Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, December 1, 2008
Hey Y'all! Watch this!
When I hear that phrase, normally the plane would crash within the next hour or so, but this story is about several treats I got from one unique plane.
I once jumpseated a ride on a BAe146. It is a funny airplane, why put 4 engines on a narrowbody jet? That day the flight crew were 2 surfers. As soon as I boarded, I introduced myself to the crew and they were more than welcoming. We talked about the differences between the 737 and the 146. They spoke in surfing terms. The 737 is like a long board. It was fast, can turn sharp if you put your effort into it. The 146 is like a short board, it doesn't go fast but if you know what you're doing, you can pull tricks out of thin air.
The ride was comfortable, the plane was slow and climbed like a dead hog. I wonder how these guys can bear with the fact that jets higher up would overtake them on a regular basis. Even the 737-200 was faster! What a waste of 2 extra engines I thought to myself.
Throughout the flight, they told me stories about the plane. One operator had an uncontained engine failure that put shrapnel inside someone's bag on the overhead rack! Another one had an EGT reading of 999C on startup!
Then we talked about the nice features. The first officer was flying so the Captain decided to have some fun. He told me to fold my jumpseat away and he opened the E&E bay and told me to go in.
I was thinking, "what's he up to?"
He called the cabin on the intercom, mumbling something I couldn't decipher. Moments later, the cockpit door was opened and a flight attendant came in. She didn't see me on the E&E Bay, and almost stepped on my head as she walked in. I was treated to a nice view up her skirt though!
It was an old trick they'd do to new Flight Attendants. The story had it that one fell in when walking into the cockpit with an engineer in the E&E Bay, placing her skirt over his head!
You gotta love planes that can give these rare sorts of entertainment!
Once we descended and entered the terminal airspace, things got busy. With speed instructions, the primitive thrust modulation control looked a bit of a handful to me. The crew had to give the TMC "manual assistance" often.
We were sandwiched between 2 737s. The rear 737 had kept his speed up because there were a few widebodies coming along behind and was just a few miles behind. So we had to play the game and stay at 250 knots like them.
We were doing 250 knots at 8000 when a gap within the approach sequence opened up and the approach controller called us.
"HogAir 146, there's a gap in the sequence on finals coming up would you like to take it?"
"Yea sure, HogAir146."
"HogAir146, how fast can you slow down to 180?"
"We can show you if you want!"
"Copied, HogAir146, turn left heading 170 descend maintain 2000, and slow down as quick as you can to 180."
The Captain turned to me and said, "Watch this!"
I was like, "Uh-Oh, what trick is he gonna pull now?"
"Left 170, 2000 and 180 knots... hey Y'all watch this!"
The first officer slammed te thrust levers to idle, pulled the speedbrake and called flaps18, as soon as the flaps he retracted the speedbrakes, banked the plane to make the turn and dived.
I was a bit pale and breaking cold sweat watching all this!
At no longer than the time it took for him to call flaps 18, doing everything else, by the time flaps were at 18, he called the approach, "HogAir146 maintaining 180 and expediting descent to 2000."
"Whooah, HogAir146, thank you! One sweep on the radar only! Call me back at 2000. Let's see how many more sweeps you gonna take."
In about the same time it takes the 737 to slow down from 250 knots to 180 on level flight, we had slowed down from 250 to 180 and lost 6000ft!
This plane sure don't climb fast, but it sure as hell slow down and descend at the same time! The 4 engines on idle can create a lot of drag, but the tailcone speedbrakes do wonders!
Now why can't Mr. Boeing make a plane that can go up like the 737, but go down like the 146?
With more 146s coming into Indonesia now, I wonder if any of the girls are going to trap someone's head in the E&E bay anytime soon.
Hey, you guys at Riau and Linus got an opening for me?
