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Old 09-12-2009, 05:12 PM
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USMCFLYR
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
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As they dumped fuel, the pilots reviewed their notes to solve the mystery of the take-off. To their horror, they noticed that the calculations they had used to set the parameters for take-off had inadvertently used a take-off weight that was 100 tonnes below the weight of the aircraft.

The Emirates Airbus contained a laptop that calculated take-off speeds based on the manual input from the pilots of various parameters including take-off weight, temperature, air pressure and wind. The pilot's calculations are then checked by the captain as part of what Emirates says is a four-part process of cross-checks.
AHHH! The old "Garbage In = Garbage Out" bites another in the butt.
I'm glad it all worked out in the end of course.

In the P121 world - are reduced thrust take-offs a fairly common practice? The article gives various reasons for the procedure (fuel, wear and tear, and finally niose abatement). In your experience - when you have used reduced thrust take-offs - what was the purpose?
"Human beings can make errors so double-checks and triple-checks must be done. Unfortunately, it was not done on this occasion."
Actually...it sounds like double (at least) and possibly triple checks were used and ALL failed to identify the error.


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