AA high speed aborted takeoff at DCA, near miss 5/29/24

[BobDDuck]

I freakin love this description of Lindbergh ops. What you don’t want to exit at B10 and end up in a clusterf*** with traffic holding on spots 1 thru 4?

View attachment 78146

Surely they must have some kind of record for smallest piece of pavement requiring a ramp tower.

I flew in there the other night for the first time in about 5 years, and the first time I was doing the driving on the ground. Ground tells us to go to Spot 1 and call ramp. We get there and ramp precedes to berate us for not going to Spot 2. The FO tries to explain, but ramp isn't having any of it. He finally says, well, if you want to go all the way around the loop I guess you can. The FO jumps back in and says we can turn to the left and get back on the line by Spot 2, to which ramp tells us to do whatever we want. I start the turn and he gets back on the radio and yells at us for turning around after he told us to take the loop from spot one. I guess "do whatever you want" doesn't actually mean do whatever you want.

 

[///AMG]

I flew in there the other night for the first time in about 5 years, and the first time I was doing the driving on the ground. Ground tells us to go to Spot 1 and call ramp. We get there and ramp precedes to berate us for not going to Spot 2. The FO tries to explain, but ramp isn't having any of it. He finally says, well, if you want to go all the way around the loop I guess you can. The FO jumps back in and says we can turn to the left and get back on the line by Spot 2, to which ramp tells us to do whatever we want. I start the turn and he gets back on the radio and yells at us for turning around after he told us to take the loop from spot one. I guess "do whatever you want" doesn't actually mean do whatever you want.

Haha.....maybe I'm misremembering now, but isn't spot 2 like 50 feet beyond spot 1 on the same line?

"If you'd tried harder, you'd be at the gate already. May god have mercy on your souls now"

 

[BobDDuck]

Haha.....maybe I'm misremembering now, but isn't spot 2 like 50 feet beyond spot 1 on the same line?

"If you'd tried harder, you'd be at the gate already. May god have mercy on your souls now"

It's actually in the image I quoted in my post. Spot 1 is about 200 feet past Spot 2 when you are heading west down Bravo. It attaches to the west loop that goes around the random spot where Chester (and a few other extra planes) sleep every night. The 330 doesn't have the wingtip clearance to do a 90 degree right turn if you get all the way to spot 1 and have to turn left to go to the other line leading off of Spot 2.

 

[///AMG]

It's actually in the image I quoted in my post. Spot 1 is about 200 feet past Spot 2 when you are heading west down Bravo. It attaches to the west loop that goes around the random spot where Chester (and a few other extra planes) sleep every night. The 330 doesn't have the wingtip clearance to do a 90 degree right turn if you get all the way to spot 1 and have to turn left to go to the other line leading off of Spot 2.

Yep, that's where I was thinking it was, though I guess I underestimated the 200 ft part. But makes sense for your plane

 

[CFI A&P]

It's actually in the image I quoted in my post. Spot 1 is about 200 feet past Spot 2 when you are heading west down Bravo. It attaches to the west loop that goes around the random spot where Chester (and a few other extra planes) sleep every night. The 330 doesn't have the wingtip clearance to do a 90 degree right turn if you get all the way to spot 1 and have to turn left to go to the other line leading off of Spot 2.

Speaking of SAN, and for the 330 at your shop do you have better approaches than the publicly available LOC or GPS with REEBO as the FAF? I know the parking garage messed things up there, but just curious.

 

[Skåning]

first time I was doing the driving on the ground

Congrats on the upgrade!

 

[mwflyer]

It's called irony. Sorry you didn't get it.

And I’m sorry that you don’t understand the meaning of irony. There was nothing ironic about your statement.

 

[poser765]

NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!

Some of us little people are down in the E Concourse.

I like to park in the employee lot that serves E. It’s so much more… relaxing. At its worst times E is almost relaxing unlike the constant shoulder to shoulder zoo that is C and A. After about 1930 E is practically a ghost town. But you have to get to it… a process that can take a half an hour or so if it’s close to midnight.

 

[Hiboglossi]

I’m doing BOS all month

It’s been a long time, but I would take the parts of IAD I’ve seen over any of DFW any day and twice on Sunday. Granted, we don’t have to take the sand crawlers to our gates.

im not certain I can disagree. I partial to dfw mostly because of home field advantage, you know? With that said dfw has an awful lot of local knowledge and lore that’s definitely it’s own thing and ground tends to get really salty when you mess it up. Woe unto you that calls ground taxing in with a gate number and not a spot.

Definitely no sand crawlers in dee dub but damn the train can sure f you over when it feels ornery.

Honestly the sandcrawlers are my favorite thing about IAD. They looks so futuristic, even though they're an old and arguably antiquated technology. Plus all the windows they have offer excellent views, and I actually found them much less aggravating to use than the subways at IAD. I haven't been to IAD since I left C5 last year and I honestly miss riding them.

As for the terminals themselves, Concourses A and B at IAD are very nice, except for the end of A where most United Express flights are, which is a dump and is extremely crowded. Concourses C and D aren't very nice either, and also tend to be pretty crowded, although not as bad as the United Express part of A- my understanding is that when they were built, they were intended to be a temporary structure, but ended up being used for decades longer than originally planned.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

Honestly the sandcrawlers are my favorite thing about IAD. They looks so futuristic, even though they're an old and arguably antiquated technology. Plus all the windows they have offer excellent views, and I actually found them much less aggravating to use than the subways at IAD. I haven't been to IAD since I left C5 last year and I honestly miss riding them.

As for the terminals themselves, Concourses A and B at IAD are very nice, except for the end of A where most United Express flights are, which is a dump and is extremely crowded. Concourses C and D aren't very nice either, and also tend to be pretty crowded, although not as bad as the United Express part of A- my understanding is that when they were built, they were intended to be a temporary structure, but ended up being used for decades longer than originally planned.

