Cleared for the Straight in VOR Approach via OMREL

 

Photo of one of our aircraft just shortly after rotation in St Lucia. Thanks to Gianni Deligny, one of LIAT's First Officers (and professional photographers)

Well after several months of being in a holding pattern, I've finally decided to bring out the old pen and paper (AKA: IPad) and continue writing! What turned out to be 'a few weeks off' with Christmas around the corner, turned into a few more weeks studying and preparing for recurrent simulator, which turned into several more months of studying for my Canadian Airline Transport Pilot's Licence (ATPL). With recurrent simulator training right around the corner again in mid-July, I couldn't believe that the time flew by so quickly without any blog posts.



For those of you unsure what a hold is an oval or race-track shaped pattern which we manoeuvre the aircraft in over a fixed point in space by using gps co-ordinates or a distance and bearing from a navigation facility: Because we can't just stop in the air, air traffic control may request us to hold: most often occurring in the arrival phase of flight, just before executing the approach, and any can be due to many things like; slower traffic head, weather at the airport or congestion of landing and departing traffic. I've included a picture of one of the instrument approach plates to the Antigua's V.C. Bird Airport to give you a picture as to what it looks like. You can see on the picture, there is a five letter word 'OMREL' with a racetrack to the Northwest of it. It shows on the approach plate that there are left turns. After making the left turn and going away from OMREL on the outbound leg, we use a timer to accurately adjust the time we spend flying away from the point to correctly estimate a one minute inbound leg (from the time we turn back towards the fix to the time we cross over it).  Every LIAT pilot knows this spot in the Caribbean exceptionally well, because Antigua's air traffic control is known to clear pilots to OMREL even on the most severe clear day, with not a single cloud or aircraft in the airspace. I will work on explaining more of this approach plate in future blogs.


In other news, we had a bit of a disaster in Antigua just recently. Two weekends ago LIAT had one of its two hangers go up in flames one night. Rumors are one of the golf carts the maintenance department uses for getting from the hanger to the ramp had been plugged in all weekend, the battery over charged and exploded. This caused quite the fireworks display for Antigua, causing one of the worst fires the island has seen. I think a hanger is one of the most dangerous places to have a fire. With Jet fuels, oils and lubricants and 100% oxygen stored there, it is a recipe for disaster if there are sparks or an ignition source.

This shot below was taken from the runway showing one of our two hangers on fire.



That night there were winds very strong winds in Antigua, fueling the fire creating such an intense heat that it hindered the firefighters from getting anywhere close to where the flames actually were. What's not seen in this picture is that there was actually an airplane in both hangers that night.


Shot of the hanger ingulfed in flames so much so that it's not even visible.


Aftermath of the hanger. The sliding door in the middle is the only thing holding the roof up.





This picture is showing the lost aircraft inside the hanger. The heat was so intense it melted the aircraft into pieces of scrap that look like pop cans. The only things recognize-able are the two engine mounts being held up by scaffolding and the boarding stairs at the bottom of the ladder.


The disaster is a tremendous loss to LIAT, as they had owned that hanger and the four adjacent buildings on the right; the inner two being destroyed by fire and outer two destroyed by smoke. The aircraft was one of the oldest in our fleet, however it was only leased. V2-LGH (the aircrafts call sign) had been in the hanger for 3 weeks getting a major overhaul where the company and the company had just put approximately 3million XCD into it. The company has estimated its insured losses at 35 million Eastern Caribbean dollars, with the uninsured losses being dramatically more.

Snapshots

Howdy all!

It's been quite a while since I've updated the blog! My camera hasn't been out and as active as it has in the past, however, I thought I'd post a few pictures I have snapped in the last 2 months.

This is the Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737 that overran the runway in Guyana. They dragged it over and its now sitting on its tail in two pieces in a hanger at the airport there.

Early morning flight down the island chain. At the time, we were over Guadeloupe, with Dominica in front and Martinique in the distance.

The small island of Montserratt, with the volcano which still seems to cough from time to time

Sunset enroute to Antigua from Barbados at FL (flight level) 230

Nice Sunset in St. Lucia, after a rain shower

Early morning Departure out of Barbados, looking at the north half of the island, enroute to Dominica

Company traffic on the ramp in Dominica

Line Training and Flying the Line

Line training is finally complete after 4 months of training. It took some serious dedication to work and studying, but it sure has paid off sa far. I've been 'flying the line' now for just about a month now, and it has been fantastic!

