A Day In the Life Of...
After a violent battle to find a parking space, followed by a groping at security, I finally make it to the crew room. I search on a computer to find out where my aircraft is, then sign a register where I also find out my workstation. It is then an Assassin's Creed style walk through the room to find my assigned work station, where I meet the Captain and Cabin Crew. First Officers usually get there first to do all of the paperwork. Personally, I like to leave at least an hour a half just so that I can look through everything and relax before the Captain arrives. The ultimate goal after checking the flight plan, weather and NOTAMs is to decide on the amount of fuel to take. Potential go-arounds and extra holding fuel need to be considered and discussed with the Captain when he/she arrives.
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| The calm before the storm |
We then introduce ourselves to the cabin crew and brief them about the day ahead. After a concise discussion and sometimes a few jokes, it's a brisk walk to the aircraft, which can be conveniently parked outside the crew room, or if you are really lucky, a cross-continental hike to the other side of the airport through wind, rain, sleet, snow.
From the moment we jump on board, it is all go go go. I usually start the day as Pilot Flying, which means that I will do the preflight checks in the flight deck for the first sector. The Captain (Pilot Monitoring) will perform the exterior inspection. Once he's satisfied that the aircraft is airworthy, he makes his way back to the flight deck for me to brief him on the departure and we complete the Before Start Checklist together.
Once all the checks have been completed, and the doors are closed, I grab push and start clearance. Upon our clearance for push and start, the Captain will then liaise with the ground crew to ensure the tug is connected and the pushback can commence.
As the aircraft is pushing back, we begin the elegant process of waking up engine no.2 then no.1 in sequence. There's always a sense of empowerment in being able to start a couple of 26,000lb powered pieces of incredible engineering.
Once push back is complete, the captain sets the parking brake and clears the ground crew to disconnect the tug, and once clear we begin the Before Taxi Procedure and Checklist. I then call for taxi clearance and we're rolling away.
Eventually we get to the holding point of our departure runway. At some point after a short wait behind departing and/or arriving traffic, we are cleared by tower to line up and wait or take off, We simultaneously line up onto the departure runway and complete our Before Takeoff checks. When we are cleared for take off, the Captain hands over control of the thrust levers, and I advance them to an N1 setting that is just above 40%. When both engines have stabilised at the same N1 setting, the Captain calls "stabilised", I then push the TOGA switches and just follow the thrust levers as they advance to the preset take off thrust, feeling the bottom of my seat pushing onto my buttocks. Once take off thrust is set, the Captain calls "Take off thrust set, indications normal" and takes control of the thrust levers while I place both hands on the control column, and feet on the rudders to keep the aircraft on the centreline as it rockets down the runway. Passing 80Kts, the Captain calls "80kts", I respond with "Check", to let him know that our instruments are reading correctly, and that I am still breathing. Once the aircraft reaches V1, the decision speed, the Captain will call "V1", and at Vr, he calls "Rotate", at which point I pull back on the control column, aiming to lift the nose up at a rate of about 2 degrees/second, until the main gear lifts off and we climb away from the earth. From here, it is a busy period of configuring the aircraft, after take-off checks, and a lot of frequency changes and clearances until we are clear of the London TMA.
The best departures are southbound on a clear winter morning, when the lights of London are clearly visible. Then the climb and crossing over the English Channel, watching the sky turn from red to orange as the sun emerges on the horizon.
During cruise, the Pilot Monitoring will do paperwork on the flight plan, and the Pilot Flying will monitor the aircraft. This is a good time to have some food and drink. It is also a great opportunity to simply admire the glorious views; from clear sunsets and sunrises, to cruising over the snow covered mountain tops of The Alps. This relaxing period of course varies in length. If it is a Stansted to Dublin and back, then there is just about enough time for a sandwich since the cruise period is so short, and even the paperwork needs to be completed in the climb.
Usually at about 100 nautical miles from the Top of Descent, we begin to prepare and brief for our approach to our destination airfield, and of course a nice PA to our passengers. Every airport has its own challenges, some can be straight forward, where you have really helpful ATC, a straight forward arrival with no surprises, and a long runway for that greasy landing. Other times, you could be flying in an area with awful ATC, threats of terrain and obstacles, monsoon-like weather conditions, Non-Precision Approaches, and a runway length which is just within the braking distance required for the aircraft. It is always important to brief the approach, right the way down to the taxi, sometimes even allowing more time to brief if there are a lot of potential threats at the destination.
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| Approach plate on our electronic flight bag |
Everyday is a new experience, and a new challenge. Stansted is the largest base, serving over 180 destinations, so this means that I rarely fly to the same airport more than once in the same month. I still find myself seeing completely new destinations every week, which really does keep my on my toes. For me, I feel truly lucky to have this kind of exposure. The journey continues...
