Sad Day for the the A330

[busdriver 258]

I knew it was coming, and I look forward to the 787, but I will miss the 330. I spent 3800 hours of my life flying her... She was a good ship, that always got my passengers, crew, and I home safely.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-10-22/american-airlines-adds-a330-200s-fleet-cuts

 

[fluffyflops 1,845]

I feel this the tip of the Iceberg with what is next around the corner.  Youll see

[edpatino 1,960]

1 hour ago, busdriver said:

I knew it was coming, and I look forward to the 787, but I will miss the 330. I spent 3800 hours of my life flying her... She was a good ship, that always got my passengers, crew, and I home safely.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-10-22/american-airlines-adds-a330-200s-fleet-cuts

 

With the corona crisis going on everywhere, this is just one action that will be seen in other economical sectors as well. Difficult times ahead.

Ed

[HighBypass 2,339]

2 hours ago, busdriver said:

but I will miss the 330

Perhaps you might take a little solace in the fact that other airlines are still flying A330s the marque itself hasn't disappeared from the skies.

On a brighter note, it's nice to hear you have such good memories of the many hours you flew her! 🍻

 

[crosswind 825]

Sad to see the A330s go, but we knew it was coming down the pipeline after retiring the E190s, and 757/767.  What aircraft type are you going to transition to, which I guess is based on your seniority?

 

Cheers

[johncott 177]

2 hours ago, edpatino said:

With the corona crisis going on everywhere, this is just one action that will be seen in other economical sectors as well. Difficult times ahead.

Ed

For sure, A lot of YouTube videos lately show cruise ships going to the scrap yard as well.

[mwilk 1,106]

5 hours ago, busdriver said:

I knew it was coming, and I look forward to the 787, but I will miss the 330. I spent 3800 hours of my life flying her... She was a good ship, that always got my passengers, crew, and I home safely.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-10-22/american-airlines-adds-a330-200s-fleet-cuts

 

Bill,

       Are you former US Airways?

[Samaritano 304]

1 hour ago, mwilk said:

Bill,

       Are you former US Airways?

 

Most likely he is. Bill, are you going to move to the 777 or 787? I think they flight both out of Phillie.

[A340Bangla 40]

2 hours ago, crosswind said:

Sad to see the A330s go, but we knew it was coming down the pipeline after retiring the E190s, and 757/767.  What aircraft type are you going to transition to, which I guess is based on your seniority?

 

Cheers

Read the OP. He said he was looking forward to the 787 😢.

[Samaritano 304]

4 minutes ago, A340Bangla said:

Read the OP. He said he was looking forward to the 787 😢.

Yep. Missed that part. 787...

[jon b 2,041]

Hey Bill I feel your pain. I’m in the same situation, having spent 23 years flying the 747 it was shut down and I’m also now being moved to the 787.

On the plus side the QW 787 is pretty good , the magknight version on XP is slowly improving and flight factor have recently announced a study level 787 for XP, so plenty of on type simming to be had 🙂

Good luck with the type rating, I’m looking forward to that 6000ft cabin altitude.

 

[busdriver 258]

Thanks guys, and to confirm, moving to the 787. And yes, former US guy.

I've toyed with the idea of using the QW 787 to familiarize myself with the aircraft, but may avoid it, simply so as to not pickup any bad habits using a PC based sim versus what is taught in training.

 

 

[jon b 2,041]

 

1 hour ago, busdriver said:

I've toyed with the idea of using the QW 787 to familiarize myself with the aircraft

I’ve been using it in VR to familiarise myself with the flight deck And learn flows etc.

Also been doing VR circuits at KEDW to get used to the HUD, it’s been quite useful in that respect 

[Chock 17,769]

As you say, that's actually one of the very good things about flight sims, even ones with limited systems functionality. They are great for familiarising you with where everything is located and of course in VR, they'll drill the 'where to turn your head' routine when going through checklists and flipping switches, even if the switches aren't doing do much in the sim. Kind of like a virtual version of one of those cockpit posters you can get.