I once jumpseated a ride on a BAe146. It is a funny airplane, why put 4 engines on a narrowbody jet? That day the flight crew were 2 surfers. As soon as I boarded, I introduced myself to the crew and they were more than welcoming. We talked about the differences between the 737 and the 146. They spoke in surfing terms. The 737 is like a long board. It was fast, can turn sharp if you put your effort into it. The 146 is like a short board, it doesn't go fast but if you know what you're doing, you can pull tricks out of thin air.
The ride was comfortable, the plane was slow and climbed like a dead hog. I wonder how these guys can bear with the fact that jets higher up would overtake them on a regular basis. Even the 737-200 was faster! What a waste of 2 extra engines I thought to myself.
Throughout the flight, they told me stories about the plane. One operator had an uncontained engine failure that put shrapnel inside someone's bag on the overhead rack! Another one had an EGT reading of 999C on startup!
Then we talked about the nice features. The first officer was flying so the Captain decided to have some fun. He told me to fold my jumpseat away and he opened the E&E bay and told me to go in.
I was thinking, "what's he up to?"
He called the cabin on the intercom, mumbling something I couldn't decipher. Moments later, the cockpit door was opened and a flight attendant came in. She didn't see me on the E&E Bay, and almost stepped on my head as she walked in. I was treated to a nice view up her skirt though!
It was an old trick they'd do to new Flight Attendants. The story had it that one fell in when walking into the cockpit with an engineer in the E&E Bay, placing her skirt over his head!
You gotta love planes that can give these rare sorts of entertainment!
Once we descended and entered the terminal airspace, things got busy. With speed instructions, the primitive thrust modulation control looked a bit of a handful to me. The crew had to give the TMC "manual assistance" often.
We were sandwiched between 2 737s. The rear 737 had kept his speed up because there were a few widebodies coming along behind and was just a few miles behind. So we had to play the game and stay at 250 knots like them.
We were doing 250 knots at 8000 when a gap within the approach sequence opened up and the approach controller called us.
"HogAir 146, there's a gap in the sequence on finals coming up would you like to take it?"
"Yea sure, HogAir146."
"HogAir146, how fast can you slow down to 180?"
"We can show you if you want!"
"Copied, HogAir146, turn left heading 170 descend maintain 2000, and slow down as quick as you can to 180."
The Captain turned to me and said, "Watch this!"
I was like, "Uh-Oh, what trick is he gonna pull now?"
"Left 170, 2000 and 180 knots... hey Y'all watch this!"
The first officer slammed te thrust levers to idle, pulled the speedbrake and called flaps18, as soon as the flaps he retracted the speedbrakes, banked the plane to make the turn and dived.
I was a bit pale and breaking cold sweat watching all this!
At no longer than the time it took for him to call flaps 18, doing everything else, by the time flaps were at 18, he called the approach, "HogAir146 maintaining 180 and expediting descent to 2000."
"Whooah, HogAir146, thank you! One sweep on the radar only! Call me back at 2000. Let's see how many more sweeps you gonna take."
In about the same time it takes the 737 to slow down from 250 knots to 180 on level flight, we had slowed down from 250 to 180 and lost 6000ft!
This plane sure don't climb fast, but it sure as hell slow down and descend at the same time! The 4 engines on idle can create a lot of drag, but the tailcone speedbrakes do wonders!
Now why can't Mr. Boeing make a plane that can go up like the 737, but go down like the 146?
With more 146s coming into Indonesia now, I wonder if any of the girls are going to trap someone's head in the E&E bay anytime soon.
Hey, you guys at Riau and Linus got an opening for me?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
What's that smell?
Being stuck in a pressurized tube to protect us from the harsh environment in the higher skies mean additional hazards. Just like submarines, we must check for pressurization differences and react promptly to fires and smoke. Despite all the QRHs and emergency drills we train for, our noses become more sensitive to changes in smell when on the job and as our noses record new smells, we keep sensing scary smells.
With the wet season in force, our minds are occupied at avoiding clouds and rechecking runway conditions whenever we hear "runway wet". The last thing we needed was smelling something out of the ordinary.
