Share Your Polar Flight Stories

Post by **nwadc10** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:19 pm

"Hi Everyone, Let's swap stories with each other about our Polar flight experiences. Anything fun, interesting, or something the rest of us can learn from is welcome here. I'll go first [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] On PO181, HNL/SYD, last month I was fighting stronger than forecast winds enroute. Coming into the SYD area I checked the METAR and it showed thunderstorms! I didn't have enough fuel to divert nor hold for the thunderstorm to pass. I had just enough to make a couple approach attempts and taxi to the gate with just a little left in the tanks. I began the approach through heavy rain and moderate turbulence. I knew I had to do this approach right the first time so I wouldn't have to explain to Ralph why we lost a plane [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] Through very poor visibility I shot the approach right down to 250 ft minimums before sighting the approach lights where I continued the approach to a rather hard landing. Here is my log file from that flight...check out the METAR!! <a href='http://www.globecargo.org/fsacars/logs/ ... 093000.txt' target='_blank'>PO81, HNL/SYD</a> Lessons learned...take more fuel and actually check the forecast weather for the destination before departure. Had I done that, I may have seen forecast thunderstorms and planned my flight accordingly with an expectation to divert to an alternate. Another thing I did as a result of this flight was to install the RealityXP Wx500 weather radar into my plane. If I had radar onboard this flight I may have seen well in advance the thunderstorms that were awaiting my arrival and I could have found a nearby airport to land, refuel, and wait out the storms. Nevertheless, the approach was fun though [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] Let's keep these stories going! Justin"

Tsuru · Post by **Tsuru** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:31 pm

"A copy of the e-mail I sent Jure should do the trick pretty nicely I think [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ph34r.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Hi, I just completed my first flight for Polar Air, and I have encountered two problems that lead to approximately 2,5 hours flighttime missing from my logbook: The first one was when I was over Scotland and inadvertently shut down FSAcars when trying to change my callsign from ""5Y"" to ""PAC605"". I did save the ACARS file, which I attached with this message. When I started FSAcars up again it proceeded to generate an entirely new log file, so this accounts for approximately 1 hour flighttime missing from PAC605. Secondly, when approaching Hudson Bay I was starting to get a little anxious about my fuel situation, having about 36000lbs left for just over 2 hour flighttime to Chicago. This was due to me not taking into account the jetstream when crossing the Atlantic, so I ended up flying into headwinds of over 130 knots without the necessary extra fuel so I decided to make an unscheduled tech stop at CYVO to take on extra fuel. A wise choice, because when I landed at CYVO I had just about 17000lbs left. In CYVO I took on 63000lbs of fuel. Naturally, FSAcars ended the flight when I put on the parking brakes on YVO's tiny apron to refuel and didn't log the 1 hour and 23 minutes spent flying to my destination KORD. The real flight times which I wrote on a piece of paper are as follows (all times local): EHAM Off chocks: 00:00 EHAM Takeoff: 00:09 CYVO Landing: 00:18 CYVO Takeoff: 00:26 KORD Landing: 00:49 KORD On chocks: 00:54 Total airtime: 07:32 I hope this will allow you to perhaps amend my logbook, since I don't know how I can do this myself. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] Regards, Yannic Cathalina // #1139</div>Lessons learned indeed [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] Right now I am enroute EBLG-OMDB as PO420... as I flew through Varna Control in Bulgaria I was greeted by a very friendly IVAO controller with whom I ended up chatting until I was deep into Turkish airspace.... at the end I'm representing Polar Air Cargo at a small IVAO flyin in Bulgaria this weekend these guys invited me to [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]"

Jure · Post by **Jure** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:14 am

"Great reports, guys! Justin, I also installed RealityXP radar and I am glad I did. There seem to be a regular t-storm area close to where Yannic is right now. The (in)famous Atlas run LIRF-OMDB always provides for excitement. It starts with that boring always-the-same-winds take-off, always-follow-the-same-SID, but soon things get exciting. I remember dodging the Cb's at 35,000 feet. Weather radar was of great help when I tried to pick my way through the monsters. Landing in always hot Dubai afterwards is like coming to another world. There's another flight that usually gets interesting. The ""cigar run"" [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] to Cuba... almost everybody who flew down there complained about shortage of fuel. On top of that I had an engine flameout on my return trip, decided to go back and what began as a dreamy evening on take-off turned into a stormy night with strong cross winds on landing. The approach to MUCU isn't the nicest one to begin with and on that night I had my hands full and then some. Yannic, will you take the B-742 to the fly-in? That will be quite a sight! Enjoy! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]"

