November 19th, 2017

The previous post was about ATC/flight crew language problems at busy airports and the delays and hazards that can result.
From the opposite end of the spectrum, watch the YouTube session below for a prime example of how it all works 99.9% of the time. It's an Air France B-777 doing a night arrival at LAX and is the picture of precise crew cooperation--a professional, calm, quiet, unhurried, approach and landing. There are no sweaty palms, no panic or raised voices as there is no need for any. The two pilots (the first officer is flying and the Captain is working the radios, gear and flap selections) are clearly comfortable and "ahead of the airplane". 
The clip starts with the airplane downwind for 24R just at the final stages of the SADDE 6 (pronounced say-dee) STAR into LAX. (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) Their heading has downtown L.A at about their 11 o'clock position. This arrival routing is stored in the aircraft Flight Management Computer (FMC) and comes  complete with route fix altitude and speed restrictions and places them ready for their base leg and then to their intercept heading to the final approach track. It is the standard inbound routing for aircraft arriving from the north bound for LAX. I've done this same arrival dozens of times in the A-320. 
Watch and listen and read the captions as they come up. They are informative. Stick with it...you'll be bored probably. Visitors sometimes asked if we ever got bored with airline flying. My answer was always the same. "Yes. And that's exactly how we like it. In this business, boring is good!" 
​Enjoy the approach!
Until next time, over 'n out.  



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