A Day In The Life – Capt Peter Brown

It’s just after 8. 30 am and Peter invites me to take part in the briefing and flight-planning ritual. After sorting out the track information, desired flight levels, required fuel figures, weights, and runway requirements and actually filing the flight plan, Peter led me aside with the First and Second Officers into an adjacent room. There I find several 747 and 767 cutaway plans displayed on a large wall chart. The Captain inquires of his crew their movements, assigned locations and duties, in the unlikely event of an ocean-ditching or similar emergency.

The required ‘library’ of Jeppesen’s, approach plates, terminal charts, RNC’s, aircraft’s documentation, flight and the like are sorted out and placed in the flight bags. Peter then asks if everyone is ready to make their way out to the Qantas transport bus for the international terminal building (ITB).

Together with another technical crew, we lift’ downstairs to ‘Qantas 13’, one of the fleet of small buses used to transport crews.

The other crew skipper enquires of Peter . . . “So where may I ask are you lot off to?” Peter’s answer extracts a smile from me. “Oh. . . we’re off to Auckland for lunch!” Out through the security gates onto Qantas Drive and along to the departure plaza level of the ITB. “I leave you now” says Peter, “and when you’ve gone through check-in, departure tax and then immigration, walk out to Bay 1 and I’ll board you early to watch the preflights.

Check-In takes only 2 minutes, with a super courteous Qantas counter clerk and as I have only hand luggage, I’m lining up for immigration within five minutes of leaving the technical crew. Out to Bay 1, then to the downstairs First Class/Business Class lounge. There’s only two passengers there, a man and his wife, apparently travelling on business. Good to his word, Peter Brown soon alights from the aerobridge to take me aboard Qantas 43. Peter explains we’re going to be thirty minutes late departing due to immigration delays, with departure now scheduled for 10. 30am local (2330 Zulu). He briefly discusses AIRWAY A. 576, the track we will fly to Auckland. I later extract details from the RNC: SYDNEY (S33 56. 7)(E151 10. 2) to GULNA (S34 35. 9)(E154 05. 1) 150 naut miles (nm), track 094 deg SYD VOR. GULNA to IPLON (S35 40. 0)(E160 00. 0) 298nm, track 091 deg (SYD FIR). IPLON to LESTI (S36 08. 6) (E163 24. 4) 168nm, track 085 deg (AKL FIR). LESTI to NOKIN (S36 26. 9) (E166 06. 3) 132nm, track 082 deg. NOKIN to LUVON (S36 49. 4) (E170 39. 4) 221nm, track 080 deg (AKL VHF BOUNDARY). LUVON to AUCKLAND (S37 00. 6) (E174 48. 4) 200nm, track 076 deg.

There’s 17 cabin crew on board, and 388 passengers, including our deadheading Captain, Craig McInnes. Flightdeck technical crew is 4, with myself as the supernumerary in the jumpseat. A total of 410 souls on board.

Captain Brown explains he’s planned for a GULNA-1 departure. It’s just 9. 25am in Sydney as the preflight checks gather momentum on VH-EBO, Qantas Airway’s 15th 747-238B, Constructor’s No. 21657. (The cutaway aircraft is an EUD-300) First Officer Lloyd Shepard tunes up the SMCA frequency of 122. 3 and at the present time we are also monitoring 131. 7 Qantas Company for any further advice regarding pax or cargo. On SMCA, we listen to a domestic 727 Skipper embarrass himself by transmitting on the International Ramp frequency in error. He is quickly dusted off by ATC, as Peter, Lloyd, Ron and Bruce continue to check and respond, check and respond, every check requiring a response in answer to it. Oxygen, control panel switches, anti-skid, 3 INS units, cabin lighting, stall warning. Windscreen heat, radios on and set up, altimeters, takeoff data and the EPR (engine pressure ratio) bug is set at 1. 41 for takeoff. Gross weight is 313,000kg. Airspeed warning switch, water injection, aircraft pressurisation and Peter advises fuel quantity is 92,400kg. The checks go on. . . logbooks, electrical pumps, the hydraulic system, and speed brakes. The crew then take time out to confer on the engine failure procedure should they ‘drop’ the engine on climb out. The Captain explains that a GULNA-1 departure has no significant terrain and that the Departure Plate states GULNA-1 is flown as. . . ‘runway heading, turn left at 500 feet and intercept the 162-degree radial of the Sydney VOR. At 6 DME turn left 065 degrees and intercept the 094 degree track to GULNA, then track as planned. ‘ Parking brakes and pressure are checked, door warning lights and then Peter mentions the fact we have 388 passengers on the manifest. Lloyd checks our Airways Clearance on 127. 5 and is given ‘One-six Gulna-1 departure, cruise flight level 330”. Our departure will be full length on RW16 (3962 metres), with V1 at 133 knots, VR at 159 knots and V2 at 168 knots. Flaps up at 200 knots and by 245 knots all flaps in and the climbout accelerates. MTOW is 312,000kg, as 1000kg of Jet A-1 has been allocated as taxi fuel. It’s now 10. 10 am local, 2310 Zulu. Lloyd now calls Sydney Radio on HF 8867 USB for a pre-flight check of the radio and selcal.

