Grant Corriveau's Blog

Stuff Happens: complexity, contracts and unintended consequences.

Airliners are Very Complex Vehicles. A typical B-747 is comprised of millions of parts and components. The reported numbers vary because there is no agreed method of defining “a component” and every single airliner often has differences from others, for various reasons. Suffice to say – there are millions: “A Boeing 747-8 aircraft comprises more than six million individual parts when completed.”
(this post at simpleflying.com/airliners-how-many-p...)

Add to this the ever-developing regulations that are constantly being reviewed, updated and hopefully improved as manufacturers and federal regulators strive to maintain the required levels of safety in the face of the chaotic, constantly demanding world of weather, economic forces, psychological forces (i.e. public perceptions), and even the material processes (corrosion, fatigue, stress, motion, vibration), implementation of new materials, and so on.

Now, add to this the constant, administrative and contractual struggles by companies to operate profitably and often politically; the need to sell aircraft in a competitive sort-of-free marketplace; and the internal struggles between the infamous “pencil pushers” who are responsible for contracts and commitments, who know business (and politics) but can’t really understand their products very well, versus the in-house technical and engineering specialists who know the products deeply, but don’t know all the business end of things.

Throw in the evidence that at Boeing, (it seems to me anyway) the two groups are not communicating well together… and…. ‘Gordian Knots’ like this situation with the Airforce One replacement project are bound to happen…

So well explained here by Aviator and excellent vlogger, Mentour Pilot:

JAX is not my home…

Today, there’s a large weather system with an active front running from northern Mexico, across Texas, up through Quebec, and into the maritimes. This weather pattern is not uncommon, but sometimes it is more active than others. Yesterday and overnight, it spawned tornadoes across several areas of the US and hit Montreal with a significant ice storm leaving much of the region without electrical power.

This map shows today’s early frontal activity and I’ve sketched in a rough line of how traffic generally flows north from Miami to Montreal. The standard routes arrive into Miami across the Gulf of Mexico on the west and the Atlantic on the east, Departing flights northbound are channeled along central Florida before dispersing towards their destinations.

As you can see, the front is still sitting inland several kilometers from the US seaboard region where it often advances to before dissipating. The eastern seaboard is where it was the night, several years ago, when I wrote about an encounter with it. This became a chapter in my first book, “Uplift- A pilot’s journey.”

Entitled “JAX Is Not My Home.” It speaks of feelings of displacement and restlessness. It speaks of a pressing need to move on despite the challenges we all face at one time or another. There are forces beyond ourselves, beyond our control. We are urged to face up to these by our constant longing to arrive home. This is our common journey.

(The chapter is linked, or should be viewable, below)

jax-is-not-my-homeDownload

Childhood inspirations…

This video (below) reminded me how The Super ‘Connie’ was one of the extraordinary airplanes that I used to watch land and takeoff at our local airport when I was a boy. It helped inspire my interest in one day becoming an airline pilot. Here are some short excerpts from my memories in “Uplift – A Pilot’s Journey.”:

“…Then the deep roar of an arriving Lockheed Super Constellation assailed us, its four huge radial engines spitting and popping as this elegant aircraft rumbled up and parked. If jet fumes were perfume, then engine noises were a pure symphony to my twelve-year-old senses. We watched with fascination as ramp crews swarmed the plane and passengers disembarked. We waited expectantly for the moment when the uniformed pilots would emerge from the aircraft’s main door, stride confidently down the stairs and cross the ramp into the office below us. A few minutes later they’d reappear to begin their preparations for another departure…”

“…A puff of black smoke and a pop and rumble and then more smoke and the propeller would accelerate into a flashing blur of silver in the sparkling sun. Finally, the engine would roar once and settle into a steady idle. The procedure was repeated three more times, adding to the glorious soundscape. “

“…Later that night—unable to sleep, sitting up in bed, still excited— I would re-enact the entire sequence, playing the part of the captain while producing a full array of engine sounds—but softly as to escape my mother’s detection and her reminders to “Go to sleep!””

