Airliner World — September 2017

44 AIRLINER WORLD SEPTEMBER 2017

Next Stop Bromma
We’re soon at the front of the queue
and a quick check of the prevailing
wind shows it to be from 210° at 7kts,
gusting up to 19. Sanczuk, who is the
pilot flying (PF) for the first leg, notes the
slight crosswind but it’s well below the
certified maximum of 35kts (the RJ100
can also take off with a tailwind of up
to 10kts).
By this point, we’ve switched from
the ground controller to Brussels Tower
and are monitoring frequency 120.775
when the radio bursts into life: “Beeline
2305, line up and wait Runway Two Five
Right.” This is our cue and, after check-
ing the final approach for any incoming
aircraft, Sanczuk rolls the aircraft
forward on to the runway. The crew
quickly completes the line-up check-
list, which requires checks of the flight
controls and master warning system,
switching on the strobe lights and tran-
sponder, and then a final verification of
the runway’s elevation and heading.
With everything in order, Sanczuk
advances the four thrust levers to
take-off power and we set off down the
11 ,811ft-long (3,600m) runway.
Once airborne, the aircraft is cleaned
up as the gear and then flaps are
retracted. We’re passed to departure
control on 126.625, which re-clears us
to FL70 and approves a direct course to
the Nicky (NIK) VOR, which lies east of
Antwerp near the city of Sint-Niklaas.

Another frequency change puts our

flight into the hands of the Brussels Area

Control Centre (ACC) which directs us

to the TOLEN waypoint on the north-

ern boundary of the Flight Information

Region (FIR). We’re also cleared for

a high-speed climb, which permits

Sanczuk to fly at up to 280kts or Mach

0.66, but he elects to maintain the

standard 250kts until cruising level to

save fuel.

TOLEN marks our entry into the

UN873 airway, a major trunk route

for European traffic destined for

Scandinavia. Our climb is approved

in steps, but remains unrestricted and

continuous even in this congested

airspace, which is among the most

complex in the area. Here, several busy

traffic flows meet in an extremely

narrow corridor, necessitating close

control from ATC to ensure separation

between aircraft flying to and from

Amsterdam/Schiphol and various other

Dutch airports with those arriving at

and departing from Brussels. Indeed,

With no vertical

navigation system, the

descent calculations in

the Avro are performed

the old-fashioned way –

using simple arithmetic.

Captain Sanczuk guides

OO-DWB towards the ILS

localiser for Runway 30

at Bromma.