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?
1 comment:
mas.. it's a nice blog!! kok gak pernah posting lagi? anyway, thx for shared ur experience here..
putri
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