Airliners-India.com Flickr Group & Facebook    FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  Muscat to Male in Seat 0A          Airliners-India.com Forum Index -> Trip Reports View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message iflytb20 Member Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 1079 Location: Next to the Airport Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 7:07 am    Post subject: Muscat to Male in Seat 0A As per the discussions / requests / demands / orders on the What'sApp group, I was supposed to write two TRs : One for KTM-MCT and one for MCT-MLE. As my departure from KTM was one the morning of the 25th, and keeping in mind what happened 1:50 hrs after my departure, I am cancelling the KTM-MCT TR. But I will include some notes and pics of my travel around KTM at the end of this TR. Hope you all understand. So let's move to the other TR - Muscat to Male. SECTOR: OOMS-VRMM ACFT : A4O-BQ B737-81M(WL) FLT NO : WY 385 SEAT NO : 0A STD : 0545Z ATD: 0612Z DELAY of 27 min STA : 0950Z ATA: 1014Z DELAY of 24 min CONFIG : 12J/150Y LOAD : 6J/31Y PAX [22% Loadfactor] Oman Air operates daily flight to the Maldivian capital of Male. The loads are highly seasonal and with the monsoons approaching, the tourist season is coming to an end. This is reflected by the low loads into Male. During the winter high season, this flight is regularly operated by the A330s due to the higher demands. But come summer, the tourists and the widebodies disappear and the narrowbody rules the roost Flight Dispatch WY371 / 373 is the second longest ETOPS flight after WY717 (ZNZ-DAR) & WY715 (ZNZ). But unlike the ZNZ-DAR flight, the MLE flight is almost entirely over water. So much that our two ETOPS alternates are MLE and MCT itself. In other words, the two closest airports on our route are the origin and the destination. Due to the low loads, we were to tanker fuel into MLE. We uplifted 17500kgs which meant that we won't have to refuel in MLE for our return trip. Our planned cruise time was 3:34 hours and the planned cruising level FL370 or 37000 feet. For those who are interested, our filed route was : Code: MCT T505 EMURU P570 KITAL L894 LELEM L3A L3A is the STAR that feeds to R36 at MLE. With the forecast winds, we expected to use that runway for our approach there. Once the fuel was finalised and all paperwork signed, we proceeded to the Crew briefing room for a joint briefing with the crew. After exchanging pleasantries and having a moaning session about the 2:45 hour ground time at MLE, we proceeded to the waiting crew bus for the 5 min drive to the airport. Airport At the airport we have a dedicated crew / staff gate to enter the terminal. All our bags are X-rayed at this point before we can enter the building proper. If there are any crew baggage to be checked in, we proceed to the normal check-in counters to drop off the bags. As this was a QTA or turn-around flight, we skipped this step and proceeded to the Immigration gate. Again, we have a dedicated counter for this. Once the immigration official tallied our names with the ones on the General Declaration (or GD), we were cleared to proceed to the security. After a second X-Ray, we were free to proceed to the crew gate. With the amount of X-Rays my flight bag absorbs, I won't be too surprised if it starts glowing in the dark soon After checking in at the crew gate (we have to be here D-50 minutes), we proceeded to our home for the next 12 hours - A4O-BQ (or Quebec Baby as I call her ) On Board A4O-BQ (S/N 44421) did her first test flight on 16/11/2014 and was delivered to Oman Air on 10/12/2014. She has a configuration of 12J/150Y and comes fitted with the BSI (equivalent of Airbus's NeelGai Interiors - NGI). My first flight in her was on 22/01/2015 and this would be my second flight in her. While my FO set about feeding the FMC and firing up the various aircraft system, I went for a walkaround in the lovely 35 degree weather. My FO seemed mighty pleased that it was me rather than him but in his defence, he did promise to send help if I didn't reappear in 10 minutes. 