12 Vol. 10 / No. 4 / April 2018 Global Aviator
From the mouths of pilots
We normally fly leg for leg,
and if the weather is forecast
to be such that a monitored
approach is to be flown, then
the first officer will probably
get the leg and fly the approach
and the captain monitors, only
taking over with the field in
sight to carry out the landing.
Otherwise the first officer
will carry out the missed
approach already being
heads down on instruments.We have 2 VHF radios on the 738 (as
do all aircraft under part 121) some have
2 HF radios as well. Standard practice
is to use VHF1 for all communications
and to use VHF2 to listen to the ATIS
or talk to company, otherwise it is set to
121.5 and monitored. Normally duringflight (using our individual audio control
panel) we select both VHF 1 & 2. When
we say "off 1" it's short for saying I'm
deselecting VHF1 either to then talk to
company on VHF2, copy the ATIS or talk
to the pax. After that we would re-select
VHF1 and say "back on 1" and the other
pilot would update any changes. We do
this to alert the other pilot to listen out
for any radio calls. It's also good practice
to communicate to your colleague
what you're doing so that everyone
maintains good situational awareness.
The radios on our aircraft have two
windows, active and standby, we use the
selector knobs to tune the frequency in
the standby window and when ready to
use we push a transfer button that swaps
the frequencies from standby to active.
We then tune the next expected frequency
in the standby window ready to be used.
Automation is very important
in any aircraft as it allows the pilot toSome thoughts on flying
the B737 800
by Captain Kell Kotze - Mango
unload their workload (specially during
any non normal situation) to see the
bigger picture and keep good situational
awareness. It stands to reason that a
intimate knowledge of one's auto flight
system is necessary for that desired effect.
We normally engage the auto-pilot
at 400' and disconnect somewhere on
the approach, depending on the crew.
Hand flying is also encouraged to
maintain flying skills provided the crew
have discussed it and the weather and
work load is not going to be a factor.
For example, a non standard departure
with thunderstorms around is not the
time to be hand flying in my opinion.
LNAV and VNAV stand for lateral
and vertical navigation. Basically we have
a lateral and vertical profile populated in
the FMC with the data we enter (routing,
weights, flight level (FL), so by selecting
LNAV and VNAV the flight directors
will command that profile, so if flying by
hand, you would follow the FD and if the
auto pilot was engaged the FCC (flight
control computer) would follow the FD.
There are certain requirements
for L and V Nav engagement, for
example using LNAV for take-off the
LNAV path must be within 5 degrees
of take-off heading and departureCaptain Kell Kotze left and right senior first office Simon Day in the front office of the Mango B737 800.