PilotsEye makes some crazy good cockpit videos. Basically their crews have flown along on a variety of flights and have cameras mounted throughout the cockpit, which makes for some great footage.
Most of the time the videos are just of run of the mill flights, which are already interesting from a passenger’s perspective, since we rarely get to see what goes on in the cockpit.
But here’s an especially interesting one from a couple of years back, where a Swiss Airbus A340 flight between Zurich and Shanghai had an engine overheat. You can witness how the crew responds to the situation, turns off the engine, dumps fuel, informs the passengers of the situation, and takes a chocolate and coffee break. 😉
Here’s the awesome video:
Interesting stuff, eh?
Just wondering what are the pilot's names? They did an absolutely stellar, professional job!
BTW---the pilots were speaking Swiss German.
I was thinking to join the Swiss air-mile program but I was a bit in doubt due to the MD-11 event experienced a couple of years ago. After watching this, as flight crew I might think twice to fly to often in Swiss . Naaaa, I am kidding, very professional the flight crew just pilots can think about eating when in a bit in trouble but fine. Congratulations to the selection group of Swiss air they choose very nice female pilots and of course very professionals :-)
I have been on that very flight! The crew was very professional. We returned back to ZRH and flew back to PVG a few hours later with a new crew. Same menu though..
Great video. I noticed the captain called pan pan pan to indicate the situation was urgent.
Lovely to watch this. Great professionalism and teamwork. The workload was clearly pretty significant, and they all handled it with no problem.
but are you really saving fuel? I assume that with only one engine on, that engine would have to be producing more thrust and using more fuel than it would be if both engines were spooling.
Also, you could use this method for engine testing:
http://r3.cygnuspub.com/files/cygnus/image/CAVC/2012/MAY/600x400/img_6234_10712185.jpg
There’s no method for attaching nor is there sufficient clearance it so it’s kind of a moot point.
Um.... the PW4000-100 was flight tested attached to the wing of a 747:
http://www.pw.utc.com/Content/Photos/Feed/Stories/PW4000-100_Adv70-01/pw4000-advantage70-1.jpg
Saves fuel, Adi_T. I remember TWA used to do the same thing.
lucky says “PilotsEye makes some crazy good cockpit videos. Basically their crews have flown along on a variety of flights and have cameras mounted throughout the cockpit, which makes for some great footage.”
I’m not sure how I missed this but thanks for the heads up.
John says “Am I the only one who likes to watch Air Emergency while on the plane?”
Not at all. Every bank, every noise, every vibration, and every deviation...
lucky says “PilotsEye makes some crazy good cockpit videos. Basically their crews have flown along on a variety of flights and have cameras mounted throughout the cockpit, which makes for some great footage.”
I’m not sure how I missed this but thanks for the heads up.
John says “Am I the only one who likes to watch Air Emergency while on the plane?”
Not at all. Every bank, every noise, every vibration, and every deviation from the usual process suddenly seems far more interesting. That being said, I’ve received some really odd looks from superstitious folks who haven’t yet matured to the point that they no longer fear death. If you really need to be fear something then you might as well fear something truly awful, like being kidnapped by ISIS, or the CIA for that matter. A plane crash almost seems pleasant compared to being tortured in secret and/or beheaded in public.
Michael says “@Terence A single 777 engine can power an entire 747”
There’s no method for attaching nor is there sufficient clearance it so it’s kind of a moot point. Regardless of the aircraft involved carrying a defective engine as dead weight is far less efficient and can easily result in a return or deviation to an alternate target for long haul flights.
talking of engines out, I experienced an unusual departure yesterday on a US Airways A321 out of Phoenix -- one engine was started immediately after push back but the other was not started until just a minute or two before takeoff.
Is this common? Specific to Phoenix? USAirways? A321s? I have never found this before.
@ Adi_T -- They sometimes do that just to save fuel on the taxi out, in my experience.
great video. I'm curious as to how the situation would have been same vs different had this been an A330 instead of an A340. Would the situation have been more urgent given that only one instead of 3 engines would be left to fly on?
Where is the pilot from I'm curious? He has a really interesting German accent. And handsome too, but I digress.
Nice video, I wondering if the pilots will remain this clam on a A330 or any other ETOPS.
I remember you saying how on one of your Swiss flights all the cabin crew were supermodel like. You can sorta see that here as well. Maybe time to fly Swiss and ditch BA?
Only a Dutch or Swiss can speak a sentence where I hear French German and English words
1- What are the odds of the pilotseye being on an aircraft with an engine-out emergency? Pretty fascinating
2- Pilotseye is definitely porn for AvGeeks
3- I once watched PilotsEye episode about LH454 FRA-SFO onboard LH454 FRA-SFO which was amazing for me to think this is happening in the front (except Captain Jürgen Raps wasn't flying me like in the video :P )
4- I speak fluent German and was barely able to get 15% of what was being said. Damn Swiss accent!
Look at the wonderful coordination between the captain and first officer; this kind of CRM is so different from the "bad old days" of the SkyGods and so nice to see in action.
(And notice that at no point did any of the pilots express any discomfort with the cameraman continuing to film; what a testament to their confidence and professionalism. Try to film a police officer during a tense situation and see what happens.)
@Justin yep a 747. Didn't quite make it to London though. Good transcript with ATC on that one
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115896261643871721
The captains reminds me of Christoper Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.
@Terence A single 777 engine can power an entire 747
Am I the only one who likes to watch Air Emergency while on the plane?
@ John -- Love watching it, but not on a plane.
@Justin bet that's a 747, not 777 :D
Wasn't there a BA captain a few years ago who lost an engine shortly after takeoff from LA and decided to continue on all the way to London?
I like to watch these to remind myself how calm the pilots are, while I'm in the back, wondering what's happening, if it's getting crazy, was that go-around really close, etc.