http://www.airlinerworld.com 47Homeward Bound
There’s little time to reflect on the
inbound leg to Bromma. Brussels
Airlines plans a short turnaround of just
35 minutes in the Swedish capital to
Sanczuk and De Ridder immediately get
to work preparing the jet for the return
flight back to Belgium.
On the apron, the groundcrew springs
into action like a well-oiled machine,
uploading 746gal (3,393lit) of fuel into
the waiting Avro as Vandenberghe and
Hofmans prepare the cabin for the 84
incoming passengers.
With more than 6.5 tonnes of fuel on
board, our gross weight is confirmed as
88,873lbs (40,312kg) and the crew
calculates the take-off performance
once again. The considerations are
significantly different from Brussels –
the runway at Bromma is barely half the
length, and we’ll be departing with a
slight tailwind. These factors, combined
with the aircraft’s weight, means
De Ridder (as PF) plans for 24° of flap
and the use of full engine thrust for
take-off. This gives us a V1 of 111kts,
Vr is 121, V2 is 128 and Vfto (the final
take-off speed at which the flaps are
fully retracted) is 183kts.
Another advantage of the RJ100 is
its extremely tight turning circle. The
nosewheel can rotate up to 70°, enabling
De Ridder to manoeuvre the jet out of
the parking stand without the need for
any pushback equipment.
We make short trip down taxiway B
towards Runway 30 and are immedi-
ately cleared for departure. De Ridder
advances the thrust levers to full power
and the Avro lurches forward, quickly
picking up speed and then leaping into
the air as the first officer eases back on
the yoke.
Our clearance via the DKR3Z SID
initially takes us through a climbing
left turn towards the Dunker VOR but
ATC kindly offers a direct routing to the
Sveda VOR, near the southeastern city
of Helsingborg.
We’re transferred once again to
Sweden Control and retune the radio
to 118.275. Unfortunately, the airspace
is busy, but while ATC can’t immediately
clear us for a continuous climb to our
initial cruising level of FL280, it does
remove the speed restriction so De
Ridder trades climb rate for forwardspeed, accelerating to 280kts. Once
clear of conflicting traffic, our airspeed
falls back to 250kts as the first officer
eases the nose of the Avro up again and
we resume our climb.Brussels Calling
Continuing our flight south, ATC
directs us to the Alsie VOR close to the
Danish-German border where we join
the UN872 airway, the reciprocal track
of our outbound leg. Applying ICAO’s
semi-circular rule for cruising altitudes
(eastbound and westbound aircraft
must fly at odd and even flight levels
respectively), we continue our climb
to FL320. At this altitude, the RJ100’s
cruising speed generally sits between
Mach 0.66 and 0.70, so we settle for
0.69 as per the northbound sector. This
gives us a ground speed of 390kts, while
fuel flow stabilises around 2 tonnes per
hour (500kg per engine).
Control of flight SN2306 is passed
from one controller to another as we
make our way across Northern Europe,
speaking first with Copenhagen and
then Maastricht Radar’s Holstein sector.
The latter allows us to cut the cornerBrussels Airlines is
one of just two
international carriers
to serve Stockholm/
Bromma, where
proceedings are
dominated by the largely
domestic Braathens
Regional Airlines (BRA).BELOW LEFT • Captain
Sanczuk completes the
walkaround, an external
check of the airframe,
before the return flight
back to Brussels.The ILS frequency and
course for Runway 25R
is entered ahead of the
arrival into Brussels.