7 minutes and 48.3 seconds later I was back in the wonderfully cool cockpit. My FO had finished programming the FMCs and I crosschecked his entries using the paper flight plan. At this stage the commercial staff informed us that we were waiting for 25 connecting pax from FRA and to expect a 25-30 minute delay in departure. So this time was utilised by venturing out to the What'sApp group where member AbV gave strict instructions to photograph every square micron of the aircraft. Even thought I was unable to do this, I did take a bit of photographs which will be making their debut in this TR. At 0611Z, the commercial staff informed us that all pax were on board and at 0612Z the cabin doors were closed for departure. Startup, Taxi and Startup Startup, Taxi and Startup you ask me? Well, here at WY we have started various fuel saving measures one of which is Single Engine Taxi (SET). We start #2 (the right hand one) engine on the bay, proceed to taxi with one engine only and start the other one 3-4 minutes before line-up. With all operations shifted to the new runway, average taxi times has gone up from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. The SET saves 45-50 kgs per flight and with more than 100 flights per day, this amounts to 4500-5000 kgs of fuel saved per day. With Runway 08L being the duty runway, we proceeded to the runway from stand 25 via taxiways C8-A-D-E3-N-V-Y3. We started engine #1 on taxiway V and proceeded to lineup via intersection Y3. Enroute to the runway I saw VT-AXQ (as per member AbV's orders) and gave her my regards. With the FO being the Pilot Flying (PF), once on the runway I handed over the controls and became the Pilot Monitoring (PM). PM can also become the Pilot Cribbing, Pilot Bothering, Pilot Interfering (especially if PM is the Capt ), Pilot Are-we-there-yet-ing depending on the duration / time of departure of the flight. At 0635:25Z, the throttles were advanced towards Take-Off Thrust and at 0636:02Z we were airborne. Climb After departing from R08L, we climbed on runway heading till 4000' before we turned right and proceeded to waypoint EMURU. We turn above 4000' to ensure terrain separation as there is significant high terrain to the South of the airport. Our initial climb clearance was to FL290, approaching which we were switched to the Muscat Control frequency by the Approach (and Departure) controller. He gave us further climb till FL310 where we spent 8 minutes while the separation between us and Qantas 2 increased. Once the controller was happy with the separation, we got the clearance to climb to our cruising altitude of FL370. Top of Climb (ToC) was at 0702Z and it took us 26 minutes to get there. Once the cruise thrust was set and the engine parameters were checked, we both sat back to enjoy the flight and to work on our tan. Cruise After a quick cruise brief, we both settled in for the 2:45 hours long cruise. Approaching waypoint KITAL, we were handed over to the Mumbai HF for the shouting competition aka radio calls. HF is one place where all civilised behaviors cease to exist and it becomes a feral free for all to get in your radio calls. After a 10 minute long battle, I emerged victorious and was able to pass my message to the ATCO at Mumbai. As this was an ETOPS flight, we have to start the APU prior to entering the ETOPS sector. As this flight was ETOPS from 395 NM (1 hour flying time) from MCT till 395 NM from MLE, we had an 90 minute long ETOPS segment. To comply with the requirements, the APU was started at 0733Z and it would keep running till 0905Z burning 45 kgph. Our Route Enroute Approaching waypoint BIBGO, we were handed over to Male control who passed on the weather and told us to expect an ILS approach to runway 36. The cockpit was setup for the approach - this includes programming the FMC, setting the ILS frequencies, setting the approach course, setting the Autobrakes and selecting the landing flaps. We planned to land using F30 (Flaps 30) and an Autobrake setting of 2. Once the approach briefing was completed and the Descent checklist was read, we were ready for our descent. Descend, Approach & Landing After cruising for 2:42 hours, we commenced our descent at 0944Z. As we were #1 for approach, the descent was continuous. After a short vector, we were given a heading to intercept the ILS for runway 36. Once we were establised, we were handed over to tower who cleared us to land 1006Z. Once the flaps were extended and the gear was lowered, the Landing checklist was carried out. And with the entire approach being over the water, we crossed the land about 10 seconds before touching down at 1008Z with a total of 3:32 hours spent in the air. We rolled to the end of the runway and did a 180 degree turn at the R18 threshold. After backtracking, we vacated via taxiway C and parked at 1014Z for a total block time of 04:02 hours. Approach Video of the last time I was in MLE. The return trip was uneventful and we reached MCT about 30 minutes