On one recent night flight, we were on our way to climb to 33,000 feet when I smelled something that wasn't right. I couldn't figure it out. When the purser came in, I asked if she can smell something.
"Mbak, can you smell something?"
"What Kep?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I smell smoke, sometimes I smell fuel, sometimes I smell something rotten."
"I'll check the galleys and the lavatories Kep."
A few minutes later she came back reporting that nothing was out of the ordinary. So me and my buddy rechecked the aircraft Pressurization and Air Conditioning System.
"The Packs are normal, cabin pressure normal, recirculation everything, everything's normal."
I just shook my head, but didn't want to get overly concerned. We continued to climb.
On reaching our cruise altitude over Palembang area, the weather radar painted us a wet path ahead. We can see from the lightnings in the clouds that the cells went pretty high. We requested several deviations to stay ahead of the nastiest clouds, but we couldn't avoid the clouds altogether, and the occasional lightning would blind us from time to time.
Just as the first officer turned to face the central pedestal to take a new notepad from his bag behind his seat, a lightning flashed. He froze and became pale. The smell came back. Ash, fuel and something worse than a rotten egg.
"What? What? You OK?" I asked him.
He wasn't looking at me but mumbled, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
I was getting worried, the last thing I wanted was to land on a wet runway after a bumpy ride with my first officer restrained to his seat because he suddenly decided to become mentally ill.
"Kep," he called me. "ignore the smell."
"What?"
"Don't let the smell bother you."
"What do you mean?"
"Trust me Kep, you don't want to know."
Someone knocked on the cockpit door, I wanted to ask the purser to check the smell again.
So there was the pretty purser, smiling always, coming into the cockpit.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask, another lightning flashed and brightened the cockpit.
To my horror, there was a dark figure on the jumpseat behind me. It was a man, his clothes were ripped, soaked with blood and fuel.
I'm sure I turned pale instantly.
"Kep, what's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing."
"Kep, pucet banget!" (you're pale)
The first officer assisted. "It's nothing, can you bring us another coffee for both of us please?"
She wasn't sure. "OK. By the way, what's that smell?"
"Just get us the coffee mbak!"
As soon as she was out I turned to my first officer.
"As I said Kep, don't worry about it."
"But..."
"Don't let it bother you Kep, he just wants a ride. Let him have it and he won't bother us."
I tried to not let it bother. We agreed not to talk further about the smell, or the invisible rider until we landed.
The coffee arrived. I don't drink much coffee on duty but at least it kept the smell down.
A few minutes later, the first officer said, "OK Kep, he's gone to the toilet."
"Who is he?"
"I'm not sure if he's sensitive about it, but the guy recently died in a car accident. Collided with a truck."
"Nasty!"
"Just stay cool about it Kep, please. It will keep him calm."
"I'll try my best."
After we landed, we quickly taxied to the gate. The smell had become unbearable, but we stayed as calm and cool as we could.
As soon as the cabin doors were opened the smell disappeared. I turned and had to ask, "Is he gone?"
"Yes Kep, he's gone."
"Fiuh"
After the passengers had deboarded, the purser came in.
"OK you two, that was scary!"
"You knew?"
"I saw him Kep, ngeri deh"
"Oh my God! Who else saw him?"
"Two passengers on the first row saw him too and told me."
"Did they smell it too?"
"No."
"Thank God! What did they say?"
"I don't know Kep, but I hope they're not going to complain about it."
"WHAT? If they blame me, I think I quit!"
We're trained to deal with situations and keep our cool, that is how we earn our pay, but I wonder if the company would pay us extra to deal with things like this. I guess not.
With the wet season in force, our minds are occupied at avoiding clouds and rechecking runway conditions whenever we hear "runway wet". The last thing we needed was smelling something out of the ordinary.
On one recent night flight, we were on our way to climb to 33,000 feet when I smelled something that wasn't right. I couldn't figure it out. When the purser came in, I asked if she can smell something.
"Mbak, can you smell something?"