In the 3 weeks of my line training, I have seen a lot, (or so I think); however others tell me that I have truly seen nothing yet, which i sure do believe. I've had the opportunity to fly into almost every island in the caribbean (with the exception of Martinique and The Dominican Republic) which lies between Puerto Rico in the north and Guyana in the south. Our flights range from very short sectors of St Kitts to Nevis at approximately 6 minutes from takeoff to landing to long sectors between Barbados and Guyana and Trinidad and Curacao which are both each over 2 hours long. It's a good mix and keeps things interesting and never 'routine'. To add to that, Flight Operations likes to keep us on our toes by changing flights, routes, times, schedules, stops and everything else in between.

In my time at LIAT so far, I've flown around different heads of state, met many different types of people, skirted around hurricanes and tropical storms and have flown instrument approaches down to minimum altitudes with the minimal visibility with Tropical waves and depressions passing overhead. My time here has also provided me with many  'only in the tropics...' type moments where you can stand back and chuckle to yourself. Some can be quite funny, but others quite frustrating.

Another thing that comes to mind is the Malibu rum commercials, this seems ridiculous, but I actually find a lot of similarities down here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCdX8kLv4JI


Anyways, I figured I'd post a view from 'the office' as I land at George Charles airport in Castries, St. Lucia. The Sandals resort is just to the north of the airport (left) and the harbor is on the right. This video was taken a few weeks back on a nice clear evening. As you can see, at the end of the runway there are hills right at the end of it. This makes it even more important to always know exactly where you are, especially in instrument meteorological conditions (clouds AKA IMC).

 This past Monday, we had a day which started in Georgetown, Guyana, took us to Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. (no other airline pilots can say they are doing more takeoffs and landings than us, but that's another story!) Leaving Barbados for the last time that night, the captain went on the PA and was telling the passengers how the weather is beautiful there and we should be in 5 min ahead of schedule, as we had just arrived from there minutes before. On approach into St Lucia, the controllers put us into a holding pattern over the NDB (the navigation beacon at the airfield) as there was an American registered aircraft executing an instrument approach, the captain figured he probably wasn't familiar with the area and instead of calling the field in sight and executing a visual approach, like most do in fair conditions to save time and fuel he was going to do the full approach. While holding overhead the field, we had the airport in sight below a few scattered clouds. The aircraft ahead  didnt have the field in sight at the missed approach point and had to execute a missed approach, he climbed back up, tried it again, and finally made it in the second time.

The captain was the one flying so he figured he would do the instrument approach as well, even though we had the field right ahead below us. Sure enough on final, with the runway lights in sight we do the final set up, extending the landing flaps and the gear, then all of a sudden bam! Complete blackness... we hit a rain shower, and lost all visibility, we continue to the last point we can before we have to go around, but nothing.. Captain calls "go-around, set power", I call the  "positive climb" and he responds with "gear up, flaps 15" as he is making the turn just over where the runway would be, if we were able to see it. We climb back up and hold at the safe altitude above the terrain, waiting for it to clear up. We get back up and find that we can see the airport perfectly from up there. We decide to call a visual approach and orbit down staying off the coast and away from dangerous mountains that we cloud barely see from e blackness of the night. From the way we approached we could see that there was just one little line shower which was exactly in line with e final approach course of the instrument approach. Finally, the second time we make it in. Phew! As we taxi in, there is a wall of rain chasing us in. No light little sprinkle, some torrential downpour! The poor people probably had high hopes of returning to some fair weather after the Captain gave his briefing. I had to joke with him on the final sector about how it came to bite him in the ass!

Flying in and out isn't particularly challenging, but our aircrafts do not have the climb gradient to safely clear the hills at the end of the runway should we lose an engine right after takeoff when it is fully loaded. For safety precautions, at certain airports we have to do something called a 'performance turn' which is a climbing turn at 50 feet above the ground to a specific heading which would bring us into a safe heading and altitude should we lose an engine any time after the go-no go (rotation point). The performance turns are quite fun, and differ with airports depending in where the terrain is or not. I will try and get some videos at some of the different airports.