early. Return Trip **Hope you guys enjoyed this TR as much as I did writing it. Please feel free to comment / critique this report. Cabin Shots Y Cabin Y Seat J Seat Hope this makes you happy AbV Photos Geek Alert Maldives KE returning to bay due technical A4O-BQ EK 777 Kathmandu trip photos Dawn enroute to KTM This is a video of the approach into KTM Food we had during our trip to Bhotechaur. The fish was caught in front of us and cooked within 40 minutes. The freshest food I ever ate. And yesterday I got the sad news that this place was completely destroyed on the 25th The road we took was like this almost the entire way. That red building in the previous photo looks like this now Typical Landscape The greenery Waterfall near where we had lunch The trout farm where we had lunch Bliss You looking at me punk On departure from KTM Crew meals. Upper one is KTM-MCT, lower one MCT-MLE _________________ Always do everything into wind...... except piss Back to top stealthpilot Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 7:00 pm    Post subject: - Very very nice. Super TR - Your check in in is D-50 !!! AAAHHHhhhhh - The FO cant taxi? Policy or no tiller? - :10 mins battle with BOM HF .... the worst part about the route - Why do you need to start the APU for ETOPS, company requirement? - Cabin looks super - KTM pics as well ..... esp the doggie and food _________________ eP007 Back to top sumantra Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 11:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Muscat to Male in Seat 0A iflytb20 wrote: As per the discussions / requests / demands / orders on the What'sApp group, I was supposed to write two TRs Captain, I am extremely disappointed that you listen to only relatively high(er)-tech modalities for similar requests, and ignore some of the proletariat, as Yours Truly, on this forum, to be more regular! You really write very well. No, it is not just your descriptions, your brand of humour has us in splits. It is not just your pictures. Or the lovely videos. The complete package, combined with an experience from an office, which most of us can only dream of. Your descriptions have the aviation-crazy child in all of us on the tenderhooks, with the delicious details of the route, and the planning in the front office. What for you is another day at the office, to most of us, is sheer bliss, to read about a detailed description, presented in such a lucid manner! The fun part punctuates the serious descriptions beautifully, starting with the glow-in-the-dark bag, and the Houdini act rescue, with a 10 minute deadline. AbV I guess is master strategist and pax stats decoder Abhijeeth Vijay, a person we just cannot manage to get a TR out of, despite his regular travels. I guess here, it does not work even with WA/FB requests. The Mumbai HF is an experience most cockpit crew detest, and all descriptions sound oh-so-similar, but your humour sets this one apart. Your new camera (from what I gathered from your nice FB posts) is serving you well, and puts life into your crisp still shots. The two landings were just amazingly smooth: thanks for the lovely videos as well. I would have loved to see your pictures in better resolution (the ones from the middle to the end), but then some mash-up with my yahoo accounts has rendered me disappointed, and unable to view them. You know which ones I look forward to , the most. Your beautiful pictures of Nepal cause us to relive your pleasant memories, in spite of all the horrid descriptions of the extensive tragedy that has befallen this country. Thanks once again for a lovely TR: we look forward to regular postings from you, Sir! Cheers, Sumantra. Back to top Jesin Member Joined: 21 Feb 2009 Posts: 28 Location: DOH Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 8:35 am    Post subject: Very nice cabin interiors. WY is really improving on their products. Hope to fly one of these new metals soon. Excellent TR Captain and expecting more from you ) Regards, Jesin. Back to top sri_bom Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 1:22 pm    Post subject: Excellent report with a good sprinke or humour. Unfortunate that Nepal got struck by a bad earthquake, I hope the people recover out of this soon. Oman Hayer hard product looks great, and they have started flying to Singapore now, so it wll be a pleasure to meet you captain if you happen to fly on this route. Sri_Bom Back to top Max737 Member Joined: 16 Mar 2015 Posts: 27 Location: Minimums ILS 12L OMDB Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 