http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html
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China anyone?
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TOGA Descent
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China Airports, Airspace and Attitudes
I regularly fly to several destinations in Asia, but the one that stands out as the absolute worst, is China.
The ATC system is horrible. Most of the time, you can’t understand what they are saying, but worse is their attitude. Here are some examples…
A little over a year ago, I was about 100 miles behind a Continental Airlines 777 going towards Beijing. With significant weather ahead, they requested a deviation of 20 miles to the right of their track to avoid weather.
China ATC told them that they could not go to the Right; they had to go to the left. But, to the left meant a 150 mile deviation. When asked why they could not deviate to the right, ATC told them that the airspace on their right was restricted (not on my charts though).
The fact is, that the CA777 flight could not go the way they wanted, because it was simply what THEY wanted, and is something that I’ve seen in China, time, after time, after time.
This was proven a few minutes later when I told ATC that we MUST deviate to the LEFT to avoid weather. (Same direction that ATC mandated for the CA777)
Chinese ATC said, “No, you can only go to the right”. This was exactly the response that I expected, but my point was driven home about 30 minutes later when the CA777 was now about 100 miles BEHIND me! (You could hear the confusion in the controllers voice once he figured it out)
Even better, in Canton a month ago I had to RTO a take-off following an Engine Failure (Actually exploded). As we were stopping, the Tower asked us what was wrong.
We told them that one of the engines had failed, and that it was an explosive failure. Then, they said, “Ok…but, why you stop?” (DAH!)
Then, after making it clear to the Tower that the engine had exploded (Cabin Crew reported hearing debris hitting the back of the aircraft), the dumb-ass ATC and many of the Chinese Airlines continued to depart from the same runway, without so much as driving a car, bike or rick•sha down it to verify that it was clear of debris. Hello! Foreign Object Damage!
I certainly hope that these students learning to fly in Canada can go back and teach their comrades a thing or two about safety.
The ATC system is horrible. Most of the time, you can’t understand what they are saying, but worse is their attitude. Here are some examples…
A little over a year ago, I was about 100 miles behind a Continental Airlines 777 going towards Beijing. With significant weather ahead, they requested a deviation of 20 miles to the right of their track to avoid weather.
China ATC told them that they could not go to the Right; they had to go to the left. But, to the left meant a 150 mile deviation. When asked why they could not deviate to the right, ATC told them that the airspace on their right was restricted (not on my charts though).
The fact is, that the CA777 flight could not go the way they wanted, because it was simply what THEY wanted, and is something that I’ve seen in China, time, after time, after time.
This was proven a few minutes later when I told ATC that we MUST deviate to the LEFT to avoid weather. (Same direction that ATC mandated for the CA777)
Chinese ATC said, “No, you can only go to the right”. This was exactly the response that I expected, but my point was driven home about 30 minutes later when the CA777 was now about 100 miles BEHIND me! (You could hear the confusion in the controllers voice once he figured it out)
Even better, in Canton a month ago I had to RTO a take-off following an Engine Failure (Actually exploded). As we were stopping, the Tower asked us what was wrong.
We told them that one of the engines had failed, and that it was an explosive failure. Then, they said, “Ok…but, why you stop?” (DAH!)
Then, after making it clear to the Tower that the engine had exploded (Cabin Crew reported hearing debris hitting the back of the aircraft), the dumb-ass ATC and many of the Chinese Airlines continued to depart from the same runway, without so much as driving a car, bike or rick•sha down it to verify that it was clear of debris. Hello! Foreign Object Damage!
I certainly hope that these students learning to fly in Canada can go back and teach their comrades a thing or two about safety.
Rookie Airbus Crew… "What's it doing now?"
Veteran Airbus Crew… "It's doing it again!"
Veteran Airbus Crew… "It's doing it again!"
