Transavia OPS

[Guest]

Hello!I have a question about Transavia operating procedures. I once flew with a HV 757, and I was invited into the cockpit. When I looked up to the MCP i saw an altitute of 33500 (!) (or it was 31500, I don't know anymore). When I asked about it they said they were closer tot their optimal altitude, and because nobody flew at that level, the risk of in-flight collision was smallerMy question is: is that a standard Transavia procedure, or not? And if it is, don't you get any trouble with ATC?Also, how did you get in the right seat? (KLS, NLS or something else)I myself am going to start at the KLS, next year :). (when my medical turns out fine)cheers,:-beerchugDiederik Krauwer

[Guest Iz]

Hmm I have never heard of that, nor have I ever done that. If they did so, they got permission from ATC to do so. Perhaps they were trying to squeeze more mileage out of the bird, catch more favorable winds while being heavy.Even though it's not a standard level, I cruised at FL420 a few days ago because it was optimal and since there was no traffic at FL410 (RVSM airspace ends at FL410 so the next available level would be FL430), we were allowed to fly up there.It is however not standard operating procedure, but we do love to use common sense around here.Before Transavia, I flew for a small regional carrier here in NL (Embraer Brasilia) and before that I flew cargo in the US (Metroliners, Beeches).Good luck and fun on the KLS!Iz

[Guest Lenny Zaman]

i remember sometimes they request something called a 'window'. Meaning they ask clearance to fly ' at any altitude between' 2 FL's. f.e. if the window is FL250-FL270 they can fly FL251-FL252...FL259-FL260-FL261...FL270i don't remeber when i saw this, it certainly was not in a 757, but i sure did see it somewhere.Cheers

[Guest]

I guess you mean a procedure called cruise climb. In cruise climb ATC clears you to fly between two fligh levels in the altitude you find most optimal. I'm not sure how often cruise climb is used in traditional operations but Concordes use it over the Atlantic. This is beacause for Concorde it's very important to be able to fly at the most optimal altitude as she gets lighter. Concorde actually climbs at a small vertical speed throughout the beginning of her cruise at the same time as she accelerates up to Mach 2.My guess for the 31500 ft on the MCP is that you were flying in a CIS (=metric) airspace. Flight level 9600 meters happens to be the same as FL315 feet.Regards,[table border=0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0][TR][TD]http://mikael.svly.net/mikael.gif[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]fisd.fsnordic.net][/TD][/TR][/TABLE

[Guest Iz]

Miku, well that wasn't really what he meant, Transavia doesn't usually fly in CIS airspace. What Lenny means is that you receive an altitude block. It doesn't happen much over mainland Europe because it's so incredibly congested. I've done it in a Piper when I was giving instruction and we got an altitude block from 3000 to 6000 ft where you're free to move about. Tankers for in-flight fighter refueling also use this. It's also possible for regular airline flights but not very common. Basically, anything ATC agrees to is possible.Iz