Tsuru · Post by **Tsuru** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:37 am

"<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jure @ Nov 19 2004, 09:14 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'> [...] Yannic, will you take the B-742 to the fly-in? That will be quite a sight! Enjoy! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] [right][snapback]2174[/snapback][/right] </div>Naturally! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] Wel'll be going from LBSF (Sofia) to LOWW (Vienna) saturday night (20/11) at 1800GMT... I already dug up the flightplan on their forum: LBSF DCT OKANA UL863 RAVAK UL617 NEPOS UN739 BEO UM749 BEGLA DCT LOWW It's being held by a tiny Bulgarian VA based on Balkan Holidays who fly the A320 and TU154... the gentleman I had the pleasure of speaking to yesterday afternoon is BGH005, Stoyan Gregoriev. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif[/img] <a href='http://bhair.bgspotters.net/index.htm' target='_blank'>http://bhair.bgspotters.net/index.htm</a> If you guys can make it you're welcome to come along and make some eastern european friends! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]"

Tsuru · Post by **Tsuru** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:07 pm

<a href='http://forum.bgspotters.net/viewtopic.p ... highlight=' target='_blank'>http://forum.bgspotters.net/viewtopic.p ... hlight=</a> Any takers? I think it would be great to have more VPAC jumbos there! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif[/img]

Tsuru · Post by **Tsuru** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:14 pm

"On my tour of Eastern Europe I took my beloved N924FT from Kiev (from UKKM, Antonov airport!) to Vilnius.... I must say flying under Lithuanian ATC and among Lithuanian pilots on IVAO is a sobering experience to say the least [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/closedeyes.gif[/img] The Polish on the other hand were great... The flight was supposed to go to Stansted, but when the Baltics lit up on servinfo I couldn't resist... ""Warsaw control, PAC420 request divert to Vilnius, standby for flightplan"" ""PAC420 never mind cleared direct VABER report ready for descent"" [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]"

hjmemon · Post by **hjmemon** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:00 am

"Hi Everybody, Well for the first time I encountered engine flameout, not one or two, all 4 engine flameouts. Just after reaching cruise altitude (FL370) I was setting cruise thrust manually, sudduenly the engines went silent. Within seconds Flight Pursur rushed in to ask what happened. Was doing PO420 EBLG-OMDB, under Frankfurt Center and near Vienna. It was a great experience. Really loved it. Now a days waitng for incorrect landing operations. F/O Hashim Jabbar Memon P# 1127 PS: What is IVAO? Is it some kind of online ATC which directs us in different airspaces."

Tsuru · Post by **Tsuru** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:10 am

"<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hjmemon @ Nov 30 2004, 07:00 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Hi Everybody, Well for the first time I encountered engine flameout, not one or two, all 4 engine flameouts. Just after reaching cruise altitude (FL370) I was setting cruise thrust manually, sudduenly the engines went silent. Within seconds Flight Pursur rushed in to ask what happened. Was doing PO420 EBLG-OMDB, under Frankfurt Center and near Vienna. It was a great experience. Really loved it. Now a days waitng for incorrect landing operations. F/O Hashim Jabbar Memon P# 1127 PS: What is IVAO? Is it some kind of online ATC which directs us in different airspaces. [right][snapback]2323[/snapback][/right] </div>Yeap, with voice and everything. And some stuff to brighten up your TCAS as well [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] <a href='http://www.ivao.org' target='_blank'>http://www.ivao.org</a> [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif[/img]"

CraigM · Post by **CraigM** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 12:12 pm

"<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hjmemon @ Nov 30 2004, 01:00 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>PS: What is IVAO? Is it some kind of online ATC which directs us in different airspaces. </div> There is also VATSIM and Flight Project International for online flying: <a href='http://www.vatsim.net' target='_blank'>http://www.vatsim.net</a> <a href='http://www.flightproject.net' target='_blank'>http://www.flightproject.net</a> There are many more, but those three are the most notable."