2:19 pm    Post subject: Nice TRP Capt , the cabin interior looks to be well designed comparing with my last trip on WY. BTW starting APU prior to entering ETOPS segment is necessary for all aircrafts or is it just a company policy? I am starting this sector in my FlightSim now Cruise & Sunset Over Arabian Sea _________________ Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks? https://www.vatsim.net/ Last edited by Max737 on Sun Dec 10, 2017 12:40 pm; edited 1 time in total Back to top sabya99 Member Joined: 19 Dec 2011 Posts: 1399 Location: New Jersey/CCU Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 10:42 pm    Post subject: Could you please explain what relationship APU has with ETOPS flights. I am ignorant about it _________________ Sabya99 Back to top ranjanmehta Member Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 108 Location: Dilli Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 7:16 pm    Post subject: What a beauty! Always a pleasure to see aviation from an aviators point of view. Fantastic report, bookmarking it, please don't delete it ever! Back to top rakesh959 Member Joined: 28 Aug 2012 Posts: 58 Location: Chennai Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 12:00 pm    Post subject: Awesome Raj!Thank you for a wonderful TR from up front!And your usual bit of wits make it a perfect one!Sad about the KTM incident.The interors look very good on your 737s!And that APU start is an ETOPS requirement i guess!Remember reading about it in your another TR!Awesome Pictures too both from MLE and KTM!Enjoyed reading it Cheers! Rakesh. Back to top shivendrashukla Member Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 1354 Location: Mumbai, India Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 7:27 pm    Post subject: Amazing TR there Captain. Looking forward to more from you in future. Cheers Shivendra Back to top PNQIAD Member Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 112 Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 10:09 pm    Post subject: Superb TR Raj.....nice to get a TR in a Captain's perspective....hopefully more such keep coming... Back to top iflytb20 Member Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 1079 Location: Next to the Airport Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 8:15 pm    Post subject: Gentlemen First of all, my apologies for the delay in replying to your questions. I got caught up in work and was unable to log in for a while as a result. Having said that, let me try my best to answer your questions. stealthpilot wrote: - Very very nice. Super TR - KTM pics as well ..... esp the doggie and food - Cabin looks super Thank you NiT stealthpilot wrote: - :10 mins battle with BOM HF .... the worst part about the route It's even worse during the monsoons. Try getting a weather deviation stealthpilot wrote: - The FO cant taxi? Policy or no tiller? No tiller stealthpilot wrote: - Your check in in is D-50 !!! AAAHHHhhhhh Check-in is D-90. D-50 to reach crew boarding gate at the terminal. Jesin wrote: Very nice cabin interiors. WY is really improving on their products. Hope to fly one of these new metals soon. Excellent TR Captain and expecting more from you Smile) Thank you Jesin. Hope to see you on board soon sri_bom wrote: Excellent report with a good sprinke or humour. Unfortunate that Nepal got struck by a bad earthquake, I hope the people recover out of this soon. Oman Hayer hard product looks great, and they have started flying to Singapore now, so it wll be a pleasure to meet you captain if you happen to fly on this route. Thank you sri_bom. Nepal was pretty badly hit and the recent earthquake didnt help one bit. However they are a sturdy bunch of people and i'm sure they will bounce back soon. Sadly I don't fly to SIN yet but I'd be glad to take you from MAA to MCT to catch your SIN flight Max737 wrote: Nice TRP Capt , the cabin interior looks to be well designed comparing with my last trip on WY & your FO looks to be a little aged I am starting this sector in my FlightSim now Some of my paperworks and Pics Exclamation Thanks for the Route Thanks Max737. Hope you enjoyed your simFlight. ranjanmehta wrote: What a beauty! Always a pleasure to see aviation from an aviators point of view. Fantastic report, bookmarking it, please don't delete it ever! Thanks Ranjan. I have no plans of deleting it. Hope the server doesn't do that. rakesh959 wrote: Awesome Raj!Thank you for a wonderful TR from up front!And your usual bit of wits make it a perfect one!Sad about the