A Brief Guide to Real Airline Flights
Following on from the preflight lecture, we now join our pilots on the flight deck on the aircraft parked on stand.. The pilots have prepared the aircraft for departure having obtained the airport weather via ATIS on the radio.
As we know the Airline Operations Section has filed the flight plan earlier it is now up to the pilots to contact Air Traffic Control on the delivery frequency if one is available. If not this is normally done by contacting the Ground Controller or Tower Controller at less busy airports.
The delivery controller will give the squawk code for the transponder. This is always four digits. This enables the ATC to identify the aircraft on radar once the aircraft becomes airborne. As soon as this is done the Delivery Controller will put the flight on the ATC computer as active.
If the airspace was too congested the Delivery Controller would tell the pilot that a slot time is in force. A slot time is the time the aircraft should be at the runway for take off. The aircraft cannot take off before this time or after. The Delivery Controller will also tell the pilot which Standard Instrument Departure (SID) the aircraft will fly on take off.
The less busy airports do not have SIDs. The aircraft will be monitored by a radar service until it joins controlled airspace at a beacon or reporting point. An example of this would be flights out of Newcastle. They will route under Newcastle Approach and Penine Radar until handed off to London or Scottish Air Traffic Control Centres.
Once the delivery clearance has been received and the aircraft is ready to depart the pilots must call the Ground Controller to get permission to taxi to the runway for departure. At night a Lighting Control operator will monitor the Ground Controller's instruction and set up green taxiway centre line lights,( so that the pilot can follow the correct taxiway to the runway.) At some point the Ground Controller will hand the aircraft over to the Departure Controller in the tower. The ground controller controls all movements around the airport except the runway. The job is to ensure that aircraft arrive, at the runway in line in the correct order for departure. And to ensure the aircraft taxi from runway to the gate for parking safely. IE do not get two aircraft facing each other on the same taxiway or ensure a pilot unfamiliar with the airport does not turn up a cul de sac.
As the aircraft approaches the runway the ground controller will seek permission of the departure controller to hand the aircraft over to the departure controller. At this point the tower controller asks the Air Traffic Control Centre or Approach Controller if the aircraft can be cleared for take off.
Once this permission is received the aircraft takes off and fly's the Standard Instrument Departure. The Air Traffic Control Centre Controller will know the aircraft will be handed to his or her control by the tower immediately the aircraft is airborne. The controller will also know the aircraft will follow the SID. This controller will be planning how the aircraft is going to be climbed to its requested cruising level as soon as possible. This maybe achieved giving the pilot a heading to fly and a certain height to climb to. Then when clear of other aircraft a stepped climb in 3 stages possibly to cruise height. This SID will take an aircraft from the airport onto the airway in which the aircraft will fly to its destination.
Pilot Duty
On take off the pilot must fly the Standard Instrument Departure or obey instructions from Air Traffic Control. There are Altimeter setting procedures to be followed during the flight. A special item describes this. The aircraft is not permitted to exceed 250 knots below 10000 ft unless advised by ATC that there is no speed restriction for the flight.
Airways
An airway is 10 miles wide IE five miles either side of the centre line. The Airways are split into lower and upper airways. The division between the two is at 24500 ft. High and Low airways do not always follow the same route. The Airway is made up of radio beacons or waypoints sometimes known as intersections. The pilots will navigate from beacon to beacon etc. Modern airliners use computer flight management which have the beacon positions in the computer and the aircraft will route using the computer. Some airways are two way some are one way. Some are only available at certain times of the day or night. So flight planning is complex. Aircraft have to fly according to the Route Availablity Document (RAD ) designed by Eurocontrol. This changes monthly. The purpose is to expedite safely the flow of aircraft traffic through its area.
When the aircraft gets near the destination airport the pilot will fly a Standard Arrival Route known as a STAR. At the end of the STAR is normally a holding pattern. This is where aircraft circle in a queue if it is too busy to approach. The aircraft circles in the holding pattern until a space can be found for the aircraft to make an approach and landing. An item on holding patterns is included in this series of discussions. At less busy airports STARS are not used.
From the holding pattern to the runway the aircraft may follow an approach chart that gives the pilot all the headings and heights to fly at onto final approach. At busy airports the Air Traffic Approach Controllers will give the pilots headings and heights to fly until the pilot can see the runway. The pilot will then be told to contact the tower for landing and then after landing the pilot will contact the Ground Controller to be given taxi instructions for parking.
In the on route phase of the flight the aircraft is handed off to a different controller as it reaches the end of the controller's area of control. This area of control is known as a sector. Control is always co ordinated by the two controllers before the pilot is told to contact the new sector.
(Except Nicosia in Cyprus)
THE GREEK CYPRIOT & THE TURKISH CONTROLLERS DO NOT TALK TO EACH OTHER. PILOTS HAVE SPECIAL PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW HERE.) ATHENS WILL PASS AIRCRAFT TO NICOSIA ETC. AIRCRAFT OVERFLYING MAINLAND TURKEY. WILL NOT BE PASSED TO NICOSIA. THE FIRST THE NICOSIA CONTROLLERS WILL KNOW IS THE AIRCRAFT APPEARING ON RADAR OR PILOTS CONTACTING THEM. FOR THIS REASON MOST AIRCRAFT TO CYPRUS ROUTE VIA ATHENS ATC AREA AS PROPER HAND OFFS ARE MADE.
Basically Northern Cyprus is under Turkish Control. It has an unofficial ATC not recognised by the major Eurocontrol Organization. The callsign is Ercan. Pilots are instructed to ignore all instructions from this Station and maintain contact with Nicosia until reaching the border where Ankara or Istanbul or Damascus take over. Pilots only speak to Ercan out of courtesy. Any instructions from Ercan should be advised to Nicosia BUT IGNORED. PILOTS SHOULD Contact the next sector 10 minutes before arriving at the zone boundary.
ATC SEPARATION
The controllers will always keep the aircraft separated by at least a thousand feet vertically above and below the aircraft and depending on the distance from a radar horizontally by 3 to 5 miles or a time interval. For example a flight from Heathrow to Palma maybe handled by three London Centre Controllers then three or four French controllers at Paris, Brest and Bordeaux. Then finally three Spanish Controllers at Barcelona. Plus the Ground ,Tower and Approach Controllers and Heathrow and Palma. The pilots will constantly be told to change radio frequency.
There are special procedures for flying in the Atlantic Ocean known as ETOPs for twin engine aircraft. There are also special procedures for flying the Atlantic. These are covered in in other lectures.
I hope this gives you a real basic idea of how the system operates. During the flight the pilots will contact their operating base and advise them of the flight departure times and ETA at the resort. Nearer the destination the pilots will contact their ground handling agents to get a parking stand number and advise if wheelchairs are needed for passengers.
Do please read all the other lectures I have done for you in the Flight School.