Meanwhile, back at the paper roll crisis, a break in the action allowed me to shift priorities. Of course, the flight director automation had already initiated the altitude capture mode. It wasn’t until we were rapidly approaching the altitude in question that I was able to get the verification. I needed a simple verification, but frequency congestion prevented me from making that request. In the midst of the paper crisis, the controller had issued a climb clearance that conflicted with the altitude stated on the SID. Shanwick Oceanic would be sending the confirmation at any moment. …Īpparently the vendor of the paper roll had not imprinted a long enough warning stripe, notwithstanding the fact that the priority of the inbound crew was its ride to the hotel and not changing the ACARS printer paper the message on the EICAS screen announced, “Printer Inop.” Crap! I had already requested our oceanic clearance electronically. And the airplane generates a lot of paper. It may seem rather trite, but the automation of the 777 requires that it generate information onto paper - weather, flight plan data, etc. It was my copilot’s leg, and he was doing an admirable job with his flight test.Īs the climb progressed into flight levels, the ACARS paper was giving the warning sign of the dreaded purple stripe on the side. Many of us believe that the London controllers are paid by the number of vectors provided and the intermediate level-offs required. The task at hand was safely navigating the airplane across the North Atlantic.Īs is typical of departures from Heathrow Airport, we were given a series of flight test maneuvers in the form of turns and climbs. (You have to be old enough to remember the original movie, Airport.) Our issues were simply a matter of managing a handful of glitches that had the potential to distract us away from the task at hand. Nothing along the lines of stark terror that included bells, whistles, sirens or Dean Martin wrestling the controls occurred. Such was the case for one of my flights from London back to JFK. That ability keeps the proverbial blue side up, especially when non-normal circumstances occur. What defines us as competent pilots is our ability to establish a priority for each management task. That fact is not news for most readers of this magazine. Regardless, all airplanes dictate a given level of cockpit management for any given phase of flight. For my purposes, and the fact that we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of its birth, my money is on the DC-3. If alcohol were included in this debate, days rather than hours would pass before a collective agreement occurred, if at all. His maid reportedly told the newspaper hes on holiday in Thailand.December 2010 - A diverse gathering of aviators from all age groups could probably debate for hours the first airline airplane that required administrative thinking to manage the cockpit. Wilkinson was paid three months severance and keeps his company pension. However, an unidentified source reportedly told a German magazine that it was felt the incident makes our airline look like a bunch of cowboys. The internal investigation was well underway prior to the video appearing online, she claimed. The YouTube video only confirmed what was already becoming known. The decision was entirely that of the captain in command.” The spokeswoman also denied that Wilkinsons firing had more to do with the publicity surrounding the stunt, which was featured on YouTube, than company protocol. “There was no request or suggestion from anyone in Cathay Pacific for the fly-by to take place. The airline confirmed that fact but said Pratt, who runs one of the biggest airlines in Asia, couldnt be expected to know that the stunt wasnt authorized, “The chairman is not an aviator and he was fully aware that the captain was in full command of the flight,” an unidentified spokeswoman said. But a story in Sundays Asian World News, reprinted by The Earth Times, raises the question of just how much authority Wilkinson needed, since the chairman of the airline, Christopher Pratt, was in a cockpit jumpseat for the whole performance. It wasnt the stunt that got him fired, it was the fact that he didnt have permission to perform the fly-by, something the airline occasionally allows for airshows. As we reported last week, Ian Wilkinson, a senior Cathay Pacific captain, was fired three weeks after he did a high-speed, low-level pass over a Seattle-area airport in a new Boeing 777 he was delivering from the factory.
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