A Day in the Life – Part II Capt Peter Brown

Captain Peter Brown enquires about several passengers due to connect with our flight ea route with Air New Zealand from Raratonga. They’re on board TE229, a 747 now due to arrive Auckland at 0335 zulu, by which time we will be taxying for Sydney.

Captains Brown and Mcinnes take the decision not to wait for the TE229 passengers. As they explain it, we have 409 passengers aside from the Raratonga group and we can’t unnecessarily delay them for three or four individuals. Normally, passenger waits are on the basis of one minute per passenger. Accordingly, the Captains make alternative arrangements for the unfortunate passengers.

They are rebooked on another flight to Sydney and accommodation is arranged for them at Qantas expense.

The two Captains pore over the Briefing material and Flight Plan the return for Qantas 44. There is no need to order fuel. We took on more than enough at Sydney due to the high price in New Zealand. Our fuel figure had holding components and other contingencies added.

Flight fuel to destination – 29,300kg. Approach and landing fuel – 1,500kg. Trip fuel (inc burnoff) – 30,800kg. Departure fuel (ex Sydney) – 92,800kg. Taxi fuel – 1,000kg. Takeoff fuel – 91,800kg. Zero fuel weight – 223,000kg. Takeoff weight – 314,800kg. Landing weight (Auckland) 284,000kg.

The journey from SYD/AKL had an elapsed time of 2 hours 31 minutes. Our return Flight Plan on Airway A-576 is: AUCKLAND (S37 00. 6)(E174 48. 4) to LUVON (S36 49. 4) 200nm, track 253 deg. LUVON to NOKIN (S36 26. 9)(E166 06. 3) 221nm, track 256 qeg. NOKIN to LESTI (S36 08. 6)(E163 24. 4) 132nm, track 260 deg. LESTI to IPLON (S35 40. 0)(E160 00. 0) 168nm, track 261 deg. IPLON to GULNA (S34 35. 9)(E154 05. 1) 298nm, track 265 deg (SYD VHF Boundary). GULNA to SYDNEY (S33 56. 7)(E151 10. 2) 150nm, track 271 deg.

Flight levels required: Initially FL310 and as the aircraft becomes lighter, FL350. Flight Planning over, we now adjourn to the restaurant, up the escalators and Peter Brown and I sit with Tony, a young flight steward, who incidentally, loves his job. Peter doesn’t touch much of his meal. He explains that there are so many ‘goodies’ available on international flights he’s become somewhat ‘weight-conscious’.

Captain Peter Brown originally came from Wagga Wagga.

He’s 44 years of age and was educated at Melbourne High. He learnt to fly in England at the Oxford Aero Club, 1960-61. His first paying job after gaining his Commercial Licence was with British United Airways, where he worked from 1961 to 1963. Then he came home . . . almost, working for TAA in New Guinea flying DC-3s and Bristol Freighters. In October 1966, he joined Qantas as a Second Officer on 707 aircraft. His promotion to First Officer on 707’s came through in 1970 and he was promoted again to First Officer on 747’s in 1975. Peter Brown became a Captain with Qantas in January 1985 and is ranked 100th in seniority out of approximately 129 Captains.

I hardly have time to question him about matters that have arisen regarding the flight before we have to leave the restaurant to get me back through Immigration and reboard VH-EBO, which is now designated ‘Qantas 44′.

Departure is in 45 minutes, at 4. 30pm Auckland time, 2. 30pm in Sydney. So it’s along the departure hallway to Gate 3 and back through the aerobridge past the waiting passengers. This time, Captain Mcinnes is seated in the Captain’s seat and is in command. The tech crew is as before . . . Lloyd Shepard, Ron Cook and Bruce McCook.

The pre-flights are already underway – logbooks, parking brakes and pressure, the flight deck door closed and secured, INS programmed, galley power, the FSD arrives and announces at the rear of the flight deck that there are 409 passengers. Shortly afterwards, with checks and responses completed, Craig Mcinnes announces to the ground tug crew on the Auckland ramp that his starting order will be “4-1-2-3”, “four on the blocks, one, two, three on the pushback”.

It’s 4. 31pm in Auckland, 0331 zulu. Lloyd calls on 118. 7 and obtains start and pushback clearance. We are off chocks at 0332, no delay. Number 4 engine is already turning over. On the pushback, I notice an Air New Zealand 737 at Bay 5.

