Flying The Triple

這篇其實是自己之前寫的文章。在這兒重貼，回味一下那令我難忘的一天飛行... 開始飛行的時間其實不算久，我還不過是個資淺的副駕駛。順利的話，我起碼還有十幾二十年要飛。以後一定還會有許多難忘的飛行經驗，但我想2005年2月24日這一天的飛行，往後都會記得。 當天有個低氣壓由華中南下，讓台灣西部吹起了西南風。天空仍像台灣冬日的慣常景象般，佈滿著中高層雲族，但不同的是，低氣壓引進了西南氣流。它也像冬季盛行的東北季風一樣，帶來不少水氣，但卻要溫暖得多。 下午搭機南下接班時，飛機是從松山機場28跑道起飛，這在冬季倒很少見。在航路上，已經可以看到有些積雲在發展。不過當時的狀況都還好，於是我心想，傍晚飛行時也許會遇到比較高的積雲，但應該很容易閃躲得過的，不至於令人擔心。 傍晚由高雄起飛，由我主飛，第一趟的目的地是松山機場。起飛前已經知道松山換回正常的10跑道起降。一切都恢復正常了，不是嗎？ 我錯了，而且是徹徹底底的錯了。 爬升到雲層之上，藉著落日餘暉，可以清楚看到航路前方遠處居然橫亙著一坨坨滿高的積雨雲。積雨雲裡氣流超級差，結冰風險又高，那可是我們最不願意進去的雲啊！ 和左座教官討論後，我們決定繼續爬升到FL250，也就是二萬五千呎，足足比正常北上時多出四千呎的巡航高度。這樣的高度，應該足夠我們飛過那些積雨雲頂了吧。 一開始確實是如此，飛機頂多在略過雲頂上方時受到一些氣流擾動，稍微顛一下也就過了。但隨著我們逐漸朝北飛，積雨雲的發展卻更加旺盛，開始有些雲頂超過我們的巡航高度。我們也只好開始向航管要航向，以閃避這些雲塔。 這時真的要讓人傷腦筋了：我們逐漸接近目的地機場，應該開始下降了，但前方的雲柱子卻一幢比一幢高。為了躲雲，我們決定還是晚些下降，待會就拉speedbrake一路衝下去好了，盡量讓後頭的空服有時間做好準備，乘客也不致於難受太久。 但這能爭取的時間畢竟有限。很快的，我們已經到了實在不得不下降的關頭。前方看起來只剩最後一坨高聳的積雨雲，就穿過去吧，再不下降真的不行了。反正我們也只會穿過他的頂部，應該還不礙事的。 告知航管我們要開始下降，管制員先讓我們下到FL230，因為對向有另一架班機在FL220，得先做區隔。我設定好高度，也先讓飛機減速至250浬的亂流穿越空速，開啟防冰措施，左座教官並做了「組員請就座」的PA，空服組員也跟著再一次提醒乘客繫好安全帶。準備都做好了，開始下降！...

Taking a 360 degree inspection of the plane 

Cruising high above the cloud 

Today is the second day of my Boeing 747-400 type transition training. The introduction on FMS, the Flight Managent System. Actually I'm no stranger to FMS, as the Fokker 100 I flew in the past year is equipped with FMS( although a bit different with the FMS on 744), and the APQ simulator sessions I just completed also put a lot of emphesis on operating the FMS. As a result, to a certain extent I could be described as an experienced FMS user. That being said, however, the 744 FMS has a lot of funtions that I'm still unfamiliar with. So this is a very good oppurtunity for exploring the real capability of the 744 FMS, as the FMS plays such an important role in the real line-operation, and you really need to be very very familiar with all its funtions so as to fully utlize it, thus making the operation in the most efficient way. So what is FMS? Think it as the trip computer on some well-equipped cars, and you'll get a rough idea. Of course the FMS has much, much better capabil...

Just replaced all tyres on my 306S16. Those tyres replaced were Goodyear's Revspec, fit by the original owner of my car. As they are getting too old and couldn't stand my abuse on mountain roads, they need ergent replacement. At first I was thinking about using Yokohama's AD07, however my final choice turned out to be RT-215 made by Falken, as these are racing-spec semi-slicks, and they are way cheaper than AD07. So I gave them a try. Racing-spec semi-slicks always give phenominal grip on dry surface, and they do bring more confidence when you're blasting hard on mountain roads. The major disadvantage is that they don't last long. For a front-drive hot hatch like 306S16, my estimate of RT-215's life is around 10 to 15k km. And you have to be very careful when roads are damp. But it would be worth the money in those moments you enjoy feeling like being planted on the tarmac when cornering hard. All this reminds me of those crazy days with my old 106. I used to fi...