The red barron 41 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Commence operation get to Vilnius! I’m posting this part today, as I’m due to depart tomorrow (because that makes sense) Yes, yes it does. Hello and welcome to leg 9 of the ATWC; I am TRB and I will be you captain for this leg. This is not necessarily a good thing, as readers of previous ATWC’s will know that I have a habit of things going wrong for me, oh yes I’ve done this before (What was I thinking?). Here’s hoping that my ATWC number of 13 doesn’t come back to haunt me and wreak havoc (“There is superstition”) Mikael are you sure this was a good idea to entrust me with the batton?!? Yes this is a multi part flight and not wanting to be outdone by Matt, with his various flights just to get Sundsvall- Harnosand; I too have jumped on that band wagon and so you’ll get the same with me, except I will only take one post to get to the start. Actually, as I have a new system, this may or may not have been a test flight to make sure everything worked With Brian having successfully navigated his way to Vilnius it was my turn to take charge. However I was still in the UK when he landed and so I have one of Mikael’s finest brief phone calls: “Brian is in Vilnius, you’re not. Get there, and don’t break the bank doing it” That was it. So under careful instruction of not breaking the bank I jumped on line and found a Ryanair flight for £35, leaving from Standsted going direct, so I booked. To further save the credit card I made a few phone calls and secured the jump seat. Oh yes, I wasn’t going to fly myself to Vilnius and risk breaking a 737-800 (Because I totally haven’t done that before!!) “Cough” ATWC2 “cough” But there was also a more important reason I needed to get to Vilnius; Boeing were waiting for me. I can’t really talk about why, yet as that comes in part two! This was the view that greeted me a 16:45 on chilly afternoon, this would be home for the next few hours. The only thing to do now was to set up my Go Pro, which actually stayed on Kieran! And to get comfy. Before too long, the flight deck door was closed and locked, with the Captain asking for push back clearance. Waiting for the release brakes call from the push back tug This would be our route tonight to Vilnius Taxiing out to Runway 22 for departure, as we do the First Officer, who tonight is the pilot monitoring hands me a piece of paper, with basic flight information: Cruise of FL370 Flight time of around 2hours 15 minutes We would have to hold for a few moments whilst an Easyjet A320 landed and the aircraft in front took off. So the captain took my camera and took a picture of the dusk sky. He also kindly made sure the Go Pro was on and recording. Getting artsy fartsy with my camera at the hold point Soon we had permission to take off, so we taxied onto the runway, the captain called “Ready?” to which myself and the FO both responded with “Ready!” resulting in the captain calling the best word on the flight deck, “Ok, TAKEOFF!” “Thrust set” “Check” Just airborne from STN, and about to turn onto the departure route. VLO and Brian here I come! Climbing out of the English Channel; this is where the Go Pro was clamped. Now cruising at FL370. At this point I started to talk to the crew who were inquisitive about the ATWC and also my special assignment from Boeing that I can’t really talk about. Yet. We also discussed the weather, which didn’t look to good for VLO, with snow forecast and a low cloud base, this was going to definitely be an ILS approach. We got so engrossed in our conversation that I completely forgot to take more cruise pictures. The conversation was only stopped when the FO and the captain were discussing the decent brief and planning the decent. Time for me to let them go to work. This was to be flaps 30 landing, with Autobrakes 2, and full reverse, ILS Runway 20 at VLO Vilnius itself from above, as we pass through FL150. “Cabin crew thank you for your hard work; ten minutes to landing” Mmmmmmm cloud, things are about to get turbulent! Tis but art “Plus Hundred” “Continue, disconnecting” With that we were all set, landing checklist complete, landing clearance obtained, and the autopilot had now been taken off; and the cabin was secure. Time to land, “Don’t slam it” I mumbled Rolling out towards the end of the runway, as we missed the last turn off and so would have to go all way down to the other end. As I said, the weather was bad. Taxiing to a remote stand, this is Ryanair after all; no jet bridge for us! On stand and all shut down a full twenty minutes early. After taking this image I thanked the crew heavily, who were also staying in Vilnius tonight and left the aircraft. Jump seat flying is the only way to travel. (Unless you’re the pilot of course) The Ryanair 737-800 that bought me to Vilnius, now to find Brian, get the baton, apologise for being late and head to the hotel, which was paid for by Boeing (I told you this was important business I was here on) Coming up in part 2! I actually fly a plane, not just jump seat, and also actually fly to where I’m supposed to be going which is Rivne International in Ukraine. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this far and come back for more in part 2, coming at some point tomorrow. Add-ons used: PMDG 737NGX, FSDT GSX, FTX Global 1.30, JF Traffic X. MORE SOON! TRB Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 <grin> Well done, TRB / barron / barren / Baron (sheesh, and I thought I had a list of aliases).... Congratulations on having survived a trip with FrightninAir, too (with that lot, the jump seat has to be much more comfortable than being down the back, which says a lot, really), and good luck for your encounter with Boeing tomorrow! Great shots — I look forward to hearing about your next leg. Cheers, Bruce a.k.a. etc. etc. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 What's this.. from someone named The red Barron I was expecting some dog fighting along the way Nicely done saving on the cost for the leg, I'll send over some biscuits as a reward, shipping it from Sweden shouldn't be to expensive As to trusting you with the Baton, considering you're a seasoned veteran of the ATWC and the current record holder for most legs flown in a section (if I remember correctly) I'm sure you can take good care of the precious cargo Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Good one Red. Although Ryanair for £35. Hahahahaha Very nice shots. Looking forward to leg 2. Link to post Share on other sites