“Starting 1”. I look out to the starboard and see swampland near Mangere Bay. “Starting 2”. Actually, Mangere International Airport was once just one big swamp! So was Sydney’s Kingsford Smith and I find that similarity interesting. “Starting 3. ”

Parking brakes are set as we are now fully pushed back. A Flight Steward arrives on the flight deck with orange juices all round, but gets no takers. “I guess I’ll have to rebottle ’em!”, he says with a smile. Hydraulics are checked, then the order is given to disconnect.

“Auckland Ground, Qantas 44, taxi clearance, received delta. ” (ATIS 112. 5) (Auckland Terminal Information ‘Delta’, RW23 departures, RW23 or 05 arrivals. Wind 200 degrees/10 knots, QNH 1015, temperature 18. CAVOK. On first contact with Auckland, notify receipt of Delta. . . ).

ATC clears us to the RW23 Holding Point and adds, “Qantas 44, you are cleared to Sydney, Westpoint Departure, then flightplanned route. Cruise FL310. ”

Lloyd reads back the airway clearance. We are further advised that an amended cruising level may be advised when airborne. The APU is stopped and air conditioning and pressurisation set. Auckland Tower clears New Zealand 229 from Raratonga to land. It’s the aircraft carrying the passengers we couldn’t wait for. A wise decision . . . as these passengers would be at least another 30 to 40 minutes transferring, even without processing delays.

Wind is now 200/12 and the time is 3042 zulu. We’re still on the taxiway adjacent to RW05 and see TE229 looming up in our windscreen on finals for RW23, in our 12 o’clock position. “Qantas 44 is clear to line up behind the arriving Air New Zealand 747. ” Soon after, the Tower advises . . . “Qantas 44, clear for takeoff RW23, 124 decimal 3 airborne, good day!”

And so we are away. 80 knots, V1, VR, Rotate, V2. “Auckland, Qantas 44, climbing to FL310. ” we are airborne at 0351.

Captain Craig Mcinnes sets up our climb to FL310 on autopilot and sets our rate of climb to 1000ft per minute. We should be at cruising level in about 32 minutes. Lloyd is scanning the skies, hands looped together, elbows resting on the instrument console. We call Control on 126. 0 and immediately are cleared to “climb to flight level 3-niner-zero if you can make 3-niner-zero by 160 DME Auckland. ” Captain Mcinnes glances at Lloyd, the First Officer, then shakes his head. Lloyd tells Control the bad news. “Auckland, Qantas 44, we can’t make 3-9-zero by 160 DME. ” Nothing was computed or looked up in a manual in this situation. The Captain here is just very experienced and knows he can’t make the requirement. We are instead told to maintain FL310. Course is 253 degrees and the time is 0407 zulu, or 5. 07pm in Auckland.

We are at FL295 still climbing to FL310. At 200 DME, we are level FL310. “Qantas 43, call Auckland on HF, primary 5643, secondary 8867. ”

We are monitoring 128. 95 (air/air) and 121. 5 (distress) as well as the two HF frequencies. After calling on 5643 with no response, Lloyd tries 8867 and this time Auckland responds. At 0420 zulu, coffee is served on the flight deck, with tasty rolled fish pieces and some smoked salmon. I hear Continental 002 from Sydney for Auckland at FL330 reporting at LEST! at 0458, so I estimate that aircraft will pass overhead us very shortly. We are currently between NOKIN and LESTI, a 132nm leg.

I calculate that we are 87 miles apart and closing at over 1100 miles an hour and our crossing ETA should be 0503 zulu. It happens exactly one minute earlier. At 0500 zulu, Continental 002 is just visible ahead above us, directly in front and just over two minutes later the DC-10 whizzes overhead our aircraft 2000ft above on our reverse track, at what seems like incredible speed. A truly spectacular sight, one that non-flight deck crew don’t often get to see!

Bruce McCook, Second Officer, tells me he learnt to fly in the USA on Cessna 172’s. He was living in Texas while he studied, then after gaining his Commercial Licence, his first paying jobs were in the Philippines and New Guinea. Until today Bruce has not flown trips before with any other members of the technical crew, not an uncommon situation at Qantas!

A galley oven circuit breaker is detected as UIS at 0508 zulu, just after we have monitored the Sydney Volmet details on 11387. Wind 210 degrees at 12 knots, visibility 1 0 kilometres, haze, 3 OKTAS at 300ft, temperature 17, dewpoint 10. No SIG. QNH 1008.

The crew have their HF on selcal-watch only, but I prefer to listen all the time, so I select both 8867 and 5643 on my control buttons.

Bruce McCook has relieved Captain Mcinnes, who takes a well-earned break to speak with the ‘customers’. Lloyd radios an AIREP to Sydney Radio.

“Sydney Sydney, Qantas 44 is IPLON at 0526, flight level 3-1-zero, estimating GULNA at 0607, fuel remaining 3 hours plus 49 minutes, minus three eight, 1-niner-zero diagonal three-five spot. And request flight level three-five-zero. ”

The INS wind readout means we have a 35-knot crosswind, so drift is considerable and the autopilot is working away adjusting it. We are cleared to FL350 as Hawaiian Air 463, bound for Pago Pago, advises he has Pago on VHF. I look at the weather radar, set for 180 miles ahead. There are no cells.

A tray of fresh fruit is brought in and I remember an earlier chat with Captain Peter Brown, where Peter told me that fresh fruit is particularly important to aircrew on long night hauls. The natural blood sugar levels are kept up and the crew stays alert . . . something I never really gave much thought to before.

Captain Craig Mcinnes has returned and has Jeppesen Charts laid out on the INS panels. Bruce McCook (Second Officer) is now in the First Officer’s seat and unsuccessfully calls Sydney five times on 8867, then tries 5643, which also provides ‘no joy’. Finally, after calling again twice on 8867, he established contact.

We are level at FL350 and request FL310. Immediately we level off at FL310, the Captain asks Bruce to call again and request FL280 due to a light chop.

I enquire of Bruce McCook when he’ll fly another trip and he tells me “Wednesday”. Today is Friday and on that trip next week, he’s off to Papeete and West Coast USA as part of a 1 Oday tour of duty.

Sydney Radio asks us to call Sydney Control on 129 decimal 8 five minutes prior to GULNA. Atmospherics are really dreadful on HF today. Reception is very poor on 8867 and not much better on 5643. We pass overhead GULNA 2 minutes later than estimated at 0609 and we are now established on VHF with Sydney Control.

The Approach Charts have been unclipped and are being studied. At 0612, Control says “Qantas 44, clear to descend to FL190. ” Our Sydney estimate is now 0638, 7. 38 pm in Auckland and 5. 38 pm in Sydney. It’s been a long day!

Captain Craig Mcinnes requests First Officer Lloyd Shepard, now in his own seat, to enquire of Control if we can expect any holding delays. The answer is “Negative”. At 135 miles out, the Australian coastline is clearly visible. We commence descent at 0620 to FL190 and are told by Control to expect RW16. We have 129. 8 Control and 124. 4 Approach dialled up on COMMS 1 & 2 and we tune in Sydney ATIS frequency 115. 4 on NAV set 1. (Sydney Terminal Information ‘Papa’, RW16 or 07, wind light and variable, QNH 1000, temperature 20. ).

Bruce McCook calls up Qantas Sydney on 131. 7 and learns that our bars terminate and that our aeroplane VH-EBO will depart for Tokyo as Qantas 21 at 10. 30 pm local tonight. Look through the logbook and discover that prior to us leaving on EBO this morning, the aircraft had flown in from San Francisco and Honolulu as Qantas 4. Bruce is given our Terminal Bay at Sydney, Bay 5, on the Southern Apron. At 0627, we are instructed to call Approach on 124. 4.

We are at 6000ft on the descent and will fly a left base for RW16. We make our downswing right tum up the coast line at 5. 30 pm Sydney time, then turn left 260 degrees for base at 0633 zulu. I shoulder harness up again for the landing. Pre-flight checks are being completed and we are visual with the runway.

As we descend through 1800ft, we finally turn and call the Tower for a six-mile visual approach. The gear is down and locked. At 5. 37 pm, Sydney Tower advises . . . “Qantas 44, clear to land, wind 160/10 to 15 knots. ” Qantas 44 is home from Auckland and as we taxi up to the Terminal, I reflect on my wonderful and unique experience examining the working day of a Qantas Captain and his technical crew.

I decide that I must remember to thank the following Qantas staff for this valued opportunity to follow their activity so closely: Captain Peter Brown and Captain Craig Mcinnes, First Officer Lloyd Shepard, Second Officer Bruce McCook, Flight Engineer Ron Cook, the entire cabin crew of Qantas 43/44 on this exciting Friday and Des Sullivan and Mike Cottee of Qantas Public Affairs.

Next Issue: A change of pace as we fly with an RAAF C-130E crew in support of the immense military airlift activity required by the Australian Defence Forces.