"What Kep?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I smell smoke, sometimes I smell fuel, sometimes I smell something rotten."
"I'll check the galleys and the lavatories Kep."
A few minutes later she came back reporting that nothing was out of the ordinary. So me and my buddy rechecked the aircraft Pressurization and Air Conditioning System.
"The Packs are normal, cabin pressure normal, recirculation everything, everything's normal."
I just shook my head, but didn't want to get overly concerned. We continued to climb.
On reaching our cruise altitude over Palembang area, the weather radar painted us a wet path ahead. We can see from the lightnings in the clouds that the cells went pretty high. We requested several deviations to stay ahead of the nastiest clouds, but we couldn't avoid the clouds altogether, and the occasional lightning would blind us from time to time.
Just as the first officer turned to face the central pedestal to take a new notepad from his bag behind his seat, a lightning flashed. He froze and became pale. The smell came back. Ash, fuel and something worse than a rotten egg.
"What? What? You OK?" I asked him.
He wasn't looking at me but mumbled, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
I was getting worried, the last thing I wanted was to land on a wet runway after a bumpy ride with my first officer restrained to his seat because he suddenly decided to become mentally ill.
"Kep," he called me. "ignore the smell."
"What?"
"Don't let the smell bother you."
"What do you mean?"
"Trust me Kep, you don't want to know."
Someone knocked on the cockpit door, I wanted to ask the purser to check the smell again.
So there was the pretty purser, smiling always, coming into the cockpit.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask, another lightning flashed and brightened the cockpit.
To my horror, there was a dark figure on the jumpseat behind me. It was a man, his clothes were ripped, soaked with blood and fuel.
I'm sure I turned pale instantly.
"Kep, what's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing."
"Kep, pucet banget!" (you're pale)
The first officer assisted. "It's nothing, can you bring us another coffee for both of us please?"
She wasn't sure. "OK. By the way, what's that smell?"
"Just get us the coffee mbak!"
As soon as she was out I turned to my first officer.
"As I said Kep, don't worry about it."
"But..."
"Don't let it bother you Kep, he just wants a ride. Let him have it and he won't bother us."
I tried to not let it bother. We agreed not to talk further about the smell, or the invisible rider until we landed.
The coffee arrived. I don't drink much coffee on duty but at least it kept the smell down.
A few minutes later, the first officer said, "OK Kep, he's gone to the toilet."
"Who is he?"
"I'm not sure if he's sensitive about it, but the guy recently died in a car accident. Collided with a truck."
"Nasty!"
"Just stay cool about it Kep, please. It will keep him calm."
"I'll try my best."
After we landed, we quickly taxied to the gate. The smell had become unbearable, but we stayed as calm and cool as we could.
As soon as the cabin doors were opened the smell disappeared. I turned and had to ask, "Is he gone?"
"Yes Kep, he's gone."
"Fiuh"
After the passengers had deboarded, the purser came in.
"OK you two, that was scary!"
"You knew?"
"I saw him Kep, ngeri deh"
"Oh my God! Who else saw him?"
"Two passengers on the first row saw him too and told me."
"Did they smell it too?"
"No."
"Thank God! What did they say?"
"I don't know Kep, but I hope they're not going to complain about it."
"WHAT? If they blame me, I think I quit!"
We're trained to deal with situations and keep our cool, that is how we earn our pay, but I wonder if the company would pay us extra to deal with things like this. I guess not.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Don't/Come Fly With Me!
While the marketing and PR department can throw all the flashy publicity all over the place, I do feel for my friends trapped by the company's harsh reality. I write this revised song for them.
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.
If you can't face the very long MEL,
There's a barfbag on your seat,
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.
Come fly with me! Let's glide down to the sea.
Do the ditching drill, let's arm the slides,
And switch the E-L-T.
Come fly with me! Let's take off to the blue.
Once I get you Up there, where the air is rarified,
We'll just glide, engines dead.
