I saw at Heathrow yeaterday some virgin A340 with “Mine’s bigger than your’s” and “4 engines 4 long haul” written on the side of the aircraft.

As for Branson, I think he is great.

This happened by the crew incorrectly inputting the wrong ZFW(zero fuel weight) into the FMS, this then gave the wrong V speeds to the crew. With the wrong weights in the FMS, the computers thought the aircraft was actually lighter than it actually was. When the incorrect speed was reached, the pilot started the take off rotation and nothing happened(because the aircraft was heavier) so the pilot pulled back more on the control column and so on until the aircraft reached a suitable speed to initiate a take off and by then the angle of attack was to great and the tail struck the runway. It led to an immediate return and an over weight landing.

And coffee with the chief pilot!!!!!!!!

I suspect that the auto pilot commands might be to slow in reacting to a RA (Resolution Advisory). In some air misses, the pilot needs to react quickly and firmly.

Also, if the Auto pilot worked with the TCAS it would need an auto throttle as well. A lot of aircraft have an auto pilot but no auto throttle.

A340-300
Cathay Pacific
Bangkok to Hong Kong.

Regarding the oil on the Captain’s shirt,

I went to work last month and got some oil on my shirt from removing my luggage from the bus. I hope the pax didn’t think I went and fixed the plane.

Good work A330, keep the news coming.

BDP,

The other runway is 23, 05 is never used.

Regards.

Sc