Jess-b 420 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 There are few things i hate more on Earth than the Sun and being too hot. Goth's generally avoid the daylight hours and black velvet on a warm summers day is not a pleasant thing. So meeting Joe in the heart of the Middle east, surrounded by desert and blazing sunshine isn't my idea of fun. Baton received I find myself waylaid for several days trying to arrange something to fly. Muscat doesn't have much of a GA culture and its more than a few days before I start ringing the big companies to try and get an aircraft. giving my current affinity for Airbus, I ring up Toulouse about getting hold of a demonstrator aircraft, one of the old A320's or A330's to help me get across the Gulf and into India. they tell me they'll get back to me. In the mean time, I'm left at the airport, avoiding the daylight and hoping to get to India soon, if for no other reason than the fact I can't find a fricking bar! The morning comes and Airbus tell me they've dispatches something for me. It's due in this afternoon and should be ready for flight in the evening. Drinking another cup of the strongest black coffee I've ever had, I sigh, relieved to be leaving in the evening . The view up front As the sun is setting I get my gate assignment and head out to the ramp to inspect what I think will be an A320. It's not. Sitting on stand is a bloody great big A350 Demonstrator. This monster is so much more than I was expect. Wearing the colours of Qatar airways along side the Airbus markings, I scramble on board to see what's what. New as they come, and a lot bigger than I had planned. The A350 is new, really new, but thank god there's enough of the familiar Airbus know how for me to feel right at home. getting prepped I get the APU running for the Air con to kick in and settle down and sort my route out. The conditions are perfect and I'll be departing on runway 26 for Karachi and on to Ahemdabad. It's a nice simple route that'll bring me in on runway 23. The sun setting is my cue to get out of here. Its almost dark as I taxi out, having taken just a little longer to add my route to the FMC than expected. The new units are a little different than the usual MCDU. Still, the aircraft feels alot heavier than my usual A320. Lined up and ready to go Takeoff is swift and soon I'm saying goodbye to Muscat and my mind is already thinking about Barcardi's as we climb out of the gulf and head towards Karachi. It's actually a quiet aircraft and with little to see out of the windows, Bye Bye. On our way to Bacardi, urrr, I mean Ahmedabad I spend my time tormenting the Purser by asking for coffee's, tea's, snacks and just for fun, adjusting the cabin heat, just to keep him busy. He doesn't take it well and part way through the flight, the flight attendant tells me the Purser has 'curled up in a ball' in the rear lavatory. I pop back to apologise and things seem fine. Popping back to apologise Karma is a bitch though. 80NM from Karachi and roughly half way through the flight, the number 2 engine catches fire. I get it shut down and get the fire out, but there's no way I'm making it to Ahmedabad tonight. Instead Karachi switches from being a waypoint to a destination. Engine 2 smoking, despite this being a non smoking flight. I call ATC and let them know about the diversion. We're cleared to arrive on any runway. With one engine out and nothing but ocean below, things start to get tense, so it's a relief when the lights of Karachi appear on the horizon. Lights of home. I rely on the Autopilot to fly the aircraft onto final before I take over for landing. surprisingly the A350 does a great job of asymmetric thrust and the approach feels almost normal. As we touch down, I breathe a sigh of relief and taxi on one engine to the maintenance area. Airbus aren't going to be pleased with me. Almost there. And Down. Phew! As it turns out, the guys in Toulouse are more concerned with my safety than the aircraft and are very keen to hear my thoughts on how the aircraft handled a one engine approach. If I was a suspicious person, I'd think they planned that failure on purpose. The aircraft is going to need a full engine overhaul though and the tam from RR are on their way to sort it. It means though that the aircraft I had hoped would take me to a bar in Ahmedabad is going to spend some quality time in Karachi, with me in toe. Not so say Airbus. They reassure me that a fresh aircraft will be on stand for me by morning. Tired, I thank them before I head to the nearest hotel for the night. Early next morning and I'm back at the airport. In the corner I can See RR inspecting the A350's engine. Poor old thing. Whilst they look for the old, I look for my new aircraft. Again I'm expecting an A320 or even the old A310 or A300, give what happened with they're newest aircraft. What I find is a shock to say the least. The A300 looks like a new aircraft compared to what greets me at the gate. Sitting, looking