When We Earn Our Money As Pilots

[Continental Chris]

Most flights as an airline pilot are uneventful and do not merit writing about. However, I recently completed a flight from Mexico City to Newark and thought that I would share the experience.

We were scheduled to depart Mexico City at 2 pm and fly up to Newark, the only problem with this was that Tropical Storm Hannah happened to be sitting right on top of EWR. The airplane was on time arriving in MEX and because this was an international flight we would not be delayed due to weather concerns. Because of the weather we took as much fuel as we could possibly hold, as a result of this the airplane was very heavy. MEX has long runways, but at the weight we were at and the elevation of the airport (7,300 feet) we used every inch of runway available, but the work does not stop in MEX simply because you are off the ground. MEX has various different speed limits when departing and is surrounded by very tall mountains that pose a significant threat to a flight if they are not taking into consideration and planned for properly. The captain and I were both very familiar with Mexico City, but we always still make sure to do a very thorough brief before departing any airport, especially one like MEX. We executed our departure exactly as planned and quickly climbed to our cruising altitude.


As soon as we reached cruise and the threat of high terrain was behind us our attention turned to the worsening conditions in EWR. The worst part of Hannah was scheduled to hit EWR exactly at our proposed arrival time. For the next several hours we continued to monitor the situation, coordinate with our dispatchers, and plan for where we would divert to if need be. The weather was impacting such a large area that we would most likely have to go all the way to Cleveland if we were unable to make it into EWR. This of course prompted us to keep a very watchful eye on our fuel situation and to plan for exactly how much time we had in the EWR area before a diversion became necessary.

As we approached the eastern seaboard we were able to see the full extent of the storm. The weather in EWR was as planned, horrible. The sky was overcast at 200 feet, visibility less than 1/2 mile, driving rain, mist, and winds gusting to 45 mph. These conditions prompted us to prepare for a full CAT IIIA approach. This type of approach is rarely done and is reserved only for the worst kind of conditions, such as this one. When flying a CAT IIIA approach the First Officer (me) flies the airplane and the Captain monitors the approach until 200 feet above the ground. At this point he shifts his attention to the outside and looks for the approach lights on the runway itself. As soon as he sees the runway he takes control of the airplane and accomplished the landing. In this particular case the captain was able to see the runway at about 100 feet.

We landed safely and taxied in to our gate, 20 minutes early. As the passengers deplaned I had to wonder how many of them had any idea just how much work had gone into that particular flight. This was definitely a day where we earned our money.

Chris

[AdamB-MI-708]

Wow Chris that must have been some flight. When you came in to land was there a strong cross wind?

[Continental Chris]

The wind was blowing from all different directions, making it even more difficult than a constant cross wind would be.

Chris

[ChristopherL-IA-6097]

I've flown a couple ILS approach to mininums before but 100ft... wow... thats a low DH. I can only imagine what was going through your mind looking at the altimeter, knowing your fuel situation in the event of a missed and having to divert.

[Continental Chris]

Chris,

Just realized that I missed your post! Welcome to the forums. We can actually don't have any ceiling minimum, just visibility, we can go down to 1,000 feet RVR. We do not do it often, but sometimes we have to.

Chris