A Passage to India Part 1
A Passage to India Part 1
Pilots, this is it. This is the Big One. The one we’ve trained for our whole career!
Consider this the PhD, the Black Belt, the pièce de résistance of the airline industry: safely conducting one of the world’s longest commercial airline flights!
Folks, this month I’ve been scheduled to fly, not one, but two JFK (New York) — DEL (Delhi, India) round trips.
For this adventure, we’ll need our biggest bird: the 777-300ER!
A Passage to India Part 1
Preflight Logistics
Without getting too deep in the weeds, FAR 117 dictates maximum flight and duty time limitations for flight crews. (Specific company contracts at any given airline may reduce this as well.)
For this flight, a 4-pilot “Augmented Crew” will be required.
To further help these marathon flights, 2 of the pilots will be Captains.
On my first scheduled flight, for example, I’m assigned to be the “Relief Captain”—basically flying mid-flight with the Relief FO (or “FB”) while the primary Captain and FO rest; on my second trip, I’ll be the primary Captain, doing the actual takeoffs and landings.
Check out the table below:
Again, we’ll have 4 pilots. In addition, we’ll have a “Class 1 Rest facility,” which maximizes our allowed duty period. And, we’ll need every minute of it!
Below is our “Class 1” pilot rest facility. It’s separated from the cabin, and has 2 lounge chairs, and 2 separate sleeping bunks. Actually pretty sweet!
Long range pilots must adapt to the 2-3+ hour catnaps required inflight, to get the rest needed.
I’ll need it on this flight for sure. In fact, each team will be taking 2 separate 3-hour breaks during the flight!
Here’s our flight schedule over and back:
-
- JFK-DEL
-
- DEL-JFK
The actual footprint of the trip is 6 days. I will deadhead to JFK, overnight, then fly JFK-DEL, overnight for 24 hours, fly back to JFK, overnight, then deadhead home.
Yep, it’ll be a marathon in all respects!
A Passage to India Part 1
Preflight Studies
As soon as I was assigned these trips, I hit the books. There’s a ton of info to study up on, from Delhi Airport itself, to all the nuances and flight rules dictating flying halfway across the globe!
What’s more, there’s extra issues at play. For example, we talked in previous posts about flying NAT Tracks across the Atlantic to get to Europe…
But, that’s just the beginning.
We’ll then have to navigate throughout Europe, then Eastern Europe, then the Middle East, then South Asia…
A Passage to India Part 1
Polar Russia Routes
Sometimes, depending on weather conditions and other factors, a Polar route over Russia—and China—is planned. However, with the current war in Ukraine, Russia has shut down airspace to western traffic.
So, once we pass Eastern Europe, we’ll be threading our way around and through some pretty politically dicey areas. We’ll even have to fly through a narrow sliver of Eastern Afghanistan!
Depending on winds, weather, politics, and other factors, some of the countries we will most likely be overflying:
- Turkey
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
- Tajikistan
- Afghanistan
- Pakistan
We will approach Delhi from the north, just south of Tibet, Kashmir, and the Himalayas.
(Note: K2 may very well be visible!)
A Passage to India Part 1
Afghan Taliban Flight Plan
Fortunately, the Taliban are not too interested in civilian air traffic way high up there, so we’ll be fine.
However, Afghanistan and surrounding countries come with their own challenges. Specifically, among others:
- Extreme mountainous terrain, including the Himalayas.
- Many No Fly zones, both for geographic and political reasons.
- Widely scattered suitable alternate airports in case of emergency.
- Sketchy Radar and other communication facilities.
- Potential GPS and other navigation/communication interference.
- Air traffic controllers who may have rudimentary English language skills.
Finally, after our 15 hour and 30 minute flight, we’ll be touching down in VIDP (DEL), Indira Gandhi International Airport, Dehhi, India!
A Passage to India Part 1
Hemisphere Dancing Report: EZE
This week, I picked up a trip to EZE—Buenos Aires, Argentina.
While everyone tells me it’s a fabulous layover, we were on a “Rocket” trip, which was a redeye down, sleep & rest 12 hours in the airport hotel, and fly the redeye back. So, all work and no play on this flight!
But, it was an interesting route, which I’ll tie to our upcoming VIDP:
Basically, to fly to EZE, we flew a similar route that we used to get to SCL (Santiago, Chile.)
Just north of SCL, we hung a left, and flew through a pass in the Andes.
While we can clear the terrain with plenty to spare, whenever we cross over high terrain, we must carefully plan for the remote possibility of a rapid depressurization.
If we have to high dive down into thicker air, unfortunately there’s mighty thick mountains to contend with, too!
So, we’ll preload an alternate route, which we can immediately execute to bug out of said High Terrain. We’ll also know exactly what altitude to which we can safely descend while in the danger zone.
Himalaya High Dive
On our flight to DEL, we’ll be doing much of the same thing—especially when we edge close to the highest mountain range in the world—the mighty Himalayas!
As you can see, our aerial pièce de résistance comes with quite a few challenges. However, given the amazing depth of experience that I’ve found with every single 777 pilot I’ve flown with, I know that our team will be able to complete this mission safely.
I’m happy to be the Relief Captain (RC) on this first flight, which will help me to get my “sea legs” for the trip. And, I’ll be even more eager to fly as Captain on the next one.
In some ways, this trip will be more of the same stuff that I do on all my flights—only longer. As mentioned, however, it will also require a culmination of all the aviation experience that I’ve accumulated over my 40-year career…
And, therein lies the Adventure for Cap’n Aux!
A Passage to India Part 1
Quora Question Corner
Welcome to a new section for our blog! Wherein I’ll share with you some of my recent answers on Quora’s aviation forums.
Come over and join us at:
https://capnauxsspace.quora.com
Since this is already a purdy long post, we’ll start with just one. Enjoy!
A Passage to India Part 1
Top Gun: Maverick
Gobs of Blog Buddies have been asking me what I think of the new Top Gun: Maverick movie.
In a word…
AWESOME!!!
There’s no doubt you’ll feel the need…the need for speed!
Go see it!!
Till the next post…
This is Cap'n Aux
Flying Off! (to DEL)!
Touching Down Next
A Passage to India II
Part 2: Cleared for Takeoff!
Above: a Microsoft Sim flight over the Taj Majal, from which I took a screenshot for the cover of this blog. For those interested, here’s the original video—the Taj appears around 1:05!
Source: Daily Tech Life, on Youtube.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doawG534Pmk&t=3909s
Full Passage to India Series:
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