Sydney can’t hear us, but Auckland Radio, 1169 nautical miles across the Tasman Sea can and responds to Lloyd’s call. *Auckland, Qantas 43 on 8867. Could you check our selcal thanks, it’s Delta Kilo: Juliet Lima. We’re on the ground Sydney”. The two selcal lights activate and the twin-tone selcal chimes ring on the flight deck above the First Officer’s position. “Yes, thank you Auckland, we have selcal OK. ” Sydney Radio then breaks in and allocates primary and secondary en route HF frequencies 8867 and 13300 Khz. Our HF radios could only be checked now that refuelling is complete and the fuel drain checks are done.

A steward delivers an orange drink to the flight deck. “I guess you people are the lucky ones today”, he jokes, “there are no passengers upstairs and the Flight Service Director (FSD) wants me to remain here, so I guess I’m your steward for the trip!” The FSD himself then visits the flight deck. “Captain, 388, ready to go. ” The time is now 10. 15am, 2315 zulu. The flight deck door is closed and secured.

The INS waypoint coordinates have already been programmed in some thirty minutes ago. Up to nine waypoints can be stored in the INS, which is an extremely accurate system of navigation and fully self-contained. There are three INS units on board every Qantas 747 aircraft.

Further checks now, galley power, valves, air pumps, start pressure, rotating navigation beacon light and the call for start and pushback is made by Lloyd Shepard at 10. 16 am, or 2316 zulu. “Sydney Ramp, Qantas 43, request start and pushback received hotel”. SMCA answers Qantas 43, start and pushback approved, time one-six. ” (Sydney Terminal Information Hotel’. Runway 16 departures, runway 16 or 07 arrivals. Wind 260/10 to 15, downwind 4. QNH 1018, temperature 21. CAVOK. On first contact with Sydney Ground or Approach, notify receipt of ‘Hotel . . . ).

Peter Brown speaks by intercom to the Ground Engineer plugged into the underside of the aircraft’s belly, directing the operations of the pushback-tug. ‘red Juliet. ” “Starting 4” says Peter, which is acknowledged by the tug crew. “OK ground, ready for pushback. ” Peter then adds. . . “Ground, the brakes are released, off chocks 16. The response this time is “Pushing!” The Captain advises. . . “Starting 1” and then shortly afterwards. . . “Starting 2. ” Peter then calls again on the ground intercom. . . “Handbrakes on and park, remove steering lockout pin. ” The time now is 10. 18am, 2318 zulu. “Starting 3. * “OK ground, you can disconnect!” are Peter’s final words to the tug crew. The ground engineer cheerily concludes the conversation with. . . “Have a safe journey, good morning!” Lloyd calls on 122. 3 once more. “Qantas 43, taxi”.