Once I get you up there, I'll switch all the packs to off
You will hear the PR cheer because you got a bargain.
Weatherwise, we shouldn't fly today!
Just say the words, "You go fly those planes"
And I think I'll quit today!
It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say.
Come fly with me! Let's fly, let's fly a way.
Oh come on let's fly!
Once I get you Up there, where the air is rarified,
Use the masks, don't be scared.
Once I get you up there, I will avoid all the clouds.
You may hear all the angels cheer coz the girls are so lebay.
Weatherwise, we shouldn't fly today!
You just say those words, "You go fly those planes"
And I think I will quit today!
It's perfect for a flying disaster, I say.
Don't fly with me! Let's fly someone else.
Pack up, let's write a will !
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.
If you can't face the very long MEL,
There's a barfbag on your seat,
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.
Come fly with me! Let's glide down to the sea.
Do the ditching drill, let's arm the slides,
And switch the E-L-T.
Come fly with me! Let's take off to the blue.
Once I get you Up there, where the air is rarified,
We'll just glide, engines dead.
Once I get you up there, I'll switch all the packs to off
You will hear the PR cheer because you got a bargain.
Weatherwise, we shouldn't fly today!
Just say the words, "You go fly those planes"
And I think I'll quit today!
It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say.
Come fly with me! Let's fly, let's fly a way.
Oh come on let's fly!
Once I get you Up there, where the air is rarified,
Use the masks, don't be scared.
Once I get you up there, I will avoid all the clouds.
You may hear all the angels cheer coz the girls are so lebay.
Weatherwise, we shouldn't fly today!
You just say those words, "You go fly those planes"
And I think I will quit today!
It's perfect for a flying disaster, I say.
Don't fly with me! Let's fly someone else.
Pack up, let's write a will !
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Ego is the highest safety risk!
Back in the flying school days, bragging and egoism was rife. While most are what we call the typical student pilot gaya kapten, some are just dangerous people. The safety mindset in aviation needs to be embedded in the head from the beginning. The problem is, what if the guys teaching at the flying schools are not safety minded?
I had a friend who once was a flight instructor, a skillful pilot but I must say he has a poor grasp of safety. When I started with an airline, I visited my friend who was at the school, and he invited me to join him for a ride (well, I paid for the flight). At the time he had way more hours than me, I didn't really want to fly with him but I thought I could do with some practice. There were 3 of us on the Cessna 172. Me, him, and a student coming along for the ride. It was unavoidable that he would brag about something.
So, predicting he would carry the "anything you can do I can do better" mindset as onboard baggage, after doing some touch-and-goes, he said, "OK, I want you to land on and stop at the numbers."
Oh boy, here we go. It was also inevitable that in such rivalry situations, we did not want to let the student at the back down. We called for stop-and-go.
I did the approach as well as I could and all I could manage was stopping a short distance beyond the numbers.
His turn was next. He literally hung the Cessna by the prop and the plane flopped on the runway and stopped on the numbers. Only the stall warning was louder than the propeller.
"Who taught you that trick?" I asked.
"My seniors, great huh? Look at our buddy back, pucet (pale) mas?
This isn't healthy.
"Let's go out to the training area, I want to try something different."
So off we went, and chatting all the way as usual. When we got there, I asked him to show me slow flights with full flaps claiming I want to learn that trick. Of course, his ego was well served and he was eager to show me.
We ended up hanging in the sky along at VS1, and when the stall warning sounded, I pulled my trick.
I looked to my left and said, "WADUH? APA ITU AT 8 O'CLOCK?" [what the? WHAT'S THAT AT 8 O'CLOCK?]
He looked to the left and the distaction was enough to reduce the pressure on the right pedal and YEEEHAAAA! We flipped over. He was distracted and disorientated.
"I have the flaps", raising them as he was still trying to figure out why we departed controlled flight, took control of the aircraft and flew back home.
After finishing everything off, we had coffee together. He was awfully quiet, together with the student. During the one of the lulls he finally asked, "Ton, what did you do?"
