16
GA
/ Vol. 5 / No. 2 / FEBRUARY 2013
by Mike Wright
In flight Upsets
In flight upsets
with captain
Quentin Mouton
Chief pilot and head
of flight operations
Mango airlines
We thought it would be interesting
for readers to discuss the personal
experiences in the air with a number
of senior captains of the industry.
This month we chat to Captain
Quentin Mouton, senior officer who
has a huge amount of experience in
the air having flown many different
aircraft including the giant classic
B747s with SAA and B747 400 for
foreign airlines.
Quentin defines an in flight
upset as any event where the pilot
loses control of the aircraft. More
specifically unusual aircraft attitudes
caused by environmental factors or
poor piloting techniques.
He has personally experienced
the an engine fire and bird ingestion in
flight causing major damage.
We asked him about the possibility
of mis-idenfying the failed engine
Visual observation of the engine
instruments coupled with control
feedback to the pilot (e.g. dead leg
dead engine)." He says. In Multi crew
operations the Standard Operating
Procedures will include both pilots
confirming before any action is taken.
We put the following questions
to Quentin:
"You are at 800ft in the B738 be-
ing JE 362 for rw 21L at ORT the
autopilot is increasing power on
one engine - there is no cross wind
and the system is indicating a failed
engine - how do you handle?"
Manual input of rudder to keep the
aircraft balanced. Disconnect the
Autothrottle and control the thrust
requirement manually. Monitor speed
and profile. Disconnect autopilot and
declare your problem to Air Traffic
Control. Flying the approach on one
engine is easy. Go ahead and land."
The next scenario: "You have
rotated off 03 L ORT in the A319
and the vibration warning comes
on for the left engine - bird strike -
how do you handle?"
Fly the plane and follow the engine
inoperative profile as briefed before
take-off. At a safe altitude accom-
plish the recall items which include
reducing thrust to reduce the vibra-
tion. Generally speaking an engine
with high vibration can be operated at
reduced thrust. In extreme cases when
the damage causes the engine to stall
(disrupted airflow in the engine caus-
ing a 'backfire' effect) the engine will
have to be retarded to Idle thrust and
maybe shut down."
It depends on the severity of the dam-
age. Minor damage does not affect the
efficiency of the engine much. SAAT
has spare engines and sometimes
an engine needs to be changed.
The CFM56-7B is a very robust
reliable engine.
Airframe upsets in the cruise such
as explosive decompression?
Very rare. We train for the eventuality
on a regular basis. The procedure and
recovery are well practised and effec-
tive. If the pilots do the right thing,
the right way, in the right sequence
then it should be a safe outcome
without danger."
We then turned to engine
failures in the cruise:
Mostly minor system malfunctions.
One pressurisation failure which was
easily fixed once I got out of the crew
rest bunk (I was resting on a long
range flight) and corrected the mistake
of another crew member.
Unfortunately he was so slow that
the oxygen masks dropped out in the
cabin. That scares the passengers.
Approach upsets such as ATC being
unable to clear you for final descent
early enough. Can you increase rate
of descent and to what extent?
There are several techniques we can
use. Increasing speed increases total
drag and results in more height lost for
distance covered than usual. We have
a Speed Brake which is fairly effec-
tive in increasing drag and reducing
lift. The landing gear also gives extra
drag, but we would only use that close
to airport at slow speed. Finally one
could fly extra distance (dog leg) or
even do a 360 turn to lose height.
What is Mangos definition
of a stable approach and go
around procedures
We use the standard definition but we
insist that the flight is stable by 1000ft
above airport elevation. Configured
for landing. On approach profile (verti-
cal and horizontal). Approach Thrust
as required. Check list completed.
After landing upsets such as a
burst tyre or spoilers/reversers
that fail to deploy or any you
have experienced?
I've been lucky. None of the above.
Some challenging approaches in Gale
force winds and typhoon conditions
(Very strong gusty crosswinds and
driving rain). I have done many auto-
matic landings in very low visibility.
It needs a leap of faith to only see
the runway as the aircraft touches
down in 50m visibility. Extreme cold
weather operation is also challenging.
Mango (and all major airlines) have a
stringent recurrent training program.
We do simulator training and check-
ing every six months. We cover all
systems over a period of 3 years.
You are now on the B737 800
which is non fly-by-wire. To what
extent do you think fly-by-wire
could help prevent/recover
from in flight upsets?
Fly By Wire is new technology which
uses computers to fly the plane. It
saves a huge amount of weight and can
programs limits to what the pilot can
attempt to do with the aircraft. It en-
sures that the plane is flown within the
in-flight envelope at all times. It also
saves fuel (other than weight saving)
because the aircraft can be designed
with much further aft centre of gravity
(in fact the cg can be designed so far
aft that the aircraft becomes unstable
and cannot be flown by a pilot with
normal control inputs). ·
Above: Captain Quentin Mouton prepares for our take-off.
Left: ZS SJP, the aircraft used for my
flight with Quentin.
A boroscope indicates internal
blade issues - does the engine have
to be removed from the wing and
does Mango have spare CFMs?
To what extent does SAA
training and simulation try and
make sure pilots are fully up to
speed to handle such situations on
an ongoing basis?