Fond Farewell

‘The management of such a transition is a complex undertaking’

In other cases, ageing fleets may be viable but approaching significant airframe inspections which can incur a sizeable cost. Accordingly, airlines must assess whether there is an adequate return on investment to undertake this high-level maintenance, or to sell the aircraft off and replace them with a newer type or younger airframes of the same model. 

New route structures and market demand can cause a shift in the type and/or number of aircraft servicing a route. Most recently we have seen Tigerair announcing a reduction in services and a closing of bases which unfortunately may leave aircraft and crews alike, surplus to requirements. 

A more subtle replacement program takes place when a newer variant of the same aircraft is introduced, but calls for additional pilot training, such as when the 737 “Next Generation” series gradually replaced the 737 “Classic” series. Similar, but not the same, the transition left airlines with a juggling act of scheduling services and rostering appropriately endorsed crews as the number of Classics dwindled and the NGs emerged. 

Just as the cause of their demise can vary, so can the fate of the airframes. For some, the end is simply a case of being returned to the leaseholders and a new life with a new paint scheme and a new airline. Many of the former Ansett Australia airframes found their way to Europe. Those aircraft with no immediate flying future can find themselves grounded at an aircraft storage facility in some remote and dry corner of the globe. Here in Australia, Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) operates such a facility at Alice Springs. While some airframes are stored in hope of a new life at some point in the future, others are of more value for the sum of their parts than they are as a whole. At boneyards like the Southern California Logistics Airport near Victorville, CA, USA, aircraft may not merely find a resting place, they may be broken down and parted out for the companies still operating the aircraft.  

‘At the best of times aviation can be an industry of peaks and troughs and even booms and busts’

Happier endings may see passenger airliners reconfigured for freighter operations and Qantas’ Boeing 747-400 VH-OJU is in the process of being converted to a flying engine testbed for RollsRoyce. The aircraft of airlines in the southern hemisphere are often suited to a second life as the relatively remote nature of the Antipodes calls for longer sector lengths which, in turn, equates to fewer pressurisation cycles on the airframes compared to a similar life aircraft flying shorter sectors elsewhere. 

With airframes departing to all corners of the globe for a new beginning or a very final end, the crews that once flew them are also faced with a change in circumstances and the management thereof can prove challenging. 

Changing seats

Training courses are a recognised part of a pilot’s career and a central function of airline flight operations. From classrooms and manuals to procedural trainers and full-flight simulators, the process of making a pilot safe and competent to operate a new aircraft type is significant. Such a process calls for substantial resources and expense and a constant challenge for airlines lies in matching supply and demand. At the best of times aviation can be an industry of peaks and troughs and even booms and busts and airlines need to match their recruitment and ongoing training with the industry’s sine wave. Different airlines achieve this with varying degrees of success in an attempt to minimise any surplus which ultimately equates to cost.

To this end, particularly when recruitment is slow or stagnant, only enough training of staff and simulator availability exists to provide currency for pilots and meet the ongoing regulatory check requirements. When a fleet retires, the demand on a training department increases markedly as crews move onto a new type or move sideward onto an existing fleet. Pilots awaiting training courses are unproductive and a cost to the company, so in some instances, crews are sent to other airlines, domestic and abroad to undergo endorsement training. On their return they will still be required to undergo a certain amount of company-specific procedural training and the normal amount of line training. 

In some airlines, depending how their seniority system and union award operates, this can have a further effect upon those pilots not directly involved with the retiring aircraft. In essence, a seniority system ranks pilots and their right to bid to fly a particular aircraft type, or to seek promotion, based upon their date of joining. There are myriad variables within such a system, including training freezes which allow the airline to recoup their training investment by keeping the pilot effectively bonded to a type for an agreed period. Consequently, when a fleet retires there is a significant amount of movement throughout the pilot ranks in an exercise akin to musical chairs. 

Within certain seniority systems, pilots who no longer have a fleet to call their own can move across to another fleet at a position that corresponds to their seniority. In moving across, most pilots will do so at an equivalent rank. In some cases, the numbers may fall in such a way that they either move down a rank category or need to move to a more junior base to retain their rank. Additionally, if the fleet retirement results in an excess of crew on an aircraft type, more junior pilots in the system can be moved off the type to a lower rank or category of aircraft. It is a process that can be repeated until the most junior pilot on the most junior fleet is reached. Frequently, such a strategy of displacement is not employed as the downtime and training costs to reposition a string of pilots can be significant. In this case, the excess of pilots is simply absorbed into the new fleet until natural movement and attrition re-establishes the status quo over time.

When the retirement of an aircraft involves its gradual replacement by a newer variant, the training situation can be altogether different and a true exercise in change management. In the case of existing 737 Classic crew, they would be gradually converted onto the Next Generation (NG) aircraft through a combination of ground theory and simulator training to highlight the differences. Once completed, the pilots would be available to fly both aircraft. As the proportion of aircraft began to favour the newer NGs, pilots joining the fleet would undertake training on the NG, with their differences course being the older Classic. Ultimately, the new pilots would be solely NG-endorsed, with a small core of dual-endorsed pilots to see the Classic into retirement. 

Managing the logistics of such a gradual transition affects every department from pilot crewing, to ensure appropriately endorsed pilots are rostered to fly the correct aircraft, to allocating the correct aircraft type on the appropriate route. This second consideration may vary based on something as subtle as cabin configuration to something as significant as the aircraft’s range. Commercially, having pilots undertake a dual endorsement with minimal life left on the older fleet was an expense that could be spared. 