"Yah! Finally you asked. We were in the same configuration at 6000 feet that we were in at 50 feet on short final. All I did was give you a little distraction. Perhaps what happened should explain why we fly approaches at 1.3VS."
I did him a favour by telling the student to remember that distractions can come very easily and when you least expect it. Feel free to do tricks, but remember you can get distracted.
If I just given my friend a lecture on why we shouldn't pull tricks, he would have just put me down as a sore loser.
I hope I have prolonged my friend's life expectancy.
I had a friend who once was a flight instructor, a skillful pilot but I must say he has a poor grasp of safety. When I started with an airline, I visited my friend who was at the school, and he invited me to join him for a ride (well, I paid for the flight). At the time he had way more hours than me, I didn't really want to fly with him but I thought I could do with some practice. There were 3 of us on the Cessna 172. Me, him, and a student coming along for the ride. It was unavoidable that he would brag about something.
So, predicting he would carry the "anything you can do I can do better" mindset as onboard baggage, after doing some touch-and-goes, he said, "OK, I want you to land on and stop at the numbers."
Oh boy, here we go. It was also inevitable that in such rivalry situations, we did not want to let the student at the back down. We called for stop-and-go.
I did the approach as well as I could and all I could manage was stopping a short distance beyond the numbers.
His turn was next. He literally hung the Cessna by the prop and the plane flopped on the runway and stopped on the numbers. Only the stall warning was louder than the propeller.
"Who taught you that trick?" I asked.
"My seniors, great huh? Look at our buddy back, pucet (pale) mas?
This isn't healthy.
"Let's go out to the training area, I want to try something different."
So off we went, and chatting all the way as usual. When we got there, I asked him to show me slow flights with full flaps claiming I want to learn that trick. Of course, his ego was well served and he was eager to show me.
We ended up hanging in the sky along at VS1, and when the stall warning sounded, I pulled my trick.
I looked to my left and said, "WADUH? APA ITU AT 8 O'CLOCK?" [what the? WHAT'S THAT AT 8 O'CLOCK?]
He looked to the left and the distaction was enough to reduce the pressure on the right pedal and YEEEHAAAA! We flipped over. He was distracted and disorientated.
"I have the flaps", raising them as he was still trying to figure out why we departed controlled flight, took control of the aircraft and flew back home.
After finishing everything off, we had coffee together. He was awfully quiet, together with the student. During the one of the lulls he finally asked, "Ton, what did you do?"
"Yah! Finally you asked. We were in the same configuration at 6000 feet that we were in at 50 feet on short final. All I did was give you a little distraction. Perhaps what happened should explain why we fly approaches at 1.3VS."
I did him a favour by telling the student to remember that distractions can come very easily and when you least expect it. Feel free to do tricks, but remember you can get distracted.
If I just given my friend a lecture on why we shouldn't pull tricks, he would have just put me down as a sore loser.
I hope I have prolonged my friend's life expectancy.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Birdwatching while at 600km/h
There is normally a speed limit below 10,000ft for aircraft, which is 250 KIAS. Most of the time we think it's a hindrance, when departing we would normally request a high speed climb, that is, go to 300KIAS then do the climb at that speed, or 280, depending on our weight. Those speeds, are our normal climb speeds above 10,000ft.
When our FMC isn't really up to scratch, mostly because we didn't plan ahead well enough to place artificial constraints on the route legs, we too would ask for a high speed below 10,000 and use our speed to descend lower and faster, before slowing down and getting into approach config (although I do not recommend doing this).
Asking for high speed below 10,000 is used mainly to catch up on schedule delays etc, but when you do this, you must be alert! I have had a few first officers breaking a sweat when I tell them to go fast below. They seem to have a hard time adjusting to the pace and the planning ahead that's required. Most are OK with it and can do it well, but some, ABUSE IT.