The red barron 41 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Although Ryanair for £35. Hahahahaha That was the price I genuinely found on Kayak! Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Great start...and night themed! All to easy to do in those short days up there. Pat and I have slogged our way back to the Bay area, and I am looking forward to reading more. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites
The red barron 41 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Thanks for all the comments so far. Folks, Part 2 will be delayed! I have a family emergency that I need to deal with, so there is likely going to be a 24 - 48 hour delay. I am sorry about this. But it will be worth waiting for! Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 No rush TRB, I am waiting for you in Rivne.....Only trouble is the ba**ards have thrown me in jail? Damn, I just wasted my one phone call! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Not again J G!!! Or was it Brett that was the notorious jail bird last time? No worries TRB, family and real life commitments comes first! Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,314 Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hope all is well by you and everything works out RB. Looking forward to reading part two and seeing you in something other than the kiddie seat. Great dusk shot and night pics. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,497 Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hi TRB, I enjoyed your 'positioning' flight I hope your emergency has been dealt with now and your next flight goes well. Link to post Share on other sites
The red barron 41 Posted February 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 LEG 9 PART 2! - HOLD ON TIGHT! WE'RE GOING PLACES!! Hello and welcome back to LEG 9 of the ATWC. First of all let me start with an apology; I’m so sorry this has taken a week between parts, but life took over and I needed to sort out some life stuff, hence the delay. I’m also sorry for the return of the parking brake message. I had to rebuild my CFG and forgot to set this back to False (I did remember HIGHMEMFIX though!) Anyway when I left you in Vilnius, I had just landed in from Standsted having survived a jump seat flight on a Ryanair 737; on an important mission for Boeing which I couldn’t talk about, well now I can. The whole reason I’m here is because Boeing were here with another 737-800, only this one was a test aircraft with some rather fancy kit on it; and they were going to entrust me with it (Have they read my track record with these things?!?) You see Rivne is actually like most Ukrainian International airports, it's not used at all, the closest open being Kiev. So for the Boeing test team, it was the perfect environment. Long enough runway, large enough parking and no one to get in the way. This would be ideal for the new kit for the 737MAX that they wanted to test. Apparently they wanted to test a revision to the HUGS software and to the ILS capability; only kit that mattered on landing then!! There was also apparently and upgrade to the brakes and something that they wouldn’t disclose, but apparently couldn’t affect the aircraft in flight. The original plan had been (according to them anyway) to fly multiple approaches with a multitude of issues (engine failure, loss of controls ect) to see what would happen, but the weather put an end to that, as they needed at least a clear day. Oh boy were they not getting that! You’ll see later. So, having booked facilities for Rivne (and needing to get the baton there) they decided to fly to Rivne, and wait the weather out, and agreed that I could fly (I thought that was why I'm here in the first place?) So anyway at 06:00 I was picked up from the hotel that they paid for, to be driven to Vilnius. Ironically the same Ryanair crew that flew me here were also checking out. By 07:00 Local, I’d arrived at the aircraft steps. As you can see, the weather in Vilnius wasn’t that great. As you can see from the clock by 07:12 I was on the flight deck (the clock is set to GMT/UTC as per real world) Sadly the first officer Boeing provided didn’t like the cold and so powered up before I could get a true C&D shot This would be our route to Vilnius. Cruise of FL280, and about 40 minutes flight time. Once the FMC had been fed a healthy breakfast of information, and the IRS’s had aligned I flicked the light test switch. Many things lit up. Many. Many, Many lights came on. Causing a brief conversation of the obvious: “If it does this in flight we have an issue” “You don’t say!” Soon, it was time to go backwards. On the count of three; 1, 2, 3, PUSH!! Oh not like that? Ok. One of the engineers down the back had a camera, and agreed to take pictures for me, and securely hold on the baton. Like I said the weather was bad, you can see the sun struggling to come through. “Cleared to start right hand side” Soon both engines were consuming “lotion de motion” and making some noise (and thrust) TO THE RUNWAY! The Go Pro’s back! This weather was enough to stop Boeing from conducting their tests with me flying. Apparently it’s worse in Rivne. V1: 122, VR:124 V2:127 Hey this HUGS looks like the one currently on the 737NG “Oh yeah it will, the changes are all backend code and not to the UI, you'll be fine” Mere seconds after takeoff, and already in the thick of it. This