I used to pick those over the train whenever I could. Train was a good idea, but the application was all kinds of wrong, especially if you’re going to C or D.

 

[Skåning]

The ExpressJet crew room in IAD was an old business class lounge that I think they "inherited". It was way fancier than we felt we deserved as RJ trash - marble, fancy washrooms, lighting, etc.

 

[poser765]

Honestly the sandcrawlers are my favorite thing about IAD. They looks so futuristic, even though they're an old and arguably antiquated technology. Plus all the windows they have offer excellent views, and I actually found them much less aggravating to use than the subways at IAD. I haven't been to IAD since I left C5 last year and I honestly miss riding them.

As for the terminals themselves, Concourses A and B at IAD are very nice, except for the end of A where most United Express flights are, which is a dump and is extremely crowded. Concourses C and D aren't very nice either, and also tend to be pretty crowded, although not as bad as the United Express part of A- my understanding is that when they were built, they were intended to be a temporary structure, but ended up being used for decades longer than originally planned.

I love the sandcrawlers. Such a unique vehicle… and come on, a bus that essentially docks with the building? Heck yeah! Also, low key, my retirement gif is driving a shuttle between two points. Looks like the chillest job ever.

 

[Pilot Fighter]

I love the sandcrawlers. Such a unique vehicle… and come on, a bus that essentially docks with the building? Heck yeah! Also, low key, my retirement gif is driving a shuttle between two points. Looks like the chillest job ever.

Sometimes, I’m jealous of the shuttle driver.

 

[DeltaAlphaNovember]

Speaking of trains, everytime I rode the one at IAH to the hotel I felt like I was on a Disney ride.

 

[BobDDuck]

Speaking of SAN, and for the 330 at your shop do you have better approaches than the publicly available LOC or GPS with REEBO as the FAF? I know the parking garage messed things up there, but just curious.

The 321 has FLS installed, so the RNAV Y approach gives you a pseudo loc and glideslope and I remember it being pretty easy, although it doesn't give you better mins. The 330 doesn't have FLS yet but we are supposed to be getting it soon. We are also supposed to be getting authorized for RNAV(AR) sometime this summer, so that will open up RNAV Z for us, which has slightly better mins I think. The garage is kind of annoying, but the brakes are actually really good on the 330, so as long as you get it down where you are supposed to, it's not too bad of an experience.

Congrats on the upgrade!

Thanks. It's been fun so far, although I'm missing my nice schedule.

 

[Kingairer]

The 321 has FLS installed, so the RNAV Y approach gives you a pseudo loc and glideslope and I remember it being pretty easy, although it doesn't give you better mins. The 330 doesn't have FLS yet but we are supposed to be getting it soon. We are also supposed to be getting authorized for RNAV(AR) sometime this summer, so that will open up RNAV Z for us, which has slightly better mins I think. The garage is kind of annoying, but the brakes are actually really good on the 330, so as long as you get it down where you are supposed to, it's not too bad of an experience.



Thanks. It's been fun so far, although I'm missing my nice schedule.

Ive never heard of FLS. What difference is that to a RNAV? Why would you do an FLS instead of an RNAV?

 

[Screaming_Emu]

The ExpressJet crew room in IAD was an old business class lounge that I think they "inherited". It was way fancier than we felt we deserved as RJ trash - marble, fancy washrooms, lighting, etc.

Yup! They had to remove the beer tap before they opened it.

 

[BobDDuck]

Ive never heard of FLS. What difference is that to a RNAV? Why would you do an FLS instead of an RNAV?

FLS is FMS LANDING SYSTEM. It's an alternative to FINAL APP. You'd use one or the other for an RNAV approach. It (generally) doesn't give you any better minimums, but the FLS way is much simpler and gives a smoother descent. It basically generates a localizer and glideslope beam within the FMS. It generates localizer and glideslope purple diamonds on the PFD except they are "double diamonds". The cool thing with it is that you can fly a localizer only approach using the ground based loc, but the FLS GS, or you can fly the entire thing with FMS guidance using F-LOC and F-GS.

Airbus has a good write up.

Safely Flying Non-Precision Instrument Approaches | Safety First

Historically the distinction between flying ILS/MLS and non-precision approaches was very clear. However, many new kinds of instrument approaches are now available and this makes the distinction less obvious. What remains true today for any approach is that disregarding basic flying techniques...

safetyfirst.airbus.com

 

[Kingairer]

FLS is FMS LANDING SYSTEM. It's an alternative to FINAL APP. You'd use one or the other for an RNAV approach. It (generally) doesn't give you any better minimums, but the FLS way is much simpler and gives a smoother descent. It basically generates a localizer and glideslope beam within the FMS. It generates localizer and glideslope purple diamonds on the PFD except they are "double diamonds". The cool thing with it is that you can fly a localizer only approach using the ground based loc, but the FLS GS, or you can fly the entire thing with FMS guidance using F-LOC and F-GS.

Airbus has a good write up.

Safely Flying Non-Precision Instrument Approaches | Safety First

Historically the distinction between flying ILS/MLS and non-precision approaches was very clear. However, many new kinds of instrument approaches are now available and this makes the distinction less obvious. What remains true today for any approach is that disregarding basic flying techniques...

safetyfirst.airbus.com

I have just watched a video on Airbus FLS with a small man with a very heavy french accent, Im up to speed now.

 

[ERfly]

Speaking of trains, everytime I rode the one at IAH to the hotel I felt like I was on a Disney ride.

That's because it is!

It's built by WED Enterprises. I'll let you guess what WED stands for.