when flying as a passenger (and reminded by the flight attendant about the location of the life-vest), is to check that it is actually where it is supposed to be! Souveniring of life jackets/vests on aircraft is NOT uncommon. On one flight, I discovered my life vest was missing and after notifying the crew, I was cordially moved to another seat. Life vests are there for a reason, they do save lives!

Next time you fly, afford the cabin crew 3 minutes of attention. It’s in the interests of your safety. Together, we can all stay one step ahead of Murphy! :)

Posted by: www.aviationenglishskills.com

08/04/2014

Are you PTEROMERHANOPHOBIC?

Huh? :( “What’s that?” you may ask.

Are you afraid of flying?
Pteromerhanophobia - the fear of flying. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, or aviophobia.

With more than 10,000 hours in the air (nearly 9000 at the controls) I’m definitely not fearful of flying - in fact I feel much safer ‘up there’ than ‘down here’! Let’s just compare road statistics with air travel

Some Smart Ass will always tell you that flying isn't dangerous, but crashing is! True. But talking about crashing, how often DO planes crash? If you consider the statistics, very, very, very few!

• A study conducted in 2004 in the US found that for every 10 million people, 772 people were likely to die of an accident on the road. This compared with 1 person in every 10 million people who would die from an air crash!

What about all those weird noises we hear when we are on board?

The drilling sound prior to takeoff and on approach to landing?
That's the sound of the flaps being extended on the wings. The flaps, increase the area and curvature of the wing when extended to facilitate low-speed flying for take-off and Landing. Flaps are driven by a screw mechanism that causes the ‘dentist’s drill’ noise you hear.

A high-pitched whine prior to takeoff?
Well, that's the sound of the engines spooling up for takeoff. (Just like you press the accelerator to go up a hill in a car!) Once airborne, the pilot will reduce power, and later during cruise the engine sound becomes more of a hum than a whine.

Rattling during takeoff or turbulence? That's the sounds of all our hand luggage and things being jostled in overhead bins and other parts of the cabin due to engine vibrations on take-off or turbulence during flight. Runways get a lot of use, and like roads they can be a bit bumpy at times too!

A thump beneath the floor after taking off? That's the landing gear going up into the belly of the aircraft and the doors to the landing gear bay being shut. Raising the gear ‘cleans the aircraft up’ so it get rid of the drag and can fly faster.

A loud roar following touchdown? That's the sound of the thrust reversers, which help to slow the aircraft once it's on the runway. They literally reverse the flow of the air through the engines, which is why they are so loud. Aircraft are designed to stop using brakes alone, but flight crews use the thrust reversers to save wear and tear on the brakes.

Enjoy your next flight guys! And do as the captain tells you - ‘Sit back, relax and enjoy the service’ – up there at 37,000ft there is no safer place to be! :)

www.aviationenglishskills.com

Hope you enjoyed reading this

01/04/2014

hãng hàng không phi công!
航空公司飞行员
航空会社の操縦士

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31/03/2014

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