“Qantas 43, clear to taxi, squawk code 2400. And for Qantas 43, Auckland NOTAM Bravo 45, the RW 23 Localiser is U/S until further notice. Also, from Operations, Speedbird-niner, a British Airways 747 which departed at 2200 experienced occasional moderate clear air turbulence from 200 nautical miles east of Sydney, to the position IPLON, at flight level 330. ” Lloyd copies the information, while Peter sets the transponder code of 2400, which will identify the aircraft on the radar as a heavy jet, with a rectangle symbol. My tape-recorder microphone is now picking up the loud, continuous and slightly musical ‘humming’ sound which will be familiar to airband listeners.

“Qantas 43, take next taxiway left, contact ground 121 decimal 7. ” Lloyd makes our call and I overhear Canadian Military 5-niner-1, an RCAF Boeing 707 at the Qantas Maintenance Ramp, call for start-up clearance.

During the pushback and taxi sequence, rudder trim, elevators, flaps, electrical systems and hydraulics have all been checked and responded to. Captain Peter Brown steers the huge jet with a hand tiller/lever down to his left side, in front of the weather radar. He explained to me that it requires quite positive control.

DME override is checked, and at 10. 25 am we are told to “hold short of the runway, report ready on 120 decimal 5. ” Takeoff warning, via a public address announcement, is ordered by the Captain. We are all wearing lap seatbelts with attached shoulder harnesses.

Time is now 10. 28am, 2328. Aircraft now visible from the flight deck on the ITB ramp are Qantas 767 VH-EAL, a KLM 747 and Qantas 747-238SCD Combi VH-ECA.

We get takeoff clearance at 10. 29 local, just after the Police helicopter ‘Polair 3’, calling ‘papa hotel Yankee’ reports on finals at Sydney Showground at 1000ft. Peter and Ron advance the thrust levers, Peter also continuing to steer with the nose wheel tiller. Four sets of eyes scan the instruments for any sign of irregularity before V1. VR, rotation speed, is reached at 159 knots and Captain Peter pulls gently back on the yoke and Qantas 43 is airborne! All flight deck vision of the ground is now lost.

“Sydney Departures, Qantas 43, climbing to flight level three- three-zero. ” We are told to continue on SID for the moment, with the proviso we may be told to cancel it shortly due to inbound traffic.

We are soon advised by Departures to “cancel the SID, take up a heading of one-zero-zero and contact Control on 129 decimal 8. ” Lloyd complies and is greeted with a cheery “Good morning!” Continental 1, an inbound DC-10, is ex-Auckland for Sydney and has been travelling on our track. . . A-576. Spotwind at this time at our location is 313 degrees at 100 knots, a significant crosswind relative to us. We are now instructed to call Control on 128 decimal 6, as we have passed the inbound DC-10.

Lloyd is now poring over the Jeppesen Tasman Chart, when we are told to “Cancel radar heading and track direct to GULNA”, at 10. 41am, 2341 zulu.

Ron Cook, the Flight Engineer, is constantly making adjust- ments to the thrust settings. I notice this is a very delicate operation and he watches the digital readout until the exact balance is achieved. Crew coffee and very tasty sandwiches are served by our steward and shortly afterwards, at 2349 zulu, 10. 49am local, we pass overhead GULNA waypoint, 150nm east of Sydney. Lloyd calls Sydney Control with our position. “Sydney Control, Qantas 43, we’re by GULNA at four-nine, flight level 2-4-zero, climbing to flight level 3-3-zero, estimating IPLON two-four. ” We are told to call on HF and given 8867 primary, and 13300 secondary, as during our earlier HF check.

Peter Brown has already told us that he intends to start descending into Auckland at 130nm, using either RW23 or 05. We have been briefed on Auckland winds earlier and it was 250 degrees at 7 knots. There is a tailwind component on RW05 which we can accept to a maximum of 5 knots. ETA Auckland is now put over the public address by Captain Peter Brown in a “This is your Captain speaking” announcement as 3pm Auck- land time. Captain Brown then leaves the flight deck and goes for a short walk down the cabin aisles, with Second Officer Bruce McCook now in the Captain’s seat. We are on autopilot. . . as we have been since about 6 minutes out of Sydney Airport. Even the climb is accomplished by the autopilot, being set up for FL330 (33,000ft) and the ROC (rate of climb) nominated as 1000ft per minute. Á klaxon horn sounds at 900ft short of cruise and a “cruising altitude” light illuminates 300ft short of cruise, allowing the pilot time to disengage autopilot and level off at the exact cruise level desired.