St Vincent is another funny airport we fly into. It's nestled into a bit of a valley on the south-eastern coast of the island. The runway is so short and the hills at the end of it are high enough and surround it in a way that after a certain point, you are committed to landing, regardless if a cow strolls across the runway or not (and it does happen! We ran over two wild dogs landing in Antigua on Monday). The terrain is just too great that a go around might be able to be executed, but in the unlikely event of an engine failure, it might not be able to out climb the hills. You land into the valley one way (into the tradewinds) and then takeoff out to the sea on the down sloping runway with the wind up your tail.

 The airport has a red flashing light on a rock about a quarter mile back from the runway threshold called 'Cane Garden' and that tells us when we are committed. There are a few other lights on top of the hills to show where the top of the terrain outlining where the highest points are. Any time any of these lights aren't visible or aren't working, you can't legally and safely takeoff or land, so any operations get put on hold pretty quickly if any can't be seen!

On the subject with lighting in St. Vincent, on a sector during the first week of line training we were holding above the NDB at the airport waiting for a few aircrafts to takeoff (to give us some space to park on their tiny ramp) when all the airport lights went off. Runway lights, red terrain light and all! There were a few good chirps from different pilots, provided some solid entertainment while we waited for the lights to be fixed. On our way to the hotel, we found out a centipede was crawling around and shorted the circuits.


Below is a picture of Georgetown, Guyana, with the sea-wall and the mighty Atlantic. The river that you can see is the Demerra river which is actually quite large. The land you see on the left is not actually the other side, ratherIt hosts on of the largest floating bridges in the world. The taxi driver was telling us that it's quite a process to actually open and close it to let boat traffic pass, that it actually takes a couple hours to open and close it. In the picture if you look carefully, you can see a little airstrip to the east of the city (Oglie, I believe it's called), they are expanding it, and putting in an instrument approach so we can start doing schedules service there, giving us an advantage as it is almost in town, as opposed to the current airport which is about an hour away. Our Dash 8s would be able to get in without a problem, but Redjet and Caribbean Airlines jets wouldn't have the required runway needed to land.

I haven't  done much exploring in Guyana yet, we get in quite late at night and leave at lunch the next day, and the airport is literally in the middle of nowhere. Here are some pictures of the Guyana countryside

 

I will start updating this on a more weekly basis with the islands I explore and the things which take place at 25,000ft. If there are any questions about flying, airports, airplanes or aviation in general, I surely will do a post about it, or find an answer to your question.

Signing off at an altitude which could be deemed sweater weather!

Observation Flights

V2-LEF (Dash 8-100)

Greetings from the Tropics!

My understanding is that the temperature is pushing about 38 or 39 C up in Canada right now: Today was a gorgeous 28 degrees with a strong breeze from the North-east, absolutely magnificent! I feel for all of you who had to sweat it out up there!


I thought I'd post a picture of my apartment building which I'm currently living in - a newish one bedroom apartment (only 6 or so months old) in the Northern part of the island. It's right next to a golf course, and about a five minute drive to the airport, grocery store and the beach, yes!

The piece of cement which you see in front with the steel re-enforcement sticking out is actually
an enclosed housing which holds the apartments washing machine

I've been plugging away at the training program set out by LIAT: We have spent several weeks in the classroom and the time is coming to finally transition from the class to the aircraft. There have been many hours spent reading and learning the operations manuals, doing other training like; dangerous goods, safety and emergency, SMS. All of which may not be as fun as flying the actual airplane, but are as equally important. This weeks schedule held a mix of observation flights and some classroom work. I spent Wednesday shadowing and observing a crew from the 'Jump-seat', from check-in to shut down of the last flight of the day: Giving me some good experience to observe, ask questions and learn what actually happens, when it happens and why it happens - before I have to go do it myself.

Yesterday's schedule was to Check-in, in Antigua at 10:30 in the morning to go direct to Barbados, then back to Antigua with a stop in St. Lucia, before going to St. Kitts and back. A good mix of long and short flights. Each days starts with meeting up with the Captain, First Officer and Flight Attendant in the Operations Control Center at the Headquarters, just down the road from the airport. This is the place where we get the weather and route briefings, aircraft assignment and find out any special notices which may affect us on our trips. We were assigned V2-LEF, one of the 3 of LIATS Dash 8 100's. (These hold 37 people, as opposed to the 15 other Dash 8 300's which hold 50).

