Emirates A345 tail strike

[James K]

Agree. It's bad enough working an around the clock roster on the ground let alone crossing time zones and sleeping in a strange bed etc.

[Marty H]

The same crew will not be 'at the controls' for the full 14hr duration of the flight, a crew will be at the controls from pre-flight until 3-4hrs into the flight and will then be 'relieved' by another crew during cruise for perhaps the next 6-7hrs and then they will swap over again and that crew will then be at the controls until arrival at the gate.

[Philip Argy]

How does EK's duty pattern compare with other long haul carriers?

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Marty H

The same crew will not be 'at the controls' for the full 14hr duration of the flight, a crew will be at the controls from pre-flight until 3-4hrs into the flight and will then be 'relieved' by another crew during cruise for perhaps the next 6-7hrs and then they will swap over again and that crew will then be at the controls until arrival at the gate.

Well aware of that and that isn't the issue, the issue is the fact that pilots are sent out to cross 6 timezones, and sent back less than 2 days later, no way in the world can someone be fully rested let alone confidently responsible for the lives of 300 behind them.

[Greg McDonald]

Bit more published today:

AN Airbus A340-500 carrying 275 people vanished from sight and was invisible on airport radar screens immediately after a botched take-off at Melbourne airport, in which it came within seconds of disaster.
For a few terrifying moments, those on duty in the airport's control tower had no way of knowing the fate of Emirates Airlines flight 407 after it limped into the air and flew low over houses in the densely populated suburb of Keilor on March 20, The Weekend Australian reports.

The Emirates plane, bound for Dubai, struggled to take off and then gain altitude after one of its pilots wrongly calculated the weight of the aircraft by 100tonnes.

The tail of the plane hit the runway five times before the captain ordered full thrust at the last minute to lift the Airbus over the airport perimeter fence, knocking out a strobe light and an antenna on the way.

A preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureaufound pilot error was to blame for the accident, which has been described as the closest Australia has come to a major airline disaster.

But now Rob Mason, president of the air traffic controllers union, Civil Air, has revealed that after take-off, the low-flying Airbus disappeared from view of the airport control tower.

"The aircraft was lost to sight against the lights of the industrial estate to the south -- it was not high enough to be seen," Mr Mason told The Weekend Australian.

He said air traffic controllers noticed something was wrong when the plane was halfway down the runway.

"My members told me the aircraft was not accelerating normally,' he said.

"Then they saw sparks coming from the back of the aircraft as its tail struck the ground as it tried to become airborne."

Sources say that after leaving the airport the Airbus still struggled to climb quickly, meaning it did not immediately show up on the control tower's radars, which show an aircraft only when it has reached take-off height.

"This would have been the worst civil air disaster in Australia's history by a very large margin," said aviation expert Ben Sandilands.

[Philip Argy]

... the control tower's radars ... show an aircraft only when it has reached take-off height ...

[Adam G]

The actual article is here -

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

The actual artice doesn't contain the above quoted remark - it appears to just be in the secondary one.

[Daniel M]

....said aviation expert Ben Sandilands.

Pffft hardly....more like a shock-journo, much like his same-surname mate

[Nathan Long]

And what is "take-off height" anyway? The height at which the aircraft becomes airborne (i.e. ground level)?

[Raymond Rowe]

That land at the end of runway 34 at tullamarine was never meant to be built on. But typical of the greed in this day and age has seen it sold off.It will only be a period of time until an aircraft plows into these buildings.