For those who like Aircraft pictures

[KeithMacdonald]

Right you lot - one step forward anyone who wants to be a pilot.
 

Quote

The Royal Air Force has admitted it “urgently” needs to address a shortage of trained aircrew, so that it has enough pilots and aircraft weapon operators to “match operational demands”. The bleak picture of staffing in the RAF is revealed in internal documents seen by i that show that the service is turning to outside help to try to resolve the situation. A review into the aircrew shortage has been commissioned, with the RAF bringing in the Boston Consulting Group on a £480,000 contract to suggest potential solutions and to gauge support for different options.

 

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/raf-admits-urgent-need-to-solve-shortage-of-trained-pilots-2083957?ico=most_popular

 

A year or two ago, there were complains that our carriers (QE and the POW) didn't have enough aircraft. Now it turns out it was worse than that (Jim)

 

Quote

Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, has revealed that at one point last year that the UK had more F35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets than it had pilots to fly them and that “the pilot pipeline was not where I wanted it to be”.

 

Suggestions on the back of a postcode.

Edited January 15, 2023 by KeithMacdonald

[rob D2]

Have a look at “ fast jet performance “ channel on YT. He’s an ex Tornado pilot and Hawk instructor - he drops a lot of “ truth bombs “ about the state of the RAF and its training . He actually recommends potential pilots look to other services as the time from joining to front line is 7-8 years ish 

[BMacdermott]

Hello everyone

 

A 'terminology query' for you. An abbreviation which I have never heard before...

 

Scandinavian 815 left the Lambourn hold last night and was talking with Heathrow Director. All was 'bog standard' until the pilot said:

 

"Request RFT on Two-Seven Left".

 

Does anyone know what RFT means? (I know there is an abbreviation RTF.)

 

The only thing that came up from Googling was Renal Function Test! 

 

Brian

 

 

[mezzoman253]

Possibly Runway Friction Test? As it was very cold last night and the pilot would need to take that into account.

 

Rob

Edited January 19, 2023 by mezzoman253

[BMacdermott]

Thanks Rob

 

That sounds feasible. Can anyone confirm?

 

Brian

[Kickstart]

Hiya

 

Suspect it might be related to not understanding the phrase. Maybe "Repeat For" something? Was it 100% "T" or could it have been "C" for Confirmation?

 

Very much guessing though.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[BMacdermott]

Hello Katy

 

I'm 99.9% certain it was RFT as the request was repeated a short time later.

 

Sadly, from my location, I can only hear aircraft, not ground...so, I only get 'half the story'.

 

Brian

[BMacdermott]

Hello again

 

Just listened to my recording. He said:

 

"Request RFT on Two Seven Left for training".

 

Brian

 

[St Enodoc]

15 minutes ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello again

 

Just listened to my recording. He said:

 

"Request RFT on Two Seven Left for training".

 

Brian

 

Take your pick:

 

https://www.allacronyms.com/RFT/flight

[PMP]

On 19/01/2023 at 10:46, BMacdermott said:

Hello again

 

Just listened to my recording. He said:

 

"Request RFT on Two Seven Left for training".

 

Brian

 

RFT can refer to Runway Friction Testing, however I've never heard of a crew ask for it in the UK using that abbreviation in any genre I'm familiar with, ATC/Airline/Airfield operations. Physical friction testing is rarely carried out. In 2021 runway state reporting worldwide changed to the Global Reporting Format GRF which is a worldwide standardised tabular format. Airfield operations report the surface condition which is then changed into a standardised data set that crew can then use to determine if they are able to make a landing.

 It's possible the crew requested the GRF data but used incorrect terminology. They may have wanted to do some training on it for the approach brief, for that particular runway particularly with current weather, and been looking at alternates too.

Edited January 20, 2023 by PMP
addition

[rob D2]

^^^^^^
I’d agree with PMP.

 

I’d  ask “ what’s the current brake action please “. Which In itself is a minefield , because they have a land rover that can do 160mph it’s not always highly appropriate of what will be experienced at those speeds .