Doing the walk-around with the First Officer on the first flight

The first officer and I went to the aircraft to set up the aircraft and do the First Flight of the Day Checks, as this would be first flight for the day for V2-LEF. I got to see how things were set up inside (radio's, nav equip., etc.) and did the walk around (or external check) on the aircraft, where he pointed out all the areas to check and pay special attention to. For the most part, the Captain usually does the internal systems checks and the First Officer does the walk around. Anyways, everything checked out, they boarded the flight slightly early so we started up and down the road we went! The flight time was 1:20 and a major portion of the time in cruise was spent asking 'why' and 'what' trying to pick everything I could out of their experiences.

On approach into Barbados we had an Air Conditioning Pack Hot Caution light illuminate, which I found to be really interesting to see actual problems (or annoyances) occurring and to see them dealing with it, as opposed to just reading about 'what to do' in the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) which gets pulled out anytime something occurs in the aircraft. A step-by-step book to help solve problems. The Air Conditioning Pack is just the unit which is run off of engine bleed air to cool the cabin and one of the ducts to the cabin was indicating hot. The Captain suspected it was just a faulty sensor, (and was confirmed when we landed) but the QRH said to shut down the Pack for the rest of the flight, which just made for a warmer approach into Barbados. The Dash 8 100's only have 1 air conditioning machine, as the -300's have 2.

Following the West coast in Barbados to intercept Final Approach into Barbados

About the pass over Oistens on Final Approach

Upon landing in Barbados we were informed we were being switched off the St. Lucia- Antigua flight, and now supposed to do the flight direct to Antigua, as they had a full load for the 300 series. It was good as it gave us a little more time on the ground (although we arrived early) to have the Engineers in Barbados see if they could fix the Air Conditioning Pack.

After some poking around up there, they thought they had fixed the problem. A good thing too because it was 32 degrees outside, and we had a full flight! I could only imagine what it would be like to be sitting in that airplane with 41 sweaty people on board, with no air conditioning! We boarded the aircraft, and up the road we went. We reached Antigua without any other problems. The aircraft's are aging, however LIAT's maintenance and engineering department do an amazing job at keeping the aircraft's in top shape.

Our next legs were to St. Kitts and back, which if you are not familiar is a very short flight. It's about 65 miles to the Northwest, but in a Dash 8 you get there in no time at all. The flight time is 20 minutes from Takeoff to Landing, and you are doing all the same checks as you would on the longer flights, just in a much shorter period of time! It was non-stop work for the crew, between checklists, briefings, calculating the fuel burn and arrival time and talking to Air Traffic Control. The crew had quite the rhythm and it worked out very smoothly. I am told those are the most challenging routes for new First Officers, who are new to the area, new to the aircraft and new to the speed that the aircraft is traveling at. I could only imagine what the flight is like when they have the route from St. Kitts to Nevis - its literally a stone's throw across a channel: 6 minute flight from takeoff to touch down.

On final Approach into St. Kitts

Basseterre, St. Kitts

The traffic agents in St. Kitts were pretty efficient at getting the passengers off the aircraft and loading the Antigua bound passengers so we only spent a few minutes on the ground before heading back. Once again, another walk in the park for the well seasoned crew. We landed in Antigua 10 minutes early on a 20 minute flight - hows that for on-time performance!

Doing the walk-around in St. Kitts under an overcast layer
(which was appreciated after a hot day in the sun)

It was a great day, and a huge learning curve. On Monday, my sim partner and I will be taking turns doing Touch and Go's (Takeoff's and Landings) in the aircraft, which will be unbelievably exciting to get to handle the controls of the real aircraft for the first time. Tuesday I observe on a St. Martin turn-around and the end of the week will commence with Line Training, where we actually start acting as a First Officer on Scheduled service with a Training Captain!

