Himalayas Decompression Escape Routes

[VHOJT 150]

Hi there everyone - odd question yes!~I am planning on taking a PMDG 747 on the long haul between Hong Kong and London over some high terrain, obviously. Does anyone have any ideas/links or charts that would assist me to plan an "escape route" (ie a safe track away from the high terrain) if I have to descend in the event of a decompression?Thanks for any help - although I think is a somewhat difficult question to answer.Cheers,Rudy!

[Guest alexhn]

If you are able to obtain the Enroute Charts for that specific area they should provide you with the lowest safe altitudes that you can descend to.

[SAS263 1]

I have some SAS charts with escape routes, I

[VHOJT 150]

Thanks a lot Tord - if you end up finding them, it sounds great!Also thanks Alex - I am just figuring out how to read a few I pulled up.Thanks for your help guys - it's much appreciated.CheersRudy

[Farlis 2,276]

>If you are able to obtain the Enroute Charts for that>specific area they should provide you with the lowest safe>altitudes that you can descend to.Depending on where such an action would be necesarry, that wouldn't help much. After all you'd have to be able to descend to around 10.000 feet in case of a decompression. Could prove difficult in the himalayas...;)Karsten

[SAS263 1]

Ok, turned out it was a lot of information. SAS basically has a few fixed routings from Stockholm/Copenhagen to for instance Bangkok. There is a rather large charts which describes escape routes depending on where the problem occurs. It

[Guest alexhn]

>Depending on where such an action would be necesarry, that>wouldn't help much. After all you'd have to be able to descend>to around 10.000 feet in case of a decompression. Could prove>difficult in the himalayas...The ERCs will tell you the Lowest altitude that you can descend to in each sector. Therefore the pilots can approximate their position on the chart, and can see the lowest terrain ON THE CHART. And then the pilots can descend to the specified level in this sector, whether it be 5000, 10000, or 15000ft.I don't see what the issue is.

[markadeane 272]

I'm not sure that your flight would take you over the Himalayas or any seriously high country in real life. When I flew it for real last year we headed on an almost great circle route over Xian then over the southern part of Mongolia, then into northern Kazahkstan, through Russia, right over St Petersburg at dawn (beautiful!) and over Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.Try getting a flight plan from one of the route finding websites, I have no links at work sorry, but google 'routefinder' and it should bring up the site.As a side note, coming back from Amsterdam to Singapore was even more interesting, not only did I get 4 hours on the flight deck (email the right people with enough notice and you can work wonders) but we flew just to the south of Iraq, was quite surreal to see it and think what horrors have occured down there in the last few years.

[VHOJT 150]

Those escape routes look interesting - I think I will design own my escape route at the moment (if it occurs!!) by using pause and then looking my position on the chart and finding a way out. If necessary, I can descend to 21,000ft or so for about 45 minute (as was in another post, Qantas 747s have a few extra oxygen bottles). Thanks for everyones fantastic help! I seem to remember British Airways 747s have special "ghost waypoints" for escape routes in their FMCs called OXY1 and OXY2 and so on - decision points I think.Must have been amazing in the flight deck on one of those long flights - I love coming back from London and being able to see places like the Middle-East and India from up in the plane. Must have been strange to see Iraq - it all looks so peaceful from the sky.Thanks again for everyone's help!Rudy

[markadeane 272]

I think I was quite lucky, my girlfirends father is a 744 F/O with Air NZ and he was considerably suprised I managed to do it.Within Air NZ at least, letting ANYONE on the flight deck who isn't crew leads to serious consequences for the captain and F/O. The regional flights allow it and I regularly fly on the flight deck of the Saab340 and ATR72 but anything bigger than a 737 and it's simply not allowed.

[Guest benhoffman]

That is not true!I've been on 737-300, 747-400, ATR, Beech & Saab flight decks with Air New ZealandI even have photos to prove it :)... BTW, enroute charts would be the best place to get your enroute MEA (minima enroute altitudes) from :) These can often be purchased in bulk and real cheap at places like eBay, I picked up 40-50lb (around 12 full binders plus heaps of enroute charts) of them for $50

[VHOJT 150]

Perhaps Mark meant inflight - I visited the flight deck of a Qantas 747-400 and BA 747-400 on my recent trip, after landing of course.CheersRudy.

[enyap 0]

Ian Allen publish Boeing 747 Heathrow-Hong Konghttp://www.ianallanpublishing.com/catalog/...p?cPath=478_502This has a tactical chart for escape routes over China near Urumqi, as well as loads of other info. If you prefer, send me your email and I'll scan the chart for you.RegardsJohn

[Farlis 2,276]

>>Depending on where such an action would be necesarry, that>>wouldn't help much. After all you'd have to be able to>descend>>to around 10.000 feet in case of a decompression. Could>prove>>difficult in the himalayas...>>The ERCs will tell you the Lowest altitude that you can>descend to in each sector. Therefore the pilots can>approximate their position on the chart, and can see the>lowest terrain ON THE CHART. And then the pilots can descend>to the specified level in this sector, whether it be 5000,>10000, or 15000ft.>>I don't see what the issue is.Simple: 15.000 feet is too high when you had a decompression. You need an area where you can fly down to at least 10.000. And those are hard to come by in an area where the average mountain is around 21.000 feet high.Karsten

[Guest alexhn]

>Simple: 15.000 feet is too high when you had a decompression. You need an area where you can fly down to at least 10.000. And those are hard to come by in an area where the average mountain is around 21.000 feet high.Yes. I know this, and so do most people here. Simple. What i am referring to is when you said that "(Charts) won't help much." Which is a stupid comment to make since pilots can use the charts to FIND AREAS WHERE THE LOWEST SAFE ALTITUDE IS 10000FT OR LESS.ENR charts are essential in the 744 cockpit, and would be used in such a situation - TO FIND THE LOWEST TERRAIN.The question was regarding escape routes - which one can find by looking at the chart and FINDING THE LOWEST TERRAIN.Understand now?