[KeithMacdonald]

On 19/01/2023 at 08:13, BMacdermott said:

Scandinavian 815 left the Lambourn hold last night

 

Please excuse my ignorance, what is the "Lambourn hold"?

[BMacdermott]

Hello Keith

 

It is the North Easterly holding point (what some call 'stack') for Heathrow. I should have put an 'e' on the end (viz Lambourne).

 

The other three are at Bovingdon (near Watford), Ockham (near Woking in Surrey) and Biggin Hill.

 

Brian

[Ron Ron Ron]

Holding fix, holding facility.

”Stack” is just a colloquial, or slang term and doesn’t exist in any formal terminology.

In Heathrow ‘s case the 4 main holding points are “terminal holding fixes”, i.e. the clearance limit for flights inbound to Heathrow.

 

There’s a defined and published holding pattern to be flown, if instructed by ATC.

If there’s no ATC clearance to leave the hold, then the aircraft must remain there until clearance is given

In the event of Radio failure, there are procedures to be followed to allow the aircraft to land safely.

The 4 holding fixes for Heathrow are located at VOR/DME radio navigation beacons, which with advancing modern navigation technology, are becoming more of a legacy facility.

There are outer holding fixes on the routes into each of these holding fixes, but these are not co-located with physical radio beacons.

The outer holds are used when there’s congestion and the inner holds are full.

Inbound to Lambourne for instance, the outer “stacks” are at BRASO and LOGAN.

LAM fills up, subsequent arriving aircraft are held at BRASO.

BRASO gets full, the next arrivals start to hold at LOGAN. This would be only be in difficult circumstances, such as sudden deterioration of the weather, or some unexpected interruption to the normal smooth flow of traffic, like a runway blockage of some kind.

 

En-route and terminal holding is wasteful of expensive fuel, increases emissions, clogs up valuable airspace capacity and leads to knock on delays and added cost for everyone. Therefore the whole system is designed to mitigate and where possible eliminate as much holding as possible.

[The Pilotman]

On 19/01/2023 at 08:47, BMacdermott said:

Thanks Rob

 

That sounds feasible. Can anyone confirm?

 

Brian

Brian,

 

Is it possible that they asked for an “RNP” approach? That would be a fairly common request to that controller. It’s an approach to a runway using satellite based navigation rather than ground based radio aids. 

Edited January 23, 2023 by The Pilotman

[BMacdermott]

Hello Pilotman

 

I am 99.99% certain it was RFT (not RNP) as 'my ears pricked up' at first hearing and it was repeated. The playback on my recorder gives me the same result.

 

Funnily enough (and bearing in mind I only hear transmissions on an infrequent basis although daily) I have never heard RNP into Heathrow. RNAV yes, but RNP no.

 

That stuff is all a bit too 'hi-tec' for someone like me who did just a few hours training over 50 years ago in a then fairly old Cessna 150 where navigation was almost entirely 'looking out of the window'.🙂

 

Brian

Edited January 23, 2023 by BMacdermott
Spelling

[jjb1970]

Singapore Changi on Saturday. Asian airlines still seem to have an obsession with Pokemon liveries.

 

 

[The Pilotman]

1 hour ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Pilotman

 

I am 99.99% certain it was RFT (not RNP) as 'my ears pricked up' at first hearing and it was repeated. The playback on my recorder gives me the same result.

 

Funnily enough (and bearing in mind I only hear transmissions on an infrequent basis although daily) I have never heard RNP into Heathrow. RNAV yes, but RNP no.

 

That stuff is all a bit too 'hi-tec' for someone like me who did just a few hours training over 50 years ago in a then fairly old Cessna 150 where navigation was almost entirely 'looking out of the window'.🙂

 

Brian

The terms RNP and RNAV are both in common usage. I’ve never heard anyone use the term “RFT” and would be scratching my head if I did. “Runway condition” and “braking action” are the most frequently used terms when a pilot wants to know what the runway surface state is. 