Simulator Training

I've spent the last two weeks in the sweatbox ... err Simulator at Flight Safety in Toronto, learning how to fly the Dash 8 and all of LIAT's S.O.P.'s (Standard Operating Procedures). I was pretty glad it was finally summer in Canada, however after being down here for over a month, the 20 degree days, warranted a sweater pretty much all the time: Luckily it warmed up by the end of it!

The 'Sweatbox' as it's referred to by most pilots is actually a box on moving stilts (which happens to be very cool inside) that is an exact replica of the Dash 8 flight deck; switches, gauges, lights and all. It also makes movements to simulate the same sensations which you would get while in a real aircraft. There is also has a seat in the back for the instructor to monitor everything that goes on in the front, while being able to change the aircrafts position, weather and cause any and every failure or fire imaginable. Pretty ingenious if you ask me!

I went up with 5 other guys, 2 company instructors, my sim partner (who is from Anguilla), and another pair of new hires from St. Lucia. We spent 9, 4 hour sessions in the simulator - 8 being training and the final flight being the 'ride' (flight test). The simulator is a fantastic tool because we were able to be exposed to how the aircraft flies, and every different type of emergency possible, (whether an engine fire just after rotation on takeoff or a rapid decompression from 25,000 feet) without leaving having to leave the physical ground. Most of these emergencies couldn't be simulated in a real aircraft, unless it actually happened - and thats not the time I want to be learning how to do the procedures correctly and efficiently! Another great thing was that if you make a mistake, you could always just pause in mid-air, talk about it, then redo it - (as opposed to trying to do it in an aircraft, continuously moving at 230kts. Anyways, the name 'sweatbox' came about because of the fact that it's on the ground, instructors in the back can do pretty much whatever they want, compiling problems and causing new ones - keeping us on our toes, and really making us work (or sweat, for that matter!) My Instructor, Wade, liked to call himself just a DJ. He mixes the music (causes the problems) and we just have to dance along to it (and correct the situation)! After those two weeks, I sure got my fair share of engine failures under my belt... think 10-12 each night, especially at the time of night our sessions had been booked for (12am-4am and 4 - 8 am) - prime sleep time!

I'm back down in the sunny caribbean, where the July weather has proved to be playing fair so far, in terms of temperature! We've gone through a morning of Dangerous goods and a morning of Crew Resource Management - working on skills and techniques in the 2-crew environment. As far as I know (they haven't let us know much farther than the next day), the rest of the week will be spent on a Differences Course, which teaches the small differences between the Dash 8 300's and Dash 8 100's, which the company owns 17 and 2, respectively (as we will be flying both). I will also be looking for a car to drive and an apartment to live in! 6 weeks of living in a hotel is enough for me, I can't wait to start cooking my own meals again, instead of having to eat at restaurants. As for when I start to fly, I would imagine the in-aircraft training will start in about 3 weeks (yes, lots more ground school to cover before). I will keep this updated, especially when I get to be around airplanes again!

We've got a bit of a tropical depression heading this way by the weekend (as seen with the red and purple!) Horray for Hurricane Season!

Greetings from St John's, Antigua!

Well, its been another few weeks without any updates, however more good news! I'm officially one of LIAT's newest hires! West Indies, here I come!

The ground school lasted for 2 weeks 9 to 5 type classes, Monday to friday the instructor, a Kititian (from St. Kitts) actually preferred 9 to 3, which was definitely OK with all of us. He liked to start on time, but sure liked to have his afternoon to himself! I stayed at the airport hotel, a small hotel just off the airport grounds and within walking distance of the Headquarters and the airport itself. It was good in itself that there were no taxi fares to pay, however with the airport being slightly isolated from everything else, the only real place to eat was at the airport itself! The restaurant, the 'Big Banana' became a place of familiarity pretty quickly, eating there every morning and every night - this let me eat the entire menu pretty quickly, but also made it get old... just as fast! By the end of the three weeks, all the staff knew me by name and what I'd likely order.. Some even gave me their staff discount because I was there more often that most of the people that actually worked at the airport itself!

The course itself was very interesting, always exciting (to me) because I knew it was exactly what I want to do, and learning about the airplane I was going to be flying was just fun. Learning about how every system works, what it does and its importance in the overall picture. It gives some backing when you get the people who visit the flight deck and ask "So do you know what every switch and guages does?!" However, it was no means easy! After class, it was back to the room, nap then hit the books until the eyes can't stay open anymore, then repeat! Being at the top was pretty paramount, as out of 13 people they were choosing 8! Being in the instructors good books by making sure any question that he asked, could be answered. So knowing all the systems, and going over it again, and again and again (and then again once more) were pretty key.