cloud base is why no formal testing could take place 90 seconds after takeoff, and well above the cloud now. I thought this was a 737 not a rocket ship! Nope, clearly this is a rocket for NASA in disguise as a 737. That or this is lightly loaded. Probably the later. The wing during a left turn in the climb to FL280 Someone has put a giant orb of light in the sky! Soon we were cruising, nice and peaceful up here. Visibility was excellent “Why couldn’t it be this clear in Rivne, half of me wants this weather report to be wrong” “So do I so I can break it” I replied “WHAT” “Nothing” “I’ve spilt my coffee!” came a cry from down the back It then became time to get arty with the camera. Again. More art It was then time to plan the decent and planning. Fly it towards the floor and then have a controlled crash on the right runway and at the right airport, apparently is not a satisfactory briefing This was the chart (thanks John) We were hoping for ILS runway 12 so that we could run down to the other end and vacate straight to a stand. The ILS would also allow for some testing. To the floor, sorry descending in a controlled manor. Yes that is a decent rate of 3400FPM. I am after all flying with a test pilot for a first officer; plus its fun to do something that you wouldn’t do with self handling cargo, sorry passengers in the back. “Why can I hear the baton rolling around?” A few clouds, surely that can’t be it if we had to cancel the testing? As we got lower, more cloud appeared, but not enough to delay testing. Either way no testing was to take place, the fuel load had been reduced as we were just ferrying the aircraft to Rivne. AH! Hello clouds! “Hmmm, they’re a problem” “I sure hope your changes didn’t break the ILS equipment, because we’re going to need it!” We would be landing ILS 12, just what we planned for and wanted About to turn onto the ILS, thankfully so far everything was working. Surely it couldn’t go wrong now? Could it? “Uhh why is that only in single channel mode?” I enquired Hopefully it will change once we get on the Glideslope as well” came the response Well it didn’t change to LAND3, so the autopilot would still have to be disconnected and the last minute or so manually flown “I can’t see the runway yet” I proclaimed, still above minimums “Me neither, wait what are those lights off to the right?” “OH S**T!!” There was then a mass panic as the runway suddenly appeared off to the right of us! The ILS was lining us up for a field. Flying in the right direction, but not at the runway! I decided we were still far enough out to do something about this, so with everything as it should be, gear down, flaps at 30, and the landing checklist completed; I disconnected the auto pilot and lined us up manually. Thankfully the weather wasn’t that bad so we had time to do something about it “Hmm that needs fixing” the F/O highlighted; I returned a disapproving look. With the runway located, I “firmly” put the aircraft down, and the baton, still loose made its way merrily down towards the back of the aircraft, from the front galley. There are no taxi pictures, because as planned there was no taxi! We vacated and right in front of us were the ground crew, waiting. The man in the Hi-Vis waived some sticks at me in a frantic fashion. So I helpfully ignored him. Doesn’t he know I’m the captain and therefore I’m right? There we are all shut down on stand, as you can see from the clock; we flew for just 49 minutes. Well short of the planed 2.5 hour testing session! On stand, now just to find the baton before I find the next adventurer, who will hopefully have better weather than I did! Now where was the baton last seen rolling to? So, does my ATWC number of 013 have some bad luck with it? Well the leg was delayed and then the weather cancelled my planed testing with Boeing; although not that this would have happened, as the kit didn’t work! But I didn’t break anything, so that’s a bonus. Thanks for reading (and putting up with the delay) perhaps I'll fly the baton somewhere else later on in the challenge. TRB Add-ons used: PMDG 737NGX, FTX Global, GSX, JF Traffic X Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,497 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Well done Ed, I enjoyed the PIREP it was worth waiting for. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Nice trip Ed, glad you got your non flight issues sorted out, satisfactorily hopefully. It appears that we many need to issue a can of blue touch up paint to ride along with the baton...or attach some velcro to it, as it seems to be taking a beating this round. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Excellent pics and story there Ed! Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,314 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Great finish, a shame you didn't get your testing in but then again I don't no how much more the baton could take. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 The battered baton WILL RETURN! :-D Well done, Ed, and congratulations on an amazing landing. Great pics, too. Cheers, B. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Great flight Ed! I just hate it when an ILS throws you a curve ball, and it always seems to happen when one needs it the most. Good thing you two found the runway despite the tech-failure... But I think we might have to have a chat with Boeing.. How dare they risk the Baton in a faulty test plane!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
The red barron 41 Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Thanks for the comments, I'm glad this was worth waiting for. Micke, they're called test pilots for a reason! I think the more important issue here is that they dropped the baton and let to roll round for the whole decent and landing, poor baton's going to need to be repaired soon if it keeps getting damaged like this! Link to post Share on other sites
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