A330 and Honest Fiction

As I edit Flight For Safety, I am reminded how much we can learn from honest fiction. Honest Fiction? Sounds like an oxymoron. But there is more truth that you know, and we can learn from it. 

Long-term memories are made when emotion is involved. When we see the action verses hearing or seeing the words, we remember. I am willing to bet that all of you can remember a highly emotional situation, no matter what it was, that you were involved in.  Imagine if you could read a a fun story and learn something that will stay with you forever. Perhaps save your life, and those of your passengers. My goal is to take you into the story so you feel the emotion.

 

For those of you who know me, I have spent 22 years instructing on many different Boeing aircraft. Now I am on the Airbus A330, and I'm writing fiction. What do you think is going to happen in Flight For Safey? You just can't take the teacher out of the pilot once it has been ingrained. 

I am taking you into the flight deck of another world and you will learn many things the easy and fun way. After much research and a huge thanks to the assistance of my technical editor, Bill Palmer (the pilot who wrote the systems manuals and help to put the A330 into service at Northwest Airlines),  every detail will be accurate. The story will take you to the next level of understanding, and a greater level of fear.

Not a pilot? Who cares. Flight For Control pulled everyone into the story for one heck of a ride. With powerful characters, strong women, an important message, and a little sex... what's not to love? 

Teaser Alert~ 

Rain streamed up the windshield. Darby had never seen such a thing. The outside air temperature was -50C and the total air temperature was -21C. Was it possible to get liquid water at these temps?

            “Beep. Beep. Beep. Ding. Ding. Ding.” The master warning and master caution lights flashed, and the airplane cried warning. The autopilot and autothrust had both disconnected.

            Their airspeed indicators rolled back to 65 knots. The flight directors disappeared. A roar like machine gun fire attacking the plane, vibrated in the flight deck. Messages displayed rapidly across the ECAM—Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor, and were being replaced by others faster than she could see what they were.

             “Jesus fucking Christ!” Keith yelled. One hand grabbed for the thrust and his other grabbed the stick. 

            “Don’t do anything!” Darby yelled over the noise. “Let the plane fly.”        

            “Stall! Stall! Stall!” The plane cried.

          “We’re not stalling,” Darby yelled. “Look at our ground speed," She said pressing the data button on the MCDU and then selecting GPS data. “Here ya go…We’ve got a ground speed of 486 knots.” 

            “Ding.” The plane warned them that the autothrust was disconnected, and would continue to scream every five seconds until they acknowledged it. But if they left the thrust levers alone the power would remain in the last setting. If it were good enough before, it was good enough now—and one less thing to worry about.

            Darby looked back at her PFD. Their pitch was supposed to be at 3 degrees for level flight. 
They were at 10 degrees and increasing! What the hell?

            “Stop climbing,” Darby yelled. The A330 could pitch up to 10 to 12 degrees very rapidly 
without much effort. 

            “What?” 

            “Don’t climb. Bring the pitch down to three degrees.”

            “Ding.”

            “But I let go of the stick.” Keith yelled. “It shouldn’t be climbing.”

            “It's going where you told it to go,” Darby shouted, as she pushed the stick forward. “We have to put it on 3 degree line.” 

            “DUAL INPUT!” a synthetic voice blared over the speakers. Keith was back on the controls—they were both flying the plane. She focused on the goal of level flight, and her hand hovered over the stick.  Once stable, she removed it, but kept a watchful eye on the pitch attitude. 

            “Ding.” 

             Unlike the Boeing, the A330 trimmed to relieve elevator pressure for whatever pitch attitude the pilot wanted without the pilot's help. When Keith had let go of the stick, the stick had moved to neutral but the nose stayed pointed up because he had put it there. 

            "Ding." 

            This was the first plane Darby had flown that the pilots did not trim. It took an effort to pull a Boeing into a stall with cruise power and not touching the trim. Not the Airbus, because it trimmed itself. The A330 was smart. But not smart enough to out think a pilot who screwed up when the plane was in Alternate Law. 

             “Shit. What the hell is this?” Keith said, breathing rapidly. Almost hyperventilating.

            “Ding.” 

            “You’re in Alternate law. Just fly what you’ve got.” But he had a death grip on the stick and worked it hard. “Just little pressures to keep her level. You’re not whacking off, just flying a plane.” 

            “Ding.”

            “What about our power? I…I think the autothrust is off.” The plane bounced and rocked.

            “Ding.”

            “Don’t rock the wings, you’re inducing instability,” she said. “Your autothrust is off. Don’t worry.” 

Today I'm in Atlanta doing a recency. Tomorrow we'll talk about Positive Dynamic Stability and answer the questions below.