My third week in Antigua, I came down with a bit of a tropical fever (Dengue, that is) and was bed ridden for the greater part of the week, apart from an interview and two exams. I am lucky to have such an amazing family, and one of my uncles was able to get me a doctor's appointment, which was re-assuring to know I wasn't going to die!

I was called upon even in Barbados even before reaching to let me know that I had been offered the job! It was a very exciting weekend, but I have had my head in the books ever since and returned back to Antigua on Monday. We've signed our contracts and have been told that 4 of us are going up to Toronto for Simulator starting this weekend (the other 4 go up in two weeks when we return). Today was spent back in the classroom going over all the normal and non-normal procedures, everything we must know, memorize and do - sure is pretty overwhelming at first, but will all have to be done before the end of the weekend! Anyways, cutting this one short for now to get my head back in the book!

From the Wild, Wild West to the Sunny South

It's been well over a month since I last updated the blog and I must apologize! My student base grew exponentially once the weather finally cleared up, and did over 120 hours of flying in the two months. Many long days at the club has produced very busy days, but an equal amount of very slow days, and I actually spent very little time away from the Flying Club. Scheduling was up to me for the most part, opening up my day to come in for only one flight, or to spend entire day at the airport with bookings. I had myself scheduled for 4-6 bookings 6 to 7 days each week, due to the finicky weather that was produced just east of the rocks.

More often than not, there would be quite a bit of convective build up (air and moisture rising, forming large cumulus clouds) which could (and do) build up into to thunderstorms in the afternoons. There can be many updraft/downdraft situations occurring in and around the thunderstorm cells, sometimes making the air very turbulent and counter-productive in flight training. In this picture, you can see there is a bit of a darker haze below the clouds (Virga) which is visible moisture rising up and developing the cumulus clouds above it. Nothing dangerous to fly into per se, however if you can see the moisture rising, chances are if you are flying through it, that you will rise also, and get bumped around a bit, so we try and avoid it as much as possible. Having so many bookings each day, ensures (not really) that even if there are cancellations, I'll still be able to eat at the end of the month! As a flight instructor, you are only paid for ground briefing time in the classroom, or the time the engine is running, so when the weather deteriorates, it can hurt! However, there are days like this, where you know you have the best job in the world.

My student and I practicing Instrument training. You can see he has on a pair of silly glasses, where he can only see from the bottom of the lenses. This allows him to see only the instrument panel, without any visual reference outside, simulating being in cloud. The picture below is on a long final approach with another one of my students practicing his landings. At first, I must admit it can become fairly scary when they start to land and it does take a few hours of Takeoffs and Landings to actually start to get it down. [Before that happens there can be many tense 'NOT LIKE THAT, LIKE THIS' landings.]

At the beginning of May, I received a phone call from the Human Resource department of LIAT, an airline based in Antigua, (West Indies) to interview for a First-Officer position in their airline. It was very short notice, but re-arranged my students to enable myself to get down there and do the interview; as it has been a dream of mine to fly for them, for many, many years. I was given a call (along with several other candidates) and asked if I would be interested in attending the second round of interviews which starts this upcoming monday. The interviews would consist of a 3 week technical ground school on the Dash-8 aircraft which they fly (they have 18) and then sit several aircraft systems exams. From that, they would then choose 8, out of the however many candidates they have selected to continue on to Simulator training, which would be held in Toronto at the end of June/beginning of July.

Now, there has been no job offer, and they are only taking a select number (8) out of however many they have invited to the ground school. It wasn't easy but upon returning Calgary, as I had to leave my position at the Calgary Flying Club to pursue a chance with this airline. I only had a few short days to get my things together and discuss it with my boss, who was fairly understanding in the matter that it is an amazing opportunity. Unfortunately, it would be way too much to ask, to have 3 weeks off at very short notice, with a chance of not actually returning: it sure wouldn't be fair for them, or any of my students. It will just give me even MORE of a drive to ensure I get one of those spots.