Inevitably, within any pilot group, there is a number of crew, that like their aircraft, are nearing retirement. This situation can pose a series of questions for pilots and airline management alike. On one hand, the pilot may not relish the rigors of another training course, so close to the end of their career. Conversely, the airline may question whether there will be an adequate return on the training costs to be gained between the time the pilot checks to the line and parks the brakes for the final time. Additionally, for an international pilot closing in on the limiting age of 65, the option exists for a move to domestic flying. In such instances, it comes down to the choice of the individual. 

Airlines around the world furlough their pilots when excess or downfall occurs, meaning that they are given open-ended, leave without-pay. In this event, the rule is generally last on – first off, with contracted foreign pilots and the most junior local pilots furloughed first. And while this technique can be used to manage an excess of crew when a fleet retires without an equivalent replacement, it is more commonly used following major events, such as the downturns that we have recently experienced throughout the pandemic and unforgettably, following the tragedies of 9/11. Shifting our focus to the world’s epicentre of the virus, many Asian carriers placed their ex-pat pilots on leave-without-pay to return to their homeland during the breakout. Although, for some fortunate pilots, they remain on short-term standby to return quickly when the situation has passed and demand for travel is rebirthed. 

Fleet reductions rather than retirements can be particularly tough on any pilot body, with the junior pilots often left without a flight deck seat to fill. With an uncertain future they may cast their eye to jobs abroad, or possibly a return to previous employers, including the military. But both options will involve a period of anxious waiting, if any position exists at all. For the most part, fleet retirement is a case of transitioning onto another type and possibly another rank. Either way, significant training lies ahead.

‘For all of the study, checking and training there comes a moment when pilots will ultimately bid their former steed a fond farewell’

A new office 

In most instances, a pilot will be given some months’ notice of when their training course will commence. As they gradually part ways with their old fleet they will inevitably begin to study the new aircraft that lies ahead. It can be a time of excitement, tinged with a little dread. The interest in flying a new type can be countered to some degree by the study required to pass exams and training/ checking events. 

The training pathway will vary between airlines and even internally between fleets. Some airlines recognise previous experience on type, some do not and some place an expiry date on the validity of that experience. Typically, training may start with a digital course and textbooks being issued in advance of ever entering the classroom. This generally focuses on aircraft systems and is accompanied by an examination on completion of the content. Similarly, there is training in the aircraft’s planning and performance to familiarise the new pilot with the graphs, charts and iPad apps associated with the aircraft, both in day-to-day operations and in nonstandard configurations. There will also be a revalidation of emergency procedures and equipment. This may involve a wet drill simulating a ditching and recalling the location and operation of the emergency equipment on board, from life jackets to fire extinguishers and more. Additionally, dangerous goods qualifications will be renewed. 

Frequently paired with another pilot, the time comes to actually learn how to fly the aircraft. Armed with diagrams of cockpit layouts pinned to walls at home, pilots begin to touch drill their scans, flows and memory items. Along with their partner, they will spend time in a procedural trainer to refine the skill in conjunction with crew coordination. The procedural trainer may be a digital state-of-the-art training device with touch screens, or an old-style wooden mock-up with laminated representations of the flight deck panels, affectionately known as a “Bamboo Bomber”. 

The transition into the full flight simulator training will initially be without the motion active and referred to as fixed base, where the procedures are further embedded and rehearsed. Sitting in the stationary but realistic flight deck, there is an opportunity to bed down the systems knowledge as it relates to the flight deck in both normal and non-normal operations. System failures occur, lights illuminate, bells ring and messages flash up – all without the trainees needing to be loaded up with flying the aircraft and managing the flight path.

Next, a series of increasingly complex profiles will be flown in the full flight simulator with the motion on. From basic flight and circuits, to critical emergencies such as depressurisation and engine fires on takeoff, the pilots will be trained and ultimately tested. On completion of the simulated flight sequences, the pilots will have their instrument ratings issued and depending on the category of simulator, they may be legally endorsed on the aircraft, having never actually flown it. 

Finally, line training begins on the actual aircraft with a training captain. Depending on the fleet, the number of sectors to be flown will vary but all trainees will undertake a final check flight with a check captain before they are signed off to fly the line once more, just as they had on their previous fleet. It is a rigorous process, which depending upon a range of factors including training staff and flight simulator availability can be of varying duration, although three months in a streamlined world is a rough estimate. 

Fond farewell

The retirement of any aircraft from a fleet comes with a degree of sentiment. This often extends beyond those that have piloted the aircraft to those who have been passengers, as evidenced by the interest and outpouring on social media of the impending retirement of the Boeing 747s from airlines around the world. 

Whether the aircraft has reached its end of life, or become surplus to requirements, the transition of both the aircraft and its crews is not a simple one. It has far-reaching implications that can extend to those on other fleets as well as those that will now be tasked to train on a new aircraft type. 

The retirement of a fleet is a carefully choreographed event, although the tempo of the music and the timeline can change when unforeseen circumstances such as the coronavirus crisis arise. To maintain an operating standard and minimise downtime for crews in transition is a fine art. Still, for all of the study, checking and training there comes a moment when pilots will ultimately bid their former steed a fond farewell.