By 0024, we are overhead IPLON at FL330, estimating LESTI at 0045. LESTI is the Auckland FIR boundary. Ten minutes after reaching LESTI, we have the Captain back in his seat and 50 minutes still to fly to Auckland.

Flight Engineer Ron completes his fault code reporting sheet for transmission on Company 131. 9 nearer to Mangere Airport. Number 3 INS unit is U/S. At 0100 zulu, 12 midday in Sydney. Captain Brown sets up the VOR’s on the VHF nav sets for our interrogation of Auckland’s navaids. ATIS frequency 112. 5 is dialled up.

The Flight Services Director arrives on the flightdeck and requests one wheelchair at Auckland and says there are six unaccompanied minors on board, who will get the ‘star’ treatment by hostesses on arrival. We are overhead NOKIN at 0102, estimating LUVON at 0130. TAS (true airspeed) is showing as 488 knots and we are steering 080 degrees.

At 0120 zulu, we are 259 INS miles from Auckland and have just passed our maximum landing weight. At LUVON, we call Auckland Control on VHF 126. 0 and are cleared to RW23 for a visual approach. Conditions have actually been visual all the way, so far, on the flight. We have our next Control frequency 124. 3 already dialled up on COMM 2.

At 187 miles out, we can see both North and South Islands clearly, like on a three-dimensional map, but it seems to take an eternity to reach them. The flight deck crew has been taking individual periodic rest breaks every 25 minutes or so, with workstations being alternated.

Second Officer Bruce McCook is now at the Flight Engineer’s station, being a licensed Flight Engineer as well. He is sifting through Approach Charts for the Captain. There is some heavy weather on the radar 80 miles ahead to our left. At 0135 zulu, 2. 35pm in Auckland, our pre-landing checks commence in earnest and Bruce McCook uses 131. 9 to advise of our requirements and fault codes. ZK-EZA is the only other traffic on 126. 0. Back on 131. 9, Bruce is advised we are for Bay 3 at Auckland. Our coastline crossing is looming up and we are at 11,000ft descending to 5000ft. Our frequency is changed to 124. 3 and we continue inbound, 47 DME from AKL VOR.

Auckland advises “There are no speed restrictions for your descent” as several warning horns sound. I can now clearly make outbuildings on the North Island.

“Qantas 43. . . turn left 050 degrees. ” We are now at 4500ft and visual. Control clears us for a visual approach, RW23 and we are told to call Auckland Tower on 118. 7. “Auckland Tower, Qantas 43, approaching for a visual right base, runway 23. ” The Tower responds with. . . “Qantas 43, you are number one, not below 2000 till established on finals, QNH 1015. ” New Zealand 448 (TE448) is number two in the sequence after us and he is advised “The Qantas 747 has 13 miles to run. ” A right base turn over the Bay at 0150 (12. 50pm Sydney time) and the gear is down and locked. Speed brakes armed.

A small Cessna is spotted by the First Officer to port, some miles away and below us. He advises the Captain. A Cherokee Six is rolling prior to takeoff on our RW23, as we are cleared to land at 0152. Surface wind is 200 degrees at 10 to 15 knots.

Over the inner marker at 0153, as Qantas Flight 43 from Sydney flares for a beautifully smooth touchdown at the hands of Captain Peter Brown at Auckland’s Mangere International Airport.

We are cleared on 118. 7 to gate 3 and taxi up past an Air New Zealand 747 ZK-NZX and the British Airways 747 we heard about in the CAT NOTAM earlier.

Post-landing checks are commenced and we are on chocks 0157 zulu. We have 58,000kg of fuel remaining and require only routine maintenance.

It’s now to deplane with Peter and the tech crew and head straight for the Air New Zealand Briefing Office to Flight Plan our return trip to Sydney Airport.

(To be continued in the July edition of Australian Aviation)