Of course (sim-wise) one of the things you could do with the A330, even before there was a decent flight sim version of it available, was learn some of it from the very good A320 series sims such as the FSL, since the real things do actually use the same SOP book and have a lot of cockpit commonality in terms of where things are, much like the 757 and 767 share many attributes in terms of cockpit layout.

Not so with the 787 of course, since it has a very different cockpit, unlike any other Boeing jet, but in spite of the mid-level simulation which the QW version of it offers, I think there is enough in there to make it a useful home-study familiarisation tool for pilots who are going to be driving the real thing. It won't do everything of course, but it can at least potentially put you a bit ahead of the curve as a learning tool compared to starting cold never having sat in the real thing at all on day one of training. So the chances of it teaching bad habits, whilst always being something to be mindful of with any training tool used on your own, is probably outweighed by what chucking the QW 787 around the circuit a few times can achieve in terms of getting used to a new office and where everything is.

Half the battle with any interface which is new to you, is just knowing where stuff is physically located. I know this from having worked on the 787, which is different in quite a lot of unusual ways, not least the use of multiple GPU/FEPs not located at the nose, and the particularly unusual fact that its bulk cargo hold, unlike with the A330, is located on the 'wrong side' compared to other airliners, it being on the port side. A bit of prior study in FSX and P3D with the QW 787 was actually quite useful in that regard in terms of where to stick GSE on the stand to facilitate expeditious operations.

This is worth knowing if you are driving the real thing, because it is very often the case that the bulk door only gets zipped up literally a minute or so before the thing is pushed out, so don't be surprised to see an indicator that it is still open when you are calling for push and start as it is is often the very last thing rampies look at, and then of course they have to do the walkaround check, so having your crew and the despatcher/TCO getting on to any late bags from last-minute passengers ASAP, is something which will remove the potential for a delayed push.

Another thing I can tell you about the 787 which you better get used to if you are driving the real thing, is that it loves to trap chocks under the main gear behind the wheels as it gets fueled and loaded up with more weight (more so than pretty much any other big airliner), so it's not a bad idea to get passengers all sat down and strapped in ASAP, because don't be surprised when the headset guy tells you they'll need to pull you forward a few feet to free up the chocks prior to pushing back!

On the subject of which, that led to one of the funniest responses I've ever had from a pilot when I was headsetting a 787 out one time. I told him the main chocks were pinned and that 'we'll have to pull you off'. Quick as a flash the guy responded: 'that's the best offer I've had all day'. 🤣

Edited October 24, 2020 by Chock

[jon b 2,041]

Some useful ground handling  tips there Chock, Ta.

The 747 always had that same issue with getting the chocks stuck. Another one was if the overwing door was open for any reason during refuelling the weight of the fuel flexes the fuselage enough that you cant close the door again !

The QW 78 is a little peculiar in that there are so many little accurate things simulated hidden away in there that you’d never know about unless you’d gone through the manuals in detail. And yet the some of the  major day to day things , like VNAV can behave erratically.
 

Incidentally,for things like studying the IAN (integrated approach navigation )  indications and procedures I’ve found the PMDG 747-8 replicates these quite well and is more stable than QW when using these functions. The 8 in the 747-8 was so designated by Boeing because of its incorporation of 787 flight deck technology, so I read, so it’s basically identical.Although to me the -8 fligtdeck just feels like a -400 with a few bits bolted on!
 

Speaking to colleagues on the 787 one of the big things to get used to is using the HUD. I think here the VR experience is quite realistic and useful. Like most of us here I’ve been using the HUDs on military aircraft sims for years, so it will be interesting to see if this experience transfers to the real thing. The DCS FA18 HUD , being another Boeing product actually has many similarities, and of course offers a great VR experience.

I’ve been using Edwards at early dusk for visual circuits with orbx socal region scenery which looks incredibly realistic, just being bare desert. The lack of superfluous scenery gives a super smooth frame rate in VR. It’s all you need really, a long runway and sparse non distracting scenery allowing you to concentrate on just the aircraft and the runway.

Ive actually ordered one of those cockpit posters you mentioned too, it’s 3 separate posters for overhead, main ,and centre console scaled at 75% so I’ll see how using that compares. Incidentally it cost about twice the price of the QW 787 software but I doubt it will be as useful.