I used to love abusing it, it was an adrenalin rush. In one of my previous companies, we had a very short leg of only 20 minutes. On that leg, we would take off, turn around then accelerate to the red line, and then slow down and configure for the approach and landing in time. We would do this at about 8000 - 10000 ft.
One particular day, the winds were strong up above 4000, and we needed to be at 6000ft only. After take off, I sped up, I was flying the leg. At 6000ft, on the right hand as I was a first officer in those days, the ground whizzed by quicker. The Captain was busy monitoring the instruments and I was too, but also looking out from time to time.
I saw a moving speck on the windshield. With curiousity I leaned forward. The captain saw this and asked "What are you doing?"
"I think I see something."
"Where?"
"Dead ahead, our level."
He too was looking for it. There was nothing in our TCAS. Was it a small plane?
As the spec becomes bigger, and bigger, the shape became clearer but the time to avoid it becomes less and less. Suddenly, we realized what it was.
"Bird! Bird!" I shouted.
"Oh no, this is going to be a close one!" The captain shouted.
"Evade?"
Not enough time, within a moment, the large bird whizzed accross the left side of the aircraft, only a few meters off the fuselage. We were there just stunned.
"Did anyone back there see that?" He asked.
"I don't know, the question is, did it hit the stabilizer?"
We decided to slow down and check if the trim was affected (it shouldn't, but you don't want to find out only at approach do you?). As we slowed to 250 knots, the trim wheel moved and the altitude remained. We handflew the aircraft to the landing from then.
After parking we quickly went out to check if there's anything on the left wing or left stabilizer. We found nothing.
That was the last schedule I had on that leg before I moved companies. Hitting a Pelican on the windshield at 350 knots wouldn't be pleasant, luckily we didn't hit it.
When our FMC isn't really up to scratch, mostly because we didn't plan ahead well enough to place artificial constraints on the route legs, we too would ask for a high speed below 10,000 and use our speed to descend lower and faster, before slowing down and getting into approach config (although I do not recommend doing this).
Asking for high speed below 10,000 is used mainly to catch up on schedule delays etc, but when you do this, you must be alert! I have had a few first officers breaking a sweat when I tell them to go fast below. They seem to have a hard time adjusting to the pace and the planning ahead that's required. Most are OK with it and can do it well, but some, ABUSE IT.
I used to love abusing it, it was an adrenalin rush. In one of my previous companies, we had a very short leg of only 20 minutes. On that leg, we would take off, turn around then accelerate to the red line, and then slow down and configure for the approach and landing in time. We would do this at about 8000 - 10000 ft.
One particular day, the winds were strong up above 4000, and we needed to be at 6000ft only. After take off, I sped up, I was flying the leg. At 6000ft, on the right hand as I was a first officer in those days, the ground whizzed by quicker. The Captain was busy monitoring the instruments and I was too, but also looking out from time to time.
I saw a moving speck on the windshield. With curiousity I leaned forward. The captain saw this and asked "What are you doing?"
"I think I see something."
"Where?"
"Dead ahead, our level."
He too was looking for it. There was nothing in our TCAS. Was it a small plane?
As the spec becomes bigger, and bigger, the shape became clearer but the time to avoid it becomes less and less. Suddenly, we realized what it was.
"Bird! Bird!" I shouted.
"Oh no, this is going to be a close one!" The captain shouted.
"Evade?"
Not enough time, within a moment, the large bird whizzed accross the left side of the aircraft, only a few meters off the fuselage. We were there just stunned.
"Did anyone back there see that?" He asked.
"I don't know, the question is, did it hit the stabilizer?"
We decided to slow down and check if the trim was affected (it shouldn't, but you don't want to find out only at approach do you?). As we slowed to 250 knots, the trim wheel moved and the altitude remained. We handflew the aircraft to the landing from then.
After parking we quickly went out to check if there's anything on the left wing or left stabilizer. We found nothing.
That was the last schedule I had on that leg before I moved companies. Hitting a Pelican on the windshield at 350 knots wouldn't be pleasant, luckily we didn't hit it.
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