A Passage to Sydney
A passage to Sydney
A Passage to Sydney
Crossing 2 Hemispheres to Down Under
Ladies and gentlemen, from the Flight Blog, this is Cap’n Aux speaking. Welcome aboard our nonstop, direct service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Sydney, Australia (SYD)!
Today, you’ll be flying on a Boeing 777-300, the largest plane in our fleet. Up front will be myself, assisted by no less than 3 First Officers, along with a cabin crew of 12, for our 13 hour, 6,600 nautical mile flight…
Yes, you heard that right! Instead of 2 Captains and 2 First Officers, like on our nonstop JFK-DEL flights (see our A Passage to India series), this flight is “short” enough to qualify for only 1 Captain and 3 FOs.
Like our DEL flights, we’ll fly in shifts—2 pilots in the bunk, 2 pilots always flying. As the Captain, I’ll be in my seat for the takeoffs and landings, along with my primary First Officer; my two additional First Officer “Relief Pilots”—my FB and FC, as we call them—will be flying much of the enroute portion while we rest.
On this particular trip, that will consist of two, 3-hour shifts/breaks.
A Passage to Sydney
One Ginormous Straight Line...
Unlike our Delhi journey, which consists of a lot of zigzagging, crossing the Atlantic, maneuvering through Europe and then the Middle East, there’s a whole lotta nuthin’ between LAX and SYD.
In the immortal words of Adrian Monk:
“It’s a blessing…and a curse.”
Flying for hours and hours in a straight line (technically the “Great Circle Route,” the straightest line between two points on a globe), may seem simple, but it’s not.
You see, because there’s a “whole lotta nuthin'” between us and them, in an emergency, our options are limited.
A Passage to Holiday Adventure!
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A Passage to Sydney
An ETOPS Refresher
As you may recall in our ETOPS series (“Of ETOPS, NATs, and SLOP,”) ETOPS stands for “Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards.”
Basically, twin-engine airplanes flying way out in the middle of nowhere need options for a diversion to a “suitable runway” in case of emergency.
For our JFK-DEL, those options were fairly plentiful, till we got to the Middle East.
For our LAX-SYD, however…slim pickin’s.
So, what’s a conscientious Cap’n to do? Well, despite that great South Pacific ocean, there’s actually juuuust enough pavement here and there to get by. But, as a result, we are constantly updating our options as to where to divert, and for what reason.
Typically, we consider three basic scenarios:
- Passenger or Crew Illness;
- Rapid Depressurization;
- Engine Failure, Fire, or other emergency requiring immediate response.
In the case of an illness, for example, we may have to fly a little farther to get to a suitable airport that has medical services.
During a rapid depressurization, we’d have to high dive to a lower altitude, but we still could continue on for quite a ways before needing pavement.
In the case of a fire or other dire emergency, we’d have to divert and land NOW.
A Passage to Sydney
Big Ocean, Little Islands
Well, in the case of the South Pacific, fortunately, there’s a lotta little islands sitting around with runways on them.
The bad news is, a lotta those little islands have little runways—and few services, such as emergency firefighting or medical services. So, again, we have to choose our alternates wisely.
Hawaii, for example, has all kinds of long runways and lovely services available 24/7. After that…not so much.
Christmas Island, Pago Pago, Papeete…all lovely vacation destinations, but not much good for anything other than getting ‘er down on the ground before something dire happens.
Below: a list of alternates, runways and lengths, and services that I’ve compiled for our LAX-SYD-LAX journey.
One last item to consider is weather. Hurricanes and Typhoons aside, the ride over the Pacific is often fairly benign—till you get down around the Equator. Then, you almost always have to divert hither and thither around convective thunderstorms popping up 24/7—sometimes by 100 miles—just to get by.
All that must go into your fuel planning.
A Passage to Sydney
Hemisphere Crossin'
Fun fact: Speaking of the Equator, on our flight to SYD, we’ll not only cross it, but we’ll also cross the International Dateline as well.
That means that, flying to SYD, we’ll lose a day, landing “two days” after we started. So, if we fly out on a Sunday night, for example, we’ll be landing on a Tuesday morning…
Coming back, however, we “get it back” by gaining a day. So, if we take off on a Wednesday night, we’ll be landing on that same Wednesday—in the morning!
A Passage to Sydney
Conclusion
While there may not be much in the way of course changing on an ETOPs flight over the South Pacific, there’s gobs and gobs of factors that go into flight planning for myriad contingencies.
But, hey! That’s what pilots are best at: planning ahead!
Congratulations, folks! We’ve made it Down Under to Sydney!
Enjoy your stay, thank you for flying with us, and…
G’day, Mate!
A Passage to Sydney
Hemisphere Dancing Report
An Unexpected Journey...to Alaska
Recently, tragically and unexpectedly, my dear sister-in-law Mari passed away. She was the beloved wife of my oldest brother, Allen.
As fate would have it, I had a week off, so I promptly traveled to be with him, in Kenai, Alaska.
Jumpseating to Anchorage, I then took the last leg of the journey on a single-engine Cessna Caravan turboprop. Of course, this evoked nostalgic memories of my time flying the Alaska bush in Juneau.
Along with being there for him emotionally (and, to teach him how to work his wife’s confounded iPhone!), I was able to enjoy a few moments of laughs with him, both sharing stories of Mari, and…
watching every pilot’s favorite movie, “Airplane!”
Needless to say, we were in stitches and tears for nearly two hours, enjoying all the silly jokes of that movie that we’d long forgotten. It was a much-needed respite from the emotional challenges in losing a spouse.
A Passage to Sydney
Quora Question Quorner
Cool (& Not so Cool) Aviators
Note: Abignale was never employed by Pan Am. He simply forged a company ID card and pilot certificate. Moreover, he did not “deadhead,” which would be a company-directed procedure. Rather, he simply took the cockpit “jumpseat” as if he was traveling on his own.
Wannabe Pilots
A Pilot's Life for Me
What are Pilot salaries these days?
Technonerd Quorner
Silly Question of the Week
Flying...Without a License?!
This Post is Dedicated to Celebrating the Memory of
Mari Auxier-Yates
You were an anchor to my brother, and a light to us all. We will dearly miss you, but forever cherish you in our hearts!
Till the next post,
This is Cap'n Aux
Signing Off!
A Passage to Sydney
Cap'n Aux Social Media Links
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Related Links
- A Passage to India Series
- aNATomy Series
- aNATomy of a NAT Flight Pt. 1 https://capnaux.com/anatomy-of-a-nat-flight
- Pt 2: Coast Out to Coast In https://capnaux.com/coast-out-to-coast-in/
- aNATomy of a Polar Flight https://capnaux.com/anatomy-of-a-polar-flight/
- Of ETOPS, NATs and SLOP https://capnaux.com/of-etops-nats-and-slop/
- Of RAIM, ADS-B and CPDLC https://capnaux.com/of-raim-ads-b-and-cpdlc
- Diverting to Alternate! https://capnaux.com/diverting-to-alternate
- aNATomy of a NAT Flight Pt. 1 https://capnaux.com/anatomy-of-a-nat-flight
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- Part 2 https://capnaux.com/blogs-blog-buddies-part-2/
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