FT’s Patrol Project

[solarman216]

Impressive, I did not realise you were a Pilot well done, Rick

 

[Fez_uk]

What can't you do! :lol

casually mention you fly planes :lol

 

[Banshee]

The username is a giveaway

 

[elty001]

The username is a giveaway

I just thought he liked to throw tools:lol

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Well spotted Banshee!

Been flying for over 20 years. Whilst I enjoy doing it, I prefer the engineering side. Sitting on my backside for 12 hours is not my idea of fun.

However as my better half says, I am not your typical pilot. You won’t find a set of golf clubs in our house. I am at my happiest pottering about around the house covered in grease.

 

[Banshee]

I am at my happiest pottering about around the house covered in grease.

Wait till Doug reads this :doh :lol :lol :whip:

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Wait till Doug reads this :doh :lol :lol :whip:

You got me worried now!

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

Ignore him, he's just upset that I don't pay him as much attention as before covid, the gimp :lol

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

I can pick up a tube of KY jelly next time I go shopping and send it to Zac if that helps your relationship along.

 

[elty001]

I can pick up a tube of KY jelly next time I go shopping and send it to Zac if that helps your relationship along.

:lol:thumbs

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

I can pick up a tube of KY jelly next time I go shopping and send it to Zac if that helps your relationship along.

Saltpeter is what he needs :lol

 

[solarman216]

Not intending to hi jack your thread, but just been watching "Air crash confidential" and have to wonder why two aircraft mistakenly are flying at the same altitude as to why they are on the exact same path to collide, are the flight paths so exact that they could not have been several hundred meters or so to the left or right of each other, Rick

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Pre covid the skies were very busy and you could quite happily fly at the same flight level on an intersecting course. Normally Air Traffic Control (ATC) would instruct one (or both) aircraft to turn 10 or 15 degrees to the left or right so that we safely pass.

For opposite traffic we are normally separated by a 1000ft in height if flying in Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) airspace. However sometimes ATC clear the aircraft to a non standard flight level in the climb. So if we should be at an odd flight level they clear you to an even flight level. This is just to get you through the traffic and facilitate your climb or descent.

Very occasionally this goes wrong and two aircraft come too close to each other. For these situation we have a system called TCAS, Traffic Collision and Avoidance System. TCAS gives climb or descent instructions to both (most of the time) aircraft and avoids a collision. On the older aircraft the pilots have to take out the autopilot and manoeuvre the aircraft as required. On the newer aircraft the autopilot does it all and the pilots monitor the autopilot.

In years gone by we used to fly from navigation aid to navigation aid and there was quite a bit of slack in the system. The accuracy wasn’t that high. Now with GPS we fly to GPS coordinates and the navigation accuracy is very high. To such an extent that aircraft literally fly on top of each other (1000ft separation in height). Going across the Atlantic we now use a procedure called SLOP also known as Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure. As the navigation is so precise and the aircraft are all following the same oath you could potentially end up flying in somebody else’s wake turbulence. Hence the use of SLOP which offsets the route by 1 or 2 miles to the right. Up to the pilot to decide as it depends on traffic levels. No point offsetting if there are no other aircraft in the vicinity.

So yes, the flight paths are so exact.

Hope that this all makes sense.

 

[One Foot in the Gravy]

It still amazes me how computers have been flying planes for years, yet we are only now just getting to a stage where they can safely drive cars!?

 

[solarman216]

Thanks FT, I had not realised that airspace was so crowded, Rick

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

It still amazes me how computers have been flying planes for years, yet we are only now just getting to a stage where they can safely drive cars!?

True but flying a plane is more or less simply following a line through the sky. It is fairly easy to get a car to just follow the satnav if it wasn’t for the other nutters on the road. Up in the sky you don’t have to worry about kids jumping out from behind parked airplanes.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Thanks FT, I had not realised that airspace was so crowded, Rick

The airspace over Europe is very busy and congested. On 28 June 2019 there were 37.228 flights in European airspace.

 

[lfteixeira]

Thanks FT, I had not realised that airspace was so crowded, Rick

Yap, they are...

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

The Patrol went for its MOT yesterday and passed with a few advisories but nothing serious. A bit of play in a wheel bearing, corroded suspension springs and a anti-roll bar linkage ball joint has some slight play.

All easy to repair when I get it in the garage.