Video Trailer: A Day in the Life

Mistakes waiting to happen…

IF something CAN be done wrong – it WILL be done wrong! Ouch… And, oh yeah – maybe when there’s an airworthiness directory calling for a change to prevent a similar accident from happening again – it should be accomplished more expeditiously!! Happily, no one was killed.

UK AAIB issues bulletin to prevent additional nose gear mishaps

Where do we draw the line?

After this attempted murder-suicide by a passenger on a “third level” air-carrier (posted below) it’s going to be interesting to see if access to the front seats (and the flight controls) on smaller aircraft is modified. Sometimes, aircraft with as few as three passengers (plus the pilot) are used by lower level operators and charter companies – especially in lower-traffic areas. If these operators were to be forced to block off that front seat and limit access to the pilot, it could have a huge impact on their viability.

Where’s the appropriate line for making air transportation safe?

Alaska Pilot, Passengers Foil Attempted Murder-Suicide

19th C. technology in a 21st C. world of aviation:

What “Indentured Servitude” looks like for airline pilots in the 21st C.

The Bus to Montego Bay, Jamaica

Below, I’ve linked a good video presentation of a 2009 Air Canada A321 flight into Sangster International airport at Montego Bay, Jamaica.

I flew that route many times. I would have loved to have stayed in Jamaica for more than the one hour turn-around time. 

A couple of points about the video:

The arrival to Jamaica crosses Cuban airspace. That was always “interesting” because our route charts carried warnings that any “unauthorized deviations from the assigned routes could result in military interceptions or…(worse?).” I found Cuban ATC to be friendly and cooperative, but I ALWAYS was very careful to coordinate any required deviations around thunderstorms etc. when in their airspace. The captain in the video mentions that the approach this day was not rushed. What often happens on this route is that we can’t get a descent clearance until we transfer out of Cuban airspace into Jamaican. By this time we might already be a bit high for the remaining distance to fly.Then, Jamaican ATC might offer us short cuts from our planned route (depending upon traffic, weather and such). While this saves us time and fuel, it also puts us even higher above the desired profile. Some days this all adds up to a bit more work juggling the automation and the drag devices to manage our altitude and speed properly on the way in.This captain also talks about how the visibility was good this day and they saw the airport from about 15 miles back. This is a bit unusual at MBJ, in my experience. The afternoon clouds and humidity commonly made for ceilings less than 3,000 feet and visibility around a mile or two. In fact, I recall that during my first two or three visits I never actually saw the Island of Jamaica at all! I only saw the approach over the water, then the rising, lush green hills to the south of the airport.

As anyone has read my second book knows, I playfully “moan” about how we were required, back in the day, to cross-check the multi-million dollar automation and database tools with our “twenty-five cent” pieces of paper. This 2009 arrival at Montego Bay clearly illustrates that. The Final Legal Authority for the instrument navigation procedures was vested in the paper copies. We pilots had to manually enter all the navigation details and altitudes into the computers and double-check our own accuracy plus the accuracy of any pre-stored (canned) information that was built in to help ease this task. 

Now-a-days the legal authority and accuracy verification process has also been applied to the eVersions. For a look at how the “paperless” flight deck has progressed – here’s a favourite vLogger I follow.

He’s flying the B737-800(?) which represents a similar level of automation technology as the A320.  In the first departure from Phoenix, you can see how the ATC clearances and full company-planned routing is transmitted electronically to the aircraft. (There is definitely a lot of “finger magic” required to make it all happen).  In the second departure from Cabo we see that some “old school” practices are still in effect at many ATC centres – and it’s a good demonstration of how human errors occur and how (ideally) they are caught and corrected in that system. (i.e. the ‘read back’ process)

https://fb.watch/66Dddeo_qq/

Can a passenger take over and fly your airliner?

He can when he’s an off-duty, going-on-vacation-captain for the same company. And, thanks to his wife, he brought his pilot licence along with him!

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/easyjet-flight-spain-delay-pilot-michael-bradley-alicante-manchester-a9092066.html