Test your A330 (and story) knowledge:

1. Why did they get a stall warning if they weren't stalling?
2. Why did the plane stay pointed up if Keith put the controls back to Neutral?
3. Why is it easier to stall an Airbus while in Alternate Law, than a Boeing?
4. Why is it easier to stall a Boeing than a Airbus in Normal Law? 
5. Why did Darby say put the plane on the 3 degree line?
6. What was that ding, and how can they make it stop?
7. Why didn't Keith have to worry about the autothrust being off?
8. Is Darby a Captain or First Officer?

Enjoy the Journey!  Remember to get your copy of Flight For Control so you'll be ready for the continuation of the drama...

Please take a moment to LIKE my Facebook page and see what is in store for 2025! 
  

XO Karlene 
  

NOTE: Bill Palmer: A330 Check Airman who wrote the systems manuals for the A330. He has a book coming soon that you won't want to miss. Until then follow him on Facebook: And Twitter @WFPalmer  Whenever I have a technical question... he's my go to guy, and yours too.   

Andy Schwaderer

Friday Fabulous Flyer

 Andy Schwaderer

Major Andrew Schwaderer—Andy—is a C-17 pilot who is just finishing his Active Duty pilot commitment, and will start with the Reserves this winter.  One of his dreams is to fly as a captain at a major airline and I have no doubt he will make that dream come true. He is a leader in every sense of the word.

Andy entered the service in 2001 as a graduate of ROTC from the University of St Thomas, St Paul MN.  He holds degrees in the Russian Language and Political Science.  He has over 3400 hours in 6+ aircraft to include the C-17A, RQ-4A/B, T-1A, T-37—A the majority of which was on the C-17A.  He has flown combat missions over Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan.

 

Awards he has earned: Meritorious Service Medal. Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters. Aerial Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster. Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster. Air Force Achievement Medal. 

 

 I had asked Andy where his aviation dream started, and this is what he said…

“I grew up in the north woods of Minnesota, about an hour and a half west of Duluth.  There was a reconnaissance F-4 unit stationed there at that time, and they would do training missions over our lake--basically drop down below tree line and practice taking photos of a floating dock that was at one end. 

When I was 4, I remember watching one come in low across the lake, seemingly powered by black smudge, and then scream overhead.  The noise was on the scale of a NASA rocket launch, seeing this blur jet overhead was such a powerful experience.  I was hooked—from that point on I spent my free time building jet models, reading about aviation, and pondering what a life in the clouds would be like.”

Andy at 6-years-old

Andy also told me he is a writer of short stories. His words paint pictures and I could feel myself standing with that little 4-year-old boy watching the jet fly overhead. That moment in his life, had changed his life. It pointed him down a path that took him into the sky filled with much success.

But with success, there are failures. With struggles we reap rewards. With each day come new challenges. I love to know what drives a person, and how they deal with life. Our attitude is all we have control over, and Andy has the attitude thing figured out.  A good trait for a pilot.

 

“The greatest rewards for me are working with amazing professionals—the people make this business extraordinary.  The challenges are part of the appeal—you just do not know what will happen, quickly, at any point.  It forces you to be on your best game at all times.  Makes you realize you're part of something far, far larger than yourself.  The travel is also a great part of the reward!  

 

 An amazing feeling to be larger than yourself—it puts the ego in check, and makes you human. Flying in Iraq and Afghanistan made for some interesting missions for Andy. He calls them ‘tense flights’ I call them a huge dose of reality. I can only imagine that experience, as I write from the comfort of my home.

“Some of the more tense flights are carrying wounded out of the combat zone. We try to make the flights as comfortable and efficient as possible of course, and the more serious trauma and burn victims will have dedicated attendees during the course of the flight. Those are always tense because there are few divert options in the event the patient's condition worsens. Not being able to help while someone slowly succumbs is among the worst memories of my career.” 

 

“The other tense times are trying to get into a strange airport, like a dirt field in northern Afghanistan, or one that is extremely busy, like Frankfurt International in Germany. Every 30-seconds they have a plane departing or landing, and there is zero room for error when they give you instructions. Combine that with the German air controllers' strange sense of humor and you get instructions to state remaining fuel onboard, so they know how long they can force you to hold in the penalty box. I've heard other planes get sent to the penalty box (what we simply call having to hold position by doing endless circles) because they didn't respond to their call sign, or for falsely responding when the controller was calling someone else.”

 
When Andy is not on the road he enjoys writing, and we already know he can through his words on this page. Add Musing and Amusing to your aviation blog list. Such a fun read.

Please join me in welcoming Andy on his re-entry into the civilian world, and his continued success on all his missions in life. Andy, I also want to thank you for serving our country and keeping the laughter alive on your blog. You just keep giving, and remind me that we can all find something to smile about. Today I am smiling at the good fortune to have met you.

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene