PSS 777 issues

[Guest 777jockey]

>As soon as you release the parking brake, the aircraft starts >accelerating even without applying any thrust (throttle is on idle >position).From a RW BA 777 pilot I've spoken with when designing a 777 FDE, this is how it is, actually. The 777 typically can taxi at or near idle.

[Guest FlyinJ]

>>As soon as you release the parking brake, the aircraft>starts >accelerating even without applying any thrust>(throttle is on idle >position).>>From a RW BA 777 pilot I've spoken with when designing a 777>FDE, this is how it is, actually. The 777 typically can taxi>at or near idle.If that's the case, the company that supplies the T7's disc brakes must be delighted! :)Jeff

[Guest philfab2]

Thanks Kevin for the info. Actually, I know Vref is not the stall speed, just a fear I have of going too slow in case of the sims inaccuracy, it's better to be a little fast than a little slow because once you stall at or below 500' AGL, you're pretty much done for... I am aware you don't fly the 737 or the 747 like the 777 or the A330/A320/A340 Airbuses, and that was what I was pointing out actually. But it's good you confirmed the "slipperiness" of the 777, so my info on that was correct. Interesting about the 742 captain using flaps for that's what I've found works the best. Do you remember by any chance if he deployed them DIFFERENTLY than what the flap retraction schedule would have been? (as the 742 does not have an automatic/LCD HSI but manually set "bugs" for the speeds - knowledge I owe in whole part to Ready for Pushback's great model!) In other words, did he use flaps to slow down even if it was BEFORE the flap retraction schedule (as long as he was below the max. speed for that flap setting)? I'd like to know that, out of sheer curiosity. Thanks again, John

[Guest philfab2]

Thanks Kevin for the info. Actually, I know Vref is not the stall speed, just a fear I have of going too slow in case of the sims inaccuracy, it's better to be a little fast than a little slow because once you stall at or below 500' AGL, you're pretty much done for... I am aware you don't fly the 737 or the 747 like the 777 or the A330/A320/A340 Airbuses, and that was what I was pointing out actually. But it's good you confirmed the "slipperiness" of the 777, so my info on that was correct. Interesting about the 742 captain using flaps for that's what I've found works the best. Do you remember by any chance if he deployed them DIFFERENTLY than what the flap retraction schedule would have been? (as the 742 does not have an automatic/LCD HSI but manually set "bugs" for the speeds - knowledge I owe in whole part to Ready for Pushback's great model!) In other words, did he use flaps to slow down even if it was BEFORE the flap retraction schedule (as long as he was below the max. speed for that flap setting)? I'd like to know that, out of sheer curiosity. Thanks again, John

Interestiing to read your thoughts about the 777, speed, and flaps. I am lucky enough to be an instructor on the 777-300ER simulator in Sydney. Whilst this doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about the 777, having flown the real thing, I guess I am no novice. The 777 I believe is quite unique in that it has full-time autothrottle. It will close the throttles automatically for you at a rate proportional to your flare and flare height. (An oversimplification, but it will do for the sake of this article.) So as a flight simmer, you shouldn't have to worry about this part of the flight - it is automatically taken care of. Next thing is to determine what speed to use for the approach. If you have loaded the FMS according to the book, the wieghts should be accurate for your flight, so select INDEX and then APPROACH to select flaps 30 for landing, with its associated speed. Line select it and then place it in the line underneath (with the dashes) and this will program the speed tape to all your flap speeds. When you select flaps 30, wind the MCP speed knob to bring the magenta speed select bug down to just rest on the top of the letters REF This will automatically give you Vref30+5 speed. I suggest you fly an ILS with autopilot coupled and allow it to do an autolanding. Just watch the throttles and see where they automatically retard and how the aircraft flares and touches down. Pretty to watch.Now just a quicky on flaps. They are not disigned to be for speed reduction. Not on any aircraft that I have flown. The technique is to aim for an idle descent and approach down to say 1000 feet, or 800 (depending on the operator) as this saves fuel. So what we do is allow the aircraft to slow down, and as it reaches say, 20 knots above the minimum speed for your current configuration, select the first bit of flap. Then allow it to slow more and select a bit more etc. Don't forget to put the gear down at some stage as all that fuel saved will be used to taxy the aircraft to the terminal on its belly! For take off and climb, on the 777 you may have noticed the little green dashes on the speed tape with a number beside them. These are the minimum speed for that flap setting. What we do is when the 5 moves down (aircraft accelerating) to directly beside the speed window AND we have a green vertical arrow to say we are accelerating, we can select flaps 1. When the 1 gets down beside the window and the green vertical arrow says we are accelerating, we can select flaps up. A whole lot more simple on this plane than any of those in my past, that required mental calculations of additives to the Vref speed to make the next retraction.Hope this is of some use and not too confusing. My best regards, Phil philfab2@gmail.com