Video Review Of New Air New Zealand Trip KJFK to NZAA

[Aharon]

Shalom and greetings all my pals,

As the subject heading speaks for itself, here is exclusive video showing customer review of the flight as seen below:

Watch on youtube.com

Air New Zealand took SEVENTY seats out to meet weight restriction for this super long flight so 70 less passengers for 787-9!!!

I notice there were FOUR crew members working in cockpit!!!!! Sure reminds you of old 707s, DC-8s, 727s, etc with engineer flight pilot but those old planes used three crew members in cockpits and this Air New Zealand used FOUR crew members!!

Regards,

Aharon

[Aharon]

I wonder if any pilot in that video is actually member of NZFF forums??

Regards,

Aharon

[cowpatz]

I do not believe that any members of that crew that frequent this forum.
Aharon we have been operating 4 pilot crews for decades. It is dependent not only on the flight time but also overnight rest/length of stay. For example a single night stay in LAX or SFO would be operated 4 pilot and a 2 or more night stay by 3 pilots. In in the case of URL flights each ULR route has a special agreement between the Pilots associations and the company, which are reviewed each year of operation. They are very complex agreements that include sleep/rest experts and scheduling flight departures around circadian rhythm hi/lows.
In general terms anything over a flight time of 13.5 hrs needs to be 4 pilot. This can increase or decrease depending on the number of sectors to be flown, report time and how acclimatised the crew are to the overnight(s) time zone.

[Aharon]

Aharon we have been operating 4 pilot crews for decades. They are very complex agreements that include sleep/rest experts and scheduling flight departures around circadian rhythm hi/lows.
In general terms anything over a flight time of 13.5 hrs needs to be 4 pilot. This can increase or decrease depending on the number of sectors to be flown, report time and how acclimatised the crew are to the overnight(s) time zone.

Yes I know what you mean and I am aware that there are 2 pilots sleeping in the plane and 2 pilots working during long flights and they would switch when their duty shifts and sleeping time are over BUT I never see FOUR pilots working at same time in 787 cockpit as shown in that video which made me wonder if there was 5th and 6th pilots sleeping somewhere in the plane.

Regards,

Aharon

[cowpatz]

All 4 pilots are on the flight deck for TO and landing. They may also briefly be all together when swapping rest cycles.

[Aharon]

All 4 pilots are on the flight deck for TO and landing.

Ahhh that is interesting I never knew that!! Thanks for your great explanations

Regards,

Aharon

[cowpatz]

All 4 pilots are on the flight deck for TO and landing.

Ahhh that is interesting I never knew that!! Thanks for your great explanations

Regards,

Aharon

I should mention that this is how our organisation operates with 4 pilots. Other airlines may have a different crewing arrangement for TO and Ldg.

[Sonnyj]

All 4 pilots are on the flight deck for TO and landing. They may also briefly be all together when swapping rest cycles.

QUICK QUESTION If all 4 pilots are together sometimes when swapping rest cycles.....Who is flying the aircraft.?? Is it? is it? OTTO??

[cowpatz]

QUICK QUESTION If all 4 pilots are together sometimes when swapping rest cycles.....Who is flying the aircraft.?? Is it? is it? OTTO??

Generally speaking OTTO is engaged from anywhere on the climb (not less than 200ft)' until under 2000ft or so on final approach. There is a lot of variables and but those figures would cover 90% of flights.
During a rest changeover the crew member that is Pilot Flying (PF) will give a handover briefing to the incoming crew. The PF will put on the full harness and the Pilot Monitoring (PM) will formally handover communications to the PF before getting out of the seat. The first of the refreshed crew will then get in and put on the full harness. When ready they will state: "I have control; My radios". The former PF will then swap out with the second refreshed crew member. When that member is seated they will state either "I have control" or "My radios" depending how they want to allocate the duties between themselves. This crew change procedure ensures that there is no doubt as to who is flying the aircraft and who is monitoring it. There are other seating requirements that are dependent upon rank. A Captain may occupy either seat as PM but only the left seat if PF (Unless a standards pilot with a current RH seat qualification), A FO may occupy either seat as a PM but only the RH seat if PF. A SO can occupy either seat as PM or PF (They can only be in a "window"seat above 20,000ft).
During the time that only 1 pilot is seat at the controls the full harness must be worn.....in case of sudden turbulence or Autopilot failure.

You did ask