[OnTheBranchline]

Picture of late neighbour flying off of a British carrier (probably Eagle?). He was a pilot at Malta in WW2 for a little while then switched to training. 

[rob D2]

4 hours ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Pilotman

 

I am 99.99% certain it was RFT (not RNP) as 'my ears pricked up' at first hearing and it was repeated. The playback on my recorder gives me the same result.

 

Funnily enough (and bearing in mind I only hear transmissions on an infrequent basis although daily) I have never heard RNP into Heathrow. RNAV yes, but RNP no.

 

That stuff is all a bit too 'hi-tec' for someone like me who did just a few hours training over 50 years ago in a then fairly old Cessna 150 where navigation was almost entirely 'looking out of the window'.🙂

 

Brian

If they are asking for an approach other than ILS, they should be asking for RNP not RNAV as that’s what the approach is called on the jeppesens 

[rob D2]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Singapore Changi on Saturday. Asian airlines still seem to have an obsession with Pokemon liveries.

 

 

Great  shots.

Id love to go and work for scoot in Singapore, when covid eased though, they rightly prioritised indigenous staff and there hasn’t been a look in for ex pats as yet 

[55020]

44 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

If they are asking for an approach other than ILS, they should be asking for RNP not RNAV as that’s what the approach is called on the jeppesens 

 

Agreed, current RT terminology is "request RNP Approach via XXXXX runway xx ", where XXXXX is the Initial Approach Fix.  No pilot should be using RNAV anymore. 

 

Requesting an RNP approach for training makes total sense.

 

 

Steve

Edited January 23, 2023 by 55020

[BMacdermott]

Many thanks all for the 'terminology' comments.

 

It might be some months since I heard 'RNAV' but I will listen out for 'RNP'. I'm still fairly confident I have never heard it although if the request is passed on the frequency prior to Lambourn, Bovingdon, Ockham or Biggin, then I might not hear it.

 

Another that has 'come and gone' (at LHR at least) is 'Microwave'.

 

Brian

[The Pilotman]

13 hours ago, 55020 said:

 

Agreed, current RT terminology is "request RNP Approach via XXXXX runway xx ", where XXXXX is the Initial Approach Fix.  No pilot should be using RNAV anymore. 

 

Requesting an RNP approach for training makes total sense.

 

 

Steve

Yes, but in aviation, as well as on the railways, old habits die hard. 

[KeithMacdonald]

Is this news to anyone else (besides me)?

 

Quote

Royal Air Force will lose its entire fleet of C-130 Hercules aircraft by 2023. The Defence Command Paper released last year, titled ‘Defence in a Competitive Age‘, states: “The Royal Air Force will retire the BAe146 as planned by 2022 and take the C130 Hercules out of service by 2023.
..

The C-130J variants first entered service with the Royal Air Force in the late 1990s and some of the C-130s have been retired in recent years but the remaining 14 had originally been due to keep flying until the mid-2030s.

 

But:

 

Quote

An entry in the table under the heading ‘A400m Additional Purchase‘ reads “Additional purchase of A400M planned for the late 2020s”. .. It is understood that, where possible, their missions will be picked up by the fleet of larger A400M Atlas transport aircraft.

 

Sounds very familiar. Having to sweat the obsolete assets (well past their best-before dates) while waiting for promises of new kit "sometime in the future".

 

Refs :

(1) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-in-a-competitive-age

(2) https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-planning-to-purchase-additional-a400m-transport-aircraft/

 

As a straw poll / stock check, using FlightRadar24, I've just counted these on the ground at Brize Norton:

• 7 x C-130J (plus a couple flying round the North Sea)
• 8 x A400M
• 2 x Airbus KC2 Voyager (plus one flying round the North Sea on refueling duties)
• 2 x Airbus A330-243
• 4 x Boeing C-17A Globemaster III

I can neither confirm nor deny that some others might be (cough) somewhere in Eastern Europe on special urgent freight delivery missions.