KTM incident.The interors look very good on your 737s!Awesome Pictures too both from MLE and KTM!Enjoyed reading it Cheers! Rakesh. Thank you Rakesh. Glad you liked it. stealthpilot wrote: - Why do you need to start the APU for ETOPS, company requirement? Max737 wrote: BTW starting APU prior to entering ETOPS segment is necessary for all aircrafts or is it just a company policy? sabya99 wrote: Could you please explain what relationship APU has with ETOPS flights. I am ignorant about it rakesh959 wrote: And that APU start is an ETOPS requirement i guess!Remember reading about it in your another TR! Rakesh is correct. And he has a good memory too. As per Boeing, for the 737NGs, the APU has to be running prior to entering and throughout the ETOPS segment. This is to have the APU available immediately incase of an Generator or Engine failure. I also suspect the lack of RAT also has to do something with it. shivendrashukla wrote: Amazing TR there Captain. Looking forward to more from you in future. Cheers Shivendra Thank you ShivJi. Hope to write more in the future. PNQIAD wrote: Superb TR Raj.....nice to get a TR in a Captain's perspective....hopefully more such keep coming... Thanks PNQIAD. Hope to write one regularly. sumantra wrote: Captain, I am extremely disappointed that you listen to only relatively high(er)-tech modalities for similar requests, and ignore some of the proletariat, as Yours Truly, on this forum, to be more regular! SumantraJi a thousand apologies. I will not repeat this mistake in the future. My next TR will de decided by you and you alone. Please do let me know when I should write one. Warmest Regards _________________ Always do everything into wind...... except piss Back to top sumantra Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 7:28 am    Post subject: iflytb20 wrote: sumantra wrote: Captain, I am extremely disappointed that you listen to only relatively high(er)-tech modalities for similar requests, and ignore some of the proletariat, as Yours Truly, on this forum, to be more regular! My next TR will de decided by you and you alone. Please do let me know when I should write one. As regularly as work permits? Back to top Optimus.Prime Member Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 302 Location: VAJJ (No, not Va-Jay-Jay) Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 11:24 pm    Post subject: Nice one iflytb20 , its time you updated the handle though! _________________ Why can't Donuts be square? Back to top avbuff Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031 Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:02 am    Post subject: iflytb20 Lovely TR loved every bit of it. As always an interesting perspective of a TR from seat 0A. Your TR is complete with a EK777 picture in it Oh and how many announcements did you make? Did you tell some ladies " Maldives main samay par bikini utarna aniwarya hai " Thanks for sharing Back to top jbalonso777 Member Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Posts: 1501 Location: Never, never land Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:16 pm    Post subject: (U) Raj, what a super TR this! Absolutely enjoyed another TR from 0A! Delightful stuff. Thanks for keeping me in the loop with the pictures and YouTube video updates while I was with the exams! Din't you take a pic of a UL plane or am I misinformed...... Witty TR from you and that's not a surprise hahaha Pilot Cribbing Oh and super pictures! will we be seeing those on the oh man hayer website soon? WY's B737s are truly beautiful. Amazing stuff. Lovely pictures from KTM and really unfortunate what happened there! Nice capture of the cute dog sleeping! BTW, isn't WY371/373 MCT-CMB..? CMB also used to get A330s but with the B737s I guess we can have a seat 0A TR for MCT-CMB!! Regards Jish _________________ http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777 Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First         Airliners-India.com Forum Index -> Trip Reports All times are GMT + 5.5 Hours Page 1 of 1   Jump to: Select a forum New Members----------------Sign-up Guidelines Airliners-India----------------Civil AviationNon AviationTrip ReportsMilitary Aviation & SpaceInternationalAviation Polls & PreferenceTech/OpsAviation PhotographyEditorial/Analysis/ArticlesAviation HobbyAviation LawAviation Questions & CareersSite Related Flickr Group----------------Photo of the Month My Message Board----------------Pin Up  You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. Hosted by phpBB.BizHat.com