rather happy with itself is an old Pan Am 727-200. I've no idea where it's come from and my first thought is that its some kind of joke. It turns out this was the only thing Airbus could find at such short notice. Time for a little Time Travel This particular B727 is in the process of being restored, and Its currently making its way to Kansas to be a museum piece. Apparently it's been sat in some sheiks private collection. Its rust free, but I'm not seeing the resorted stuff yet. Getting into the cockpit alone fills me with dread. A black light hear would leave this thing looking like a CSI crime scene. It gets worse. This baby predates FMC's, Even INS so I'll be using VOR only to reach Ahmedabad. I'm also left to run this thing as a single crew. No flight engineer at all. Great. It takes me 30 minutes to get the engines running. Lined up.... And Raring to go. The sheer amount of switches is mind boggling. However, unlike the A350, this old girl feels alive and she's keen to fly. So getting airborne isn't too much of a problem. Sure she rattles like everything's about to fall off, and there's no Autothrottle to help keep things running smoothly. She does however fly like an angle and this is only a short 45 minute flight. My route takes me along the northern Indian coast to Bhuj before I turn inland for Ahmedabad. It's simple and as the sun comes up over the nose, the world seems an okay place to be, For about ten minutes. An alarm bell brings my attention to the present. Unbelievably, Engine 3 has a fire and for the second time in two days, I have to shut down an engine. This time it's my own fault. No autothrottle mean I've left the engines overheat at takeoff thrust. All three are showing signs of heat damage, but number three is the first to go. I pull the power back on the remaining engines and all the gauges slip below the redlines I'd missed. Number 3 getting a little hot. Thank god we're just 60NM from Ahmedabad. Well, it's not good news there either. The current weather is poor. Forget the clear skies I took off in, the arrival airport is sitting under an overcast sky and has just 4NM of visibility available. Oh and only one runway has an ILS, and its not the one I'm heading to. Descending into the gloom below Sighing, I get down to 3000 feet and circle the airport to land. The ILS at least is working and soon I'm lined up for the approach. The landing is not as easy as the A350, requiring a boatload of rudder to keep the aircraft straight. I make it though and Once again I park up on the maintenance stand and call it a day. It's still early in the morning, but thankfully there's a bar open and a bottle of Bacardi with my name on it. The baton and I are about to drown our sorrows. And down, now where's that bar? 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ddavid 149 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Too much excitement for one day, eh?!? Nicely done and some excellent shots - Thanks. Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 <grin> It seems that as far as aircraft were concerned you went from the sublime to the ridiculous there, Jess. Slightly expensive on engines, but the baton got through, which is the main thing. Congratulations! :-) Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747 Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Blimey - we are having more than our fair share of troubles this challenge! Two engine fires well dealt with Jess - and I share you dislike for the heat! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Oh dear Jess, that was one expensive flight.. Fingers crossed Airbus will pick up the bill on both those repairs Now go grab that Bacardi, I'd say you've deserved a whole bottle Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,497 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Yikes what an adventure! Tut tut on the overheat, I will have to send Brian around to show you how it should be done Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Yikes what an adventure! Tut tut on the overheat, I will have to send Brian around to show you how it should be done And by should be done I assume you mean blowing up all engines due to overheating before figuring out what the problem is Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,497 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Ha ha, you got it! Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Tut Tut! Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Seems maybe my Moth leg might not have been cursed. Flammable Flights are what the Cool Kids are flying. Great job dealing with the fire crisises and not getting stranded for long. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,314 Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Just another day eh? Those engines were hotter than a Goth sitting on a desert tarmac. Well done Jess. Link to post Share on other sites
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